Author: jasinsk7

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Agustin Brena

Research Interests

Forests cover approximately one third of the global land surface area. Changes induced by human activities can exert significant impacts on the environmental services provided by forests. Nevertheless, the long term footprints of certain types of forest cover conversions on the water and biogeochemical cycles are poorly understood. My research work has focused on observing and predicting hydrological processes in managed forested ecosystems. This is, how the disturbance and recovery of forests can affect the components of the water balance.

Currently, I am investigating the potential effects on the water quantity and quality of the Great Lakes Basin from on-going environmental changes as the intensive development of biofuel crops in the Midwestern United States. I am also involved in the large-scale assessment of the Ogallala-High Plains aquifer, one of the largest aquifers in the world, from a sustainability approach that combines climate, economic, social, crop, and hydrological models. A third topic of my research concerns the observation and modeling of subsurface processes using geophysical methods.

Moreover, I am also interested on additional topics as ecohydrology, desertification, nonlinear patterns in geophysics, climate change and infrastructure and, water management systems.

 

Education

  • Ph.D. Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Freiburg, Germany. 2012. Dissertation Title: The hydrology of forest disturbance and succession during dry periods.
  • M.A.S. Water resources engineering and management, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne/Zurich, Switzerland. 2007. Thesis Title: On the sensitivity analysis of the PMF to the space-time distribution of a PMP: Analysis of the hydrological response of a catchment.
  • B.Eng. Hydrological engineering, Metropolitan Autonomous University, Mexico. 2005.

Recent Publications

  • Brena A, Stahl K and Weiler M (2011) Evapotranspiration and land cover transitions: long term watershed response in recovering forested ecosystems. Ecohydrology DOI: 10.1002/eco.256
  • Brena A, Weiler M and Stahl K (2011) The sensitivity of a data-driven soil water balance model: insights from
    a successional chronosequence. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Accepted.

Recent Abstracts

  • Brena A, Stahl K and Weiler M. 2011. How does forest disturbance and succession affect summer streamflow recession?, AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, USA.
  • Brena A, Weiler M and Stahl K. 2011. Predicting evapotranspiration in a successional forest without eddy covariance measurements, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria.
  • Brena A, Weiler M, Stahl K and Smith R. 2010. Comparative ecohydrology across disturbed forested watersheds: soil moisture regimes and storage-discharge relationships, LATSIS Symposium. Lausanne, Switzerland.
  • Brena A, Weiler M and Stahl K. 2010. Inferring long-term water balance dynamics in forested watersheds: tracing vegetation cover transitions, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria.
  • Gaume E, Bain V, Marchi L, Preciso E, Bass S, Brena A, Borga M, Bonnifait L, Horvat O, Rogga M, Stegmeier A, Schütz T and Viglione A. 2009. An intensive Post Event Campaign (IPEC) on the extreme flash flood which affected the Starzel river (Germany) on the 2nd of June 2008, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria.
  • Brena A, Schneider J, Stahl K. and Weiler M. 2009. Estimation of low flows sensitivity to climate and land use changes using a parsimonious water balance model, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria.
  • Brena A,. 2006. Strategies for flood prediction in large urban zones, 2nd International Symposium “Preventing and Fighting Hydrological Disasters”, Timisoara, Romania.
  • Brena A, and Briseno F. 2005. Strategies for flood prediction in large urban zones, 4th Worldwide Workshop for Young Environmental Scientists CEREVE-UNESCO-IWA, Paris, France.
  • Brena A,. 2003. Managing Urban Development and Industrial Growth in the Basin of Mexico, 13th Stockholm Water Symposium, Stockholm, Sweden.

Complete CV

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Emily Luscz

Research:

My research focuses on developing source models for nutrient loading to watersheds in the lower peninsula of Michigan. Watershed nutrient loading models are important tools used to address issues including eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, and decreases in aquatic species diversity. A source specific model will help show the value of detailed source inputs, revealing regional trends while still providing insight to the existence of variability at smaller scales.
I have additional interest and background in groundwater management, characterization, and prediction for mining projects and contaminated sites.

Education:

Dartmouth College, 2008 BA

Recent Abstracts:

Luscz E.C., Kendall, A.D., Martin, S.L., Hyndman, D.W. (2011): Modeling Nutrient Loading to Watersheds in the Great Lakes Basin: A Detailed Source Model at the Regional Scale, AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco

Breckenridge, James Larry; Luscz, Emily (2011): Predicting Underground Mine Dewatering Requirements: A Case Study of a Precious Metal Mine in a Subtropical Environment. – In: Rüde, R. T., Freund, A. & Wolkersdorfer, Ch.: Mine Water – Managing the Challenges. – p. 101 – 105; Aachen, Germany.

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CLASS: Coupled Landscape, Atmospheric, and Socioeconomic Systems (High Plains Aquifer)

Large portions of the Ogallala-High Plains aquifer (henceforth, HPA) complex, underlying approximately 450,000 km2 from Texas to South Dakota, are experiencing fundamentally unsustainable groundwater withdrawals due to large scale irrigation [McMahon 2000]. Since pumping began in earnest in the 1930’s [Weeks et al. 1988], storage in the HPA, the largest aquifer in North America [Jackson et al. 2001], has declined by 333 km3 [McGuire 2009]. Despite rapid water table drawdown and near depletion of some portions of the aquifer [McGuire 2009], irrigated acreage continues to expand [NASS 2007, 2002, 1997]. Underlying natural and socioeconomic drivers of this expansion are heterogeneous in time and space, driven by changes in climate, product demand (due to biofuels development, global population expansion, etc.), energy costs, and other factors [i.e. Peterson and Bernardo 2003]. Although a range of management and policy actions could help move this region toward sustainability, such efforts are complicated by a diverse range of state laws and regulations, economic drivers and agricultural production systems, variable soil productivity and aquifer storage, and forecast changes in temperature and precipitation [e.g., Ashley and Smith 1999; McGuire et al. 2003; Sophocleous 2010].
 
 
 
 

Continue reading “CLASS: Coupled Landscape, Atmospheric, and Socioeconomic Systems (High Plains Aquifer)”

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Nutrient Management Models to Constrain Harmful Algal Blooms

Targeted watersheds

Developing management strategies to minimize algal blooms requires detailed knowledge about the landscape factors that drive them. We will use over 35 years of Landsat imagery to map nearshore algal bloom intensity and extent at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. These will be related to watershed nutrient and sediment exports predicted using advanced watershed models at both sub-basin and Great Lakes Basin scales. We will then establish nutrient thresholds for specific HAB risks, identify sources of nutrients on the landscape, and prioritize restoration strategies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Predicting the Impacts of Climate Change on Agricultural Yields and Water Resources in the Maumee River Watershed

Projected changes in 21st century climate will drive adaptive management strategies in agricultural production systems, both of which will significantly impact water resources in the Great Lakes region. These strategies will likely include selection of alternate crops, shifting planting and harvest times, double-cropping in previously single-cropped areas, and increasing use of irrigation. Evaluating how such strategies might simultaneously impact yields and water resources at the basin-scale will help guide decision makers toward effective adaptation strategies and inform the development of decision support systems to further address inherent tradeoffs.

We propose to apply a newly-developed coupled crop-growth and hydrologic model SALUS-ILHM, to simulate scenarios of climate change impacts on crop yields and water resources across the Maumee River Watershed (MRW) in Southeast Michigan, Northeast Indiana, and Northwest Ohio. Continue reading “Predicting the Impacts of Climate Change on Agricultural Yields and Water Resources in the Maumee River Watershed”

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USACE: Upland Sediment Production and Delivery in the Great Lakes Region under Climate Change

The Great Lakes and Ohio River Division (LRD) of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates and maintains the U.S. portion of the Great Lakes Navigation System (GLNS) consisting of 139 projects (63 commercial and 76 shallow-draft), including three lock complexes, 104 miles of navigation structures, and over 600 miles of maintained navigation channels. The GLNS is a complex deepwater navigation system stretching 1,600 miles through all five Great Lake and connecting channels from Duluth, Minnesota to Ogdensburg, New York. In 2006, approximately 173 million tons of commodities were transported to and from U.S. ports located on the waterways of the Great Lakes system. It is a non-linear system on interdependent locks, ports, harbors, navigational channels, dredged material disposal facilities, and navigation structures. The GLNS provides an estimated transportation rate savings benefit of $3.6 billion per year. Waterborne commerce is the most environmentally friendly and safest form of transportation of bulk commodities, producing lower emissions as well as lower damages to property and a reduction in fatal and non-fatal injuries when compared to transportation by truck or rail. A recent study concluded that pollution abatement savings resulting from the continued usage of the GLNS exceed $350 million annually.

In contrast to the Western U.S., many climate change models predict increased precipitation in the Great Lakes region.  This increased precipitation (and runoff), coupled with warmer temperatures, has the potential to significantly affect sediment production and transport in Great Lakes rivers, increasing the loadings to federal harbors that already have a large dredging backlog.  Additionally, a number of future climate scenarios predict lower water levels in the Great Lakes, which would further exacerbate the impacts on harbors.  This project will look at two federal harbors in the Great Lakes and their watersheds in order to examine potential impacts.  The information gained from this work is expected to allow the Corps to make qualitative comparisons with current dredging requirements at most of the federal harbors in the Great Lakes.

Continue reading “USACE: Upland Sediment Production and Delivery in the Great Lakes Region under Climate Change”

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USGS Wisconsin: Implications of Climate Change and Biofuel Development for Great Lakes Regional Water

Many questions remain unanswered about the sustainability of water resources in the Great Lakes Region with impending climate change and major land use changes associated with intensive biofuel production. Significant areas of prime farmland and marginal land set aside in conservation programs across the Great Lakes Basin are being targeted for biofuel crop production systems (Robertson et al., 2008; Kim et al., 2009).

The associated land cover/management changes will have unknown, but potentially significant, impacts on the quantity and quality of groundwater recharge. This recharge is the primary source of water to streams, lakes, and wetlands across the region. Additionally, Midwestern climate is predicted to change significantly in the coming decades with warmer temperatures, as well as higher precipitation and evapotranspiration, potentially leading to a net soil moisture deficit along with more frequent flooding (USGCRP, 2009). Working in conjunction with the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), researchers from the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison, Michigan State University (MSU), Ball State University (BSU) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) will conduct a collaborative multi-scale effort to:

  • 1) expand ongoing field monitoring effort to collect a detailed data set of collocated, surface and subsurface water and nutrient fluxes and above- and below-ground biomass for a variety of model biofuel feedstock cropping systems,
  • 2) use our data set along with regional water quality and quantity data, provided in part by USGS, to further develop, parameterize and validate a new biogeophysical hydrology model,
  • 3) use our model to explore the implications of coupled climate change and biofuel-based land-use changes for Great Lakes Basin water quantity and quality, and
  • 4) perform a side-by-side comparison between a new landscape hydrology code and a USGS hydrology model.

Continue reading “USGS Wisconsin: Implications of Climate Change and Biofuel Development for Great Lakes Regional Water”

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Multi-scale Monitoring and Modeling of Land Use and Climate Change Impacts on the Terrestrial Hydrologic Cycle: Implications for the Great Lakes Basin

Vadose‐zone soil moisture is an important driver of processes in agricultural, hydrological, ecological, and climate systems, yet the detailed nature of plant water use across ranges of scales is often poorly characterized. With projected changes in climate and land use (including afforestation, urbanization, agricultural intensification, and biofuels production) there is a critical need to understand the likely impacts on the hydrologic cycle and ecosystem health. Important hydrological and biophysical processes are not adequately characterized with point estimates, and models of rootwater uptake are generally unable to accurately predict such changes. Our objectives are to: 1) quantify multi‐scale dynamics of vegetation‐water interactions across different land cover types to improve predictive capabilities of hydrologic models, and 2) explore the impacts of land use and climate changes on watershed‐ to Great Lakes Basin‐scale hydrologic fluxes.

Figure: ILHM simulated annual recharge for the Muskegon River Watershed

To explore the likely effects of projected changes in climate and land cover, we propose to use time‐lapse electrical resistivity imaging and a novel coupling of a fully integrated terrestrial hydrology model with a dynamic vegetation growth model to study managed and natural sites along a climate gradient across a range of soils. The intellectual merit of this research includes 1) improved knowledge and predictive capability of short‐ and long‐term processes that drive the terrestrial water cycle, 2) root‐zone moisture and root‐development data that will improve parameterization of roots in coupled land surface and climate models, and 3) quantitative information about implications of land use and climate changes across a range of scales.

 

 

 

 

Continue reading “Multi-scale Monitoring and Modeling of Land Use and Climate Change Impacts on the Terrestrial Hydrologic Cycle: Implications for the Great Lakes Basin”

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NOAA Sea Grant: Quantifying the Impacts of Projected Climate Changes on the Grand Traverse Bay Region: An Adaptive Management Framework

Great Lakes coastal communities are already feeling the impacts of climate variability and change. Communities across the Grand Traverse Bay (GTB) watershed have witnessed changes in lake ice cover, seasonal precipitation, air and lake temperatures, and storm severity.

These changes have occurred against a backdrop of increasing population and urbanization across the watershed. Parallel climate and land use change drivers have altered water sediment, nutrient, toxin, and pathogen fluxes across the GTB watershed. Forecasts suggest that warming temperatures and altered precipitation patterns are likely to accelerate during the 21st century, which threatens economically and ecologically vital uses of the GTB and its contributing waters.

 

 

 

 

Continue reading “NOAA Sea Grant: Quantifying the Impacts of Projected Climate Changes on the Grand Traverse Bay Region: An Adaptive Management Framework”

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Travis Dahl

Research Interests

My primary research interest is the impacts of global change on hydrology and sediment.  This encompasses investigating causes of changing streamflow across Michigan, land use impacts due to a ski area in Minnesota, legacy forestry impacts in Northern Michigan, and potential impacts of climate change on hydrology and sediment yield from agricultural watersheds in the southern portion of the Great Lakes Basin.

Education

Certificate, Complex Systems, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 2004.
M.S.E., Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 2003.
B.S., Industrial & Management Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 1998.

Publications

Calappi TJ, CJ Miller, DD Carpenter, TA Dahl (2011).  Developing a Family of Curves for the HEC-18 Scour Equation.  Journal of Hydraulic Engineering (In Review)

Stone AG, MS Riedel, TA Dahl, JP Selegean (2010). Application and Validation of a GIS-Based Stream Bank Stability Tool for the Great Lakes Region. J. Soil and Water Conservation, 65 (4): 92A-98A.

Dahl TA and TR Willemain (2001). The effect of long-memory arrivals on queue performance. Oper. Res. Lett. 29(3): 123-127.

Abstracts

Dahl TA, CT Creech, JP Selegean (2011).  Reducing Sediment Loads to USACE Harbors: Case Studies from the Great Lakes.  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Infrastructure Systems Conference, June 13-17, Atlanta, GA.
Calappi TJ, TA Dahl, KW Kompoltowicz (2011).  Water Level Forecasting and Regulation in the Upper Great Lakes.  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Infrastructure Systems Conference, June 13-17, Atlanta, GA.
Dahl TA, JW Lewis (2011). The Use of Residual Net Basin Supplies in the Great Lakes.  IAGLR 54th Conference on Great Lakes Research, May 30-June 3, Duluth, MN.
Creech CT, JP Selegean, TA Dahl (2011). Reducing Sediment Yields to Lake Superior: Case Studies from the Great Lakes Tributary Modeling Program.  IAGLR 54th Conference on Great Lakes Research, May 30-June 3, Duluth, MN.
Dahl TA, JL Ryder, JP Selegean (2010).  Non-Stationary Annual Peak Flows in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan; Potential Evidence for Climate Change Observed in the Mid-20th Century.  American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
AG Stone, MS Riedel, TA Dahl, JP Selegean (2010).  Boardman River Existing-Conditions SIAM Model for Dam Removal Study.  2nd Joint Federal Interagency Conference, June 27-July 1, Las Vegas, NV.
Riedel MS, TA Dahl, JP Selegean (2010).  Sediment Budget Development for the Great Lakes Region.  2nd Joint Federal Interagency Conference, June 27-July 1, Las Vegas, NV.
Creech CT, JP Selegean, TA Dahl (2010).  Historic and Modern Sediment Yield from a Forested Watershed and its Impact on Navigation.  2nd Joint Federal Interagency Conference, June 27-July 1, Las Vegas, NV.
JP Selegean, RB Nairn, TA Dahl, CT Creech (2010).  Building a better understanding of sediment issues through the application of a long-term fluvial and littoral sediment budget.  2nd Joint Federal Interagency Conference, June 27-July 1, Las Vegas, NV.
Creech CT, JP Selegean, RE McKeever, TA Dahl (2010). The Ontonagon River:  A History of Sediment Yields in a Geologically Young Watershed.  IAGLR 53rd Conference on Great Lakes Research, May 17-21, Toronto, ON.
Dahl TA, MA Kropfreiter, SJ Tule (2009).  150 Year Old Infrastructure vs. HEC-RAS: Modeling the Lower Fox River, WI.  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Infrastructure SystemsConference, July 20-24, Cleveland, OH.
Dahl TA, JP Selegean, MS Riedel (2009).  A GIS-Based Channel Stability Tool for the Great Lakes Region.  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Infrastructure Systems Conference, July 20-24, Cleveland, OH.
Dahl TA, MH Mahoney, JP Selegean (2008). An Observed Regime Shift in SE Michigan Bankfull (Q1.5) Streamflow Records. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Dahl TA and JP Selegean  (2008).  The Right Tool for the Job: Creating a Full Suite of Models to Help the Clinton River Decrease Sediment Loading.  IAGLR 51st Conference on Great Lakes Research, May 19-23, Peterborough, ON.
McPherson MM and TA Dahl (2008).  Modeling the Routing of Water Through the Upper Lakes Using HEC-RAS.  IAGLR 51st Conference on Great Lakes Research, May 19-23, Peterborough, ON.
Dahl TA and JP Selegean (2007).  Tools to Study Sediment Transport in the St. Joseph River Watershed.  State of Lake Michigan Conference, 27-28 September, Traverse City, MI.
Dahl TA and JP Selegean (2007).  Modeling Sediment Yield and Flow in a Rapidly Urbanizing Watershed.  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Infrastructure Systems Conference, June 25-29, Detroit, MI.
Selegean JP, TA Dahl, RB Nairn (2007).  The Quantification of Sediment Production, Transport and Deposition with Numerical Models.  IAGLR 50th Conference on Great Lakes Research, May 28-June 1, State College, PA.
Riedel MS, D Vujisic, JP Selegean, AG Stone, TA Dahl (2007).  A GIS Based Streambank Stability Tool for the Great Lakes Region.  IAGLR 50th Conference on Great Lakes Research, May 28-June 1, State College, PA.
Stone AG, MS Riedel, TA Dahl, JP Selegean, D Vujisic (2007).  Application and Validation of a GIS Based Streambank Stability Tool for the Great Lakes Region.  IAGLR 50th Conference on Great Lakes Research, May 28-June 1, State College, PA.
Dahl TA, M Jonas, P O’Brien, JP Selegean (2006).  Two-Stage Agricultural Ditch – Hydraulic and Sediment Impacts (Sebewaing River Basin, Michigan).  American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 11-15, San Francisco, CA.
Selegean JP and TA Dahl (2006).  Modeling Great Lakes Sediments from Source to Sink.  NSF MARGINS Conference on Teleconnections Between Source and Sink in Sediment Dispersal Systems. September 17-21, Eureka, CA.

 

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Erin Haacker

Parade and Field Trips 269Research Interests

Interactions between land use change and groundwater availability; sustainability of water resources in the face of change

My work focuses on the ways in which changes on the land surface – particularly changes in management practices – affect aquifers. Myriad feedbacks exist between groundwater availability and the human decisionmaking process. Through my work on the High Plains Aquifer, I am learning to approach complex “coupled human and natural systems” from an interdisciplinary modeling perspective.
 

Education

  • 2011-Present: Ph.D. student in Environmental Geosciences and Environmental Science and Policy at Michigan State University.
  • 2005-2010: BS in International Field Geosciences jointly awarded from the University of Montana and University College Cork.
  • 2005-2010: BA in Zoology at the University of Montana.

Presentations

2012 American Geophysical Union Conference: “A New Assessment of Groundwater Levels of the High Plains Aquifer: From Predevelopment to Current” (poster)

Complete CV

 

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LHM (formerly ILHM)

Conceptual diagram of the LHM domain

The Landscape Hydrology Model (LHM) is a new landscape hydrology simulation suite capable of very large domain, fine resolution modeling. It simulates nearly the entire terrestrial hydrologic cycle with full energy- and water-balance physically-based component modules.  LHM incorporates a host of novel components, but integrates fully with the USGS MODFLOW software, and allows existing MODFLOW simulations to run with little modification.

Structure

LHM is written primarily in MATLAB, with a number of ArcGIS interface modules written in Python.  It is coupled with MODFLOW using a pass-to-disk coupling,  which requires a slight modification of the MODFLOW source code.  Currently, the plan is to migrate fully to Python within the next year, as Python provides a much more robust development environment, and greater possibilities for GUI front end development. Continue reading “LHM (formerly ILHM)”