Research Themes

Our group has long-term experiments across a range of watersheds (shrublands, grasslands, forests) where we combine field instrumentation, sampling, remote sensing, and physically-based hydrologic modeling. We advance knowledge in arid and semiarid hydrology for land and water managers. To do so, we study hydrologic patterns, atmospheric, ecologic and geomorphic interactions, and link these to sustainable water resources. Recent publications include Schreiner-McGraw et al. (2020), Vivoni et al. (2021), Vivoni et al. (2022), Keller et al. (2023), and Kimsal et al. (2026). This work has been funded by the NSF LTER Program, US Army Research Office, Department of Energy, Salt River Project and USDA, among others.

Our group uses hydrologic models forced with future projections of regional climate change and land cover transformations to conduct hydrologic impact assessments. Models are thoroughly tested with remote sensing and field data. These efforts inform short and long-term water resources planning and decision making by water utilities and infrastructure agencies. We are advancing knowledge on how hydrologic systems at regional and watershed scales respond to warming, forest disturbances and treatments, and urban growth. Recent publications include Bohn et al. (2018), Xiao et al. (2022), Wang and Vivoni (2022), Whitney et al. (2023), Wang et al. (2024) and Cederstrom et al. (2024). This work has been funded by the NASA Earth Science Applications, Central Arizona Project, and Salt River Project, among others.