RECENT AND ONGOING RESEARCH PROJECTS
ANALYZING GLOBAL VARIATIONS IN RIVER FORM
Goal: Develop and analyze global datasets of river form, including river width, sinuosity, number of channels, and basin area.
Locations: Global
Toolkit: Satellite Imagery, RivWidth, Digital Elevation Models
UNC Personnel: Tamlin, Xiao, Ted, John
Key Collaborators: Mike Durand (OSU), George Allen (Texas A&M), Ed Beighley (Northeastern), Colin Gleason (UMass), Kostas Andreads (JPL), Larry Smith (UCLA)
Funding: NASA New Investigator Program (2012-2015), NASA Terrestrial Hydrology Program (2012-2015), NASA SWOT Science Team (2016-2019)
Representative Paper: Allen, G.H. and T.M. Pavelsky (2018), Global Extent of Rivers and Streams, Science, 6402, 585-588.
THE SURFACE WATER AND OCEAN TOPOGRAPHY (SWOT) SATELLITE MISSION
Goal: Develop a satellite to track river discharge and water storage from space
Locations: Alaska, Global
Toolkit: Satellite Imagery, AirSWOT, Hydrodynamic Models, Field Data
UNC Personnel: Tamlin, Shuai, Xiao, Ted, Wayana, Elizabeth, Sarina
Key Collaborators: Mike Durand (Ohio State), Larry Smith (UCLA), Delwyn Moller (RSS, Inc), Ernesto Rodriguez (JPL), Kostas Andreadis (JPL), and many others.
Funding: NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (2014-2019), NASA Terrestrial Hydrology Program (2012-2017), NASA Physical Oceanography Program (2012)
Representative Paper: Altenau, E. H., T. M. Pavelsky, D. Moller, C. Lion, L. H. Pitcher, G. H. Allen, P. D. Bates, S. Calmant, M. Durand, and L. C. Smith (2017), AirSWOT measurements of river water surface elevation and slope: Tanana River, AK, Geophysical Research Letters, 44, 181–189.
SIMULATING THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE IN CLIMATE MODELS
Goal: Evaluate the hydrologic cycle in climate models and use them to understand patterns in regional hydroclimate
Locations: Sierra Nevadas, California, The American Southeast, Colombia
Toolkit: Regional Climate Models, In Situ Validation Data, Bayesian Statistics
UNC Personnel: Tamlin, Melissa, Angélica
Key Collaborators: Stefan Sobolowski (Bjerknes Centre), Sarah Kapnick (Princeton/GFDL), Michael Durand (Ohio State), Melissa Wrzesien (Ohio State), Greg Characklis (UNC)
Funding: NSF Integrated Food, Energy, and Water Systems (INFEWS, 2016-2019)
Representative Paper: Wrzesien, M.L., M.T. Durand, T.M. Pavelsky, S.B. Kapnick, Y. Zhang, J. Guo, and C.K. Shum (2018), A New Estimate of North American Mountain Snow Accumulation From Regional Climate Model Simulations, Geophysical Research Letters, 45(3), 1423-1432.
TRACKING WATER AND SEDIMENT IN RIVERS, LAKES, AND WETLANDS
Goal: Understand how water and sediment move through river networks, lakes, and large wetlands
Locations: Peace-Athabasca Delta, Canada; Continental U.S.; Alaska
Toolkit: Field-Based Hydrology Measurements, In Situ Reflectance Spectra, Satellite Imagery, Long-Term Hydrology Datasets.
UNC GHL Personnel: Tamlin, Simon, John, Sarina, Arik
Key Collaborators: Marc Simard (JPL), Matt Ross (Colorado State), Faisal Hossain (UW), Sheikh Ghafoor (Tennessee Tech)
Funding: UNC Junior Faculty Development Award (2011), NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (2016-2019), NASA Citizen Science in Earth Systems Program (2018-2020), NASA Earth Ventures Suborbital Program (2019-2024)
Representative Paper: Long, C.M. and T.M. Pavelsky (2013). Remote sensing of suspended sediment concentration and hydrologic connectivity in a complex wetland environment, Remote Sensing of Environment, 129, 197-209.
UNDERSTANDING HYDROLOGY AND CLIMATE IN THE ARCTIC
Goal: Understand how the hydrologic cycle and climate interact in Arctic environments.
Locations: Canada, Russia, Alaska, and the Arctic Ocean
Toolkit: Long-term data sets, Satellite Imagery, GCMs
UNC Personnel: Tamlin, Shuai, Wayana, Xiao, Elizabeth
Key Collaborators: Larry Smith (UCLA), Dennis Lettenmaier (UCLA), David Butman (UW), Jay Zarnetske (Michigan State)
Funding: NASA Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE, 2016-2019)
Representative Paper:Pavelsky, T. M., and J. P. Zarnetske (2017), Rapid decline in river icings detected in Arctic Alaska: Implications for a changing hydrologic cycle and river ecosystems, Geophysical Research Letters, 44, 3228-3235.
