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ECHO Post-Doctoral Fellowship Solicitation Request

(CHL Internal Submission Blank Form)

 

Project Title:  Intelligent Environmental Battlefield Assessment – Task 4 – Hydrologic Mapping

 

Research Advisor (Name, Email, Short Bio): Charles W. Downer, Charles.w.downer@usace.army.mil, is a leading researcher in water resources for the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC).  At this position Dr. Downer’s leads scientific teams in the development and application of numerical models to solve complex water resources problems including flood control, water supply, sediment and contaminant control, and ecosystem restoration. His developments and studies have been published in more than 100 reports, conference proceedings and refereed journal articles. Dr. Downer is registered as a Professional Engineer (PE) in the state of Mississippi and holds an internationally recognized credential as a Project Management Professional (PMP).

 

Proposed Length of Time: 1 year, with possibility to extend multiple years

 

Project Background:  The Intelligent Environmental Battlefield Assessment (IEBA) is a major effort by the US Army to optimize and streamline the gathering and assessment of threats and assets in the battlefield (Davis and Jones, 2020).  Currently, analyst must gather information from ad hoc sources, and the ability to conduct assessment is hindered by lack of consistent tools and methods.  IEBA seeks to greatly improve this process by providing environmental information and modeling tools in the eTADS systems.  eTADS will provide mapping of parameters of concern globally at 30 m scale.  Task 4 of IEBA is Hydrologic Mapping.  In this Task, we will provide global information on surface water/groundwater hydrology/hydraulics for a variety of parameters such as water depth, velocity, groundwater depth, hydrologic regime, etc.  Known areas of limited information prime for research are location of the groundwater, defining the hydrologic regime from limited information, and mapping of parameters in the tropics and the artic.  Task 4 of IEBA started last FY and is scheduled to extend through FY 2026.

 

Project Goals:  We welcome proposals focused on any of the tasks above, which work towards the ultimate goals of either project. The goal of IEBA is to provide analyst with authoritative sources of global information and analytical methods for hydrologic parameters. 

Anticipated Skillsets:  This project will involve the development and application of hydrologic models and the delivery of results in mapping/GUI systems.  Knowledge of surface water, groundwater, stream/river and reservoir hydrology and modeling is needed.  Programming skills in C, C++, and/or Python are highly desirable.  Additional skills relevant to the projects include GIS/mapping, data assimilation, machine learning, and remote sensed information.

 

The research topic will be developed collaboratively between the selected Post Doc and PI based on their particular skill sets and interest and project goals.  Potential topics include:

  • initialization of hydrologic models using remote sensed data
  • development of automated coupled atmospheric/hydrologic model forecast systems
  • development of internet based information systems
  • data assimilation in hydrologic model forecasting
  • characterization/mapping of global hydrologic regimes
  • development/mapping of global groundwater levels
  • utilizing machine learning methods to extrapolate limited hydrologic information to define global hydrologic parameters

 

References:

Aquaveo, 2022.  Tethys Platform https://www.tethysplatform.org

Davis, R. and W. Jones, 2020. Understanding the Battlefield, Army AL&T https://www.army.mil/article/239828/understanding_the_battlefield

Downer, C.W., F. L. Ogden, J. Neidzialek, and S. Liu, 2005.  GSSHA:  A model for simulating diverse streamflow generating processes.  Chapter 6 in:  Singh, V.P. and D. Frevert, Watershed Models, CRC Press.

Swain, N. R., Latu, K., Christensen, S. D., Jones, N. L., Nelson, E. J., Ames, D. P., & Williams, G. P. (2015). A review of open source software solutions for developing water resources web applications. Environmental Modelling & Software, 67, 108-117.