Additional Information

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Project Site

Lochvale

Luquillo

Panola

Trout Lake

Sleepers

Select Bibliography:

Clow, D.W., and Mast, M.A., 2010, Mechanisms for chemostatic behavior in catchments: Implications for CO2 consumption by mineral weathering, Chemical Geology, v. 269, p. 40-51.

Peters, N.E., Shanley, J.B., Aulenbach, B.T., Webb, R.M., Campbell, D.H., Hunt, Randall, Larsen, M.C., Stallard, R.F., Troester, J.W., and Walker, J.F. 2006, Water and solute mass balance of five small, relatively undisturbed watersheds in the U.S. Science of the Total Environment 358:221-242, doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.04.044

Shanley, J.B., M.A. Mast, D.H. Campbell, G.R. Aiken, D.P. Krabbenhoft, R.J. Hunt, J.F. Walker, P.F. Schuster, A. Chalmers, B.T. Aulenbach, N.E. Peters, M. Marvin-DiPasquale, D.W. Clow, and M.M. Shafer, 2008. Comparison of total mercury and methylmercury cycling at five sites using the small watershed approach. Environmental Pollution 154, 143-154.

Shanley, J. B., W. H. McDowell, and R. F. Stallard, 2011. Long-term patterns and short-term dynamics of stream solutes and suspended sediment in a rapidly weathering tropical watershed. Water Resour. Res., 47, W07515, doi:10.1029/2010WR009788

Walker, J.F., Hunt, R., Hay, L.E., and Markstrom, S.L., 2012, Watershed Scale Response to Climate Change: Trout Lake Basin, Wisconsin: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2011-3119, 6 p.

Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB)

Loch Vale winter crossing, CO

The USGS Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB) project was launched in 1991 with five sites in ecosystems ranging from tropical rainforest to alpine tundra. Our research centers on three themes: (1) observation of hydrologic and biogeochemical fluxes across contrasting landscapes and analysis of how these fundamentally important cycles respond to climate variability and landscape change; (2) enhanced measurement of organic and inorganic carbon (C) fluxes in aquatic environments, using continuous in-stream sensors coupled with conventional sampling and lab analysis, to foster improved understanding of the role of freshwater carbon fluxes in the global carbon budget; and (3), synthesis of WEBB measurements and understanding of water budget components to develop models to predict potential changes in water availability in response to climate change.

Why is this research important?

Since its inception, the objective of the WEBB project has been to conduct innovative, interdisciplinary research to improve understanding of processes controlling exchange of water, energy, and solutes among atmospheric, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. The WEBB program uses the "small watershed approach", which takes advantage of well-defined hydrologic inputs and outputs and well-quantified basin characteristics of small watersheds to develop the critical link between plot-scale studies and large regional surveys and monitoring programs. This link then supports the effort to inform the public, government and land managers on the issues facing water supplies and provides them with the specifics needed to perform the needed action.

Principal Investigators: Brett Aulenbach, Dave Clow, Martha Scholl, Jamie Shanley, Kim Wickland, Sheila Murphy, John Walker

Project Team: Samayya Allan, Ann Chalmers, Kevin Craley, John Crawford, Andy Hickey, Randy Hunt, Brent Olson, Jake Peters, Jeff Riley, Manuel Rosario, William Selbig, Krista Stensvold, Angel Torres, Cristal Younker, Chris Walls