NWDTW 2026: Full Schedule

You will be able to validate your attendance (Check-In to sessions) using your personal schedule.

1:00pm CDT

How do you do? - Gage Installs for Surface Water and Continuous Water‑Quality Monitoring

Tuesday July 21, 2026 1:00pm - 1:50pm CDT

This session dives into practical techniques for installing and maintaining surface‑water gages and continuous water‑quality stations. Unique equipment setup, and lessons learned from the field. The session is designed to be interactive and audience‑driven—attendees are encouraged to share their own methods, challenges, and troubleshooting experiences. If you have a tricky site or ongoing problem, bring it to the group and let’s talk through it together.

Please use this teams call link to be able to share, add to, and recall the discussion
How do you do? - Gage Installs for Surface Water and Continuous Water‑Quality Monitoring

Speakers

Ernie McCoy

Hydrologic Technician, USGS-Dakota WSC

Hydrotech at the Grand Forks field office in North Dakota. I started as a student the summer of 09, graduated from UND with a bachelors degree in Environmental Geoscience. I stream gage, collect discrete samples and run continuous monitors collecting the big five.

Tuesday July 21, 2026 1:00pm - 1:50pm CDT
BCC - Mason (33 Class / 60 Theater)

SHOW AND TELL FIELD HACKS: EFFICIENCY TIPS AND TRICKS

Length 50 minutes

2:30pm CDT

Break

Tuesday July 21, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm CDT

BCC - Mason (33 Class / 60 Theater)

Tuesday July 21, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm CDT
BCC - Mason (33 Class / 60 Theater)

3:00pm CDT

Image Velocimetry Policy and Procedure Updates and Working Session

Tuesday July 21, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm CDT

BCC - Mason (33 Class / 60 Theater)

This session provides an overview of the current policy landscape for image velocimetry (IVy) within the USGS, with emphasis on Operational Quality Assurance (OQA) expectations and the process for aligning IVy methods with approved national standards. We will discuss where IVy techniques currently stand in the method-approval pipeline, outline the steps required to transition research workflows into fully supported operational methods, and highlight ongoing efforts to ensure consistent, defensible applications across the WMA. Attendees will gain clarity on documentation requirements, approvals, and future guidance that will shape the public release and operational use of IVy tools and products, as well as have the opportunity to share their feedback and needs with leadership.

Speakers

Frank Engel

Geographer, U.S. Geological Survey

Me in a Sentence: Geographer and researcher passionate about developing new tools, technology, and apps using remote sensing to solve real-world problems.

A bit more about me:
I joined the Illinois WSC Data Section in 2012 while pursuing my Ph.D. in Geography and Civil Engineering. At that time, I was an expert in Hydroacoustics and worked with the Office of Surface Water on developing software like the Velocity Mapping Toolbox, technical review of QRev... Read More →

Tuesday July 21, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm CDT
BCC - Mason (33 Class / 60 Theater)

IMAGERY AND REMOTE SENSING

Length 50 minutes
Can't teach Monday, AM;

4:00pm CDT

NIMS and HIVIS Demonstration and Usage

Tuesday July 21, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm CDT

BCC - Mason (33 Class / 60 Theater)

This session offers a practical, end‑to‑end demonstration of the National Image Management System (NIMS) and the Hydrologic Imagery Visualization and Information System (HIVIS) web application. We will begin by walking through how camera stations are added, edited, and managed within the NIMS Admin Console, highlighting tools for configuration, metadata editing, and system monitoring. The demo then transitions to the HIVIS front‑end application, where we will showcase recent interface updates, new visualization capabilities, and streamlined workflows for viewing and interrogating hydrologic image data. Participants will also be introduced to the broader NIMS API and the pyNIMS Python module, with examples of how these resources enable programmatic access for analysis, automation, and integration with other tools. The session concludes with a brief look at features planned for release this year—including advancements in the AAA process and other workflow enhancements—to give users a clear view of what’s coming next.

Speakers

Frank Engel

Geographer, U.S. Geological Survey

Tuesday July 21, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm CDT
BCC - Mason (33 Class / 60 Theater)

IMAGERY AND REMOTE SENSING

Length 50 minutes
Can't teach Monday, AM;

8:00am CDT

Introduction to TRiVIA: The Toolbox for River Velocimetry using Images from Aircraft

Wednesday July 22, 2026 8:00am - 8:50am CDT

BCC - Mason (33 Class / 60 Theater)

The Toolbox for River Velocimetry using Images from Aircraft (TRiVIA) provides an end-to-end workflow for mapping velocities in rivers from videos or image sequences. The software includes modules for extracting frames, stabilizing and geo-referencing images, defining a region of interest, enhancing images, performing particle image velocimetry (PIV), visualizing results, assessing accuracy, and calculating discharge. In this introductory session, we will provide a brief overview TRiVIA's capabilities using an example data set from a river in Oregon collected using an uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS). Our target audience is any hydrologist who wants to learn about image-based techniques for estimating flow velocities in rivers.

Speakers

Paul Kinzel

Hydrologist, USGS

I am a hydrologist with the Hydrologic Remote Sensing Branch. My research interests involve evaluating innovative techniques for measuring velocity and bathymetry in rivers. I have expertise in fluvial geomorphology, surveying and mapping river channels, and hydrodynamic modeling... Read More →

Wednesday July 22, 2026 8:00am - 8:50am CDT
BCC - Mason (33 Class / 60 Theater)

COMPUTER TOOLS

Length 50 minutes

9:00am CDT

Stream2Screen: Streamlining Gage Management with a Real-Time Push Notification System

Wednesday July 22, 2026 9:00am - 9:20am CDT

BCC - Mason (33 Class / 60 Theater)

Efficiency isn't just a goal-- it's a necessity when managing a large network of gages. Manual checks and generic station-health emails are so last century.
We've integrated custom programming into our internet-connected dataloggers to improve our standard monitoring workflow. By utilizing an open-source web server and HTTP PUSH/POST methods, we send push notifications to "subscribed" users. Notifications are completely customizable and end-users only "subscribe" to gages that they run or are interested in. They receive instant notifications if there are instrument-specific issues, total system failures or peaks in parameters that should be targeted. With custom messaging, we also build in troubleshooting tech-tips. No more generic "Low Battery" message; users get specific messaging containing diagnostic tips and the likely culprit for the issue or failure. Our gages don't just record data; they advocate for their own maintenance and targeted sample scheduling.

Speakers

Trevor Violette

Physical Scientist

Trevor has been working for the Estuarine Hydrodynamics and Sediment Transport team for almost 14 years. In his time, he has been heavily involved in index velocity and complex velocity mapping projects, water quality, and fish tracking. He's installed more ADCPs, QW Sondes, and Hydrophones... Read More →

Wednesday July 22, 2026 9:00am - 9:20am CDT
BCC - Mason (33 Class / 60 Theater)

Telemetry

Length 30 minutes
Can't teach Monday, AM;Thursday, AM;

9:30am CDT

Break

Wednesday July 22, 2026 9:30am - 10:00am CDT

BCC - Mason (33 Class / 60 Theater)

Wednesday July 22, 2026 9:30am - 10:00am CDT
BCC - Mason (33 Class / 60 Theater)

10:00am CDT

Remote Sensing Data and Services to Water Science Centers

Wednesday July 22, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am CDT

BCC - Mason (33 Class / 60 Theater)

In this presentation we will describe the remote sensing services, data, and technical support that Water Science Centers can obtain from the WMA Hydrologic Remote Sensing Branch.

Speakers

Jack Eggleston

Tyler V King

Supervisory Research Hydrologist, US Geological Survey

Supervisory research hydrologist focused on aquatic remote sensing. Head in the clouds, feet on the riverbed. You know the type.

Wednesday July 22, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am CDT
BCC - Mason (33 Class / 60 Theater)

New Technologies/New Data/Remote Sensing

Length 50 minutes