Earth System Processes Division

The Earth System Processes Division (ESPD) is one of five divisions within the Water Resources Mission Area’s Office of the Chief Operating Officer. 

The operations, programs, and activities of the ESPD are performed by three branches: 

• The Water Budget Branch conducts research to improve understanding of the natural water cycle: groundwater-surface water interactions, recharge, evapotranspiration, snowpack, soil moisture, and streamflow. The Branch helps close water budgets on the landscape, inform water supply and use, and explain socioeconomic and climatic influences on water demand through qualitative and quantitative understanding of the processes influencing the water cycle.  
• The Environmental Hydrodynamics Branch conducts research and provides science leadership on water quality, flow, constituent and sediment transport, and reaction processes in groundwater and surface water. The Branch improves understanding of processes and supports application of models to simulate constituents, as well as water and sediment movement, in the environment over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. 
• The Hydrologic Impacts Branch conducts research and integrated assessments to track changes in water availability (quantity and quality) through time, from soils to river channels, and from field to national scale. The Branch uses field and laboratory work as well as data-driven and process modeling approaches to quantify and infer causal connections between stressors, water availability, and affected natural and human communities.

Want to learn more about the Earth System Processes Division’s research activities? Check out the science project pages below for examples of our current work.