Opportunities for Development of a Global Water Information System David R. Maidment, University of Texas at Austin Definition of an information system Data required Functionality and training Example:GIS Hydro ‘97 linklink

Definition of an Information System Data is a sampled view of the world Functions operate on the data Users interact with the data through the functions Functions Data Users World Information System

Functions Required Viewing the data (graphs and maps)linklink Presentation of results (reports, visual aids) Interpretation of data (queries and simple data arithmetic) Analysis (macro script invoked from a GUI button or menu bar) Modeling (programming language: Fortran, C, C++)

Data Required Climate (grids of precipitation, temperature, radiation, humidity, wind, vapor pressure) linklink Water (runoff, groundwater, water use, dams) Terrain, streams, basins (DEMs) Soils (soil water properties) Land use and land cover Political boundaries and land features Population and demography

Time, Space and Variables L = Variables M = Spatial Units N = Time Units Dimensionality = LMN (if within GIS, LMN < 10 million

Climate Data Global data: mean annual and monthly values on 2.5´ (5 km) to 0.5° (50 km) grids National and local data: time series from gages Blending of global data grids with national time series at gages + GlobalNational

Available Climate Grids Legates-Willmott global climatology Hutchinson grids for Africa, Australia,…. IIMI project at Utah State University GPCC - Global Precipitation Climatology Center NASA surface radiation budget ISLSCP (research data) UNEP GRID FAO Climwat (point data)

Water Data Runoff data. Monthly and daily gaged streamflow (Global Runoff Data Center) Water use data (AGL project at FAO) Dams (UNESCO inventory georeferenced at the University of New Hampshire) Access and distribution of raw data? Dissemination of statistics (mean monthly and annual flows, flow duration curve)

Terrain, Streams, Basins GTOPO ” Digital Elevation Model of earth (USGS & UNEP) link link Streams - Digital Chart of the World (1:1M scale) Basins - 5-level Pfaffstatter basins available for North America, Africa, … linklink Blending of global and local data (river valleys)

Soils FAO Digital Soil Map of the Earth is the basic source (1:5M scale) Needs addition of soil water properties (soil water holding capacity, saturated conductivity, ….) Link soil texture to standard tables of soil water properties classified by texture Create monthly soil water balance linklink

GH-Soilwater: Soil Water Balance Module Precipitation Temperature Water Holding Capacity Net Radiation Runoff Evaporation

GH-Soilwater Runoff (mean annual) Calibrating Soil Water Balance using a Runoff Map P E W Q Soilwater (mean monthly) GH-Runoff

Land Use and Land Cover Land cover assessment of earth being done at US Geological Survey using NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), a measure of greenness of vegetation Link greenness to rate of evapotranspiration Use Soil water balance to produce a Famine Early Warning System Linking land use and water pollution

GH - Loads: Pollution Loading Module DEM Precip. Runoff LandUse EMC Table Concentration Load Accumulated Load Load [Mass/Time] = Runoff [Vol/Time] x Concentration [Mass/Vol]

GH - Loads: Pollution Loading Module EMC Table

Other Data Sources Political Boundaries (national and provincial) Cities and Roads Population distribution - global demography project at Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, yields provincial level population data and 5’ gridded population of the earth

Digital Atlas of the World Water Balance, Version 1.0 Based on FAO/UNESCO Water Balance of Africa Project gridded mean monthly climate data for continents on 0.5° cells, some runoff data, lessons in English, French, Spanish, (Portuguese) linklink three training courses during last year (Rabat, Cairo, Dar Es Salaam)

Dissemination of Information Using html on the world wide web – link link Using html on CD-ROMs linklink Training courses in countries linklink Virtual course taught on internet and by CD-ROMs (Fall semester, 1998) Paper-based materials

Conclusions Significant opportunity for an FAO effort on global data synthesis Produce data bases by region (perhaps add Latin America to present emphasis on Africa) Share data with countries, provide training and applications to typical problems Encourage insertion of national data into a global system