| Director: |
Babak Shabani |
| Other Researchers: |
Scott Allbright,
Ginger Davis,
Kathleen Griffin,
Rebecca Meyer,
Pratima Soni
|
| Funding: |
Indiana University - Indiana Geological & Water Survey
|
| Issue: |
Climate change with its associated droughts and floods highlight the need to improve our understanding of water budgets in Indiana to facilitate improved water-resource planning. |
| Objective: |
The Indiana Water Balance Network (IWBN) was developed to monitor trends in water loss and gain for different components of the hydrologic cycle in various hydrogeologic settings. |
| Approach: |
Monitored hydrologic components include precipitation, evapotranspiration, soil moisture, and groundwater levels. Preliminary data from monitoring sites are available in real time on the IWBN website and water-year compilations of daily data will also be made available. |
| Products: |
• Website hosting data and providing an overview of the importance of water-balance measurements (developed, maintenance required)
• The only existing real-time soil-moisture monitoring network in Indiana
• Hydrologic databases from sites throughout Indiana (data QA/QC work has begun but more personnel are needed to implement standardized procedures) |
| Benefits: |
• The data are available as a product from the IGS demonstrating the organization’s capabilities with respect to hydrologic investigations
• The data are also used for specific hydrologic research problems leading to peer-reviewed publications
• Data are also used by IGS staff and IU faculty to develop research proposals and collaborations with other agencies and universities
• Monitoring site equipment installation, datalogger programming, data management, data analysis, and data presentation provide excellent training opportunities for IU student interns in search of applied hydrologic training. |
