Hydrologic information systems: An introductory overview

Hydrologic Information Systems (HIS) integrate hardware and software to support collection, management, and sharing of hydrologic observations data. Successful HIS facilitate hydrologic monitoring, scientific investigation, watershed management, and communication of hydrologic conditions. Furthermore, HIS support the day-to-day data operations that are essential to organizations that monitor hydrologic systems. As an introductory overview of HIS, this paper reviews the history of HIS development and identifies and describes key components. Based on past HIS literature, patterns emerged for universal and generic HIS functionality and components. The main data pools are collection/acquisition, operational storage, and sharing/publication/dissemination with data flux occurring between pools. Persistent and contemporary challenges for HIS are identified, and examples of current and emerging HIS are described in the context of how they are addressing these challenges. Opportunities remain for coordinated community efforts to address outstanding barriers, advance HIS, and further enable hydrology.