Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Molly S Wood

Molly Wood is currently on detail as the Acting Chief of the International Science Collaboration Branch in the USGS’ Office of International Programs. She was formerly the Acting Chief of the USGS Water Resources Mission Area’s Hydrologic Networks Branch and the USGS National Sediment Specialist.

Molly is a Senior Hydrologist for the USGS’ Water Resources Mission Area Headquarters, currently on detail to the USGS Office of International Programs. She has an educational background in Civil and Environmental Engineering and has worked in both the private consulting and federal government sectors. In her normal USGS Headquarters role, she serves as an advisor and coordinator for national sediment transport and surface water monitoring activities. She helps set national policies for water resources monitoring, advises on funding priorities, provides expert advice and training, and develops innovative water monitoring techniques to inform water resource management decisions. Previous USGS roles include serving as a Hydrologist for the Florida Integrated Science Center working on the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, as a Hydrologist and Surface Water Specialist for the Idaho Water Science Center, and as the acting Chief of the USGS Headquarters’ Hydrologic Networks Branch. She has provided technical assistance with hydrologic data collection and research activities to government agencies and organizations across the world, including in Iraq, Laos, Chile, and Brazil.

Professional Experience

  • January 2023 to present: Acting Chief of the International Science Collaboration Branch, USGS Office of International Programs, Boise, ID

  • November 2020 – January 2023: Acting Chief of the Hydrologic Networks Branch, USGS Water Resources Mission Area, Boise, ID

  • January 2016 – January 2023: National Sediment Specialist/Senior Scientist, USGS Water Resources Mission Area, Boise, ID

  • March 2007 – January 2016: Surface Water Specialist, USGS Idaho Water Science Center, Boise, ID

  • February 2015 – June 2015: Acting Deputy Director, USGS Idaho Water Science Center, Boise, ID

  • January 2006 – February 2007: Adjunct Professor, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL

  • May 2002 – March 2007: Hydrologist, USGS Florida Integrated Science Center, Orlando, FL

  • August 2000 – May 2002: Water Resources Engineer, Science Applications International Corporation, Oak Ridge, TN

Education and Certifications

  • M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2000

  • B.S. in Civil Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1998

  • International studies, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia, 1997

  • International studies, National Outdoor Leadership School, Chilean Patagonia, 1996

  • Registered Professional Engineer, Florida

Science and Products

link
Next Generation Water Observing System Infographic

Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS)

Substantial advances in water science, together with emerging breakthroughs in technical and computational capabilities, have led the USGS to develop a Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS). The USGS NGWOS will provide real-time data on water quantity and quality in more affordable and rapid ways than previously possible, and in more locations.
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program
link

Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS)

Substantial advances in water science, together with emerging breakthroughs in technical and computational capabilities, have led the USGS to develop a Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS). The USGS NGWOS will provide real-time data on water quantity and quality in more affordable and rapid ways than previously possible, and in more locations.
Learn More
link
San Acacia Samples in Rio Grande

Sediment Laboratories

The USGS maintains sediment laboratories in several Water Science Centers and offices across the country.
By
Water Resources Mission Area
link

Sediment Laboratories

The USGS maintains sediment laboratories in several Water Science Centers and offices across the country.
Learn More
link
Clearwater River Surrogate Gage

Sediment Surrogate Techniques

USGS develops and uses “surrogate” techniques to estimate sediment at times when it can’t be physically measured through samples.
By
Water Resources Mission Area
link

Sediment Surrogate Techniques

USGS develops and uses “surrogate” techniques to estimate sediment at times when it can’t be physically measured through samples.
Learn More
link
Sediment Sampling on the Mekong River

Sediment Sampling and Data Processing

USGS collects sediment samples at thousands of locations across the U.S. using nationally consistent methods.
By
Water Resources Mission Area
link

Sediment Sampling and Data Processing

USGS collects sediment samples at thousands of locations across the U.S. using nationally consistent methods.
Learn More
link
Sediment sampling and surrogates

Sediment Acoustics

The U.S. Geological Survey recognizes the need to provide sediment acoustic training and to develop standardized techniques and practices.
By
Water Resources Mission Area
link

Sediment Acoustics

The U.S. Geological Survey recognizes the need to provide sediment acoustic training and to develop standardized techniques and practices.
Learn More
link
The crew of the R/V Alaskan Gyre lowering a hydroacoustics instrument in to the water

Sound Sediment Science

A training course to augment USGS Course H-17-037, Acoustic Index Method for Estimating Fluvial Suspended Sediment and USGS Techniques and Methods Report 3C-5

link

Sound Sediment Science

A training course to augment USGS Course H-17-037, Acoustic Index Method for Estimating Fluvial Suspended Sediment and USGS Techniques and Methods Report 3C-5

Learn More
link
Geomorphology & Sediment Transport

Fluvial Sediment and Geomorphology: Resources for Monitoring and Analysis

The USGS collects fluvial sediment and geomorphic data and conducts related research at numerous sites across the Nation. This information is essential to informed solutions to sediment-related and overall water resource management issues.
By
Water Resources Mission Area
link

Fluvial Sediment and Geomorphology: Resources for Monitoring and Analysis

The USGS collects fluvial sediment and geomorphic data and conducts related research at numerous sites across the Nation. This information is essential to informed solutions to sediment-related and overall water resource management issues.
Learn More
link
Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program

Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program

The Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program serves as the national source of impartial, timely, quality-assured, and relevant water data for short- and long-term water decisions by local, State, tribal, regional, and national stakeholders. Our objectives are to collect, manage, and disseminate consistently high-quality and reliable hydrologic information in real-time and over the long-term.
By
Water Resources Mission Area
link

Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program

The Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program serves as the national source of impartial, timely, quality-assured, and relevant water data for short- and long-term water decisions by local, State, tribal, regional, and national stakeholders. Our objectives are to collect, manage, and disseminate consistently high-quality and reliable hydrologic information in real-time and over the long-term.
Learn More

The Vigil Network: long-term, broad spectrum data collected to observe landscape change in drainage basins

Long-term monitoring data of geomorphic, hydrological, and biological characteristics of landscapes. This information provides an effective means of relating observed change to possible causes of the change. Identification of changes in basin characteristics, especially in arid areas where the response to altered climate or land use is generally rapid and readily apparent, might provide the initia
By
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Bathymetry and capacity of Blackfoot Reservoir, Caribou County, Idaho, 2011

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, surveyed the bathymetry and selected above-water sections of Blackfoot Reservoir, Caribou County, Idaho, in 2011. Reservoir operators manage releases from Government Dam on Blackfoot Reservoir based on a stage-capacity relation developed about the time of dam construction in the early 1900s. Reservoir operation dir
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Idaho Water Science Center
landscape photograph showing construction vehicles and dark sand-like slopes along a body of brown water, forests, clouds
link
Sediment deposits at the discharge outlet of a hydropower facility on the Rio Coca, Ecuador.
Woman in a blue raincoat and a steeply eroded river valley with forests on top and grey exposed soil and rocks, cloudy sky
link
Molly Wood at a viewpoint on the Rio Coca, Ecuador, where substantial erosion and landslides have occurred
Reservoir and concrete dam structures and buildings with cloudy sky and forested hillsides
link
Upstream diversion dam at Coca Codo Sinclair hydropower facility on the Rio Coca, Ecuador
Three people in hard hats and an orange reflective shirt stand on a rocky floor inside a dry dam
link
USGS employees inside Itaipu Binational Dam on Parana River bottom
Monitoring Suspended Sediment and Flow along the Mississippi River. link
Monitoring Suspended Sediment and Flow along the Mississippi River: Episode 1
Image: Kootenai River Habitat Restoration
link
Kootenai River Habitat Restoration
Image: Acoustic Doppler Velocity Meter
link
Acoustic Doppler Velocity Meter
Filter Total Items: 24

State of the science and decision support for measuring suspended sediment with acoustic instrumentation

Acoustic instrumentation can be used to provide time-series and discrete estimates of suspended-sediment concentration, load, and sediment particle sizes in fluvial systems, which are essential for creating informed solutions to many sediment-related environmental, engineering, and land management concerns. Historically, scientists have developed relations between suspended sediment characteristic
Authors
Molly S. Wood, Joel T. Groten, Timothy D. Straub, Dan R.W. Haught, Ronald E. Griffiths, Justin A. Boldt, Zulimar Lucena, Jeb E. Brown, Steven E. Suttles, Patrick J. Dickhudt
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Ecosystems Mission Area, California Water Science Center, Idaho Water Science Center, Southwest Biological Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Central Midwest Water Science Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Mapping of suspended sediment transport using acoustic methods in a Pantanal tributary

Generally, fluvial systems are used for different objectives including energy production, water supply, recreation, and navigation. Thus, many impacts must be considered with their use. An understanding of sediment dynamics in fluvial systems is often of value for a variety of objectives, given that erosion and depositional processes can change the fluvial system morphology and can substantially a
Authors
Liege F.K. Wosiacki, Hugo Koji Suekame, Molly S. Wood, Fabio Verissimo Goncalves, Tobias Bleninger
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Field evaluation of the Sequoia Scientific LISST-ABS acoustic backscatter sediment sensor

Sequoia Scientific’s LISST-ABS is a submersible acoustic instrument that measures the acoustic backscatter sensor (ABS) concentration at a point within a river, stream, or creek. Compared to traditional physical methods for measuring suspended-sediment concentration (SSC), sediment surrogates like the LISST-ABS offer continuous data that can be calibrated with physical SSC samples. Data were colle
Authors
Adam E. Manaster, Timothy D. Straub, Molly S. Wood, Joseph M. Bell, Daniel E. Dombroski, Christopher A. Curran
By
Central Midwest Water Science Center

Envisioning a multi-agency and multi-academic institution geomorphology data exchange portal

Access to bathymetry and geomorphology data for rivers and reservoirs is a critical need in multiple agencies and academia. These data are needed to make water-resource-management decisions regarding river restoration, resource protection, infrastructure design and sustainability, and flood-risk reduction, and during natural disasters. Sharing of data increases decision-making capacity by incorpor
Authors
Molly S. Wood, Paul M Boyd
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Acoustic Sediment Estimation Toolbox (ASET): A software package for calibrating and processing TRDI ADCP data to compute suspended-sediment transport in sandy rivers

Quantifying suspended-sediment transport is critical for a variety of disciplines related to the management of water resources. However, the number of gauging stations and monitoring networks in most rivers around the world is insufficient to improve understanding of river dynamics and support water resource management decisions. This is mainly due to the high operational costs and intensive labor
Authors
Lucas Gerardo Dominguez Ruben, Ricardo Szupiany, Francisco Latosinski, Cecilia Lopez Weibel, Molly S. Wood, Justin A. Boldt
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Idaho Water Science Center, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center

Measuring suspended sediment in sand-bedded rivers using down-looking acoustic doppler current profilers

The use of side-looking acoustic Doppler velocity meters (ADVMs) to estimate fluvial suspended-sediment concentrations (SSC) has become more operational by the U.S. Geological Survey in recent years; however, direct transfer of these techniques to down-looking acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) currently is not widely feasible. Key assumptions in the sidelooking ADVM method related to sedi
Authors
Molly S. Wood, Ricardo N. Szupiany, Justin A. Boldt, Timothy D. Straub, Marian M. Domanski
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Time-series sediment acoustics and LISST-ABS testing

Acoustics and other surrogates can be used to accurately and cost-effectively provide time-series estimates of suspended-sediment concentration and load, which is essential for creating informed solutions to many sediment-related environmental, engineering, and agricultural concerns. Interagency efforts in recent years have advanced the testing, methods development, operational guidelines, and tra
Authors
Timothy D. Straub, Molly S. Wood, Marian M. Domanski, Adam E. Manaster
By
Central Midwest Water Science Center

Strategic directions of the USGS water mission area’s fluvial sediment science program

The USGS Water Mission Area’s Sediment Science Program provides leadership, training, and methods development in fluvial sediment science for the USGS and its external partners. Overarching objectives of the USGS Sediment Science Program (which includes the Federal Interagency Sedimentation Project) include: 1) developing and promoting innovative sediment monitoring techniques that result in cost
Authors
Molly S. Wood, Timothy D. Straub
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Idaho Water Science Center, Central Midwest Water Science Center

Estimating sand concentrations using ADCP‐based acoustic inversion in a large fluvial system characterized by bi‐modal suspended‐sediment distributions

Quantifying sediment flux within rivers is a challenge for many disciplines due, mainly, to difficulties inherent to traditional sediment sampling methods. These methods are operationally complex, high cost, and high risk. Additionally, the resulting data provide a low spatial and temporal resolution estimate of the total sediment flux, which has impeded advances in the understanding of the hydro‐
Authors
Ricardo N. Szupiany, Cecilia Lopez Weibel, Massimo Guerrero, Francisco Latosinski, Molly S. Wood, Lucas Dominguez Ruben, Kevin Oberg
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Sediment acoustic index method for computing continuous suspended-sediment concentrations

Suspended-sediment characteristics can be computed using acoustic indices derived from acoustic Doppler velocity meter (ADVM) backscatter data. The sediment acoustic index method applied in these types of studies can be used to more accurately and cost-effectively provide time-series estimates of suspended-sediment concentration and load, which is essential for informed solutions to many sediment-
Authors
Mark N. Landers, Timothy D. Straub, Molly S. Wood, Marian M. Domanski
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program

Estimating peak-flow frequency statistics for selected gaged and ungaged sites in naturally flowing streams and rivers in Idaho

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Idaho Transportation Department, updated regional regression equations to estimate peak-flow statistics at ungaged sites on Idaho streams using recent streamflow (flow) data and new statistical techniques. Peak-flow statistics with 80-, 67-, 50-, 43-, 20-, 10-, 4-, 2-, 1-, 0.5-, and 0.2-percent annual exceedance probabilities (1.25-, 1.50-, 2.00-
Authors
Molly S. Wood, Ryan L. Fosness, Kenneth D. Skinner, Andrea G. Veilleux
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Idaho Water Science Center, StreamStats

Sediment transport and evaluation of sediment surrogate ratings in the Kootenai River near Bonners Ferry, Idaho, Water Years 2011–14

The Kootenai River white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and other native fish species are culturally important to the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, but their habitat and recruitment have been affected by anthropogenic changes to the river. Although the interconnections among anthropogenic changes and their impacts on fish are complex, the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, in cooperation with other agencies,
Authors
Molly S. Wood, Ryan L. Fosness, Alexandra B. Etheridge
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Idaho Water Science Center

Non-USGS Publications**

Robinson, R. Bruce; Wood, Molly S.; Smoot, James L.; and Moore, Stephen E., 2004, Parametric modeling of water quality and sampling strategy in a high-altitude Appalachian stream: Paper in Journal of Hydrology (ISSN #0022-1694), Volume 287, Number 1-4, pp 62-73, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2003.09.024

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

link

USGS Advises on Sediment and Erosion Monitoring as Part of Emergency Response in Ecuador

USGS scientist Molly Wood traveled to Ecuador in April 2023 to advise the Ecuadorian government on sediment and erosion monitoring strategies to...

Read Article
link

USGS Office of International Programs team reconnaissance trip to Itaipu Binacional, Brazil and Paraguay

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Office of International Programs team of Joel Groten (Upper Midwest Water Science Center), Molly Wood (Water Mission...

Read Article

Science and Products