Wednesday, November 30, 2011

WRR Editors' choice award

From this year AGU established the Water Resources Research Editors' award, as reported in the AGU Hydrology Section Newsletter, an interesting reading per se. As Praveen Kumar writer: "The selection is
made by the  WRR Editors based on technical significance, novelty, originality, presentation, and broader implications of the publication".  And here they are the nominees (less than 1% of the papers published by the journal):


• Julien J. Harou,  Josué Medellín-Azuara,  Tingju  Zhu,  Stacy K. Tanaka,  Jay R. Lund,  Scott Stine,
Marcelo A. Olivares, and  Marion W. Jenkins, “Economic consequences of optimized water management for a prolonged, severe drought in  California” (doi:10.1029/2008WR007681).

• Luis Samaniego,  Rohini Kumar, and  Sabine Attinger, “Multiscale parameter regionalization of
a grid based hydrologic model at the mesoscale” (doi:10.1029/2008WR007327).

• Elizabeth H. Keating,  John Doherty, Jasper A. Vrugt, and Qinjun Kang, “Optimization and
uncertainty assessment of strongly nonlinear groundwater models with high parameter dimensionality” (doi:10.1029/2009WR008584).

• Dmitri Kavetski and Martyn P. Clark, “Ancient numerical daemons of conceptual hydrological modeling: 2. Impact of time stepping schemes on model analysis and prediction” (doi:10.1029/2009WR008896).

• Lance F. W. Lesack and Philip Marsh, “River̺to̺lake connectivities, water renewal, and aquatic habitat diversity in the Mackenzie River Delta” (doi:10.1029/2010WR009607)

As any choice, it is a personal one. However, compare our own research with these papers' arguments and writing could be helpful. Just history will say if they will become benchmarks papers. Interesting to note, from the DOI that 2 of them had a quite long review process. Just the last one saw the light the same year it was submitted.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Historic and benchmark papers for hydrology up to 1980


Here the list with the links to the paper or books (especially thanks to Google digitalizations, which are apparently downloadable as pdfs) and links to wikipedia or web biographies (to be updated).  I am limiting the citations to 1980 included. A you noticed I change the title, since many colleagues pointed out papers that are not strictly "hydrological" but nevertheless they changed their view on the subject.

Before 1900


Dalton, J.,  Meteorological Observations and Essays (2 ed.). Harrison and Crosfield, Manchester, 1834

Mulvany, T. J. (1851) On the use of self-registering rain and flood gauges in making observations of the relations of rain fall and of flood discharges in a given catchment. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland 4, 18–33.


Gauckler P. G., 1867, Etudes Théoriques et Pratiques sur l’Ecoulement et le Mouvement des Eaux, Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences, Tome 64: pp. 818–822.


1900 - 1950


Green, W. H., and G. A. Ampt. 1911. Studies on soil physics. J. Agric. Sci. 4(1): 1-2

Thiessen AH (1911) Precipitation averages for large areas. Monthly Weather Report 39: 1082--1084.

Horton, R. E. (1919) Rainfall interception. Monthly Weather Rev. 47, 603-623.

Ross, C. N. (1921) The calculation of flood discharge by the use of a time contour plan. Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia 2, 85–92.

Bowen IS (1926) The ratio of heat losses by conduction and by evaporation from any water surface.
Physical Rev 27:779–787

Richards, L.A., Capillary conduction of liquids through porous mediums, Physics 1: 318-333, 1931

Sherman, L. K. (1932) Streamflow from rainfall by unit-graph method. Engineering News Record 108, 501–505.


Horton, R., 1933. The role of infiltration in the hydrological cycle, Trans., Am. Geophysical Union, 14, 446-460.

Thornthwaite, C. W. & Holzman, B. (1939) The determination of evaporation from land and water surfaces. Monthly Weather Rev. 67, 4-11.

Theis CV (1940), The source of water derived from wells: essential factors controlling the response of an aquifer to development. Civ Eng 10 (5):277–280

Horton, R. E.Erosional development of streams and their drainage basins: hydro-physical approach to quantitative morphology, Geological Society of America Bulletin 56 (3): 275-370, 1945.

Penman, H.L. 1948. Natural evaporation from open water, bare soil, and grass. Proc. Roy. Soc. London A193:120-146.

Thornthwaite, C. W. (1948) An approach toward a rational classification of climate. Geographical Rev. 38, 55-94.


Terzaghi, K., 1950. Mechanics of landslides, in Paige, S., Application of Geology to Engineering Practice (Berkey Volume) Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado, p. 83-123. 


1951 - 1960


Swinbank, W. C. (1951) The measurement of vertical transfer of heat and water vapour and momentum in the lower atmosphere with some results. J. Meteorology 8, 135-145.

Leopold, Luna B., and Maddock, T. Jr., 1953, The Hydraulic Geometry of Stream Channels and Some Physiographic Implications, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 252, 56p.

Schumm, S.A., 1956, Evolution of drainage systems and slopes in badlands at Perth Amboy, New Jersey: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 67, p. 597-646.

Dooge, J. C. I. (1959) A general theory of the unit hydrograph, Journal of Geophysical Research 64, 241–256.

Linsley, R. K. & Crawford, N. H. (1960) Computation of a synthetic streamflow record on a digital computer. International Association of Scientific Hydrology Publication 51, 526–53


Hack, J.T., and Goodlett, J.C., 1960, Geomorphology and forest ecology of a mountain region in the central Appalachians: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 484, 84 p.

Kalman, R. E.,1960. A new approach to linear filtering and prediction problems. Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Basic Engineering, 82: 35–45.

Theil, H. e van de Panne, C., 1960. Quadratic programming as an extension of conventional quadratic maximisation. Manage. Sci., 7: 1-20



1961 - 1970

Kalman, R. E. e Bucy, R. S., 1961. New results in linear filtering and prediction theory. Transactions of the ASME – Journal of Basic Engineering, Series 83D: 95–108.

Hewlett J.D., and A. R. Hibbert, Moisture and Energy Conditiond within a  Sloping Soil Mass during drainage, Jour. Geophys. Res.,  Vol 68., No. 4, 1963


Rubin, J., and Steinhardt, R., 1963. Soil water relations during rain infiltration: 1. Theory. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings, v. 27, p. 246-251. 

Betson, R. P. (1964), What is watershed runoff ? J. Geophys. Res. 69(8), 1541-1552

Henderson, F. M. & Wooding, R. A. (1964) Overland flow and groundwater flow from a steady rainfall of finite duration. Journal of Geophysical Research 69, 1531–1540.

Craig H, and L. I. Gordon, Deuterium and oxygen 18 variations in the ocean and the marine atmosphere, in Stable Isotopes in Oceanographic Studies and Paleotemperatures, edited by E. Tongiorgi, CNR, Pisa 1965

Monteith, J. L. (1965) Evaporation and environment. In: The State and Movement of Water in Living Organisms (Proc. 19th Symp. Soc. Exp. Biol., Swansea 1964), 205-234. Academic Press, for The Society for Experimental Biology, UK.

Whipkey, R. Z. (1965) Subsurface stormflow from forested slopes. Bull. Int. Assoc. Sci. Hydrol. 10(2), 74-85

Wooding, R. A., 1965. A hydraulic modeling of the catchment-stream problem. 1. Kinematic wave theory. Journal of Hydrology, 3, 254-267.

Hewlett, J. D. & Hibbert, A. R. (1967) Factors affecting the response of small watersheds to precipitation in humid areas. In: International Symposium on Forest Hydrology (ed. by W. E. Sopper &H. W. Lull), 275-290. Pergamon, Oxford, UK

M. J. Kirkby & R. J. Chorley (1967): Throughflow, overland flow, and erosion , International Association of Scientific Hydrology. Bulletin, 12:3, 5-21

Mandelbrot, B.B., and J.R. Wallis, Noah, Joseph and operational Hydrology, Water Resour. Res, Vol 4, No 5, 1968

Ragan, R. M. (1968) An experimental investigation of partial area contributions. In: Hydrological Aspects of the Utilization of Water, Reports and Discussions (Proc. IAHS Assembly at Bern), 241-251. IAHS Publ. 76.

Shreve, R.L.: Stream lengths and basin areas in topologically random channel networks, J. Geol., 77, 397--414, 1969

Cunge, J. A., 1969. On the subject of flood propagation computation method (Muskingum method), J. Hydr. Res., 7(2): 205–230.

Freeze, R. A. & Harlan, R. L. (1969) Blueprint for a physically-based digitally-simulated, hydrologic response model. Journal of Hydrology 9, 237–258.

Mandelbrot, B.B., and J.R. Wallis, Robustness of the Rescaled Range R/S in the measurement of Noncyclic long run statistical dependence,Water Resour. Res, Vol 5, No 5, 1969

Philip, J.R. "Theory of infiltration." (1969). Advances in Hydroscience. v. 5, p. 215-296

Pinder, G. F. & Jones, J. F. (1969) Determination of the ground-water component of peak discharge from the chemistry of total runoff. Water Resour. Res. 5(2), 438-445.

Dunne, T. & Black, R. D. (1970) Partial area contributions to storm runoff in a small New England watershed. Water Resour. Res. 6, 1296-1311.

Dunne, T., and Black, R.D., 1970, An experimental investigation of runoff production in permeable soils: Water Resources Research, v. 6, no. 2, p. 478-490

Mehra, R.K., 1970. On the identification of variances and adaptive Kalman filtering. IEEE Trans. Automat. Contr., Vol. AC 15:175-184.

J.E. Nash, J.V. Sutcliffe, River flow forecasting through conceptual models part I — A discussion of principles, Journal of Hydrology Volume 10, Issue 3, April 1970, Pages 282-290


1971 - 1980


Weyman, D. R. (1970) Throughflow on hillslopes and its relation to the stream hydrograph. Bull. Int. Assoc. Sci. Hydrol. 15, 25-33.

Freeze, R. A. (1971), Three-dimensional, transient, saturated–unsaturated flow in a groundwater basin.
Water Resources Research 7, 347–366.



Eagleson, P. S. (1972), Dynamics of flood frequency, Water Resour. Res., 8(4), 878–898, doi:10.1029/WR008i004p00878.

Freeze, R. A. (1972), Role of subsurface flow in generating surface runoff: 1. Base flow contributions to channel flow. Water Resources Research 8, 609–623

Freeze, R. A. (1972), Role of subsurface flow in generating surface runoff: 2. Upstream source areas.
Water Resources Research 8, 1272–1283.


Priestley, C. H. B. & Taylor, R. J. (1972) On the assessment of surface heat flux and evaporation using large scale parameters. Monthly Weather Rev. 100, 81-92.

McNaughton, K. G.; Black, T. Andrew. 1973. Study of Evapotranspiration from a Douglas Fir Forest Using the Energy Balance Approach. Water Resources Research 9(6) 1579-1590 dx.doi.org/10.1029/WR009i006p01579


Dooge J.C.I.Linear theory of hydrologic systems (Technical bulletin / United States Department of Agriculture) Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1973


Matalas, N. C. e Wallis, J. R., 1973. Eureka! It fits a Pearson type 3 distribution, Water Resour. Res., 9(2): 281–289.

Price, R. K., 1973. Variable Parameter Diffusion Methods for Flood Routing, Rep INT 115, Hydraulics Research Station, Wallingford, Tech. Report

Wyman, D.R., 1973. Measurements of the downslope flow of water in a soil, Journal of Hydrology, 20, 267-288.


Zawadzki, I. I., 1973. Statistical Properties of Precipitation Patterns., J. Appl. Meteor., vol. 12, Issue 3, pp.459-472

Feddes, R. A., E. Bresler, and S. P. Neuman (1974), Field test of a modified numerical model for water uptake by root systems,Water Resour. Res., 10(6), 1199–1206, doi:10.1029/WR010i006p01199.


Campbell, R.H., 1975. Soil slips, debris flows, and rainstorms in the Santa Monica Mountains and vicinity, southern California: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 851, 51 p. 


Jarvis, P. G. (1976) The interpretation of the variations in leaf water potential and stomatal conductance found in canopies in the field. Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. London B 273, 593-610.

Wood, E. F. (1976) An analysis of the effects of parameter uncertainty in deterministic hydrologic models. Water Resources Research 12, 925–932.

Mualem, Y., A new model predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated porous media. Water Resour. Res. 12:513–522, 1976

Harr, R. D. (1977) Water flux in soil and subsoil on a steep forested slope. J. Hydrol. 33, 37-58.

Young, P.C. e Whitehead P., 1977. A recursive approach to time-series analysis for multivariable systems. International Journal of Control 25(3): 457-482.

Anderson, M. G. & Burt, T. P. (1978) The role of topography in controlling throughflow generation. Earth Surf. Processes 3, 331-344.

Clapp R.B., and  G. M. Hornberger, Empirical Equation for Some Soil Hydraulic Properties, Water Resour.  Research, vol 14, No 4, 1978

Eagleson, P. S. (1978), Climate, soil, and vegetation: 1. Introduction to water balance dynamics, Water Resour. Res., 14(5), 705–712, doi:10.1029/WR014i005p00705

Eagleson, P. S. (1978), Climate, soil, and vegetation: 2. The distribution of annual precipitation derived from observed storm sequences, Water Resour. Res., 14(5), 713–721, doi:10.1029/WR014i005p00713.

Beven., K. J., M.J.. Kirkby,  A physically based, variable contributing area model of basin hydrology, Hydrological Sciences bulletin-des Sciences Hydrologiques, 24, 1,3/1979

Mosley, M. P. (1979) Streamflow generation in a forested watershed, New Zealand. Water Resour Res. 15(4), 795-806.

Rodríguez-Iturbe I, Valdés JB, 1979. The geomorphologic structure of the hydrologic response. Water Resources Research, 15, 1117-1142.


Shuttleworth, W. J. & Calder, I. R. (1979) Has the Priestley-Taylor equation any relevance to forest evaporation? J. Appl. Met. 18, 639-646.

Sklash, M. G. & Farvolden, R. N. (1979) The role of groundwater in storm runoff. J. Hydrol. 43, 45-65.


Caine, N., 1980, The rainfall intensity-duration control of shallow landslides and debris flows; Geografiska Annaler, v. 62A, p. 23-27

Spear RC and Hornberger GM (1980) Eutrophication in Peel Inlet: II. Identification of critical uncertainties via generalized sensitivity analysis. Water Research 14: 43--49.

Topp, G.C., J.L. Davis, and A.P. Annan. 1980. Electromagnetic determination of soil water content: Measurements in coaxial transmission lines. Water Resour. Res. 16:574–582.



Renzo Rosso provided to me a first list of Benchmark publications, and is promising others. Also Roberto GrecoFrancesco Silvestro and Stefano OrlandiniEzio Todini and Rudy Rossetto contributed. Other papers came from Jeff McDonnel pages

 To be updated with everyone's contribute.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Benchmark papers in Hydrology

Solicited by the request of a colleague, I started to to think which are the ten papers that most influenced my work as hydrologist. In the meantime I am thinking, I can point out the series that  Jeff McDonnell is editing a series for IAHS,  called Benchmark papers in Hydrology.


Actually, he is providing some of the papers from his website at OSU. Obviuously it would be nice to have, let say, the best historic 100 papers available. Let see what we can do.

Monday, November 7, 2011

GeoPaparazzi is now for free in Android Market

It was announced in the cousin blog about Jgrass. No excuse then to avoid to use it !

This version, the 2.4 had also a Japanese porting by the people of the Disaster Management Information System of the city of Osaka which is visible here .

Friday, November 4, 2011

JGrass-NewAge system first publication

JGrass-NewAGE started as a project for Adige River Basin Authority. The goal was to study, besides the peak flows, droughts, and integrating it with a database, a GIS system, still maintaining the possibility to change parts of the whole system at the necessity. Indeed all the ideas expressed in the  GEOFRAME talk
at 2008 CUAHSI meeting.  The pillar on which we wanted to base that effort was also to have open source, multiplatform, software, possibly developed with open source resources.

We chose to use up-to-date software engineering solutions and therefore we looked for developing software by components.  As explained in another posts we first chose OpenMI and eventually OMS v3 as components framework. We are currently happy with this choice and finally the whole system seems to work incrementally.




The publication on GMD hopefully speaks by itself about what the system does (but many aspects of this enterprise will be explained in other papers). What we hope that this effort can attract the work of other producers of components to enrich the choices that users can do.