This thesis explores the challenges of monitoring stream hydrology in a warmer and wetter climate in the Kenai Peninsula (KP) and Prince William Sound (PWS) region of Southcentral Alaska, located on the traditional territories of the Dena’ina, Ahtna, Alutiiq/Sugpiaq, and Eyak People. The physical and climatological extremes of this region...
In the Western United States where 50-70% of annual precipitation comes in the form of winter snowfall, water supplies may be particularly sensitive to a warming climate. We worked with a network of stakeholders in the Big Wood Basin, Idaho, to explore how climate change may affect water resources and...
The Tumalo Project at Tumalo Reservoir in Central Oregon was proclaimed a failure almost as soon as it was completed. As the reservoir filled with water diverted from Tumalo creek in the spring of 1915, sinkholes developed in the reservoir floor and every last drop of captured water disappeared into...
The Middle Fork John Day Basin in Northeastern Oregon is prime habitat for spring Chinook salmon and Steelhead trout. In 2008, a major tributary supporting rearing habitat, Big Boulder Creek, was restored to its historic mid-valley channel along a 1 km stretch of stream 800 m upstream of the mouth....
A Geyser in a stormwater (SW) and combined sewer system (CSS) is an oscillatory and violent release of a mixture of air and water through vertical shafts. Violent geysers are highly destructive. In the case of combined sewer systems, many municipalities operate their systems at a fraction of their maximum...
The Open Modeling Environment (OME) is a tool developed to address some known shortcomings in ecological System Dynamics (SD) modeling research. OME provides a common set of methods for interacting directly with spatial information, reducing the need for modelers to create their own methods for doing so. The environment is...
Precision irrigation has made spatially explicit water management a reality. However, detailed knowledge about the spatially variable evapotranspiration is often unavailable. One example location where we can begin to understand the impact of spatial variability on evapotranspiration is at the field edge, which contains a sharp discontinuity in surface conditions....
This thesis investigates the effects of wave energy converters (WECs) on water waves through the analysis of extensive laboratory experiments, as well as subsequent numerical simulations. Data for the analysis was collected during the WEC-Array Experiments performed at the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory at Oregon State University, under co-operation...
The Wood River Basin lies upstream of Upper Klamath Lake, the main reservoir of the USBR Klamath Irrigation Project that provides irrigation water to 210,000 acres of downstream land. Water allocation became a contentious issue in 2001 when drought led to curtailment of irrigation deliveries to the Klamath Irrigation Project...
The glaciated coastal mountain watersheds that drain into the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) provide a model laboratory to explore the challenges of hydrological modeling and study the impact of climate and glacier cover change on regional hydrology. The region is data-sparse and contains a complex assemblage of topography and land...
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is a critical component of the carbon cycle linking terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Although many factors influence DOM fluxes and quality in rivers, controls on DOM compositions in catchments of the western U.S. are poorly understood. UV and fluorescent spectroscopy is a simpler, faster, and less...
Forest harvesting and climate change induced shifts in precipitation characteristics (i.e., intensity, type) may affect how water is partitioned on the landscape, with more water potentially being lost to evaporation or groundwater, and less water being partitioned into the stream. Long-term, paired watershed data allows us to assess these possible...
In the last few decades, a lot of studies have been conducted to study about the quality of stormwater runoff from various sites and conditions. Highways, residential areas, and commercial sites are the focus of most of these studies while limited studies have done examination of stormwater from Maintenance and...
Bedrock groundwater dynamics in headwater catchments are poorly understood and
poorly characterized. Direct hydrometric measurements have been limited due to the
logistical challenges associated with drilling through hard rock in steep, remote and
often roadless terrain. Here we develop and use an inexpensive, portable bedrock
drilling system to explore bedrock...
Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions are on the forefront of planning policy in the world today. In the U.S., the transportation sector accounts for 50 percent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the most of any single sector. State and local levels of government have been very proactive in the...
Coastal landslides and erosion are major natural hazards resulting in unstable slopes, constituting immense challenges to modern infrastructure. Developing, maintaining, and performing risk assessments of infrastructure on, or close to, these hazards require a detailed understanding of the geophysical processes destabilizing the slope. These efforts start with the collection of...
Faidherbia albida is a widely used tree species in sub-Saharan Africa, promoted for use in parkland agroforestry systems based on reduced competition with crops during the rainy season from its reverse leafing phenology and positive effect on soil fertility. Increases in growth and yield have been reported for crops such...
A novel mode of shallow aquifer management could increase the volumetric potential and distribution of underground, freshwater storage: Shallow aquifer storage and recovery (SASR). In this mode, water is efficiently stored in basin fill aquifers with strong hydraulic connection to surface water. Regional numerical modeling can provide a linkage between...
Diking and channelizing in the Toppenish Creek basin, associated with irrigated agricultural development, has altered its natural ecosystem function and hydraulic processes. We seek to answer two research questions: if surface waters are diverted for aquifer recharge in the winter, will this water be available for ecosystem function in the...
Urban development causes changes in the hydrology, increasing stormwater runoff volumes, which often leads to flooding and ecosystem degradation. This is a common phenomenon in most urban Africa, due to lack of stormwater drainage infrastructures. Green Infrastructure (GI) has been shown to be an effective approach to lessen the effects...
Contemporary fire effects are raising concerns about the resistance and resilience of dry mixed-conifer forests to large wildfires. Fire refugia – unburned or low-severity patches within fire perimeters – are understudied components of post-fire mosaics that may be key drivers of forest recovery following high-severity fire. Little is known about...