Water Resources Discipline ITAC Activities

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ITAC has provided answers to Ron's questions (see below). Joel Johnson took the lead on getting the answers with help from Susan Trapanese. If there are any other questions feel free to address them to the group or to Joel. An additional email with questions from Paul Buszka was received and we are still working to address those questions.

Thank you,
Sonya Jones
ITAC Chair

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Sonya A. Jones
Assistant Program Officer, SR
US Geological Survey
3850 Holcomb Bridge Rd, Ste. 160
Norcross, GA 30092

Work (770) 409-7705
Cell (512) 779-5465
Fax (770) 409-7725
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I work in the data section and most of my concerns are with the NWIS (ADAPS) issues.

I cannot believe that the premier water science agency of the world is creating rating curves by drawing them on log paper, picking them off by eye and then hand entering them into adaps. If that is not bad enough we then spend hours and sometimes several hours trying to smooth out little kinks. A graphical program that uses a regression equation to smooth out lines seems to be a small tool to ask for. I saw Hydstra on the agenda but what is the timeline to implementation? Could our District participate in a test or pilot program for it?

Hopefully this was adequately addressed during the HYDSTRA presentation at the meeting. Also, you can check out the web page: http://wwwnwis.er.usgs.gov/INITIATIVES/HydroTasmania/Hydstra.index.html You can get more information (and possible participation in a Beta test) from Joe Nielsen (jnielsen@usgs.gov).

I am also interested in the automation of some functions in adaps. I would like to see a program that takes information from the measurement file and then runs a shift analysis. The program would then develop a shift curve, either from the previous curve or a set base point, and apply the shift based on the last significant event. If the shift is a negative shift, then the program would start the shift on the falling side of the event and if the shift were positive, then it would start on the rising side.

The hydrographer would still need to review this auto shift before the record was finalized but this would be a tremendous tool for keeping our real time data real time.

Another automation would be to look at the base gage readings compared to the recorder readings. A prorated correction could be applied for either the last measurement or last event.

I don't expect this to be the final record. Shifts could still be combined later and corrections could be tweaked but if we are going to be serving data on the web people are going to expect to be able to use it. I know it is provisional but provisional does not mean much to the general public. They believe what our web page says is what it is.

These could be made available in two ways. And external driver program could be (may already have been) written to do this. Check out the OSW Scripts page and see what is available - make the suggestion that it should be. http://water.usgs.gov/usgs/osw/adaps/scripts.html The more formal way to possibly incorporate this functionality into ADAPS itself is to create a Problem Report requesting an enhancement to the ADAPS system. This method formally documents the request and it is either acted upon or suspended for the future, but it never goes away. The SW User Group periodically reviews all enhancement requests and prioritizes them for NWIS to work into their development plans. Of course, this could take quite awhile to happen, given the limited resources of NWIS programmers.

I noticed one slide said that we would be able to use our handhelds to sink to the database. I believe that is going to be critical in the future. The SWIM application and others are going to greatly enhance our ability to be real-time. Please don't let that be taken away.

I don't really understand xml format but I know that it is necessary to interface to the database. I think a priority should be placed on getting our measuring equipment set up to interface directly to NWIS. We collect a lot of data on the flowtrackers, Aquacalcs, DMX's, ADCP's and whatever else and if we could get it directly transferred to the database we could increase our efficiency.

This is definitely high on the priority list of the SWUG, but it does not hurt to keep mentioning it.

From Jeff Christman: The aquaCalc and DMX format files will be processed by the new site visit loader program that is being developed now. We are also working with the manufacture of the ADCP equipment and we hope that they will output the ADCP measurement data in the new XML format, allowing it to be uploaded into the NWIS data base.

One final thought, I am on the SWIM group and I think that the SWIM system is going to be very popular. If you have any influence in the continuation of this group be sure to voice it. It would be a shame to see the work of this group stop with the retirement of Charlie.

As stated in the meeting, whomever replaces Charlie will be responsible for continuing this project. Since you are on the SWIM group, you definitely have a voice. If you feel that your voice is not being heard, feel free to contact ITAC.

One more final, final thought. If you have time you should ask to see what this DIstrict is doing in hydroacoustics.

Excellent presentation on the hydroacoustic program in Indiana. We all appreciated it and learned much. Precisely why ITAC needs to get into the Districts. Thanks.

Ron Knapp
USGS
5957 Lakeside Blvd
Indianapolis, In 46278
Phone: 317-290-3333 ext. 157
Fax: 317-290-3313