In the face of climate change droughts are predicted to become more persistent, further intensifying the need for accurately predicting the timing and magnitude of summer streamflow in rivers. In order to determine the sensitivity of a watershed to drought, there is a need to describe what these drought conditions...
Finding trees and crops that are resistant to pathogens is key in preparing for current and future disease threats. In this dissertation, we analyzed the potential of using hyperspectral imaging (HSI) to find infection while identifying issues and strategies addressing differences over time, in spatial resolution, the application of machine...
Surface water and groundwater interactions are a key component in the functioning of stream ecosystems. Exchange of water between the stream and the hyporheic zone creates habitat for aquatic organisms and serves as a control for stream biogeochemical, thermal, and flow processes. This study takes a multi-method field-based approach to...
Water conservation and water quality are rapidly increasing in importance in all areas of the world. The ability to accurately measure soil water content and salinity, over a wide variety of conditions, is key to meeting this need. A set of forward prediction models and waveform interpretation algorithms to extract...
An experimental and numerical modeling investigation was conducted to study interactions between microbial dynamics and transport processes in variably saturated porous media. These interactions are important in a variety of applied problems such as water and wastewater treatment, bioremediation, and oil-field recovery operations. These processes and interactions also have great...
Vertisols and other vertic-intergrade soils are found all over the globe, including many agricultural and urban areas. These soils are characterized by their cyclical shrinking and swelling behaviors, where bulk density and porosity distribution both vary as functions of time and/or soil moisture. In turn, alterations in physical soil parameters...
Non-dilute salt strength solutions occur in many near surface geologic environments. In order to better understand the occurrence and movement of the water and salt, mathematical models for this non-ideal fluid need to be developed. Initial boundary value problems may then be solved to predict behavior for comparison with observations....
Achieving and maintaining sustainability in irrigated agriculture production in the era of rapidly increasing stress on our natural resources require, among other essential actions, optimum control and management of the applied water. Thus, a significant upgrade of the currently available soil water monitoring technologies is needed. The primary goal of...
Tropical peatlands play an important role in global climate system by storing an immense of carbon that had been accumulated over thousands of years. Peatlands provide another important ecosystem service by regulating the hydrology. It is believed that peatlands act like a giant sponge by absorbing substantial amounts of water...