Science studies has long been concerned with the theoretical and methodological challenge of mess—the inevitable tendency of technoscientific objects and practices to spill beyond the neat analytic categories we (or their actors) construct for them. Nowhere is this challenge greater than in the messy world of large-scale collaborative science projects, particularly though not exclusively in the...

With extraordinary resolution and accuracy, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)-derived digital elevation models (DEMs) have been increasingly used for watershed analyses and modeling by hydrologists, planners and engineers. Such high-accuracy DEMs have demonstrated their effectiveness in delineating watershed and drainage patterns at fine scales in low-relief terrains. However, these high-reso...

General experience in hydrologic modelling suggests that the parameterisation of a model changes over different time and space scales. As a result, hydrologists often re-parameterise their models whenever different temporal or spatial resolutions are required. Here, we investigate theoretical aspects of this issue in a search for the cause(s) of the need for re-parameterisations. Based on Taylo...

Hydrological data collection requires deployment of physical infrastructure like rain gauges, water level gauges, as well as use of expensive equipment like echo sounders. Many countries around the world have recorded a decrease in deployment of physical infrastructure for hydrological measurements; developing countries especially have less of this infrastructure and, where it exists, it is poo...

Evapotranspiration (ET) accounts for a substantial amount of the water flux in the arid and semi-arid regions of the World. Accurate estimation of ET has been a challenge for hydrologists, mainly because of the spatiotemporal variability of the environmental and physical parameters governing the latent heat flux. In addition, most available ET models depend on intensive meteorological informati...

Currently, the river forecasting system deployed in each of 13 River Forecast Centers of the National Weather Service primarily uses lumped parameter models to generate hydrologic simulations. With the deployment of the weather surveillance radar 1988 Doppler radars, more and more precipitation data with high spatial and temporal resolution have become available for hydrologic modeling. Hydrolo...

The watershed services provided by tropical natural and planted forests are critical to human well-being. An increasing number of valuation studies and experiences with payment for ecosystem services have dealt with the role of ecosystems in regulating the flow of water. However, several studies have been based on misconceptions about the role of forests and plantations in the hydrological cycl...

Federal, state, and local govermnent agencies are issuing more and more regulations to protect groundwater from microbial contamination. Regulations being proposed include the establishment of wellhead protection zones, drinking-water standards for viruses and parasites, and septic tank placement ordinances. Microbiologists are being called upon more frequently than ever to work with the engine...

The water table, as used routinely by hydrologists in various disciplines, is seemingly a simple concept: it marks the top of saturated zone porous media. But closer inspection reveals that much theory and practice concerning table are less straightforward than often assumed. We review departures from classical definition consider following phenomena: perched inverted tables, gas bubbles within...

In engineering and scientific disciplines, there are extensive Optimization Application Problems (OAPs) such as economic dispatch, structural design, water resources. One of the major OAPs is operation dams reservoirs to minimize gap between supply for irrigation demand patterns hydropower generation. Drawing optimal often categorized discontinuity, multimodality, non-differentiability non-conv...