Robert M. Hirsch (born June 6, 1949) is a research hydrologist and a former Associate Director for Water of the U.S. Geological Survey. As Associate Director (also known as Chief Hydrologist), he was responsible for the water science programs of the USGS. These include water-related research, the collection of data on rivers and ground water, assessments of water quantity and quality. He served as the leader of USGS water science from 1994 to 2008 when Dr. Hirsch transitioned to the USGS National Research Program to rededicate himself to advancing the science on critical issues of climate change and long-term trends in water resources.
He began his USGS career in 1976 as a hydrologist and has conducted research on water quality statistical methods (trends and fluxes), water supply reliability, and flood frequency analysis. He has served as: Acting Director of the USGS during an interim period between Directors (August 1993 to March 1994); Assistant Chief Hydrologist for Research and External Coordination (1989–1993); and Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, U.S. Department of the Interior (1987–1988). His research has focused on creating and adapting statistical methods for the analysis of water data, [1] [2] [3] [4] and relationship of water resources to climate change. [5] [6] [7] [8] He is co-author of the textbook "Statistical Methods in Water Resources."
He graduated from Highland Park High School, Highland Park, Illinois, in 1967. He earned a bachelor of arts in Geology at Earlham College in 1971, an MS in Geology at the University of Washington in 1974, and a Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University from the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering in 1976.
Hydrology is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydrologist. Hydrologists are scientists studying earth or environmental science, civil or environmental engineering, and physical geography. Using various analytical methods and scientific techniques, they collect and analyze data to help solve water related problems such as environmental preservation, natural disasters, and water management.
Robert Elmer Horton was an American hydrologist, geomorphologist, civil engineer, and soil scientist, considered by many to be the father of modern American hydrology. An eponymous medal is awarded by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) to recognize outstanding contributions to the field of hydrological geophysics. The AGU Hydrology section was formed largely due to his personal property that was bequeathed to AGU.
Timothy A. Cohn was an American hydrologist with the US Geological Survey, USGS Science Advisor for Hazards (1998–2001), and lecturer at Johns Hopkins University. Cohn served in the office of Senator Bill Bradley (D-NJ) in 1995-97 as a AAAS Congressional Science Fellow, and worked on the unsuccessful Bradley presidential campaign in 2000. After 2005, Cohn was a member of the Governing Board of the American Institute of Physics.
Luna Bergere Leopold was a leading U.S. geomorphologist and hydrologist, and son of Aldo Leopold. He received a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin in 1936; an M.S. in physics-meteorology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1944; and a Ph.D. in geology from Harvard University in 1950.
Groundwater recharge or deep drainage or deep percolation is a hydrologic process, where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. Recharge is the primary method through which water enters an aquifer. This process usually occurs in the vadose zone below plant roots and is often expressed as a flux to the water table surface. Groundwater recharge also encompasses water moving away from the water table farther into the saturated zone. Recharge occurs both naturally and through anthropogenic processes, where rainwater and/or reclaimed water is routed to the subsurface.
Geographic information systems (GISs) have become a useful and important tool in the field of hydrology to study and manage Earth's water resources. Climate change and greater demands on water resources require a more knowledgeable disposition of arguably one of our most vital resources. Because water in its occurrence varies spatially and temporally throughout the hydrologic cycle, its study using GIS is especially practical. Whereas previous GIS systems were mostly static in their geospatial representation of hydrologic features, GIS platforms are becoming increasingly dynamic, narrowing the gap between historical data and current hydrologic reality.
Founded in 1964, the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) is a multidisciplinary not-for-profit professional association dedicated to the advancement of individuals in water resources management, research, and education. With more than 2,000 members, AWRA is the pre-eminent multidisciplinary U.S. organization in the field. AWRA’s membership includes engineers, educators, foresters, biologists, ecologists, geographers, managers, regulators, hydrologists, hydro-geologists, attorneys, economists, and water policy specialists. AWRA organizes conferences, publishes the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Water Resources Association (J AWRA), the Water Resources IMPACT magazine, and sponsors various member committees, State Sections and Student Chapters.
A hydrologic model is a simplification of a real-world system that aids in understanding, predicting, and managing water resources. Both the flow and quality of water are commonly studied using hydrologic models.
Urban runoff is surface runoff of rainwater, landscape irrigation, and car washing created by urbanization. Impervious surfaces are constructed during land development. During rain, storms, and other precipitation events, these surfaces, along with rooftops, carry polluted stormwater to storm drains, instead of allowing the water to percolate through soil. This causes lowering of the water table and flooding since the amount of water that remains on the surface is greater. Most municipal storm sewer systems discharge untreated stormwater to streams, rivers, and bays. This excess water can also make its way into people's properties through basement backups and seepage through building wall and floors.
Hydrological optimization applies mathematical optimization techniques to water-related problems. These problems may be for surface water, groundwater, or the combination. The work is interdisciplinary, and may be done by hydrologists, civil engineers, environmental engineers, and operations researchers.
In non-parametric statistics, the Theil–Sen estimator is a method for robustly fitting a line to sample points in the plane by choosing the median of the slopes of all lines through pairs of points. It has also been called Sen's slope estimator, slope selection, the single median method, the Kendall robust line-fit method, and the Kendall–Theil robust line. It is named after Henri Theil and Pranab K. Sen, who published papers on this method in 1950 and 1968 respectively, and after Maurice Kendall because of its relation to the Kendall tau rank correlation coefficient.
A water year is a term commonly used in hydrology to describe a time period of 12 months for which precipitation totals are measured. Its beginning differs from the calendar year because part of the precipitation that falls in late autumn and winter accumulates as snow and does not drain until the following spring or summer's snowmelt. The goal is to ensure that as much as possible of the surface runoff during the water year is attributable to the precipitation during the same water year.
Water cycle management is a multidisciplinary approach relating to all planning, developmental, operational and tactical decisions to influence the water cycle. Most importantly water cycle management is used to ensure availability of clean water for designated use, and to ensure safe release of treated water back to nature. In undisturbed environment water is in a natural cycle and it is generally usable for most of nature as it is in each stage of the cycle. After human interaction the natural cycle is disturbed. Runoff on urban agricultural areas collect some objects, particles and substances that may not be purified from water through natural purifying methods. Additionally, “used water” from households and industry can be extremely harmful for nature, if not treated properly.
Murugesu Sivapalan is an Australian-American engineer and hydrologist of Sri Lankan Tamil origin and a world leader in the area of catchment hydrology. He is currently the Chester and Helen Siess Endowed Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and professor of Geography & Geographic Information Science, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Sivapalan is widely recognized for his fundamental research on scale issues in hydrological modeling, his leadership of global initiatives aimed at hydrologic predictions in ungauged basins, and for his role in launching the new sub-field of socio-hydrology.
Polly A. Penhale is an American biologist and Environmental Officer at the National Science Foundation. She is a leading figure in Antarctic research, and has been recognized for contributions to research, policy, and environmental conservation. Penhale Peak in Antarctica is named for her.
Mary Catherine Hill is an American hydrologist, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the winner of the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize and of the Dooge Medal of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, a Darcy Lecturer for the National Ground Water Association, and Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the Geological Society of America. After working for 33 years at the United States Geological Survey, she became a professor of geology at the University of Kansas.
Christa Peters-Lidard is an American hydrologist known for her work on integrating land surface modeling and data assimilation, particularly with remotely sensed measurements of precipitation.
Carol Kendall is a hydrologist known for her research tracking nutrients and contaminants in aquatic ecosystems using isotopic tracers.
Hendrik Marten Haitjema is a Dutch and American engineer and hydrologist, and professor emeritus at Indiana University. He is a recipient of the 2017 Keith A. Anderson Award of the National Ground Water Association. He is the author of the book Analytic Element Modeling of Groundwater Flow and the widely used computational groundwater flow modeling system GFLOW.
Paul David Bates is a hydrologist, working as Professor of Hydrology at the University of Bristol and Chairman of Fathom, a water risk intelligence firm that he cofounded. He was Director of the University of Bristol's Cabot Institute of the Environment from 2011 to 2013 and subsequently Head of Bristol's School of Geographical Sciences (2013–2017).