Hubbard Brook Water Visualization Project: About

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WaterViz for Hubbard Brook represents the nexus between the hydrologic sciences, visual arts, music, and computer design. Hydrologic data captured from a small watershed at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in the White Mountains of New Hampshire using an array of environmental sensors, is transmitted to the internet and used to drive a computer model that calculates all components of the water cycle for the catchment in real time. These data, in turn, drive an artistic simulation and sonification of the water cycle, reflecting the hydrologic processes occurring at that moment in time. It is our hope that this visualization will allow the viewer to intuit the dynamic inputs, outputs, and storage of water in this small, upland forested watershed as they are occurring and from anywhere in the world. We invite the viewer to further explore the content provided in these pages to better understand the water cycle and its importance to ecosystems and the world we live in.

WaterViz for Hubbard Brook is a cooperative and interdisciplinary project between artist Xavier Cortada, composer Juan Carlos Espinosa and the following organizations, that grew out of a White Mountain National Forest artist-in-residence program:

Clean water is one of our most prized natural resources as it is fundamental to all living things. Healthy forested watersheds keep streams clean, water quality high, and protect downstream ecosystems from excessive flooding and drought by supporting vegetation and soils that provide natural filtration and water storage capacity, and vegetative cover that minimizes soil erosion and sediment runoff.

People care about water: where it comes from, where it goes, how it gets there, how pure it is, what it does to the built and natural environment, and how it is projected to change in the future. With the new WaterViz at Hubbard Brook, we invite you to learn more about water: from the science of water and the water cycle, to the role of water in civilization, and to the myriad themes of water in literature, art, and music.

WaterViz for Hubbard Brook offers a new way to view a vast amount of hydrologic data from an actual forested watershed in real time. It represents the nexus between the hydrologic sciences, visual arts, music, and computer design. In a nutshell, hydrologic data captured from a small watershed at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in the White Mountains of New Hampshire using an array of environmental sensors, is transmitted to the internet and used to drive a computer model that calculates all components of the water cycle for the catchment in real time. These data, in turn, drive an artistic simulation and sonification of the water cycle, reflecting the hydrologic processes occurring at that moment in time. It is our hope that this visualization will allow the viewer to intuit the dynamic inputs, outputs, and storage of water in this small, upland forested watershed as they are occurring and from anywhere in the world.

This project involves the collaboration of many talented participants, each of whom bring their unique abilities to create an artistic representation of ecological processes occuring at Hubbard Brook.

Our Team is:

  • Lindsey Rustad, Project Lead, USDA Forest Service Durham NH.
  • Mary Martin, Web programing and Data Management, University of New Hampshire, Durham NH.
  • Marty Quinn, Musician and Information Manager, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
  • Mark Green, Hydrologic Modeling, Plymouth State University, Plymouth, NH.
  • Scott Bailey, USDA Forest Service, Hubbard Brook, Woodstock, NH.
  • Gajan Sivandran, Hydrologic Modeler, Ohio State University
  • Jussi Rasinmäki, Visualization Developer, Simosol Oy, Finland.
  • Ivaylo Dzhedzhev, Visualization Developer, Simosol Oy, Finland.
  • Xavier Cortada, Visual Artist, College of Architecture and The Arts, Florida International University, Miami, FL.
  • Juan Carlos Espinosa, Composer, Florida International University, Miami, FL.
  • Jacquelyn Wilson, Education and Outreach, Hubbard Brook Research Foundation, Woodstock NH.
  • Alison Magill, Web Design and Content Management, University of New Hampshire, Durham NH.