henry pai
  • home
  • interests
  • publications
  • links
  • sandbox
^ Iguazu Falls, taken from Argentina side.

Water news/education
  • Maven's Notebook (aggregates selective water news by Chris Austin, she's awesome!)
  • Aquafornia (similar to Maven's Notebook and previously maintained by Chris, now by Water Education Foundation)
  • WaterWired (water research blog from Prof. Campena and portal site for additional links)
  • Western US Weather Blog (good explanations for connecting atmospheric drivers with weather, by Daniel Swain)
  • ModelMyWatershed (snappy web interface for watershed loading of nitrogen, phosphorous, and sediments; requires login)

Data sources (western USA focus)
  • Sierra Nevada San Joaquin Hydrologic Observatory (data repository; UCM SNRI maintained)
  • California Data Exchange Center (multiple agencies; DWR maintained)
  • California Irrigation Management Information System (DWR maintained)
  • National Water Information System (USGS)
  • California Ground Water Quality (multiple agencies; SWRCB maintained)
  • Weather Data- Mesowest (multiple institutions; University of Utah maintained)
  • Global observed climate data (NOAA)
  • National water quality data portal (multiple agencies)

Software
  • R (stats, data processing, plotting, simple modeling; free)
  • Python (hardware, general; free)
  • Matlab (computation; proprietary)
  • Maxima (solver; free)
  • Zotero (referencing; free)
  • Resilio Sync (+ Raspberry Pi, model B + external HD for personal file cloud synching/backup)
  • Ninite (website for multi-installation of freeware programs)
  • ImageJ (nifty image processing program; free)
  • Agisoft Photoscan (structure from motion software; proprietary)
  • MissionPlanner (UAS flight plan software; open source)
  • Universal Ground Control Software (UAS flight plan software; proprietary)
  • HEC-RAS (river hydraulics modeling; free)
  • SMS (multi-dimensional surface water and constituent modeling system providing GUI interface for multiple models; proprietary)
  • CE-QUAL-W2 (laterally-averaged, 2D-surface water and constituent modeling system; free)
  • iRIC (river modeling software w/ GUI interface for multiple codes; free)
  • Hydrus-1D (unsaturated groundwater flow and constituent modeling; free)
  • PHREEQC (geochemistry modeling; free) 
  • ArcGIS (spatial processing software; proprietary)

Software wish list
  • SWAT (watershed modeling w/ constituent modeling; common-use requires ArcGIS)
  • Geotrellis (faster web-mapping integration & rendering)

Sensors (w/ experience)
  • Nitrate (h2o): Satlantic ISUS, s::can Spectro::lyser
  • Dissolved oxygen (h2o): PME MiniDot, YSI handheld optical probe
  • Multiparameter sondes (h2o): Hydrolab MS5/DS5
  • Water velocity: Sontek ADV/ADP
  • Bathymetry (h2o): Valeport MIDAS echosounder
  • Pressure/Level loggers (h2o): Hobo, Solinst
  • Soil moisture & conductivity: Decagon TE line
  • Temperature: Maxim/Thermochron iButtons, DTS systems (Sensornet Oryx, Silixa XT)
  • Temperature/Light: Hobo Pendants
  • CO2 (atm): CO2 Meter K-30
  • Weather station (atm): Vaisala WXT 5xx, Davis
  • Visible imagery: Sony A5100, MapIR
  • Multispectral: Micasense RedEdge
  • Hyperspectral: ASD FieldSpec
  • Thermal imagery: ICI 8640P

Sensors wish list
  • Wind speed (acoustic, 2D): Decagon DS2, LCJ Capteurs
  • In-Situ multiparameter sondes (less drift in nitrate ISE measurements?!)

Software packages used
  • Spatial: spatstat, gstat, rgdal (R)
  • Connected piecewise linear regression: segmented (R)
  • Writing to Excel files: xlsx (R)
  • Data downloader for multiple hydroclimatic data sources: ulmo (Python)
  • Interactive graphics: plotly (R/Python)

DIY boards, loggers, and PC building
  • Arduino (low power microcontroller good for sensor data collection prototyping)
  • Raspberry Pi (low power mini-PC capable of running Linux)
  • Gumstix (more CPU power than Raspberry Pi, smaller community)
  • Adafruit shop & blog (trove of supplies & info for projects)
  • PC part picker (aggregates prices and part compatibility)
  • EnviroDIY (budget Arduino-based logger and advice on environmental sensing)
  • Blogs: Desert Home, The Cave Pearl Project, bunnie Huang
  • Other interesting projects: Safecast (citizen science done well), Littlebits (educational), Chibitronics (educational)
  • Campbell Scientific loggers (industry standard; reliable but pricey)
  • Onset Hobo loggers (commercial, little cheaper)
  • Nexsens (w/ telemetry and interfacing software; commercial & pricey)

Other links
  • Postdoc advisors: Professors Scott Tyler and Sudeep Chandra
  • PhD advisor's group (Professor Thomas C. Harmon)
  • Previous labmate (Professor Sandra Villamizar)
  • GitHub (testing for publication data reproduction and some multi-script projects)
  • Labdoo (computer recycle, redistribute, & educational reuse, awesome idea and great implementation!)
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.