Hydrologic Measurement Facility

The main objective of a Hydrologic Measurement Facility (HMF) is to provide the equipment and training required for scientists to accurately collect the necessary data for their studies.

• A successful integrated, coherent, multi-scale, multidisciplinary dataset requires the acquisition of accurate and precise measurements.
• Recent advances in environmental sensors, wireless communications, remotely sensed data, GIS, and computers can benefit hydrologic science.
• Much of the recently developed instrumentation is very expensive and requires a substantial amount of time to learn proper use and, therefore, is impractical for many members of the research community.

CUAHSI is pursuing a distributed node based approach to achieve this objective. To learn more about the node model please read the Final Node Model document.

Read more about the proposed overall governance plan for building a distributed HMF in the HMF Governance document.

Proposed CUAHSI Nodes: CUAHSI will submit proposals to acquire and knowledgably deploy tools the community needs most in phased acquisition. As demonstrated in the recent 2006 survey and subsequent meetings, the following CUAHSI nodes were enthusiastically supported by the community and are being pursued by the HMF team. Read more about them:

• Proposed Evapotranspiration Suite
• Proposed Geophysics Electromagnetic Toolbox
• Proposed Biogeochemical Multi-parameter Probes

Affiliate Nodes: CUAHSI is also facilitating mechanisms for the academic community to share instrumentation.

Are you submitting a proposal to acquire instrumentation that you'd like to share with the broader hydrologic science community? CUAHSI will create a directory of all nodes and post on our website to facilitate sharing. To become an affiliate node, please follow the instructions in the accompanying link. [Letter of Commitment Instructions for HMF Affiliate Node Proposals]

CUAHSI has developed an agreement with the USGS so that CUAHSI member universities can rent equipment from the USGS Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility. There are currently 8 additional slots for University participation. [USGS HIF Catalog | Price List (monthly costs)]

To have your university become a HIF participant, you will need to complete the following four steps:

1. Identify a contact person (someone who controls a university credit card and can rent for all interested departments).
2. Execute a "hold harmless" letter with the university legal department (most difficult step).
3. Contact the local USGS Water Science Center.
4. Get CUAHSI Certification.

Additional information regarding participation in the HIF is available by visiting www.cuahsi.org/docs/hif-pilot.pdf.