Burned area within the Yarnell Hill Fire near Yarnell Arizona.
Brandon T Forbes
Brandon Forbes leads the USGS hydrologic monitoring program that provides real-time water resource data in the State of Colorado.
Brandon started his career in 2008 as a Hydrologic Technician with the Arizona Water Science Center in Tucson. His work focused on streamgage calibration, surveying, and water-use investigations. In 2012, Brandon joined the team as a Hydrologist and focused his work on surface-water modeling to improve the understanding of ephemeral river channel processes. During that time his focus turned to the use of close-range remote sensing techniques using uncrewed aircraft systems to enhance data collection. Brandon also specialized in the response to natural disasters and led teams in the collection of information to better understand the effects of major riverine flooding in Texas, flooding and storm surge during Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Maria and supported the response to the 2018 eruption of Kilauea.
In 2021, Brandon joined the Colorado Water Science Center as the Studies Section Chief of the Southeastern Office in Pueblo. Brandon worked with a team of Hydrologists and Hydrologic Technicians studying the water resources of the Arkansas River Basin. In 2022, Brandon became the Associate Center Director overseeing the Hydrologic Data Collection Program for the State of Colorado. Brandon works with a team of about 60 Hydrologic Technicians who maintain the roughly 355 streamgages, 110 raingages/meteorological sites, and 125 real-time water quality monitoring stations within Colorado.
Education and Certifications
MS University of Arizona in Ecohydrology. 2017
BS University of Arizona in Watershed Hydrology. 2010
Science and Products
USGS Science in the Three Lakes System
AzWSC Capabilities: Unmanned Aircraft Systems
Field measurements of water depth from the Colorado River near Lees Ferry, AZ, March 16-18, 2021
09471580 - San Pedro River at St David, AZ - 2020/10/14 Terrestrial Lidar Data
Colorado River at Compact Point near Lees Ferry, AZ - 2021/03/18 Water Surface Velocity Map Using Particle Image Velocimetry
Colorado River at Salt Wash near Moab, UT - 2020/06/09 GPS Survey
Colorado River at Salt Wash near Moab, UT - 2020/06/10 Particle Image Velocimetry
Colorado River at Salt Wash near Moab, UT - 2020/10/06 GPS Survey
Colorado River at Salt Wash near Moab, UT - 2020/10/07 Particle Image Velocimetry
09471580 - San Pedro River at St David, AZ - 2020/10/14 and 2020/12/08 GPS Surveys
365149109492300 - Laguna Creek below Dennehotso near Kayenta, AZ - 2020/06/02 Terrestrial Lidar Data
Gila River at I-10 Bridge near Sacaton, AZ - 2020/08/12 GPS Survey
09484201 - Bear Creek above Bear Canyon Road, near Tucson, AZ - 2019/02/15 GPS Survey
09471580 - San Pedro River at St David, AZ - 2019/06/12 GPS Survey
Burned area within the Yarnell Hill Fire near Yarnell Arizona.
USGS scientists Jeff Cordova and Fletcher Brinkerhoff set up the LiDAR and GPS equipment to survey a burned watershed within the Yarnell Hill Fire.
USGS scientists Jeff Cordova and Fletcher Brinkerhoff set up the LiDAR and GPS equipment to survey a burned watershed within the Yarnell Hill Fire.
USGS scientists Jeff Cordova and Fletcher Brinkerhoff conducting LiDAR scans and a GPS survey within the burned area of the Yarnell.
USGS scientists Jeff Cordova and Fletcher Brinkerhoff conducting LiDAR scans and a GPS survey within the burned area of the Yarnell.
Using small unmanned aircraft systems for measuring post-flood high-water marks and streambed elevations
Reach-scale monitoring and modeling of rivers--Expanding hydraulic data collection beyond the cross section
Modeling riparian restoration impacts on the hydrologic cycle at the Babacomari Ranch, SE Arizona, USA
Documentation of methods and inventory of irrigation data collected for the 2000 and 2005 U.S. Geological Survey Estimated use of water in the United States, comparison of USGS-compiled irrigation data to other sources, and recommendations for future comp
Science and Products
- Science
USGS Science in the Three Lakes System
The Three Lakes System of Colorado includes Grand Lake, Shadow Mountain Reservoir, and Granby Reservoir. This system is located within the headwaters of the Upper Colorado River Basin and is near the west entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park. The town of Grand Lake is a popular recreational location within Colorado, and the Three Lakes System provides year-round activities including swimming...AzWSC Capabilities: Unmanned Aircraft Systems
The Arizona Water Science Center (AzWSC) maintains a robust Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) program, functioning as a regional field office for the USGS National Unmanned Projects Office (NUPO). We assist with close-range remote sensing data collection and processing for our regional and national cooperators including other Dept of Interior (DOI) Bureaus, while complying with all DOI and FAA... - Data
Filter Total Items: 16
Field measurements of water depth from the Colorado River near Lees Ferry, AZ, March 16-18, 2021
Field measurements of water depth were acquired from a reach of the Colorado River near Lees Ferry, Arizona, March16-18, 2021, to support research on remote sensing of water depth from satellite images. The depth measurements included in this data release were obtained along a series of cross-sections using a SonTek RiverSurveyor M9 acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) deployed from a boat. Th09471580 - San Pedro River at St David, AZ - 2020/10/14 Terrestrial Lidar Data
This is a terrestrial LiDAR laser scanner dataset collected on October 14, 2020, in response to a flow event that occurred on September 8, 2020, at the USGS streamgage 09471580 - San Pedro River at St David, AZ. The reach scanned for this study is located at the bridge where State Route 80 crosses the waterway. A Leica MS-60 Multistation was used for the laser scanner data collection. Multiple scaColorado River at Compact Point near Lees Ferry, AZ - 2021/03/18 Water Surface Velocity Map Using Particle Image Velocimetry
The dataset consists of a shapefile of measurements of surface velocity magnitude and direction at the Colorado River at Compact Point near Lees Ferry, AZ, on March 18, 2021. The dataset contains approximately 1.2 km of river length. The surface velocity measurements were made by applying Large-Scale Particle Image Velocimetry (LSPIV) techniques, using overlapping videos collected by small UnmanneColorado River at Salt Wash near Moab, UT - 2020/06/09 GPS Survey
The dataset contains GPS survey data collected at Colorado River at Salt Wash near Moab, UT, as part of a surface velocity mapping effort. The survey was conducted on June 9, 2020, and documents ground control points for a small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) survey. The survey was performed using Leica GS14 RTK GPS equipment, S/N base-2806898, S/N rover-2806883.Colorado River at Salt Wash near Moab, UT - 2020/06/10 Particle Image Velocimetry
The dataset consists of a shapefile of measurements of surface velocity magnitude and direction at the Colorado River at Salt Wash near Moab, UT, on June 10, 2020. The dataset contains approximately 1.4 km of river length. The surface velocity measurements were made by applying Large-Scale Particle Image Velocimetry (LSPIV) techniques, using overlapping videos collected by small Unmanned AircraftColorado River at Salt Wash near Moab, UT - 2020/10/06 GPS Survey
The dataset contains GPS survey data collected at Colorado River at Salt Wash near Moab, UT, as part of a surface velocity mapping effort. The survey was conducted on October 6, 2020, and documents ground control points for a small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) survey. The survey was performed using Leica GS14 RTK GPS equipment, S/N base-2806898, S/N rover-2806883.Colorado River at Salt Wash near Moab, UT - 2020/10/07 Particle Image Velocimetry
The dataset consists of a shapefile of measurements of surface velocity magnitude and direction at the Colorado River at Salt Wash near Moab, UT, on October 7, 2020. The dataset contains approximately 3 km of river length. The surface velocity measurements were made by applying Large-Scale Particle Image Velocimetry (LSPIV) techniques, using overlapping videos collected by small Unmanned Aircraft09471580 - San Pedro River at St David, AZ - 2020/10/14 and 2020/12/08 GPS Surveys
The dataset contains data from two GPS surveys conducted after a flow event on September 8, 2020, at the USGS streamgage 09471580 - San Pedro River at St David, AZ. The first survey, conducted on October 14, 2020, documents CSA cross section geometry, CSA pin elevations, and high-water marks at CSA cross sections from the flow event in the CSA reach downstream from the gage (09471588 - San Pedro R365149109492300 - Laguna Creek below Dennehotso near Kayenta, AZ - 2020/06/02 Terrestrial Lidar Data
This is a terrestrial LiDAR laser scanner dataset of an intermittent waterway named Laguna Creek near the community of Dennehotso, AZ collected on June 2, 2020. The reach scanned for this study is located at the bridge where State Route 160 crosses the waterway. The river channel on the upstream side of the bridge has experienced bank erosion over recent years. A bank stabilization project was impGila River at I-10 Bridge near Sacaton, AZ - 2020/08/12 GPS Survey
The dataset contains GPS survey data of ground control points deployed for aerial LiDAR data collection. The targets were deployed and surveyed on 8/12/2020 and the LiDAR flight was conducted on the morning of 8/13/2020. The control points were surveyed using Leica GS14 RTK GPS equipment, S/N rover-2806883, using the Real Time Network, Leica Smartnet, to determine absolute position.09484201 - Bear Creek above Bear Canyon Road, near Tucson, AZ - 2019/02/15 GPS Survey
The dataset contains GPS survey data from two surveys conducted after a flow event on February 15, 2019, at the USGS continuous slope-area (CSA) gage 09484201 - Bear Creek above Bear Canyon Road, near Tucson, AZ. The CSA gage is located downstream from Pima County Regional Flood Control District ALERT gage 2184 - Bear Canyon Wash near Bear Canyon Rd. The first survey, on February 19, 2019, documen09471580 - San Pedro River at St David, AZ - 2019/06/12 GPS Survey
A GPS survey was conducted on June 12, 2019, to document the cross section geometry at the streamgage 09471580 - San Pedro River at St David, AZ, and CSA pin elevations and cross section geometry at the CSA sensor locations at CSA 09471588 - San Pedro River below Dragoon Wash at St David, AZ. One cross section was surveyed at streamgage 09471580 - San Pedro River at St David, AZ; and four CSA pin - Multimedia
Burned Area Near Yarnell, Arizona
Burned area within the Yarnell Hill Fire near Yarnell Arizona.
Burned area within the Yarnell Hill Fire near Yarnell Arizona.
LiDAR GPS Set Up Near Yarnell FireUSGS scientists Jeff Cordova and Fletcher Brinkerhoff set up the LiDAR and GPS equipment to survey a burned watershed within the Yarnell Hill Fire.
USGS scientists Jeff Cordova and Fletcher Brinkerhoff set up the LiDAR and GPS equipment to survey a burned watershed within the Yarnell Hill Fire.
LiDAR Scans and a GPS SurveyUSGS scientists Jeff Cordova and Fletcher Brinkerhoff conducting LiDAR scans and a GPS survey within the burned area of the Yarnell.
USGS scientists Jeff Cordova and Fletcher Brinkerhoff conducting LiDAR scans and a GPS survey within the burned area of the Yarnell.
- Publications
Using small unmanned aircraft systems for measuring post-flood high-water marks and streambed elevations
Floods affected approximately two billion people around the world from 1998–2017, causing over 142,000 fatalities and over 656 billion U.S. dollars in economic losses. Flood data, such as the extent of inundation and peak flood stage, are needed to define the environmental, economic, and social impacts of significant flood events. Ground-based global positioning system (GPS) surveys of post-floodAuthorsBrandon T. Forbes, Geoffrey DeBenedetto, Jesse E. Dickinson, Claire Bunch, Faith A. FitzpatrickReach-scale monitoring and modeling of rivers--Expanding hydraulic data collection beyond the cross section
For over 125 years, the U.S. Geological Survey streamgage network has provided important hydrologic information about rivers and streams throughout the Nation. Traditional streamgage methods provide reliable stage and streamflow data but typically only monitor stage at a single location in a river and require frequent calibration streamflow measurements. Direct measurements are not always feasibleAuthorsBrandon T. Forbes, Claire E. Bunch, Geoffrey DeBenedetto, Corey J. Shaw, Bruce GungleModeling riparian restoration impacts on the hydrologic cycle at the Babacomari Ranch, SE Arizona, USA
This paper describes coupling field experiments with surface and groundwater modeling to investigate rangelands of SE Arizona, USA using erosion-control structures to augment shallow and deep aquifer recharge. We collected field data to describe the physical and hydrological properties before and after gabions (caged riprap) were installed in an ephemeral channel. The modular finite-difference floAuthorsLaura M. Norman, James B. Callegary, Laurel Lacher, Natalie R. Wilson, Chloé Fandel, Brandon T. Forbes, Tyson SwetnamDocumentation of methods and inventory of irrigation data collected for the 2000 and 2005 U.S. Geological Survey Estimated use of water in the United States, comparison of USGS-compiled irrigation data to other sources, and recommendations for future comp
Every five years since 1950, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Use Information Program (NWUIP) has compiled water-use information in the United States and published a circular report titled "Estimated use of water in the United States," which includes estimates of water withdrawals by State, sources of water withdrawals (groundwater or surface water), and water-use category (irrigatAuthorsJade M. Dickens, Brandon T. Forbes, Dylan S. Cobean, Saeid Tadayon