My father worked as a hydrologist doing very similar work!

It's funny, when I first heard him tell me he used Fortran, I immediately thought "typical slow-to-change state government!" etc etc. Only subsequently did I realize how prevalent (and useful) the language is for scientific research, advanced computing, engineering, and a bunch of other services - basically the exact purposes he was using it for.

Nice to see some longevity after learning so many things that seem more fad-ish!