Treesearch

The Stormwater Runoff Modeling System (SWARM) enhances understanding of impacts of land-use and climate change on stormwater runoff in watersheds. We developed this singleevent system based on US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service curve number and unit hydrograph methods. We tested SWARM using US Geological Survey discharge and rain data.

A multi-institutional watershed study has been conducted since 2010 to quantify the environmental sustainability of planting switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) between wide rows of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.). The hypothesized advantage of this intercropping system is the production of biofuel feedstock to provide additional revenue in forested lands and to utilize land areas that could not otherwise be used for food production.

Coral reef habitats in the Caribbean region have experienced significant reductions in abundance over the past several decades. These declines are due to both global stressors, such as increases in sea surface temperatures and ocean acidification, and localized stressors, such as land-based sources of pollution (LBSPs). Climate change has led to increased occurrence and extent of coral bleaching events, tropical storms and hurricanes, and coral disease.

Molokai’s south shore has some of Hawaii’s most extensive and best-developed coral reefs. Historic terrigenous sedimentation appears to have impacted coral growth along several miles of fringing reef. The land upslope of the reef consists of small watersheds with streams that flow intermittently to the ocean. A USGS gage at the outlet of one of the most impacted watersheds (Kawela) recorded an average suspended sediment discharge of 1350 tons per square mile between 2006 and 2011.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed a National Hydrologic Model (NHM) to support coordinated, comprehensive and consistent hydrologic model development, and facilitate the application of hydrologic simulations within the continental US. The portion of the NHM located within the Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GCPO LCC) is being used to test the feasibility of improving streamflow simulations in gaged and ungaged watersheds by linking statistically- and physically-based hydrologic models.

The Wilmington, Bull, and Savannah Rivers are interconnected waterways that flow through adjacent Savannah and Wassaw Sound Estuaries. These systems are linked by the upper reaches of the Wilmington River maintained as part of the Intracoastal Waterway. Significant changes to the Savannah River began in December 2014 with the initiation of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project.

We demonstrate a spatially-explicit regional assessment of current condition of aquatic ecoservices in the Coal River Basin (CRB), with limited sensitivity analysis for the atmospheric contaminant mercury. The integrated modeling framework (IMF) forecasts water quality and quantity, habitat suitability for aquatic biota, fish biomasses, population densities, productivities, and contamination by methylmercury in headwater watersheds.

Federally, the evaluated potential of soil loss risk in national reports in the past and ways to adapt to be proactive in preventing accelerated soil loss on rangelands has been incomplete. The areas where it is difficult to measure due to the complexities of multiple interactions (splash, sheet and rill formation, landscape dominated by wind and water processes, presence of iron oxide nodes, etc.) is only a small fraction.

The Lower Arkansas River Basin is an irrigated, agricultural valley suffering from high concentrations of nutrients and salts in the coupled groundwater-surface water system. The majority of water quality data collection and associated spatial analysis of concentrations and mass loadings from the aquifer to the stream network has been performed at the regional scale (> 500 km2).

Forestry is a dominant industry in the southeastern United States, and there is interest in sustainably growing woody feedstocks for bioenergy in this region. Our project is evaluating the environmental sustainability (water quality, quantity) of growing and managing short-rotation (10-12 yrs) loblolly pine for bioenergy using watershed-scale experimental and modeling approaches.