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Summary and Conclusions
Pages 1-16

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From page 1... ... 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. While 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. Read the entire page →
From page 2... ... Solar energy stored in water vapor as latent heat during evaporation travels with the vapor in the atmospheric circulation until it is released when the vapor condenses into precipitation. In this way both water and heat are redistributed globally. Read the entire page →
From page 3... ... We now understand that the hand of mankind is altering the earth's environment on a global scale by virtue of such widespread activities as deforestation, urbanization, and pollution. These actions of humans now extend to the "ends of the earth": high latitudes, deserts, and mountains, where they affect sensitive environments and where hydrologic data and understanding are absent; they cause global-scale change in the hydrologic cycle. Read the entire page →
From page 4... ... Hydrologic science should be viewed as a geoscience interactive on a wide range of space and time scales with the ocean, atmospheric, and solid earth sciences as well as with plant and animal sciences. To establish and retain the individuality of hydrologic science as a distinct geoscience, its domain is defined as follows: � Continental water processes the physical and chemical processes characterizing or driven by the cycling of continental water (solid, liquid, and vapor) Read the entire page →
From page 5... ... A few examples will give the flavor: � How can we employ modern geochemical techniques to trace water pathways, to understand the natural buffering of anthropogenic acids, and to reveal ancient hydroclimatology? � What is the nature of the feedback processes that occur between biochemical processes and the various physical transport mechanisms in the soil? Read the entire page →
From page 6... ... The pioneers of modern hydrology were active observers and measurers, yet now, designing and executing data collection programs (as distinct from field experiments with a specific research objective) are too often viewed as mundane or routine. Read the entire page →
From page 7... ... Undergraduate Education in the Hydrologic Sciences Few undergraduate programs exist in hydrology, and most professionals gain entry to the field from engineering or from the geosciences. However, the geosciences and civil engineering both have Read the entire page →
From page 8... ... If a major rejuvenation of the "observational" components of higher education were to occur, it would serve to improve the quality of professionals entering hydrologic science and also perhaps to attract larger numbers of experientially motivated students to the field. Science Education from Kindergarten Through High School The discussion above makes clear that the success of graduate programs in the hydrologic sciences will depend on the quality of undergraduate preparation in pure science and mathematics, which, in turn, depends critically on the educational background obtained in precollegiate years. Read the entire page →
From page 9... ... � Scaling of Dynamic Behavior In varied guises throughout hydrologic science we encounter questions concerning the quantitative relationship between the same process occurring at disparate spatial or temporal scales. Most frequently perhaps, these are problems of complex aggregation that are confounding our attempts to quantify predictions of large-scale hydrologic processes. Read the entire page →
From page 10... ... � Coordinated Global-scale Observation of Water Reservoirs and the Fluxes of Water and Energy Regional- and continental-scale water resources forecasts and many issues of global change depend for their resolution on a detailed understanding of the state and variability of the global water balance. Our current knowledge is spotty in its areal coverage; highly uneven in its quality; limited in character to the quantities of primary historical interest (namely precipitation, streamflow, and surface water reservoirs) Read the entire page →
From page 11... ... Experience has shown that exciting scientific and social issues often lead to an erosion in the data collection programs that provide a basis for much of our understanding of hydrologic systems and that document changes in regional and global environments. � Improved Information Management The increasing emphasis on global-scale hydrology and the increasing importance of satellite and ground-based remote sensing lead to use of large volumes of data that are collected by many different agencies. Read the entire page →
From page 12... ... Education Requirements � Multidisciplinary Graduate Education Program c ~ The broad range of education inputs to graduate study in hydrologic science necessitates the formation of a multidisciplinary program in the hydrologic sciences. This program should be either a department unit or a confederation of faculty from host departments that is assured of autonomy and resources by upper-level administration. Read the entire page →
From page 13... ... Establishment of distinct but coordinated research grant programs in the hydrologic sciences would address both of these issues. Support for research in hydrologic science in the United States is scattered among various agencies of the federal government. Read the entire page →
From page 14... ... Summer or academic year institutes for kindergarten through twelfth grade teachers can provide a basic science and mathematics background taught in the context of hydrology. � Coordinated Field Experiments Field studies involving multiple disciplines can often achieve more than the sum of their separate disciplinary goals by coordination of observations around a common, multidisciplinary objective. Read the entire page →
From page 15... ... These include the following: � Make use of relevant scientific societies as platforms for communication, advocacy, organization, and education. � Cultivate interest in hydrologic science among the appropriate mission-oriented agencies of the federal government. Read the entire page →
From page 16... ... The benefits society will ultimately receive from a thorough scientific understanding of water behavior are many. Advances in the areas of irrigation, drinking water and ground water supplies, improved recreational areas and wildlife habitat, and flood and drought forecasting and planning are only a few examples. Read the entire page →

From page 1...

... 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. While 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.

Summary and Conclusions Pages 1-16

Summary and Conclusions
Pages 1-16