The CUAHSI-HIS System

The main focus of the CUAHSI HIS project is the CUAHSI-Hydrologic Information System (CUAHSI-HIS), a production information system for sharing hydrologic data. It allows hydrologic data to be stored, found, accessed, interpreted and analyzed. The first pieces of this system went into operation during 2005, the first HIS Servers were distributed to the WATERS Testbeds in May 2007, and additional pieces of the system have been added on a regular basis ever since.

The system is a distributed network of computers, linked together using the internet. The core of the system is a group of servers, operated by the CUAHSI-HIS project, refered to as HIS Central. In addition to this are numerous servers that are all based on a CUAHSI-HIS design, called HIS Servers, which are operated by independent investigators or organizations that wish to easily publish hydrologic data. The third group of servers are large 3rd-party data sources such as USGS NWIS or the EPA STORET, that are of significant value to the hydrologic community, that the CUAHSI-HIS project has integrated into the system, even though they are not based on the HIS Server design. To access the data on these various servers, the CUAHSI-HIS team has created a number of client tools, communication protocols and websites that are accessible to anyone with an internet connection. These various pieces function together as an integrated system, where investigators publish their data and everyone has easy access to both investigator data as well data in variety of large 3rd-party data repositories, in a standard way.

The CUAHSI-HIS has two major aspects, the system’s Design and its Components.