Research

A Landslide Inventory and Assessment for Yellowstone National Park

We combine a 2020 LiDAR dataset with DInSAR to create the first paired inventory and activity assessment for the entire park. Insights and data products can help inform park management decisions. (THESIS in progress) (Caldera Chronicles Article)

A Landslide Inventory and Assessment for Grand Teton National Park

We combine a 2014 LiDAR dataset with spatial statistics to create the first inventory and assessment of whether slide positions are correlated with topographic and geologic setting. Insights and data products can help inform park management decisions. (THESIS) (Prelim Story Map)

Tracking a Creeping Landslide Damming Salmon Falls River, Idaho

- We compare data from an array of continuously operating static GPS sensors against water level measurements from groundwater wells, a streams and a sag pond lake to evaluate how water influences the timing and magnitude of landslide movement. (THESIS)

Post-Failure Deformation at the Porcupine Landslide, Greys River, WY

- A channel-damming landslide destroyed the roadway and continued to creep over the next few years. Deformation was tracked at monuments using RTK-GPS and point cloud comparisons were made from drone-collected imagery.
  - Initial analysis Story Map, Lincoln County, WY
  - Our Story Map focused on analysis of RTK-GPS Data
  - Our analysis differencing topographic point clouds

In the Reynolds Creek CZO, Owyhee Mountains of SW Idaho

We combine a LiDAR dataset with extensive field mapping and geochronological techniques to understand the topographic evolution of this volcanic landscape over the last 14 million years. (THESIS in progress)
We use LiDAR data to generate a predictive model for soil/mobile regolith thickness that is a function of hillslope curvature. (THESIS, PAPER)

In the South Fork Eel River CZO, Northern California

- We use LiDAR analysis of terraces and knickpoints, and OSL ages to characterize the timing and form of landscape response to base level fall. (THESIS)
- We combine topographic analysis, numerical modeling and cosmogenic erosion rates to evaluate whether there are characteristic patterns in detrital erosion rates during landscape response to a tectonic disturbance. (PAPER)

In the Waipaoa River in New Zealand

- We combine field mapping of knickpoints with numerical modeling to understand how signals of base level change propagate through river networks. We ask, what is the origin and evolution of waterfalls? (PAPER) (PAPER)

At the Selawik Slump in northwest Alaska,

- We use ground-based LiDAR, structure from motion, total station and other surveying tools to measure the pace of retrogressive thaw slump growth. (THESIS, PAPER)
- We also use an array of water quality sondes to measure the propagation of turbidity signals down the Selawik River and evaluate their impact on stream metabolism. (THESIS)
- We measure soil gas emissions across a chronosequence of slumps to evaluate controls on decomposition rates and whether slumps are hot-spots for greenhouse gas emissions. (THESIS, PAPER)

On the North Slope of Alaska

- We document the presence of thermal erosion features across an expansive LiDAR dataset, recognizing how their distribution reflects both substrate and surface age. (THESIS)
- We measure the variability in the shallow water table as the active layer thickens adjacent to a thermokarst gully.

In the Salmon River in central Idaho:

- We investigate how hydrographs vary between watersheds dominated by rain, snow and mix precipitation inputs in order to predict how watersheds may respond to rising snowlines. (THESIS, PAPER)

Across the western US:

- We evaluate whether a catchment’s elevation distribution is a robust indicator of its potential to store snow and its sensitivity to snowpack loss (DISSERTATION, PAPER)
- We use snow on/off LiDAR datasets to evaluate regional sensitivities of seasonal snowpack to elevation, aspect, and vegetation cover. (PAPER)

In Big Creek, a steep mountain river in central Idaho:

- We use repeat total station surveys, water level loggers and interval photography to track the progressive deformation of a channel spanning log raft as it experiences a runoff hydrograph. (THESIS, manuscript)

In a flume study at our Water Resource Lab:

- We explore how the progressive packing of analog logs responds to both steady and fluctuating river stage.

In Marsh Creek in southeast Idaho:

- We use a dense array of water quality sondes to track the downstream progression of turbidity signals generated by both hydroogic and anthropogenic events and apply stable isotopes to pinpoint sediment sources. (THESIS)
- We use a historic analysis of land use practices (both conservation actions and erosion drivers) and compare it against datasets of fine sediment flux to determine whether mitigation actions make measurable improvements. (THESIS)

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