The Tahoe Environmental Observatory Network (TEON) monitors water quality along the lakeshore, while also tracking changes across the Tahoe Basin.
Learn about research through TEON
Since its inception, the Global Water Center has done work in dozens of locations, from Mongolia, to Antarctica, to Chile, and its faculty have done research on every continent. Zeb Hogan, GWC conservation biologist and host of the National Geographic show "Monster Fish," recently led a fish release of over 1,500 fish into a fish reserve in the Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia.
The Global Water Center's research impact extends across the globe.
Decreases in snow accumulation and earlier melt have been observed in the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, and it is expected that warming temperatures will reduce the amount of precipitation that falls as snow and hasten the onset of spring throughout the western U.S.
Macroscale hydrologic models forced with Global Circulation Model data sets predict that snowpacks and snowmelt runoff will respond if winter and spring temperatures continue to rise in the continental mountains.
Winter and spring temperatures in the western U.S. have increased over 1 degree Celsius on average in the last 50 years to record high temperatures the early 2000s, yet changes in SWE and snowmelt timing have only been documented in the state of Colorado. The effects of warming temperatures on higher-elevation snowpacks in the Rio Grande, Great Basin, and Colorado River Basins comprising the larger intermountainwest remains poorly understood.
Snowpacks are the primary water resource in the semiarid IMW river basins and decreases in SWE and earlier melts would be particularly troubling because water supplies are already over allocated. Seasonal snowpacks act as ''reservoirs'' for water storage and shorter and earlier snowmelt seasons lead to greater downstream losses and less water available for ecological and human needs.
Western US forest ecosystems and downstream water supplies are reliant on seasonal snowmelt. Complex feedbacks govern forest-snow interactions in which forests influence the distribution of snow and the timing of snowmelt but are also sensitive to snow water availability. Notwithstanding, few studies have investigated the influence of forest structure on snow distribution, snowmelt and soil moisture response. Using a multi-year record from co-located observations of snow depth and soil moisture, we evaluated the influence of forest-canopy position on snow accumulation and snow depth depletion, and associated controls on the timing of soil moisture response at Boulder Creek, Colorado, Jemez River Basin, New Mexico, and the Wolverton Basin, California.
Forest-canopy controls on snow accumulation led to 12-42 cm greater peak snow depths in open versus under-canopy positions. Differences in accumulation and melt across sites resulted in earlier snow disappearance in open positions at Jemez and earlier snow disappearance in under-canopy positions at Boulder and Wolverton sites. Irrespective of net snow accumulation, we found that peak annual soil moisture was nearly synchronous with the date of snow disappearance at all sites with an average deviation of 12, 3 and 22 days at Jemez, Boulder and Wolverton sites, respectively.
Interestingly, sites in the Sierra Nevada showed peak soil moisture prior to snow disappearance at both our intensive study site and the nearby snow telemetry stations. Our results imply that the duration of soil water stress may increase as regional warming or forest disturbance lead to earlier snow disappearance and soil moisture recession in subalpine forests.
Carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas fluxes in Sierra Nevada Meadows Recently, California passed cap and trade legislation to manage carbon emissions. As a result, ecosystems may be managed or restored to sequester carbon, and carbon credits could be sold to offset the cost of restoration. Sierra Nevada meadows are often degraded, but hydrologic restoration may have an added benefit: it could result in an increase in carbon storage in the soil and a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Our goal is to measure greenhouse gas fluxes from soil and carbon sequestration in soil before, immediately after, and up to 15 years after restoration. Our results show how much carbon may be sequestered by restoration and if shifts in the balance of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions from these ecosystems result in a net reduction in total greenhouse gas produced by soil microorganisms.
We also hope to learn what factors control carbon sequestration and greenhouse gases in meadows. One outcome of this research will likely be that it will determine the extent to which restoration may affect meadow carbon budgets and will inform land managers and policy makers interested in carbon credits in California.
Globally, we are loosing freshwater fish species through destruction of habitat, blocking of migratory pathways, pollution, introduction of invasive species, overfishing, and climate change. The loss of freshwater fish biodiversity can directly impact the economy and food source of communities through the loss of freshwater fisheries. Indirectly, the presence of a diverse fish communities acts as a sentinel for reliably clean and available water for us all.
At the GWC, we are working to protect and conserve fishes around the world by building improved methods to monitor and track fish, working with resource managers to better manage both the fishery and the freshwater, and educating the community on the connectedness between freshwater fish and our own health. Working together, the GWC is protecting freshwater fish, and the communities they support through food and clean water, around the world.
The water cycle, from the atmosphere across and through the land or ice surface, and back to the ocean, is the most important biogeochemical cycle on the planet, responsible for maintaining life. Our group focuses on measurement of the volumes and chemistry of these waters as they traverse our terrestrial world.
Through the development of novel fiber-optic based sensors, as well as unmanned aircraft sensors, we can now observe the surface of the earth at scales ranging from millimeters to kilometers to understand the changes in the water cycle from human and natural drivers.
From measurements of Antarctic glacier melting to the aquatic habitat of some of the world's rarest fishes, Tyler's laboratory at UNR has detected significant changes in the water cycle that are now being used to manage and mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Shasta Lake on the Sacramento River is a key component of managing water resources in California. As the largest storage reservoir in California, it provides water for energy (through generation of hydropower), agriculture, cities, and the environment. It also has the ability to store water to prevent flooding. However, there are fish that naturally should migrate between freshwater on the Sacramento River and the ocean, and Shasta Dam, which creates Shasta Lake, has prevented the fish from reaching cold water habitats they need for spawning.
We have been using a computer model to model Shasta Lake to see what options are available to control water releases from the reservoir or to capture fish and move them around the dam. We look at these issues for dry, wet, and normal years, and also under climate change.
Our studies have shown that options are limited under extreme dry conditions due to lack of water in the system, and under extreme wet conditions because of mandated reservoir operations for flood protection and water quality. However, model results indicate that controlling release temperature by withdrawing water from specific reservoir elevations does help to reduce impacts to downstream fisheries without negatively affecting fish in the reservoir itself.
Arid and semi-arid regions cover about 40% of the earth's surface. Many of these areas have experienced major land use changes, including conversion to agricultural lands. Irrigated agriculture is likely to impact soil chemical, physical and biological properties. For instance, large water additions through irrigation may affect salt levels and mineral weathering while changes in vegetation from shrubs to agricultural crops may affect quantity and quality of organic matter in the soil.
Understanding how management affects soil properties is important because management practices may have to change over time depending on how soils develop in response to management activities. In addition, in Nevada many agricultural fields are taken out of production and are being restored to native vegetation. Potentially, over time the soils have changed so much that they are not suitable to support native vegetation anymore which may explain why restoration efforts have had limited success.
Our study compares soil properties in native shrublands with soils in areas that have been cropped with alfalfa for more than five decades. We are combining field with laboratory studies focusing on soil chemical and biological properties. The results of this study will help us understand how fast soil properties can change in response to management and determine if these changes may be reversible or not.
A Cooperative Partnership Between Bureau of Land Management and the University of Nevada, Reno for Environmental Characterization and Remediation of the abandoned mine lands of Perry Canyon, Washoe County, Nevada PI - Ronald Breitmeyer, Ph.D. Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering Graduate Student, Rachel Thomas, Hydrogeology Perry Canyon is an abandoned mine land (AML) site located in Washoe County, NV approximately 35 miles north of Reno, NV.
Perry Canyon was mined in underground tunnels resulting in the exposure of sulfur rich minerals to oxygen and meteoric water. The combination of water, sulfide mineralization and oxygen has led to the production of acid mine drainage or AMD. AMD has the potential to mobilize heavy metals such as arsenic or lead potentially impacting area groundwater and surface water resources. The University of Nevada, Reno is partnering with the Bureau of Land Management through the Great Basin Cooperative Ecosystem Study Unit (GB-CESU) Program to characterize the environmental risks in Perry Canyon and to begin to formulate solutions for any required corrective activities.
Researchers will utilize new approaches to site characterization and mapping of AML features such as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photography and photogrammetry, geophysical surveys, and field-scale hydrologic analysis. Research and development conducted at Perry Canyon will be exported to other sites and have a broad impact on the evaluation and remediation of AML sites. In addition to solving a real-world environmental risk problem associated with a legacy mining site, graduate students in the Graduate Program of Hydrologic Sciences and Geological Engineering Program at the University of Nevada, Reno have are utilizing Perry Canyon as a field laboratory to practice skills in geophysics, hydrogeology and engineering design. Perry Canyon is intended to serve as an example of how partnerships between federal and state agencies and the University of Nevada can be used to solve the extensive problem of AML sites in Nevada and beyond. Funded and in Partnership with Bureau of Land Management.
In 2021, high temperature records were set across the Arctic. It's a glimpse of what scientists think the future winters will be like - if a bit ahead of schedule. The fate of summer is murkier. Climate models fall into two camps about what Alaska's summer will be like several decades from now. One set of models projects much hotter, drier summers. The other suggests that summers will be warmer, not hot, but with more clouds and rain. Both of those futures are reasonable given what scientists know now.
Figuring out which one is right hinges on learning more about some aspects of climate that scientists don't understand well. Getting a handle on it requires attacking a number of questions. Because it's so hard to work in Alaska, there are still basic questions about what the climate is like in some places. There are bigger questions, too, about how the atmosphere interacts with the land and ocean to alter climate. Answering them is more complicated. It requires collecting new data and analyzing models.
Sorting out the answers to these questions will help the people of Alaska plan how to live in their changing environment. For example, if summers become hotter and drier, vast fires in the boreal forest will be more common. That would change plant and wildlife habitats and impact the many people who make their living off the land. But "What happens in the Arctic doesn't stay in the Arctic," so it has implications for the rest of us, too. If summers became warm and much wetter, the amount of water rivers send into the Arctic Ocean could increase, which could cause changes in climate across the globe. It seems like a small question more appropriate for a travel site - what should you pack for your Alaskan vacation in 2043? But what happens actually impacts thousands of people directly and millions living far away.
Climate change and emission of greenhouse gas, such as CO2, is a legacy issue that our human society will fight for long term. Recently, president Obama is set to announce steeper cuts in carbon pollution from power plants, and require power plants to reduce carbon emissions by 32% from 2005 levels between now and 2030. However, to the other side, there are still lots of open questions regarding to how the natural reactions such as biogeochemical processes in soil ecosystem affect the carbon cycle and potentially influence the greenhouse gas emission, and how we can predict it.
Our project is set to investigate the largely unknown link between the soil carbon stability and the redox chemical reactions of iron, to improve our capability to model and predict the carbon cycles in natural ecosystems. This is a multi-institute collaborative project, for which the University of Nevada, Reno is playing a leading role. We have funded investigators at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Desert Research Institute, Lawrence Livermore National Lab and Oak Ridge National Lab, and unfunded collaborators from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and Carnegie Mellon University.