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Fathoming the hydrosphere (Henry Darcy Medal Lecture)

As Lord Kelvin observed: "If you can not measure it, you can not improve it." Measurement is the start of all scientific knowledge. Measurement sets science apart from metaphysical speculation. Measurement is not the last word in science but it is the first. In hydrology, progress in measurement methods has not been as rapid as in sister Earth sciences such as meteorology, oceanography, or geodynamics. Of the hundreds of scientific satellites, only one has hydrology as its main mission at the time of this writing (hopefully two at the time of the lecture). The closest we come to a large measurement infrastructure is an experimental watershed. Nothing wrong with an experimental watershed but it does not compare to, say, the Square Kilometer Array with its exabyte per day output. We tend to give up quickly because we will always have to work with effective parameters that can not be measured directly. We will never be able to know all stomata in a tree and how they interact with the turbulent flow through the canopy. We will never be able to know all pores in a soil and how water moves through them. But also effective parameters have to be measured, be it indirectly.