WyCEHG heads to San Francisco for annual science meeting

On Monday, December 15th-19th, Wyoming Center for Environmental Hydrology and Geophysics (WyCEHG) faculty and students will join more than 24,000 geophysical professionals at the annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting. The event, which has been running for 46 years and is the largest of its kind in the world, will be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

The meeting will feature over 14,000 poster presentations, in addition to more than 7,000 oral presentations from faculty, students and scientists around the country.

"Some of the biggest names in the hard sciences will be there,"says WyCEHG scientist and facilities manager Elizabeth Traver, who helped organize WyCEHG participants. "It's an incredible place for students and faculty to connect and network with people whose work they've followed."

Twenty WyCEHG students and faculty are presenting their research at the event. Posters and talks cover a wide range of topics related to surface hydrology, critical zones, bark beetle impact and more.

And participation at the conference isn't only limited to those who make it to San Francisco. This year, AGU is offering live internet streams of presentations, and ePosters. For more information on how to stream events, visit the AGU website.

"If you're a young scientist, this a great opportunity to see what's out there," says Traver. "It's just a really motivating conference. It's fascinating, interesting and groundbreaking."

By Manasseh Franklin

WyCEHG Scientist uses geophysics to construct climate history

From a young age, Dr. Bryan Shuman was drawn to understanding the way the natural world works. That fascination took him from his native northeast to Colorado College for undergrad, Brown University for grad school, the University of Oregon for a postdoc, the University of Minnesota for his first faculty position, and finally to UW.

Now, as an associate professor in Geology and Geophysics and director of the Roy Shlemon Center for Quaternary Studies, his desire to understand the natural world is as strong as ever.

“I’m really interested in how climate changes and effects water resources and ecosystems,” says Shuman, “and I use geologic evidence to look at how that’s occurred in the past.” 

He works within the timeframe of the past 15,000 years—since the last ice age—and has research sites in Wyoming, Colorado, and New England. In addition to using geologic evidence to understand climate processes, he also looks at climate’s impact on other systems. “I do a lot of work with fossil material to look at how forests in particular have responded. And I use lakes as giant precipitation gauges to reconstruct drought patterns in the past across many different parts of the continent.”

Bryan Shuman at Lewis Lake. Work focuses on

documenting and mapping changes in the levels of lakes

throughout North America over the past 15,000 years.

In order to conduct his research, Shuman employs less than tradition methods. “For me, the Wyoming Center for Environmental Hydrology and Geophysics (WyCEHG) is a really exciting development because I am basically the only person in this field of paleoecology who uses geophysics,” he says. Geophysical tools, such as ground penetrating radar (GPR), help him to evaluate evidence of past climate change, and to look at the effects those changes have had on water supply and forests.

Shuman hopes to use his research not only for the academic purposes of reconstructing a climate history, but also to inform the public on the ways a shifting climate could effect the water resources and ecosystems of the future.

“One reason this research is important is that it’s providing water managers with examples of how systems have changed before. These are not climate model speculations about what might change, but actual examples of ways in which our water resources have been impacted.”

In addition to his research, Shuman also teaches
classes on climate.

“People are often surprised to realize that there were times when the Platte River—which we are totally dependent on for water and also energy—was dry for thousands of years,” Shuman says, and it wasn’t so long ago that the river was in that state. “The fact that we could change the climate and move into a situation that’s much drier than we are currently used to is not just an idea, it’s happened before.”

While his research can’t necessarily predict the future of the climate, it can show that there are meaningful impacts that climate change can produce. And it’s that deeper understanding of Earth’s history that really drives Shuman’s scientific interests.

“My favorite thing about [this research] is recognizing that the earth has been different in the past but that out there hidden in the landscape are all these clues as to how things have been before. I find it really amazing that I can go to a lake here in Wyoming, dig some material out of the ground and put together part of the story. Then I could go to somewhere in New England and see another piece of that story.”

“When we pull samples out of the ground, they have information that tells us about the way the world works. That’s very cool.”

By Manasseh Franklin

WyCEHG postdoc uses hydrogeophysics to understand aquifers

For Mine Dogan, a geophysical engineer and postdoctoral research scientist with the Wyoming Center for Environmental Hydrology andGeophysics (WyCEHG), math and physics are the gateway to understanding the universe.

          

“I believe there is nothing in the universe that we cannot understand and/or model using math and physics,” she says. “Mastering these two fields gives one not only the knowledge but also analytical thinking and problem solving skills.”

Mine installs a pressure transducer at
a field site in Mississippi

She explains, “I like the way these two fields can expand people's mind and provide new perspectives. Geophysics is not simply a tool that you can hit some buttons and get what you need. It is a field of science which requires knowing the theories, limitations, pros, and cons of each method.”

          

Dogan, who grew up in Turkey, developed her interest in math and physics at an early age and that interest led her down a path of varied research projects. She received her bachelors and masters of science degrees in geophysical engineering from Istanbul Technical University in Turkey, and her PhD in hydrogeophysics from Michigan State University.

She has worked as a geophysical engineer in coal mines in western Turkey, and contributed to research projects related to archaeogeophysics and earthquake engineering. Currently, her focus is on hydrogeophysics, particularly in regards to aquifers.

“As a geophysicist, I want to contribute to this growing field by introducing innovative approaches to collect and interpret the geophysical data needed to map the spatial and temporal changes in soil, aquifers, and surrounding material,” she says.

Mine (right) measures snow density at the
No Name watershed in the Snowy Mountains

Her recently published paper, “Predicting flow and transport in highly heterogeneous alluvial aquifers,” provides a solution to a long-standing challenge of modeling flow and transport in highly heterogeneous alluvial aquifers. She and her colleagues coupled novel characterization tools and stochastic methods to provide the solution, which they hope will make a big impact in understanding contaminants in aquifers and developing effective remediation schemes.

Cutting edge hydrological research like this exemplifies Dogan's long-term goals of “contributing to the deterministic aspects of hydrology by developing novel ways to collect, process, and interpret geophysical data.” She hopes that in doing so, she can “collaboratively provide solutions to hydrogeology-, groundwater remediation- and pollution-related problems.”

Collaboration with other scientists is a key reason she landed at the University of Wyoming nearly a year ago as a post-doctoral researcher with WyCEHG. She sought an interdisciplinary environment that would allow her the opportunity to collaborate with scientists across disciplines.

Not only does her passion for math and physics motivate her to push limits with her research, so does the potential future impacts of that research.

Says Dogan, “Being able to provide knowledge which will likely effect the lives of next generations is the mostimportant and satisfying aspect of my work.”

For more on Dogan's work, visit www.minedogan.com, and watch this short film http://vimeo.com/112085751.

By Manasseh Franklin

Wyoming teachers come together for watershed education training

Before the snow and chill hit Wyoming this week, 28 teachers from all over the state came together to discuss curriculum and learn about watershed education through the Teton Science School's Teacher Training called “Wyoming Water in the Classroom.” This year’s workshop was held in Fort Washakie, WY on the Wind River Indian Reservation from November 7^th through the 9^th.

On Friday evening, teachers gathered to explore water-science lesson plans with University of Wyoming graduate student, Megan Matthews, and  Dr. Joy Johnson from the UW's Science and Math Teaching Center.

On Saturday, teachers learned about the history of water on the Wind River Indian Reservation from members of the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes.  And, later in the morning until that evening, teachers had a field experience at Washakie Reservoir where Wyoming Center for Environmental Hydrology and Geophysics (WyCEHG) scientist and UWAssociate Professor, Ginger Paige and her team led trainings related to water flow, quality, and macro-organisms.

The weekend concluded on Sunday with follow-up planning, and allowed teachers to learn more about reserving and using educational resources.

To learn more about opportunities for teachers, please contact Liz Nysson at lizn@uwyo.edu.

Jagath Vithanage, graduate student at
the University of Wyoming, shows Wyoming teachers
how to measure stream flow.

By Liz Nysson

Rock drilling leads WyCEHG scientists to groundwater

Not far from the Blair-Wallis picnic area in Vedauwoo near Laramie,Wyoming, literal breakthroughs in science are underway. A drill rig standing several stories tall and manned by four men wearing hard hats is moving, slowly. The drill is cutting through granite and pulling out long cylindrical core samples that offer UW’s Wyoming Center for Environmental Hydrology and Geophysics (WyCEHG) researchers unlikely clues about ground water in Wyoming.

            
The drilling began on October 7^th and will continue until four boreholes extending to depths of 262 feet are dug in the Blair-Wallis area. Once these core samples are gathered, the drill crew will move to the Red Buttes area south of Laramie. Researchers hope the Red Buttes area cores will extend to over 900 feet.

Drilling began on October 7th at Blair-Wallis.
Photo Credit: Brady Flinchum

"Understanding groundwater in mountain regions is crucial so that we can estimate how much water will be available for use downstream," says Brady Flinchum, a geophysics graduate student and WyCEHG member at UW. But groundwater can be a tough thing to measure, particularly in the Laramie Range.

“As it turns out, the granite rock type in the Laramie Range makes it extra difficult to quantify groundwater because groundwater flow is concentrated into small fracture zones,” says Flinchum. Information gathered from these boreholes will allow WyCEHG geophysicists to “measure the properties that control the groundwater flow and storage in the subsurface and to determine the source of groundwater. We will be extracting water samples from different depths and using geochemistry to see if the water in the subsurface is the same as the rain water or stream water.”

According to Dr. Steve Holbrook, this project is a hugely important for WyCEHG. “A primary focus of our work is using geophysical imaging methods to infer subsurface material properties, including hydrological properties like porosity and fracturing. With the geophysical methods we can cover a lot of ground quickly, but to have confidence in our interpretations, we need to have some ground-truth data to calibrate our geophysical images against. 

"The drill holes currently being drilled in the Laramie Range will give us that ground truth and enable us to extrapolate known subsurface properties over the larger landscape."

Granite core offers clues into groundwater movement
Photo credit: Brady Flinchum

Holbrook has been working on getting the project in place for two years. He credits the support and cooperation of colleagues at the U.S. Forest Service in getting it off the ground.

Flinchum agrees with Holbrook on the significance of the drilling. “Scientists using geochemistry can learn about the source of the deep ground water from our samples, which is all part of the story of how water travels from the high mountains to the oceans.”

             




By Manasseh Franklin

WyCEHG Collaboration leads to deeper understanding of water transport and storage

On September 30^th, California-based hydrologist and geomorphologist Daniella Rempe spoke at a Wyoming Center for Environmental Hydrology and Geophysics (WyCEHG) meeting to share her study findings related to water storage and movement. Rempe, a University of California Berkeley PhD candidate in Department of Earth and Planetary Science, came to communicate her research but also to discuss the ways WyCEHG is helping to further that research.

“WyCEHG significantly impacts my research by providing me with the means to image the fresh bedrock-weathered bedrock boundary that defines the base of the ‘critical zone.’” says Rempe. She further describes the ‘critical zone’ as “a boundary that controls many processes that influence how water and weathered rock are distributed across a landscape.”

Daniella (Center) with Professor Steve Holbrook (Right) 

and Professor Bill Dietrich of UC Berkeley (Left) 

discussing hypotheses about the planned 

geophysical survey locations.  Photo Credit: Alex Bryk 

The WyCEHG and Rempe collaboration began this past summer when Dr. Steve Holbrook and a crew of WyCEHG members joined Rempe and researchers from UC Berkeley at the Eel River Critical Zone Observatory in the Angelo Coast Range Research in Mendocino County, California. The WyCEHG crew used a variety of imaging techniques to image the boundary between weathered and fresh bedrock under hillslopes studied by the Eel River Critical Zone Observatory researchers.

Rempe is excited about the future of her research now that her relationship with WyCEHG has been established. “Collaboration with WyCEHG researchers will allow us to collect key data needed to test and constrain models that describe the evolution of the critical zone under landscapes.”

 She’s also enthusiastic about the ways in which collaborative science can have a broader impact on society as a whole. “Advances in our understanding of the complex interactions between rock, soil, water, air and biota are expected to significantly impact how we view our changing planet and ultimately lead to better informed environmental policy decisions.”

In addition to presenting at the WyCEHG All-Hands meeting, Rempe met with WyCEHG faculty and students to discuss future collaborations, including drafting manuscripts with Steve Holbrook on the WyCEHG field work at the Eel River.

By Manasseh Franklin