Peer-reviewed research and open science methods that directly strengthen operational water intelligence.
Flood intelligence
Flood Mapping Methodology for the National Water Model
Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (2019)
Evaluation of HAND-based methods translating NWM forecasts into operational flood intelligence.
Johnson, J. M., Munasinghe, D., Eyelade, D., & Cohen, S. Integrated evaluation of the HAND-based flood mapping framework used in operational flood intelligence.
National modeling
Diagnostic Evaluation of the NOAA National Water Model
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres (2023)
National-scale diagnostics highlighting model heterogeneity in operational forecasting.
Johnson, J. M., Fang, S., Sankarasubramanian, A., Rad, A. M., Kindl da Cunha, L., Jennings, K. S., et al. A national analysis of diagnostic model selection and heterogeneous formulations for the NOAA National Water Model.
Hydrologic data infrastructure
Reference Flow Networks for Hydrologic Data Integration
Environmental Modelling & Software (2023)
Methods for durable, reproducible integration using a national hydrographic reference network.
Blodgett, D., Johnson, J. M., & Bock, A. Framework for constructing national reference flow networks that support reproducible hydrologic analysis.
Next‑generation modeling
The NextGen Water Resources Modeling Framework
JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association (2026)
Community-driven framework linking hydrologic science, data infrastructure, and HPC.
Ogden, F. L., Jennings, K., Clark, E. P., Coon, E., Cosgrove, B., da Cunha, L. K., et al. NextGen framework advancing integrated hydrologic modeling at scale.
Machine learning hydrology
Interpretable Machine Learning for Rating Curve Estimation
Scientific Reports (2025)
Interpretable ML approaches for national rating-curve parameter estimation.
Baruah, A., Zarrabi, R., Cohen, S., Johnson, J. M., & McDermott, R. Methods estimate rating curve parameters across the U.S. from channel geometry and hydrologic attributes.
Data infrastructure
Structuring Big Data for Hydrologic Analysis
Scientific Data (2023)
Restructuring and serving large NWM historic streamflow data for analytics.
Johnson, J. M., Blodgett, D. L., Clarke, K. C., & Pollak, J. Scientific Data 10(1), 725. Web-accessible architecture for NOAA National Water Model historic simulations.