This Cooperative agreement supports the Consortium for the Advancement of the Hydrologic Sciences (CUAHSI) to construct and maintain a web-accessible water-data center (WDC) that builds off the prototype Hydrologic Information System (HIS) developed at the University of Texas. Over the next three years , WDC development will offer new access to water data holdings, discovery tools, archival and sharing/publishing capabilities and will build a consistent set of data format standards definitions, data format translators, analysis software tools, mobile platform applications and provide for user training and support. WDC will provide access to a range of water data now held in a multitude of data formats and across numerous platforms with vastly different access tools. Data to be ingested in WDC will include the data holdings of the USGS National Water Information Service, EPA and NOAAs National Climate Data Center (NCDC), other federal and state agency data holdings, and academic and private foundation water data holdings. WDC will integrate the use of cloud computing and data services to facilitate data discovery and use and include tools for real time state-of-health monitoring of operational sensor networks. The WDC concept directly addresses NSF data policies and will be integrated into in a growing network of geoscience information system services (e.g., Unidata, OpenTopography, EarthChem through participation in GEOs EarthCube initiative). WDC PIs will continue international efforts for developing and adopting consistent data standards for hydrologic observation web-base publication through participation in international standards-setting bodies (e.g., the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)). The PIs also plan a set of outreach activates focused on Native Americans (in collaboration with tribal college and governmental partners) for building and development of water management data tools in support of the tribal resources management needs.
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