SY036-04
OpenET: Enabling Science-Based Water Management through Open Data Services and User-Driven Design
Thursday, 10 December 2020: 05:46
Virtual
Dana Rollison1, Robyn Grimm2, Forrest S Melton3, Justin L Huntington4, Jamie Herring5, Maurice Hall2, Tyler Erickson6, Richard G Allen7, Martha B. Anderson8, Philip Blankenau9, Matthew Bromley10, Britta Daudert4, Conor Doherty11, Christian Dunkerly12, Joshua Fisher13, MacKenzie Friedrichs14, Alberto Guzman3, Christopher Hain15, Gregory Halverson16, Jody Hansen17, Jordan Harding18, Lee Johnson19, Yanghui Kang20, Ayse Kilic21, Margot Malloy22, Blake Minor23, Charles Morton10, Samuel Ortega-Salazar24, Thomas Ott25, Peter Revelle24, Anderson Ruhoff26, Mitchell A Schull27, Gabriel B Senay28, John Michael Volk29, Tianxin Wang30 and Yun Yang31,32, (1)Environmental Defense Fund, San Francisco, CA, United States, (2)Environmental Defense Fund, Sacramento, CA, United States, (3)CSU Monterey Bay, NASA ARC-CREST, Seaside, CA, United States, (4)Desert Research Institute Reno, Division of Hydrologic Sciences, Reno, NV, United States, (5)HabitatSeven, Ottawa, ON, Canada, (6)Google, Earth Outreach, Mountain View, CA, United States, (7)Univ Idaho, Kimberly, ID, United States, (8)USDA ARS, Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Beltsville, MD, United States, (9)Idaho Department of Water Resources, Boise, ID, United States, (10)Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV, United States, (11)Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States, (12)Desert Research Institute Reno, Reno, United States, (13)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States, (14)EROS/SGT, Inc, Sioux Falls, SD, United States, (15)National Integrated Drought Information System, Boulder, CO, United States, (16)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, United States, (17)Desert Research Institute, Reno, United States, (18)Habitat Seven, Ottawa, Canada, (19)Univ. Corp. Monterey Bay, Moffett Field, CA, United States, (20)University of Wisconsin Madison, Madison, WI, United States, (21)University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, United States, (22)CEA Consulting, San Francisco, United States, (23)Desert Research Institute Reno, Reno, NV, United States, (24)University of Nebraska Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, United States, (25)Desert Research Institute, Division of Hydrologic Sciences, Reno, NV, United States, (26)IPH / UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil, (27)USDA ARS, Pendleton, OR, United States, (28)U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, EROS/North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center, Fort Collins, CO, United States, (29)University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV, United States, (30)CSU Monterey Bay, Marina, CA, United States, (31)University of Maryland College Park, ESSIC, College Park, MD, United States, (32)USDA ARS, Hydrology and Remote Sensing Lab, Beltsvillle, MD, United States
Abstract:
The ability to easily access consistent, accurate, and trusted information on evapotranspiration (ET) and consumptive use is crucial to improving water management across the West. ET data that is seen as broadly accepted can support adoption of innovative water management practices at scale, supporting meaningful progress toward increasing the reliability and sustainability of water supplies for agriculture. The OpenET project is leveraging a growing array of satellites, cloud computing resources, and an ensemble of trusted methods to generate ET data for user-defined geographies and time frames.
OpenET isn’t just about producing ET data; it’s ultimately about fostering usability and building trust and ownership within communities that need water consumption information for decision-making. The design and development of OpenET has been user-driven from the outset to ensure that the platform meets the needs of stakeholders and is trusted by water managers and decision-makers. The team has developed a set of Use Case partnerships that represent a diversity of potential users and applications: from growers and agricultural interest groups making irrigation management and other decisions at the field scale, to water district managers building accounting and trading platforms, and even broader drought and supply and demand assessments by state and federal agencies at larger scales. OpenET has also convened representatives from state and federal agencies, policymakers, NGOs, farmers and agricultural companies, and other practitioners into geographically focused Working Groups to ensure that the team receives input from a broad range of perspectives, not necessarily all captured through the Use Cases. Through semi-structured interviews, quarterly webinars, and annual workshops, the team solicits feedback on topics including: the interface design; spatial, temporal, and accuracy requirements; and outreach opportunities. In total, OpenET has developed more than a dozen Use Cases to inform the design of the platform, interface, and the data services available through the API. The team will present on the successes and challenges of several of these partnerships, and discuss insights obtained on how to build credibility and shared trust in OpenET as a decision-making tool for water managers across the western U.S.
