Through the mighty waves and gentle streams of Earth’s waters flow countless opportunities for scientific discovery.
Scientists with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) are exploring potential opportunities by utilizing a collaboration between ERDC, NASA, U.S. Air Force, and other DOD agencies in the development of Global Hydro Intelligence (GHI). GHI integrates remote sensing, atmospheric, land surface, and hydrological models that provide on-demand hydrological data at the global scale.
Simply put, GHI could be the answer a multitude of hydrology questions globally.
"Imagine watching the national or global news – chances are there is a breaking story about a flood that devastated a community, city, or country," Sara Lytle, a research physical scientist at CHL, said. "Now imagine having a tool that could predict when, where, or the potential severity of future flooding events within a reasonable amount of uncertainty all over the globe."
Predicting the gravity of weather effects at scale is only one of GHI's possibilities. Lytle said that GHI's potential ranges far, giving scientists critical information to current and unforeseen future challenges.
"The daily availability of GHI data with regard to water scarcity and extreme flooding could provide life-saving information. GHI represents a critical step to understanding the present and future ways we will be affected by Earth's most precious resource," Lytle said.
GHI provides a comprehensive modeling framework that will serve as an authoritative source for hydrology data.
Matthew Geheran, a CHL research civil engineer, believes critical information learned from analyzing GHI provides scientists with solutions to mitigate risks and assess water resources.
Geheran said. “The GHI framework will provide authoritative and timely information that will improve the response to water-related needs.”
Dr. Ahmad Tavakoly, a research hydraulic engineer at CHL and ERDCs GHI Team Lead, believes in GHI's ability to be a resource to various users.
As this planet's climate shifts, Lytle and fellow scientists aim to utilize research and their data to improve GHI, creating a safer environment.
"It's a true inter-agency effort, and in the three years I've worked with it, I've seen it continually improve and grow to become an unrivaled capability in hydrological forecasting," Lytle said.