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GIS and Remote Sensing Applications in Modern Water Resources Engineering

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Modern Water Resources Engineering

Part of the book series: Handbook of Environmental Engineering ((HEE,volume 15))

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Abstract

Geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) concepts and technologies are used extensively in modern water resources engineering planning, design, and operations practice and are changing the way these activities are accomplished. GIS has become an increasingly important means for understanding and dealing with the pressing problems of water and related resources management in our world. GIS concepts and technologies help us collect and organize the data about such problems and understand their spatial relationships. GIS analysis capabilities provide ways for modeling and synthesizing information that contribute to supporting decisions for resource management across a large range of scales, from local to global. And GIS provides a means for visualizing resource characteristics and thereby enhancing understanding in support of decision-making. This chapter introduces GIS and RS and their application to water resources systems. A general overview of GIS is presented which is followed by summary review of GIS applications for modern water resources engineering.

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Abbreviations

ABR:

Average basin rainfall

AMBER:

Areal mean basin effective rainfall

API:

Application program interface

ALERT:

Automated local evaluation in real time

AML:

Arc macro language

AMSR:

Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer

CAD:

Computer-aided design

CAPPI:

Constant altitude plan position indicator

CASE:

Computer-aided software engineering

CDSS:

Colorado Decision Support System

CERL:

Construction Engineering Research Lab (US Army Corps of Engineers)

CRWR:

Center for Research in Water Resources (Univ. Texas, Austin)

CU:

Consumptive use

CUAHSI:

Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science

CWCB:

Colorado Water Conservation Board

DBMS:

Database management system

DCIA:

Directly connected impervious area

DCP:

Data collection platform

DCS:

Data Capture Standards (FEMA)

DEM:

Digital elevation model

DFIRM:

Digital flood insurance rate map

DLG:

Digital line graph

DMI:

Data management interface

DOQQ:

Digital Orthoimagery Quarter Quadrangles

DPA:

Digital precipitation array

DSS:

Decision Support System

DTM:

Digital terrain model

EDNA:

Elevation derivatives for national applications

EOS:

Earth observation satellite

EPA:

Environmental Protection Agency

ESRI:

Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.

ET:

Evapotranspiration

ETM+:

Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus

F2D:

Flood two-dimensional rainfall-runoff model

FDA:

Flood damage analysis

FEMA:

Federal Emergency Management Agency

FFG:

Flash flood guidance

FIRM:

Flood insurance rate map

FIS:

Flood Insurance Studies

FWPP:

Flood warning and preparedness program

Geo-MODSIM:

GIS-based MODSIM (Modular Simulation program)

GeoRAS:

Geospatial River Analysis System

GIS:

Geographical Information System

GLEAMS:

Groundwater Loading Effects of Agricultural Management Systems

GNIS:

Geographic Names Information System

GOES:

Geostationary operational environmental satellite

GPS:

Global positioning system

GRASS:

Geographic Resources Analysis Support System

GUI:

Graphical user interface

HAS:

Hydrologic analysis and support

HEC:

Hydrologic Engineering Center (US Army Corps of Engineers)

HEC-RAS:

HEC River Analysis System

HIS:

Hydrologic Information System

HL-RMS:

Hydrology Lab—Research Modeling System (NWS)

HMS:

Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC)

HMT:

Hydrometeorological Testbed (NOAA)

HRAP:

Hydrologic Rainfall Analysis Project

HTML:

Hypertext markup language

HTTP:

Hypertext transfer protocol

HUC:

Hydrologic unit code

LIDAR:

LIght detection and ranging

LSM:

Land Surface Model

LULC:

Land use–land cover

MAP:

Mean areal precipitation

MD:

Maximum day demand

MH:

Maximum hour demand

MODFLOW:

Modular Finite-Difference Groundwater Flow Model

MPE:

Multisensor precipitation estimator

MRLC:

Multi-resolution Land Characteristics Consortium

MSS:

Multispectral scanner

NAIP:

National Agricultural Imagery Program

NASA:

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (USA)

NASIS:

National Soil Information System

NDVI:

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index

NED:

National Elevation Dataset

NFIP:

National Flood Insurance Program

NESDIS:

National Environmental Satellite Data Information Service

NEXRAD:

Next Generation Weather Radar

NHD:

National Hydrography Dataset

NLCD:

National Land Cover Dataset

NLDAS:

North American Land Data Assimilation System

NOAA:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NOHRSC:

National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center

NRCS:

Natural Resources Conservation Service

NRC:

National Research Council

NSA:

National Snow Analyses

NWS:

National Weather Service

NWIS:

National Water Information System (USGS)

OSD:

Official Soil Series Description

PDSI:

Palmer Drought Severity Index

PPS:

Precipitation processing system (radar)

PRISM:

Parameter-Elevation Regressions on Slope Model

QPE:

Quantitative precipitation estimate

QPF:

Quantitative precipitation forecast

RDBMS:

Relational Database Management System

RFC:

River Forecast Center (NWS)

RGDSS:

Rio Grande Decision Support System

SAC-SMA:

Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting

SCADA:

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition

SDMS:

Spatial Data Management System

SDSS:

Spatial Decision Support Systems

SLAR:

Side-Looking Airborne Radar

SMA:

Soil Moisture Accounting

SQL:

Structured Query Language

SSM/I:

Special Sensor Microwave/Imager

SSURGO:

Soil Survey Geographic Database

STATSCO:

State Soil Geographic Database

STORET:

STOrage and RETrieval

STP:

Storm total precipitation

TIGER:

Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing

TIN:

Triangulated Irregular Network

TM:

Thematic Mapper

UH:

Unit hydrograph

UML:

Universal Modeling Language

USBR:

United States Bureau of Reclamation

USDA:

US Department of Agriculture

USGS:

United States Geologic Survey

UZFWM:

Upper-zone free water maximum

WADISO:

Water Distribution System Analysis and Optimization

WADSOP:

Water Distribution System Optimization

XML:

Extensible Markup Language

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA

    Lynn E. Johnson Ph.D., P.E.

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  1. Lynn E. Johnson Ph.D., P.E.
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Zorex Corporation, Newtonville, New York, USA

    Lawrence K. Wang

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

    Chih Ted Yang

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Johnson, L.E. (2014). GIS and Remote Sensing Applications in Modern Water Resources Engineering. In: Wang, L., Yang, C. (eds) Modern Water Resources Engineering. Handbook of Environmental Engineering, vol 15. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-595-8_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-595-8_7

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