WaterNet: The NASA water cycle solutions network – Danubian regional applications

WaterNet is a new international network of researchers, stakeholders, and end-users of remote sensing tools that will benefit the water resources management community. This paper provides an overview and it discusses the concept of solutions networks focusing on the WaterNet. It invites Danubian research and applications teams to join our WaterNet network. The NASA Water cycle Solutions Network's goal is to improve and optimize the sustained ability of water cycle researchers, stakeholders, organizations and networks to interact, identify, harness, and extend NASA research results to augment decision support tools and meet national needs. Our team will develop WaterNet by engaging relevant NASA water cycle research resources and community-of-practice organizations, to develop what we term an "actionable database" that can be used to communicate and connect NASA Water cycle research Results (NWRs) towards the improvement of water-related Decision Support Tools (DSTs). Recognizing that the European Commission and European Space Agency have also developed many related Water Research products (EWRs), we seek to learn about these and network with the EU teams to include their information in the WaterNet actionable data base and Community of Practice. WaterNet will then develop strategies to connect researchers and decision-makers via innovative communication strategies, improved user access to NASA and EU – Danubian resources, improved water cycle research community appreciation for user requirements, improved policymaker, management and stakeholder knowledge of research and application products, and improved identification of pathways for progress. Finally, WaterNet will develop relevant benchmarking and metrics, to understand the network's characteristics, to optimize its performance, and to establish sustainability. This paper provides examples of several NASA products based on remote sensing and land data assimilation systems that integrate remotely sensed and in situ observed forcing data that drive a Land Surface Model to simulate surface hydrologic variables of value to water and emergency managers. It clearly shows the limitations of coarse resolution observations and models especially during flash flood events. Snow water equivalent and soil moisture estimates for water and drought management purposes appear to have some value at the coarser resolutions of ¼ degree; however, higher resolution information at the 1 to 5 km scale is desirable. In conclusion, this paper invites interested water-cycle researchers and decision-makers to join our WaterNet Community of Practice to exchange information and share the latest emerging technologies of value to decision-makers.