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OPPORTUNITIES IN THE
HYDROLOGIC SCIENCES
/~\
/~,4 ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE -
\ \ EARTH SCIENCE ~
\\
\ \\
Committee on Opportunities in the Hydrologic Sciences
Water Science and Technology Board
Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources
National Research Council
NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C. 1991
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NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20418
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the
National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of
Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the
committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appro-
priate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors, according to procedures approved
by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National
Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit self-perpetuating society of distinguished
scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and tech-
nology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the
Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scien-
tific and technical matters. Dr. Frank Press is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National
Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its adminis-
tration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility
for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering
programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior
achievements of engineers. Dr. Robert M. White is president of the National Academy of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the
services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to
the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of
Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative,
to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Samuel O. Thier is president of the
Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associ-
ate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purpose of furthering knowledge
and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the
Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sci-
ences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and
the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and
the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Frank Press and Dr. Robert M. White are chairman and vice chairman,
respectively, of the National Research Council.
Support for this project was provided by the National Research Council, the U.S. Geological Survey
and the National Weather Service under Contract No. 14-08-0001-G1506, the National Science Foundation
under Grant No. EAR-8719003, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Army Research
Office under Contract No. NAGW-1310, the U.S. Forest Service under Agreement No. 90-G-011/R, and
The Mobil Corporation.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Opportunities in the hydrologic sciences / Committee on Opportunities
in the Hydrologic Sciences, Water Science and Technology Board,
Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources, National
Research Council.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-309-04244-5
1. Hydrology—Vocational guidance. I. National Research Council
(U.S.). Committee on Opportunities in the Hydrologic Sciences.
GB665.0315 1991
551.46'0023—dc20 90-49577
CIP
Cover art reproduced with permission from Sally J. Bensusen. Copyright ~ 1990 by Sally J. Bensusen.
Copyright @ 1991 by the National Academy of Sciences
No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in
the form of a phonographic recording, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise
copied for public or private use, without written permission from the publisher, except for the purposes of
official use by the U.S. govemment.
Printed in the United States of America
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Committee on Opportunities in the
Hydrologic Sciences
PETER S. EAGLESON, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Chairman
WILFRIED H. BRUTSAERT, Cornell University
SAMUEL C. COLBECK, U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and
Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, New Hampshire
KENNETH W. CUMMINS, University of Pittsburgh
JEFF DOZIER, University of California-Santa Barbara
THOMAS DUNNE, University of Washington
JOHN M. EDMOND, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
VIJAY K. GUPTA, University of Colorado-Boulder
GORDON C. JACOBY, Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory,
Palisades, New York
SYUKURO MANABE, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Princeton, New Jersey
SHARON E. NICHOLSON, Florida State University
DONALD R. NIELSEN, University of California-Davis
IGNACIO RODRIGUEZ-ITURBE, University of Iowa
JACOB RUBIN, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California
J. LESLIE SMITH, University of British Columbia
GARRISON SPOSITO, University of California-Berkeley
WAYNE T. SWANK, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Coweeta
Hydrologic Laboratory, Otto, North Carolina
EDWARD J. ZIPSER, Texas A & M University
Ex-Officio
STEPHEN BURGES, University of Washington (WSTB member
through June 1989)
National Research Council Staff
STEPHEN D. PARKER, Project Manager
WENDY L. MELGIN, Staff Officer (through October 1989)
RENEE A. HAWKINS, Project Secretary
SUSAN MAURIZI, Editor
Liaison Representatives
GHASSEM ASRAR, National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
Washington, D.C.
JOHN A. MACCINI, National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C.
STEVEN MOCK, U.S. Army Research Office, Research Triangle Park,
North Carolina
MARSHALL MOSS, U.S. Geological Survey, Tucson, Arizona
JOHN SCHAAKE, National Weather Service, Silver Spring, Maryland
. . .
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Water Science and Technology Board
MICHAEL KAVANAUGH, lames M. Montgomery Consulting
Engineers, Oakland,California, Chairman
NORMAN H. BROOKS, California Institute of Technology
RICHARD CONWAY, Union Carbide Corporation, South Charleston,
West Virginia
DUANE L. GEORGESON, Metropolitan Water District, Los Angeles
JAMES HEANEY, University of Florida (through June 1990)
HOWARD KUNREUTHER, University of Pennsylvania
G. RICHARD MARZOLF, Murray State University (through June 1990)
ROBERT R. MEGLEN, University of Colorado-Denver
JUDY L. MEYER, University of Georgia
DONALD J. O'CONNOR, HydroQual, Inc., Glen Rock, New Jersey
BETTY H. OLSON, University of California-Irvine
KENNETH W. POTTER, University of Wisconsin-Madison
P. SURESH CHANDRA RAO, University of Florida
PATRICIA ROSENFIELD, The Carnegie Corporation of New York
(through June 1990)
DONALD D. RUNNELLS, University of Colorado-Boulder
PHILIP C. SINGER, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
A. DAN TARLOCK, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago Kent
College of Law School
HUGO F. THOMAS, Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection
JAMES R. WALLIS, IBM Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights,
New York
M. GORDON WOLMAN, The Johns Hopkins University
Staff
STEPHEN D. PARKER, Director
SARAH CONNICK, Staff Officer
SHEILA D. DAVID, Senior Staff Officer
CHRIS ELFRING, Senior Staff Officer
M. JEANNE AQUILINO, Administrative Specialist
PATRICIA CICERO, Secretary
ANITA A. HALL, Administrative Secretary
MARCIA HALL, Secretary
RENEE A. HAWKINS, Administrative Secretary
IV
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Commission on Geosciences,
Environment, and Resources
M. GORDON WOLMAN, The Johns Hopkins University, Chairman
ROBERT C. BEARDSLEY, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
B. CLARK BURCHFIEL, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
RALPH J. CICERONE, University of California-Irvine
PETER S. EAGLESON, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
HELEN INGRAM, University of Arizona
GENE E. LIKENS, New York Botanical Gardens
SYUKURO MANABE, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Princeton, New Jersey
JACK E. OLIVER, Cornell University
PHILIP A. PALMER, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company
FRANK L. PARKER, Vanderbilt University
DUNCAN T. FATTEN, Arizona State University
MAXINE L. SAVITZ, Allied Signal Aerospace
LARRY L. SMARR, National Center for Supercomputing Applications
STEVEN M. STANLEY, Case Western Reserve University
CRISPIN TICKELL, Green College at the Oxford Observatory
KARL K. TUREKIAN, Yale University
IRVIN L. WHITE, New York State Energy Research and Development
Authority
JAMES H. ZUMBERGE, University of Southern California
Staff
STEPHEN RATTIEN, Executive Director
STEPHEN D. PARKER, Associate Executive Director
JANICE E. GREENE, Assistant Executive Director
JEANETTE SPOON, Financial Officer
CARLITA M. PERRY, Administrative Assistant
v
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Foreword
In 1982, soon after the beginning of my term as president of the
National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and chairman of the National
Research Council (NRC), a major reorganization of the NRC's struc-
ture was implemented. As part of this reorganization, we created the
Water Science and Technology Board (WSTB) to recognize the impor-
tance of water resources to the nation.
The driving forces behind the WSTB's establishment were three-
fold: a unit of the NRC specifically assigned to water resources would
emphasize their national importance; the complexity of water science
and technology issues lends itself well to the NRC's ability to approach
problems in an interdisciplinary manner; and, perhaps most important,
the field needed sounder scientific underpinnings, particularly as we
begin to take a more global and system-oriented view of our environment.
Over the past several years there has been increasing concern among
scientific hydrologists about the future and long-term vitality of their
field. This is owing, somewhat paradoxically, to the fact that throughout
the history of this field applications have preceded science. Civil and
agricultural engineers are in large part responsible for the high level
of water-related health and safety enjoyed by modern urban societies
of the developed world. Nevertheless, this pragmatic focus has left
fundamental hydrologic science lagging behind in comparison with
other geosciences. The result is a scientific and educational base in
hydrology that is incompatible with the scope and complexity of many
current and emerging problems.
Many currently important surface hydrologic problems are so large
. .
v''
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VIll
FOREWORD
in scale that the land surface and atmosphere must be treated as an
interactively coupled system. Examples are the environmental im-
pacts of tropical deforestation, large-scale irrigation and drainage,
and acid precipitation Prospects of climate change require forecast-
ing based on global-scale understanding and have heightened interest
in ancient hydroclimatology as revealed through paleohydrology.
Contemporary ground water problems are often large scale from
one to hundreds of kilometers. They involve major geological het-
erogeneity and complex issues of water chemistry. Examples are the
containment and reduction of pollution, underground storage of toxic
waste, aquifer recharge, geothermal power production, and the conjunctive
management of surface and ground water systems both at local and
regional scales.
The interdisciplinary nature of these problems requires increased
application of principles from the atmospheric, geologic, chemical,
and biological sciences; their geoscience perspective reveals impor-
tant deficiencies in our basic knowledge of hydrologic science. Questions
of scaling, equilibrium, stability, teleconnections, and space-time variability
demand a renewed emphasis on fundamental hydrologic research.
The needed understanding will be built from coordinated, long-term
data sets (both at fine and large spatial scales) and founded on an
educational base in the geosciences.
This report should be an important reference work on opportuni-
ties in the hydrologic sciences. It is intended to help guide science
and educational policy decisions and to provide a scientific framework
and research agenda for scientists, educators, and students making
career plans. We hope it will also be of interest to the informed lay
public. The document transmits the importance of the hydrologic
sciences and identifies needed improvements to the research and
educational infrastructure. If its recommendations are followed, we
believe the strengthened scientific base of hydrology will contribute
directly to improved management of water and the environment.
FRANK PRESS, Chairman
National Research Council
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Preface
Hydrologic science deals with the occurrence, distribution, circula-
tion, and properties of water on the earth. It is clearly a multidisciplinary
science, as water is important to and affected by physical, chemical,
and biological processes within all the compartments of the earth
system: the atmosphere, glaciers and ice sheets, solid earth, rivers,
lakes, and oceans. Because of this geophysical ubiquity, concern for
issues of hydrologic science has been distributed among the traditional
geoscience disciplines. As a result, an infrastructure of hydrologic
science (i.e., a distinct discipline with a clear identity and supporting
educational programs, research grant programs, and research institu-
tions) has not developed, and a coherent understanding of water's
role in the planetary-scale behavior of the earth system is missing.
This report describes this problem and offers a set of recommended
remedial actions.
THE PROBLEM
Water moves through the earth system in an endless cycle that
forms the framework of hydrologic science. In so moving, it plays a
central role in many of the physical, chemical, and biological processes
regulating the earth system, where human activity is now insepa-
rable from natural events. Water vapor is the working fluid of the
atmospheric heat engine: through evaporation and condensation it
drives important atmospheric and oceanic circulations and redistrib-
utes absorbed solar energy. As the primary greenhouse gas it is
lX
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x
PREFACE
instrumental in setting planetary temperature. Through fluvial ero-
sion and sedimentation, water, together with tectonics, shapes the
land surface. Water is the universal solvent and the medium in which
most changes of matter take place; hence it is the agent of element
cycling. Finally, water is necessary for life.
Investments in water resources management over the last century
have helped provide the remarkable levels of public health and safety
enjoyed by the urban populations of the developed world. Although
we have spent lavishly to cope with the scarcities and excesses of
water and to ensure its potability, we have invested relatively little
in the basic science underlying water's other roles in the planetary
mechanisms. This science, hydrologic science, has a natural place as
a geoscience alongside the atmospheric, ocean, and solid earth sciences;
yet in the modern scientific establishment this niche is vacant.
Because of the pervasive role of water in human affairs, the devel-
opment of hydrologic science has followed rather than led the appli-
cations primarily water supply and hazard reduction—under the
leadership of civil and agricultural engineers. The elaboration of the
field, the education of its practitioners, and the creation of its research
culture have therefore been driven by narrowly focused issues of
engineering hydrology. The scale of understanding has been modest-
generally limited to surface drainage basins with areas of 10,000 km2
or less. The committee's perception of the intellectual relationships
among these water-relevant disciplines is presented in Figure 1.
Hydrology has not been cultivated as a geoscience because until
now there has been no practical need to build a comprehensive un-
derstanding of the global water cycle. Moreover, the patches of sci-
entific knowledge that support traditional small-scale engineering
applications do not merge into the coherent whole needed to under-
stand the geophysical and biogeochemical functioning of water at the
regional and continental scales of many emerging problems. These
problems include the possible geographical redistribution of water
resources due to climate change, the ecological consequences of large-
scale water transfers, widespread mining of fossil ground water, the
effect of land use changes on the regional hydrologic cycle, the effect
of non-point sources of pollution on the quality of surface and ground
water at regional scale, and the possibility of changing regimes of
regional floods and droughts.
Furthermore, the training of hydrologic scientists cannot be ac-
complished efficiently in educational programs dominated either by
applications-oriented constraints or by undergraduate preparation in
which engineering predominates. A thorough background in math-
ematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and the geosciences is neces-
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PREFACE
Water Resources _
Management :'
(Decision making)
Xl
Agriculture
Economics
Forestry
Law
Political Science
.
Engineering
Hydrology
(Forecasting)
— Fluid Mechanics
Hydraulic Engineering
Meteorology
Statistics
— Atmospheric Science
Geochemistry
Geology
~ G eo morp ho lo gy
Hydrologic Science
( Understanding)
Plant Physiology
Soil Science
FIGURE 1 Water the Intellectual ingredients for its understanding, forecasting, and
management.
sary. New institutional arrangements will be needed to allow stu-
dent and faculty involvement in relevant field observations and to
provide prompt access to the resulting data.
A COURSE OF ACTION
One step taken to help build the needed infrastructure for hydro-
logic science was the creation of the Committee on Opportunities in
the Hydrologic Sciences (COHS) by the Water Science and Technology
Board in January 1988. This committee was asked to conduct an
assessment of the hydrologic sciences, including their definition, their
current state of development, and their relationships with related
geosciences and biosciences. The committee also was asked to iden-
tify promising new frontiers and applications and to outline an appropriate
framework for education and research in the hydrologic sciences.
At the outset we should understand the committee's use of the
term "geoscience" vis-a-vis "earth science" and the more recently
coined "earth system science." The COHS follows the National Sci-
ence Foundation (NSF) and uses "geoscience" to include atmospheric
science, ocean science, solid earth science, glaciology, and, as argued
herein, hydrologic science. As does the NSF, the committee interprets
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. ~
Xl!
PREFACE
"earth science" as the solid earth sciences, including geology, petrol-
ogy, seismology, volcanology, and so on. "Earth system science"
includes all sciences relevant to the functioning of the planet earth as
a set of interacting physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms. It
differs from geoscience in its inclusion of important terrestrial biota
and certain solar and other space physics effects on the earth, and in
its emphasis on integrated planetary behavior.
To establish an identity for hydrologic science as a separate geo-
science, the COHS defined its scope to include (1) the physical and
chemical processes in the cycling of continental water at all scales as
well as those biological processes that significantly interact with the
hydrologic cycle, and (2) the spatial and temporal characteristics of
the global water balance in all compartments of the earth system.
In presenting its findings the COHS has written for scientifically
literate readers who are not necessarily hydrologists. We have avoided
mathematics and lengthy scientific detail for the sake of clarity. The
report also contains additional brief discussions of important practical
problems whose solution will benefit from the anticipated scientific
advances. In addition, to accent the human dimension of all scien-
tific achievement, the committee has included throughout the vol-
ume short biographical vignettes of important past figures in hydrol-
ogy. In summary, the report's contents are as follows:
Chapter 1, "Water and Life," explains the uniqueness and histori-
cal importance of water. It contains examples of the roles of water in
civilization both as sustainer and hazard, and as a resource to be
managed.
Chapter 2, "The Hydrologic Sciences," describes the evolution of
the perception and definition of the hydrologic sciences and identi-
fies as primary agents of change the increasing scale of applied prob-
lems and the concurrent spreading of anthropogenic influences. The
hydrologic cycle is recognized to be the framework of these sciences,
and its physical and chemical processes are illustrated. The status of
understanding of these processes and of the biological components of
the hydrologic cycle is summarized. Some major research questions
are posed.
Chapter 3, "Some Critical and Emerging Areas," is the intellectual
core of the report and contains a collection of essays on promising
frontier research topics. In selecting these topics the committee has
opted for the interesting and exciting, subjectively seeking to trans-
mit the flavor of the science rather than to provide an exhaustive
catalog of opportunities. A typical essay begins with a research question,
is followed by a brief historical review, and concludes with a de-
scription of the problem and its importance to the science.
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PREFACE
. · .
XlI'
The essays are grouped in sets representing the major subdivisions
of the hydrologic sciences. These subdivisions reflect the major theme
of this report, namely that hydrologic science is a geoscience. Ac-
cordingly, the COHS looks at "Hydrology and the Earth's Crust,"
"Hydrology and Landforms," "Hydrology and Climatic Processes,"
"Hydrology and Weather Processes," "Hydrology and Surficial Processes,"
"Hydrology and Living Communities," "Hydrology and Chemical
Processes," and "Hydrology and Applied Mathematics." There is a
degree of deliberate redundancy and inconsistency in this arrangement.
The quality of water is as much a part of the hydrologic cycle as is its
mass or flow rate, and so chemical issues occur along with the physical
in each of the geophysical subdivisions; indeed, several have been
selected for presentation there. The same can be said for the mathematical
topics of the final section, and, to a more limited degree, for biology.
However, the committee has chosen to concentrate its discussions on
the relation of hydrology to its sibling sciences in separate sections in
order to call the attention of biologists, chemists, and mathematicians
to interesting hydrologic problems.
Chapter 4, "Scientific Issues of Data Collection, Distribution, and
Analysis," discusses the need for, the characteristics of, and the cur-
rent status of hydrologic data. It concludes with a set of brief essays
concerning topics such as new technology, methods of analysis, and
coordinated multidisciplinary experiments.
Chapter 5, '`Education in the Hydrologic Sciences," contrasts ed-
ucation for the internally driven puzzle solving of science with that
for the externally driven problem solving of engineering. It makes
specific recommendations relative to hydrologic science for programs
at the graduate, undergraduate, and kindergarten through twelfth
grade levels.
Chapter 6, "Scientific Priorities," outlines a rational process for
setting scientific priorities and presents a set of research, data, and
educational opportunities that the committee believes are most important
for hydrologic science at this time.
Chapter 7, "Resources and Strategies," closes the report with pro-
grammatic investment priorities for funding agencies, and with strategic
actions that individual scientists and their scientific societies can take
to enhance the image and status of hydrologic science.
The report concludes with four appendixes. Appendix A gives an
estimate of recent annual investments of U.S. federal agencies in re-
search in hydrologic science. Appendix B profiles the hydrologic
science community, contrasting the results of a 1988 human resources
questionnaire with those of a similar survey published in 1962. Ap-
pendix C acknowledges the many contributors to this report in addi-
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xzv
PREFACE
lion to those listed in the front matter. Appendix D provides short
biographical sketches of the members of the responsible committee.
This report has been more than two years in the making. From the
very beginning the committee attempted to extend its reach into the
scientific community through both individual and general written
invitations for contributions and through a number of public presentations
of its progress.
Early on the COHS recognized the need to limit its scope to a
manageable subset of the myriad issues and problems related to wa-
ter. We have addressed ourselves solely to hydrologic science, omitting
consideration of the applied forecasting (engineering hydrology) and
management (water resources) aspects of water. It is important to
understand that the proposals here are not suggested as substitutes
for or as pejorative reflections upon existing research or educational
activities in the latter two fields but rather are intended as needed
complementary, new initiatives.
This report has undergone extensive review, both through the Na-
tional Research Council's formal process and through various infor-
mal routes. We have tried to recognize all contributors in our ac-
knowledgments (Appendix C).
The problem we address here is one within the infrastructure of
science in the United States, and our support for this work has come
solely from domestic organizations. For these reasons, and to keep
the job manageable, we have not attempted the much larger task of
assessing the status of the infrastructure of hydrologic science in other
countries.
In summary, we believe this report presents sound arguments and
broad areas of action for bringing identity and unity to hydrologic
science. We must succeed in this endeavor or the field will complete
its fragmentation, and the other geosciences will develop and subsume
the parts they need. This would likely result in a failure to generate
the necessary base of water science that is coherent and complete at
the large space and time scales of emerging environmental problems.
PETER S. EAGLESON, Chairman
Committee on Opportunities in the
Hydrologic Sciences
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rip
Contents
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Synopsis, 1
Water and Life, 2
Earth's Hydrologic Cycle, 3
A Distinct Geoscience, 4
Some Unsolved Problems, 4
Data Issues, 5
Educational Issues, 6
Scientific Priorities, 8
Resources and Strategies, 13
Conclusion, 16
1 WATER AND LIFE .............................
Wondrous Water, 17
Round and Round and Round It Goes, 18
Water as Enabler and Sustainer of Civilization, 19
Water as a Hazard, 22
Water as a Resource to Be Managed, 26
Sources and Suggested Reading, 31
2 THE HYDROLOGIC SCIENCES ..........
The Uniqueness of Water on the Earth, 33
The Earth's Hydrologic Cycle, 34
The Importance of Water on the Earth, 35
Early Scientific Insights, 37
xv
1
.... 17
32
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xv!
i
The Age of Applications, 38
The Struggle for Scientific Recognition, 40
The Modern Age of Hydrologic Science, 43
Status of Understanding, 45
Hydrologic Science as a Distinct Geoscience, 56
Sources and Suggested Reading, 60
3 SOME CRITICAL AND EMERGING AREAS.
Overview, 62
Hydrology and the Earth's Crust, 67
Hydrology and Landforms, 90
Hydrology and Climatic Processes, 104
Hydrology and Weather Processes, 127
Hydrology and Surficial Processes, 142
Hydrology and Living Communities, 167
Hydrology and Chemical Processes, 178
Hydrology and Applied Mathematics, 194
Sources and Suggested Reading, 207
CONTENTS
....62
4 SCIENTIFIC ISSUES OF DATA COLLECTION,
DISTRIBUTION, AND ANALYSIS 214
Need for Collection of Hydrologic Data and Samples, 215
Status of Hydrologic Data, 229
Some Opportunities to Improve Hydrologic Data, 243
Sources and Suggested Reading, 273
5 EDUCATION IN THE HYDROLOGIC SCIENCES 275
Graduate Education in the Hydrologic Sciences, 276
Structuring the Graduate Program, 280
Undergraduate Education in the Hydrologic Scicnes, 284
Science Education from Kindergarten through
High School, 288
Women and Ethnic Minorities in the
Hydrologic Sciences, 290
Sources and Suggested Reading, 295
6 SCIENTIFIC PRIORITIES
.... 296
The Process, 296
The Premises, 297
Priority Categories of Scientific Opportunity (Unranked), 298
Data Requirements, 302
Education Requirements, 303
Sources and Suggested Reading, 303
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CONTENTS
RESOURCES AND STRATEGIES .....
Resources, 305
Strategies, 310
Sources and Suggested Reading, 313
APPENDIXES
A. Funding for Research in the Hydrologic Sciences .....
B. Profiles of the Hydrologic Community, 1960 and 1988
C. Contributors to the Report, Opportunities in the
Hydrologic Sciences ..........................
D. Biographical Sketches of Committee Members
INDEX.........
. .
XVll
.. 304
317
. . . 322
. 328
331
337
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