Over the last 10 years, a field of real-time hydrology has developed, both nationally and globally. Water is now like weather, forecast everywhere, all the time. The US National Water Model provides hourly updated forecasts of flow in 2.7 million stream reaches of the national stream network. The GEOGLOWS system provides real-time streamflow forecasting for the whole earth. A national and global framework for simulating and forecasting the movement of water exists. The speaker will describe his experience in helping to develop the National Water Model, and to apply it to create real-time flood inundation mapping and flood impact on the road transportation system of Texas. What do these developments mean for Illinois? How could flood impacts on the road and bridge system of Illinois be forecast? How can developments in this field over the next 10 years take advantage of the very great understanding of natural and hydrologic processes of Illinois developed through research at the Prairie Research Institute?
David R. Maidment is Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin where he served on the faculty for 38 years. He received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1976 specializing in hydrologic systems under the guidance of Professor Ven Te Chow. He is a specialist in surface water hydrology and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2016 for the development of geographic information systems applied to hydrologic processes.
