Hydroinformatics is a branch of

informatics Informatics is the study of computational systems. According to the Association for Computing Machinery, ACM Europe Council and Informatics Europe, informatics is synonymous with computer science and computing as a profession, in which the centra ...

which concentrates on the application of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in addressing the increasingly serious problems of the equitable and efficient use of

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

for many different purposes. Growing out of the earlier discipline of computational hydraulics, the numerical

simulation A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in ...

of water flows and related processes remains a mainstay of hydroinformatics, which encourages a focus not only on the technology but on its application in a social context. On the technical side, in addition to computational hydraulics, hydroinformatics has a strong interest in the use of techniques originating in the so-called

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

community, such as artificial neural networks or recently support vector machines and

genetic programming Genetic programming (GP) is an evolutionary algorithm, an artificial intelligence technique mimicking natural evolution, which operates on a population of programs. It applies the genetic operators selection (evolutionary algorithm), selection a ...

. These might be used with large collections of observed data for the purpose of data mining for knowledge discovery, or with data generated from an existing, physically based model in order to generate a computationally efficient emulator of that model for some purpose. Hydroinformatics recognises the inherently social nature of the problems of water management and of decision-making processes, and strives to understand the social processes by which technologies are brought into use. Since the problems of water management are most severe in the majority world, while the resources to obtain and develop technological solutions are concentrated in the hands of the minority, the need to examine these social processes are particularly acute. Hydroinformatics draws on and integrates hydraulics,

hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...

environmental engineering Environmental engineering is a professional engineering Academic discipline, discipline related to environmental science. It encompasses broad Science, scientific topics like chemistry, biology, ecology, geology, hydraulics, hydrology, microbiolo ...

and many other disciplines. It sees application at all points in the

water cycle The water cycle (or hydrologic cycle or hydrological cycle) is a biogeochemical cycle that involves the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth across different reservoirs. The mass of water on Earth remains fai ...

from atmosphere to ocean, and in artificial interventions in that cycle such as urban drainage and water supply systems. It provides support for decision making at all levels from governance and policy through management to operations. Hydroinformatics has a growing world-wide community of researchers and practitioners, and postgraduate programmes in Hydroinformatics are offered by many leading institutions. The Journal of Hydroinformatics provides a specific outlet for Hydroinformatics research, and the community gathers to exchange ideas at the biennial conferences. These activities are coordinated by the joint IAHR, IWA, IAHSIAHS-AISH
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Hydroinformatics Section

Classic Soft-Computing Techniques
is the first volume of the three, in the Handbook of HydroInformatics series (

Elsevier Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell (journal), Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, ...

) by Saeid Eslamian. Handbook of HydroInformatics, Volume II
Advanced Machine Learning Techniques
presents both the art of designing good learning algorithms, as well as the science of analyzing an algorithm's computational and statistical properties and performance guarantees Handbook of HydroInformatics Volume III
Water Data Management Best Practices
presents the latest and most updated data processing techniques that are fundamental to Water Science and Engineering disciplines.

References

External links

Hydroinformatics Lab at Brigham Young UniversityHydroinformatics Lab at the University of Iowa - Research and Community Platform.IHE Delft MSc / PhD in Hydroinformatics.EuroAquae - European master course of Hydroinformatics and Water Management.Hydroinformatics MSc at Newcastle University.The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) Hydrologic Information System.
{{Informatics Environmental engineering Hydrology Information science by discipline Computational fields of study