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The objectives of my current research are to 1. Understand the water quality effects of fire, 2. Measure the effects of fire on the carbon cycle and other biogeochemical cycles, 3. Characterize the combustion products of wildfire, mainly ash and charcoal, and 4. Link post-fire responses and the composition, physical characteristics, and reactivity of ash and charcoal to measures of burn severity detected on the ground or using remotely-sensed data. The overarching objective of my research is to understand runoff, erosion, deposition, and water quality effects after wildfire.
The NRP had its beginnings in the late 1950's. Since that time, the program has grown to encompass a broad spectrum of scientific investigations. The sciences of hydrology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, ecology, biology, geology, and engineering are used to gain a fundamental understanding of the processes that affect the availability, movement, and quality of the Nation's water resources. Results of NRP's long-term research investigations often lead to the development of new concepts, techniques, and approaches that are applicable not only to the solution of current water problems, but also to future issues that may affect the Nation's water resources. Basic tools of hydrology that have been developed by the...
Categories: Project; Types: ScienceBase Project; Tags: Acid Mine Drainage, Aquatic Habitat, Arid Land Hydrology, Carbon Cycle, Contaminant Reactions and Transport, All tags...
Modeling of watershed response to normal and extreme climatic conditions or to changes in the physical conditions of a watershed requires the simulation of a variety of complex hydrologic processes and process interactions. Some of these processes are well understood at a point or for a small area; others are poorly understood at all scales. Increasing spatial and temporal variability in climate and watershed characteristics with an increase in watershed area adds significantly to the degree of difficulty in investigating and understanding these processes. Research is needed to better define these processes and to develop techniques to simulate these processes and their interactions at all watershed scales. Project...
The overall objective of the MoWS research group is to gain better understanding of the precipitation-runoff processes and use this knowledge to develop improved hydrologic models. The main research topics include: 1) Add functionality and improvements to the MoWS simulation models being developed and integrate with other hydrologic, hydraulic, and climate models. 2) Enhance the models to use the best and latest topographic, climate, geologic, and land-use data sets as direct input to process algorithms to increase the physical nature and temporal and spatial resolution of model input. 3) Develop national model structure and calibration strategy for national model application.
My research focuses on the application of remote sensing to rivers as a means of more efficiently characterizing fluvial systems, primarily channel form and behavior. More specifically, I develop, test, and apply methods of measuring various river attributes, such as depth, streambed composition, turbidity, and flow velocity, from different types of remotely sensed data, including multi- and hyperspectral images and near-infrared and green LiDAR. These techniques provide higher resolution, essentially continuous data over larger spatial extents than could be surveyed via conventional field methods and thus could facilitate river research and management. My research involves a combination of numerical radiative...
The overall objective of the MoWS research group is to gain better understanding of the precipitation-runoff processes and use this knowledge to develop improved hydrologic models. The main research topics include: • Add functionality and improvements to the MoWS simulation models being developed and integrate with other hydrologic, hydraulic, and climate models. • Enhance the models to use the best and latest topographic, climate, geologic, and land-use data sets as direct input to process algorithms to increase the physical nature and temporal and spatial resolution of model input. • Develop national model structure and calibration strategy for national model application.
Many difficult problems in river mechanics may have stemmed from inadequate understanding of the multiplicity and interaction of fluvial processes. Some of the problems may have been solved, but in a very simplified, approximate way. Many efforts have been directed, but without apparent success, to fully account for the causes, occurrences, and mechanisms of catastrophic events, such as flash floods, debris flows, and channel changes resulting from torrential storms, sudden snow or glacier melt, dam break, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes. Such failures may be partially attributed to the deficiency and incompleteness of existing empirical formulas (or models) representing the relationships between various processes...
Climate displays an often-unrecognized order in both time and space. What may appear as a random sequence of precipitation at a point or within a watershed is actually the local expression of a broad integrated system of weather processes that are active on scales of 100’s to 1000’s of kilometers. Only when climate forcings and hydrologic responses are considered from a regional perspective does the order become evident. Understanding these regional processes provides a sound basis for national, regional, and local hydrologic analysis, resource management, and hazard assessment/mitigation. The objectives of this research are (1) to identify and quantify relations between large-scale atmospheric circulation and sea-surface...
Natural water systems provide a wide range of conditions within which to examine the geochemical behavior and cycling of trace elements and nutrients relative to hydrochemically important mineral reactions. Processes of mineral dissolution, alteration and genesis exert strong controls on the concentrations of chemical species in natural water systems and thus on water quality. Chemical composition of atmospheric precipitation input to terrestrial watersheds affects mineral reaction rates and may regulate reaction pathways and products. Knowledge of the geochemical behavior and cycles of major elements, trace elements, and nutrients is essential in order to understand and predict the consequences of deliberate or...
The Reaction-Transport Modeling Group provides environmental managers and policy makers with the understanding and tools needed to predict how decisions made today can improve the amount of clean water available to both society and to nature in the future. In support of the project goals, I have developed the Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Model (WEBMOD). WEBMOD integrates the latest understanding of hydrologic processes with the full gamut of geochemical simulations available in PHREEQC to simulate conservative and reactive transport of solutes that cycle between the atmosphere, the soils, and bedrock.
My primary objective is to characterize the hydrology and water chemistry of watersheds and how they are affected by both natural factors and disturbance. I study the role of precipitation type, intensity, and spatial distribution in driving runoff and transport of sediment, carbon, nutrients, and major ions in both disturbed and undisturbed sites. My research incorporates field research and existing climate, hydrologic, and water-quality data to distinguish between the roles of climate, land-cover change, and disturbance in driving watershed processes. I strive to communicate research findings to scientists, regulators, and the public in order to support the management of water resources.
The purpose of my research group is to develop new methods and applications of environmental isotopes to solve problems of national importance. In specific, the overall goal is to use environmental isotopes, combined with other biogeochemical measurements and hydrologic and biogeochemical modeling, to increase our understanding of biogeochemical and hydrological processes, nutrient and organic matter sources, subsurface flowpaths, and water age distributions in diverse environments. Many of our studies piggyback on the sampling efforts of major monitoring programs to investigate causes of hypoxia and food web problems. Our work provides critical scientific support for these monitoring programs. A long-term career...
The objectives of my research are to quantify mercury export and yields from multi-scaled watershed systems and to compare and contrast different forms of Hg (i.e. methylmercury) to understand the processes governing the dynamics of Hg transport and cycling. I also aim to determine an accurate understanding of the estimates of Hg stored in permafrost.
The overall objective of the MoWS research group is to gain better understanding of the precipitation-runoff processes and use this knowledge to develop improved hydrologic models. The main research topics include: 1) Add functionality and improvements to the MoWS simulation models being developed and integrate with other hydrologic, hydraulic, and climate models. 2) Enhance the models to use the best and latest topographic, climate, geologic, and land-use data sets as direct input to process algorithms to increase the physical nature and temporal and spatial resolution of model input. 3) Develop national model structure and calibration strategy for national model application.
1) Linking stable isotope signatures of precipitation to climate patterns and atmospheric temperatures in the tropics, for use in climate change and paleoclimate studies. 2) Using stable isotopes of groundwater and surface water as tracers, to understand how climate change may affect recharge and water supply. 3) Quantifying cloud water and fog deposition to land surface, and tracking it through the water cycle in ecosystems where it is an important precipitation source.
Research Objectives: Brian uses field and laboratory measurements combined with numerical modeling to understand hydrologic processes and problems in disturbed landscapes. His research seeks to understand water and solute movement, plant community recovery, and the changes in hydrologic processes and associated water resources after landscape disturbances. Brian's work spans multiple scales, investigating the plot- and catchment-scale processes that dictate the emergent behaviors observed at watershed scales. Additional research interests include hydrologically-driven slope failure, sediment transport, soil physics, contaminant transport, and surface-water/groundwater interaction.
The broad objective of my research is to determine rates and controls of organic carbon metabolism as a fundamental component of the terrestrial-aquatic-atmospheric exchange of carbon. I quantify the relative importance of intrinsic substrate properties and environmental variables to carbon metabolism, and the impact of climate change and other disturbances. I combine field and laboratory study approaches to understand the numerous controls on carbon cycling processes. Much of my research has focused on boreal and arctic systems, where nearly ½ of the global soil organic pool resides and is vulnerable to climate change. My research objectives in boreal and arctic regions include: 1) quantifying the release...
Most of my current efforts are committed to multi-catchment investigations designed to distinguish the roles of vegetation, climate, and land-cover change and to put these in a hydrologic and biogeochemical framework as well as to examine ecosystem costs and services focusing on water, carbon, and biodiversity. Two projects consume most of my efforts: (1) Work related to the Luquillo USGS Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budget (WEBB) Project in eastern Puerto Rico and parallel work in Panama is in the modeling and write-up phase (60% time). The objective is a comprehensive assessment of catchment hydrology and biogeochemistry in a humid-tropical landscape. In Puerto Rico we compare two rock types, quartzose and...