Catchment data for process conceptualization: simply not enough?

The author focuses on the impact of technological-driven improvements in data collection methods on the development of hydrology as a geoscience. Emerging issues regarding the new approaches to data collection aid process conceptualization are discussed. It mentions the ability of light detecting and ranging (LiDAR) to resolve catchment land surfaces scale of a few centimeters in Data Traffic Management System (DTMS) and real-time characterization of inputs in weather radar. Information on the model-guided data collection and mining existing data sets is presented.