Michael Abbott’s Hydroinformatics: Poiesis of New Relationships with Water

Hydroinformatics was established 30 years ago as a novel discipline in which computer modelling of water was combined with novel developments of Informational and Computational Technologies for purposes of introducing new and different approaches to water engineering, management, and decision support. The late Professor Michael B. Abbott is widely recognized as founding father of this field. The book will present the original ideas about the field of hydroinformatics, primarily presented in the works of Abbott, together with critical assessment of its current developments.

The first chapter will introduce a general re-visit of the motivations and ideas for establishing the field of hydroinformatics, together with an assessment of current research and practice regarding the extent and characteristics that relate to the original ideas introduced by Abbott. Six following chapters will have more or less the same structure, each addressing a particular aspect of hydroinformatics, as follows: computational hydraulics and its role in establishing hydroinformatics, integration of artificial intelligence and computational hydraulics, hydroinformatics contributions to hydrology, transformations of water professions and businesses by hydroinformatics, hydroinformatics developments in China, and evolution and key characteristics of hydroinformatics education.

Each chapter will be related to already published works of Abbott. All chapters are written by contributors who were past collaborators with Abbott and are still active in the field of hydroinformatics. The book will be a tribute to Abbott’s contributions to hydroinformatics, and it will provide an assessment of the current status of the field perceived from within the context of Abbott’s original ideas.        

Chapter 1
Revisiting the motives for hydroinformatics
A. Jonoski

Chapter 2
Computational hydraulics: stage for the hydroinformatics act
A. W. Minns, A. Verwey and I. R. Warren

Chapter 3
Hydroinformatics opening new horizons: union of computational hydraulics and artificial intelligence
V. Babovic and A. W. Minns

Chapter 4
Hydroinformatics impact on hydrological modelling 
J. C. Refsgaard, M. Erlich and J. Bathurst

Chapter 5
Hydroinformatics as a ‘game changer’ in the water business
E. Zeman, T. Metelka, P. Ingeduld and S. Shipton

Chapter 6
Hydroinformatics in China: overall developments and showcase of accomplishments in the Changjiang River basin
Y. Huang, H. H. Ba and S. Yu

Chapter 7
Hydroinformatics education at IHE Delft: past and future
D. P. Solomatine, R. K. Price, A. Jonoski, I. Popescu, B. Bhattacharya, L. Alfonso Segura, G. Corzo Perez, S. J. van Andel and C. Bertini

Articles of Michael B. Abbott

1. On the numerical computation of nearly-horizontal flows

2. On the Numerical modelling of short waves in shallow water

3. The fourth generation of numerical modelling in hydraulics

4. Introducing hydroinformatics

5. Forchheimer and Schoklitsch: a postmodern retrospection

6. Towards the hydraulics of the hydroinformatics era

7. Towards a hydroinformatics praxis in the service of social justice