hydrology
ASU, SRP project takes flight to improve water supply forecasting
Arizona State University and Salt River Project are working with Airborne Snow Observatories Inc. on an innovative project to measure snowpack in the Salt River watershed — providing crucial data to improve water management. For the first time, a collaborative research team is using an airplane equipped with state-of-the-art scanning lidar and imaging spectrometers, along…
WRR Publication
A new publication in the journal Water Resources Research (Kimsal et al., 2026) describes the flooding characteristics (depth, duration, frequency) and their geological controls for a large set of ephemeral playas in the Chihuahuan Desert as part of the Jornada Long Term Ecological Research program. Congratulations to the authors associated with the Center for Hydrologic…
JAWRA Publication
A new publication in the Journal of the American Water Resources Association (Moiz and Mascaro, 2026) evaluates the National Water Model for the state of Arizona and quantifies its ability to reproduce water balance observations at multiple scales over the Millennium Drought period. Congratulations to the authors associated with the Center for Hydrologic Innovations!
From campus to company: How research sparked a new water tech startup
Healthy forests act like natural infrastructure: storing and releasing water and reducing wildfire risk. Restoration can improve water supplies, but measuring those benefits has relied on rough estimates that miss the complexity of Arizona’s landscapes. Tributary helps groups measure the real water outcomes of forest restoration projects.
ASU Flow: Bridging the gap between water research and practice in Arizona
The Center for Hydrologic Innovations recently held the 3rd annual ASU Flow event at the We-Ko-Pa Resort in Fountain Hills, as part fh the Arizona Hydrological Society annual symposium. A recap of the event was featured by the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative!
Prof. Enrique Vivoni elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union
Our Center Director was recently elected as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). AGU Fellows must demonstrate scientific eminence in the Earth and space sciences through achievements in research, as demonstrated by one or more of the following: breakthrough or discovery; innovation in cross-disciplinary science or methods development; or sustained scientific impact. Congratulations…
The Arizona Water Observatory: Changing the way people access water information
Congratulations to the team from the Center for Hydrologic Innovations that was recently featured by the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative! Center staff members Callahan Stormer and Vivian Hobbins presented an update of the Arizona Water Observatory to the Arizona Geographic Information Council (AGIC) during their annual meeting.
Prof. Enrique Vivoni awarded Arid Lands Engineering award
Our Center Director was recently awarded the 2025 Arid Lands Hydraulic Engineering Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for “his pioneering work on the integration of land surface models, sensor networks, and remote sensing to study coupled processes during the North American monsoon in the arid southwest.”. Congratulations Prof. Vivoni!
New methods for detecting snow in Arizona for water supply
Congratulations to the team from the Center for Hydrologic Innovations that was recently featured by the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative! Postdoctoral scholar Zhaocheng Wang described the effort as: “Planet imagery is useful for the type of dryland hydrology we have in Arizona. We trained a machine learning model called a convolutional neural network that can…
WRR Publication
A new publication in Water Resources Research (Longyang and Zeng, 2024) develops a deep learning surrogate of a hydrologic model applied to the Upper Colorado River to investigate the role of vegetation variability in modifying the watershed behavior. Congratulations to authors associated with the Center for Hydrologic Innovations!