Category Archives: Tools

Modeling, Measuring, and Comparing Crop Evapotranspiration in the Delta

Posted on April 23, 2018 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

by Jesse Jankowski Crop evapotranspiration (ET) is the biggest managed loss of water in California, accounting for roughly 80% of human net water use, and includes crop water applications transpired from plants and evaporated from soil. Methods to estimate ET … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, California Water, Delta, Planning and Management, Tools | Tagged , | 1 Comment

California’s Water Data Problems are Symptoms of Inchoate Science and Technical Activities

Posted on March 26, 2018 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

“The truth is lost when there is too much contention about it.” – Publius Syrus (43 BC) by Jay Lund In 2016, California’s legislature passed AB 1755, the Open and Transparent Water Data Act, requiring that State agencies provide water … Continue reading →

Posted in California Water, Planning and Management, Tools | Tagged | 2 Comments

Drought Water Right Curtailment – Analysis, Transparency, and Limits

Posted on February 18, 2018 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

By Jay Lund, Ben Lord, Andrew Tweet, Wesley Walker, Chad Whittington, Reed Thayer, Jeff Laird, Quinn Hart, Nicholas Santos, William Fleenor, Julia Pavicic, Lauren Adams, and Bradley Arnold Drought often means not having enough water to satisfy all water-right holders. … Continue reading →

Posted in California Water, Drought, Tools | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Preliminary Analysis of Hurricane Harvey Flooding in Harris County, Texas

Posted on September 1, 2017 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

by Nicholas Pinter, Nicholas Santos, and Rui Hui Located in Harris County, Texas, Houston is the 4th most populous city in the US.  The flooding now unfolding in the Houston area is a human and economic disaster likely to rank … Continue reading →

Posted in Around the World, flood, Floodplains, Planning and Management, Tools | Tagged , , | 42 Comments

A simplified method to classify streams and improve California’s water management

Posted on July 16, 2017 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

by Belize Lane, Sam Sandoval, and Sarah Yarnell Alterations to the natural flow regime for human water management activities have degraded river ecosystems worldwide. Such alterations are particularly destructive in regions with highly variable climates like California, where native riverine … Continue reading →

Posted in California Water, Planning and Management, Tools | Tagged | 2 Comments

Shadow theater and data management for the Delta – a video

Posted on December 20, 2016 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

By Amber Manfree Data and data management are persistent concerns for the Delta and California water more generally. Data Wars: A New Hope, a shadow puppet play on the subject, was shown at the 2016 Bay-Delta Science Conference in Sacramento. … Continue reading →

Posted in Tools | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

How much water was pumped from the Delta’s Banks Pumping Plant? A mystery.

Posted on September 26, 2016 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

By Jay Lund As the old saying goes, “Someone with one watch knows what time it is, someone with two watches is never sure.” Water accounting is fundamental to water management, but is not easy.  But any accounting is more … Continue reading →

Posted in California Water, Planning and Management, Tools, Uncategorized | Tagged | 10 Comments

Visualizing Flows – A Sandbox Experience with Modeling

Posted on August 7, 2016 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

by Jeanette Newmiller In winter quarter 2016, Dr. Colleen Bronner of the UC Davis Department of Civil Engineering gathered a small group of graduate students and posed a challenge. To support new education standards involving teaching engineering methods throughout K-12 … Continue reading →

Posted in education, Tools, Uncategorized, Virtual Water, Water System Modeling | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Sailing the Seas of Data Discovery

Posted on April 10, 2016 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

by Megan Nguyen Which display is more engaging to you? The table or the map? Do you remember a time when you really needed to find something in your room that you know you for certain have but can’t remember … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Drought, Tools, Uncategorized | Tagged | 7 Comments

Science takes flight: aerial imagery provides new opportunities and insights

Posted on January 10, 2016 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

By Devon Lambert Remote sensing is all the rage as we start the New Year, largely due to its ability to exponentially increase our areas of analysis for research. What used to take us weeks to survey with traditional field … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Planning and Management, Salmon, Tools, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments