Advanced Surveying

The Arizona Water Science Center’s reach-scale monitoring program uses recent advances in techniques and technology to enhance the Arizona streamgage network with more accurate streamflow measurements and provide more extensive streamflow records and geomorphological datasets for our agency partners and the public.

The Arizona Water Science Center (AzWSC) maintains a robust Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) program, functioning as a regional field office for the USGS National Unmanned Projects Office (NUPO). We assist with close-range remote sensing data collection and processing for our regional and national cooperators including other Dept of Interior (DOI) Bureaus, while complying with all DOI and FAA...

The Arizona Water Science Center is monitoring aquifer-storage changes and land subsidence within the Tucson Active Management Area (AMA). Land-surface elevation change is monitored at a network of benchmarks throughout the Tucson AMA by measuring changes in land surface elevation over time (approximately annually) with Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). Aquifer-storage change is...

The Arizona Water Science Center has been using survey-grade GPS since the mid 1990’s for several large studies, including the Lower Colorado Decree Accounting Project. Center staff continue to learn new ways to use survey-grade GPS in order to increase efficiency, data reliability, and to account for upgrades in technology.