Russell Matthew Nicholson
Russell Nicholson is a Hydrologic Technician at the South Atlantic Water Science Center.
Russell hails from Trenton, New Jersey and has worked in the Raleigh, NC Field Office since February 2022. Past work experience includes marine microbiology, fishery-dependent and fishery-independent data collection, beach lifeguarding, and estuarine ecology education. Current duties include troubleshooting telemetry, power, and sensor issues to maintain data availability at 200+ locations in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain of North Carolina, with sole responsibility for 23 monitoring sites across a 2,500+ mi² region of the Roanoke River Basin.
In 2023, Russell started using a new way to compute discharge with surface velocity radars on the Dan River in Pine Hall, NC. Through this technique, called the probability concept method and developed by USGS research hydrologist John Fulton with USGS geographer Frank Engel, Russell is the first to relate water surface velocities to river discharge on a moving riverbed system. Initial results were promising and helped to better estimate peak discharges at Pine Hall for the 2024 Water Year. This investigation is ongoing and necessitates collaboration with USGS specialists as well as private partners.
Russell is also interested in coastal morphology and meteorology. Ahead of Hurricane Helene, he helped deploy two storm tide sensors along Apalachee Bay that braved the storm to record Helene's highest measured level of inundation, at a water elevation of 15.4 ft. In his free time, Russell enjoys fishing, kayaking the Eno River, and playing soccer.