Brian A. Ebel
Brian Ebel is a Research Hydrologist for the USGS Water Resources Mission Area.
Brian Ebel is a hydrologist who uses field measurements combined with numerical modeling to advance prediction and assessment for water resources through improved process representation. His work focuses on landscape disturbance impacts (e.g., wildfire, forestry, legacy mining) on water availability and water-related hazards to human lives and infrastructure. He was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2019 for his contributions to understanding post-wildfire flooding and water availability issues. In 2023, Brian was selected as a Kavli Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences. Brian is currently in the Earth System Processes Division of the USGS Water Resources Mission Area.
Professional Experience
2014-present: Research Hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Water Mission Area
2013-2014: Research Assistant Professor, Colorado School of Mines
2012-2013: Research Assistant Professor, University of Colorado-Boulder
2008-2012: Hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Mission Area
Education and Certifications
Stanford University, Ph.D. in Hydrogeology
Washington University in St. Louis, B.A. in Earth and Planetary Science
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 14
No Result Found
Filter Total Items: 63
Rethinking infiltration in wildfire-affected soils Rethinking infiltration in wildfire-affected soils
Wildfires frequently result in natural hazards such as flash floods (Yates et al., 2001) and debris flows (Cannon et al., 2001a,b; Gabet and Sternberg, 2008). One of the principal causes of the increased risk of post-wildfire hydrologically driven hazards is reduced in filtration rates (e.g. Scott and van Wyk, 1990; Cerdà, 1998; Robichaud, 2000; Martin and Moody, 2001). Beyond the reduction in...
Authors
Brian A. Ebel, John A. Moody
Wildfire and aspect effects on hydrologic states after the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire Wildfire and aspect effects on hydrologic states after the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire
Wildfire can change how soils take in, store, and release water. This study examined differences in how burned and unburned plots on north versus south-facing slope aspects respond to rainfall. The largest wildfire impacts were litter/duff combustion on burned north-facing slopes versus soil-water retention reduction on burned south-facing slopes. Wildfire is one of the most significant
Authors
Brian A. Ebel
Soil-water dynamics and unsaturated storage during snowmelt following wildfire Soil-water dynamics and unsaturated storage during snowmelt following wildfire
Many forested watersheds with a substantial fraction of precipitation delivered as snow have the potential for landscape disturbance by wildfire. Little is known about the immediate effects of wildfire on snowmelt and near-surface hydrologic responses, including soil-water storage. Montane systems at the rain-snow transition have soil-water dynamics that are further complicated during...
Authors
Brian A. Ebel, E.S. Hinckley, Deborah A. Martin
An alternative process model of preferential contaminant travel times in the unsaturated zone: Application to Rainier Mesa and Shoshone Mountain, Nevada An alternative process model of preferential contaminant travel times in the unsaturated zone: Application to Rainier Mesa and Shoshone Mountain, Nevada
Simulating contaminant transport in unsaturated zones with sparse hydraulic property information is a difficult, yet common, problem. When contaminant transport may occur via preferential flow, simple modeling approaches can provide predictions of interest, such as the first arrival of contaminant, with minimal site characterization. The conceptual model for unsaturated zone flow at...
Authors
Brian A. Ebel, John R. Nimmo
Difference infiltrometer: a method to measure temporally variable infiltration rates during rainstorms Difference infiltrometer: a method to measure temporally variable infiltration rates during rainstorms
We developed a difference infiltrometer to measure time series of non-steady infiltration rates during rainstorms at the point scale. The infiltrometer uses two, tipping bucket rain gages. One gage measures rainfall onto, and the other measures runoff from, a small circular plot about 0.5-m in diameter. The small size allows the infiltration rate to be computed as the difference of the...
Authors
John A. Moody, Brian A. Ebel
Aspect control of water movement on hillslopes near the rain–snow transition of the Colorado Front Range Aspect control of water movement on hillslopes near the rain–snow transition of the Colorado Front Range
In the Colorado Front Range, forested catchments near the rain–snow transition are likely to experience changes in snowmelt delivery and subsurface water transport with climate warming and associated shifts in precipitation patterns. Snowpack dynamics are strongly affected by aspect: Lodgepole pine forested north‐facing slopes develop a seasonal snowpack, whereas Ponderosa pine‐dotted...
Authors
Eve-Lyn S. Hinckley, Brian A. Ebel, R. T. Barnes, R.S Anderson, M.W. Williams, S.P. Anderson
Hyper-dry conditions provide new insights into the cause of extreme floods after wildfire Hyper-dry conditions provide new insights into the cause of extreme floods after wildfire
A catastrophic wildfire in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains near Boulder, Colorado provided a unique opportunity to investigate soil conditions immediately after a wildfire and before alteration by rainfall. Measurements of near-surface ( 6 cm) soil properties (temperature, volumetric soil-water content, θ; and matric suction, ψ), rainfall, and wind velocity were started 8 days after...
Authors
John A. Moody, Brian A. Ebel
Hydrologic conditions controlling runoff generation immediately after wildfire Hydrologic conditions controlling runoff generation immediately after wildfire
We investigated the control of postwildfire runoff by physical and hydraulic properties of soil, hydrologic states, and an ash layer immediately following wildfire. The field site is within the area burned by the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire in Colorado, USA. Physical and hydraulic property characterization included ash thickness, particle size distribution, hydraulic conductivity, and soil...
Authors
Brian A. Ebel, John A. Moody, Deborah A. Martin
Impact of wildfire and slope aspect on soil temperature in a mountainous environment Impact of wildfire and slope aspect on soil temperature in a mountainous environment
Soil temperature changes after landscape disturbance impact hydrology, ecology, and geomorphology. This study used field measurements to examine wildfire and aspect effects on soil temperatures. Combustion of the litter and duff layers on north-facing slopes removed pre-fire aspect-driven soil temperature controls. Wildfire is one of the most significant disturbances in mountainous...
Authors
Brian A. Ebel
Wildfire impacts on soil-water retention in the Colorado Front Range, United States Wildfire impacts on soil-water retention in the Colorado Front Range, United States
This work examined the plot-scale differences in soil-water retention caused by wildfire in the area of the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire in the Colorado Front Range, United States. We measured soil-water retention curves on intact cores and repacked samples, soil particle-size distributions, and organic matter content. Estimates were also made of plant-available water based on the soil...
Authors
Brian A. Ebel
Assessing the detail needed to capture rainfall-runoff dynamics with physics-based hydrologic response simulation Assessing the detail needed to capture rainfall-runoff dynamics with physics-based hydrologic response simulation
Concept development simulation with distributed, physics-based models provides a quantitative approach for investigating runoff generation processes across environmental conditions. Disparities within data sets employed to design and parameterize boundary value problems used in heuristic simulation inevitably introduce various levels of bias. The objective was to evaluate the impact of...
Authors
B.B. Mirus, B.A. Ebel, C.S. Heppner, K. Loague
Hydraulic Property and Soil Textural Classification Measurements for Rainier Mesa, Nevada Test Site, Nevada Hydraulic Property and Soil Textural Classification Measurements for Rainier Mesa, Nevada Test Site, Nevada
This report presents particle size analysis, field-saturated hydraulic conductivity measurements, and qualitative descriptions of surficial materials at selected locations at Rainier Mesa, Nevada. Measurements and sample collection were conducted in the Rainier Mesa area, including unconsolidated sediments on top of the mesa, an ephemeral wash channel near the mesa edge, and dry U12n...
Authors
Brian A. Ebel, John R. Nimmo
Non-USGS Publications**
Ebel, B. A., 2013, Simulated unsaturated flow processes after wildfire and interactions with slope aspect, Water Resources Research, 49, 8090–8107, doi: 10.1002/2013WR014129
Loague, K., and , B. A. Ebel, 2013, Conceptualization in catchment modeling. In Treatise on Geomorphology, Edited by J. F. Shroder, Vol. 7, pp. 105-121. San Diego, Academic Press, doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-374739-6.00154-8
Ebel, B. A., K. Loague, and R. I. Borja, 2010, The impacts of hysteresis on variably-saturated hydrologic response and slope failure, Environmental Earth Sciences, 61, 1215-1225, doi: 10.1007/s12665-009-0445-2
BeVille, S. H., B. B. Mirus, B. A. Ebel, G. G. Mader, and K. Loague, 2010, Using simulated hydrologic response to revisit the 1973 Lerida Court landslide, Environmental Earth Sciences, 61, 1249-1257, doi: 10.1007/s12665-010-0448-z
Ebel, B. A., K. Loague, D. R. Montgomery, and W. E. Dietrich, 2008, Physics-based continuous simulation of long-term near-surface hydrologic response for the Coos Bay experimental catchment, Water Resources Research, 44, W07417, doi:10.1029/2007WR006442
Ebel, B. A., and K. Loague, 2008, Rapid simulated hydrologic response within the variably saturated near surface, Hydrological Processes, 22, 464-471, doi:10.1002/hyp.6926
Ebel, B. A., K. Loague, W. E. Dietrich, D. R. Montgomery, R. Torres, S. P. Anderson, and T. W. Giambelluca, 2007, Near-surface hydrologic response for a steep, unchanneled catchment near Coos Bay, Oregon: 1. Sprinkling experiments, American Journal of Science, 307, 678-708, doi:10.2475/04.2007.02
Ebel, B. A., K. Loague, J. E. VanderKwaak, W. E. Dietrich, D. R. Montgomery, R. Torres, and S. P. Anderson, 2007, Near-surface hydrologic response for a steep, unchanneled catchment near Coos Bay, Oregon: 2. Physics-based simulations, American Journal of Science, 307, 709-748, doi:10.2475/04.2007.03
Mirus, B. B., B. A. Ebel, K. Loague, and B. C. Wemple, 2007, Simulated effect of a forest road on near-surface hydrologic response: Redux, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 32, 126–142, doi: 10.1002/esp.1387
Ebel, B. A., and K. Loague, 2006, Physics-based hydrologic-response simulation: Seeing through the fog of equifinality, Hydrological Processes, 20, 2887–2900, doi:10.1002/hyp.6388
Borja, R. I., G. Oettl, B. Ebel, and K. Loague, 2006, Hydrologically driven slope failure initiation in variably saturated porous media. In Modern Trends in Geomechanics. Wu, W. and H.S. Yu (Eds.), pp. 303-311, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, doi: 10.1007/978-3-540-35724-7_18
Loague, K., C. S. Heppner, B. B. Mirus, B. A. Ebel, Q. Ran, A. E. Carr, S. H. BeVille, and J. E. Vander Kwaak, 2006, Physics-based hydrologic-response simulation: foundation for hydroecology and hydrogeomorphology, Hydrological Processes, 20, 1231–1237, doi:10.1002/hyp.6388
Ehlmann, B. L., R. E. Arvidson, B. L. Jolliff, S. S. Johnson, B. Ebel, N. Lovenduski, J. D. Morris, J. A. Byers, N. O. Snider, and R. E. Criss, 2005, Hydrologic and Isotopic Modeling of Alpine Lake Waiau, Mauna Kea, Hawai‘i, Pacific Science, 59, 1–15, doi:10.1353/psc.2005.0005
Loague, K., C. S. Heppner, R. H. Abrams, A. E. Carr, J. E. VanderKwaak, and B. A. Ebel, 2005, Further testing of the Integrated Hydrology Model (InHM): event-based simulations for a small rangeland catchment located near Chickasha, Oklahoma, Hydrological Processes, 19, 1373–1398, doi:10.1002/hyp.5566
**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.
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 14
No Result Found
Filter Total Items: 63
Rethinking infiltration in wildfire-affected soils Rethinking infiltration in wildfire-affected soils
Wildfires frequently result in natural hazards such as flash floods (Yates et al., 2001) and debris flows (Cannon et al., 2001a,b; Gabet and Sternberg, 2008). One of the principal causes of the increased risk of post-wildfire hydrologically driven hazards is reduced in filtration rates (e.g. Scott and van Wyk, 1990; Cerdà, 1998; Robichaud, 2000; Martin and Moody, 2001). Beyond the reduction in...
Authors
Brian A. Ebel, John A. Moody
Wildfire and aspect effects on hydrologic states after the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire Wildfire and aspect effects on hydrologic states after the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire
Wildfire can change how soils take in, store, and release water. This study examined differences in how burned and unburned plots on north versus south-facing slope aspects respond to rainfall. The largest wildfire impacts were litter/duff combustion on burned north-facing slopes versus soil-water retention reduction on burned south-facing slopes. Wildfire is one of the most significant
Authors
Brian A. Ebel
Soil-water dynamics and unsaturated storage during snowmelt following wildfire Soil-water dynamics and unsaturated storage during snowmelt following wildfire
Many forested watersheds with a substantial fraction of precipitation delivered as snow have the potential for landscape disturbance by wildfire. Little is known about the immediate effects of wildfire on snowmelt and near-surface hydrologic responses, including soil-water storage. Montane systems at the rain-snow transition have soil-water dynamics that are further complicated during...
Authors
Brian A. Ebel, E.S. Hinckley, Deborah A. Martin
An alternative process model of preferential contaminant travel times in the unsaturated zone: Application to Rainier Mesa and Shoshone Mountain, Nevada An alternative process model of preferential contaminant travel times in the unsaturated zone: Application to Rainier Mesa and Shoshone Mountain, Nevada
Simulating contaminant transport in unsaturated zones with sparse hydraulic property information is a difficult, yet common, problem. When contaminant transport may occur via preferential flow, simple modeling approaches can provide predictions of interest, such as the first arrival of contaminant, with minimal site characterization. The conceptual model for unsaturated zone flow at...
Authors
Brian A. Ebel, John R. Nimmo
Difference infiltrometer: a method to measure temporally variable infiltration rates during rainstorms Difference infiltrometer: a method to measure temporally variable infiltration rates during rainstorms
We developed a difference infiltrometer to measure time series of non-steady infiltration rates during rainstorms at the point scale. The infiltrometer uses two, tipping bucket rain gages. One gage measures rainfall onto, and the other measures runoff from, a small circular plot about 0.5-m in diameter. The small size allows the infiltration rate to be computed as the difference of the...
Authors
John A. Moody, Brian A. Ebel
Aspect control of water movement on hillslopes near the rain–snow transition of the Colorado Front Range Aspect control of water movement on hillslopes near the rain–snow transition of the Colorado Front Range
In the Colorado Front Range, forested catchments near the rain–snow transition are likely to experience changes in snowmelt delivery and subsurface water transport with climate warming and associated shifts in precipitation patterns. Snowpack dynamics are strongly affected by aspect: Lodgepole pine forested north‐facing slopes develop a seasonal snowpack, whereas Ponderosa pine‐dotted...
Authors
Eve-Lyn S. Hinckley, Brian A. Ebel, R. T. Barnes, R.S Anderson, M.W. Williams, S.P. Anderson
Hyper-dry conditions provide new insights into the cause of extreme floods after wildfire Hyper-dry conditions provide new insights into the cause of extreme floods after wildfire
A catastrophic wildfire in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains near Boulder, Colorado provided a unique opportunity to investigate soil conditions immediately after a wildfire and before alteration by rainfall. Measurements of near-surface ( 6 cm) soil properties (temperature, volumetric soil-water content, θ; and matric suction, ψ), rainfall, and wind velocity were started 8 days after...
Authors
John A. Moody, Brian A. Ebel
Hydrologic conditions controlling runoff generation immediately after wildfire Hydrologic conditions controlling runoff generation immediately after wildfire
We investigated the control of postwildfire runoff by physical and hydraulic properties of soil, hydrologic states, and an ash layer immediately following wildfire. The field site is within the area burned by the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire in Colorado, USA. Physical and hydraulic property characterization included ash thickness, particle size distribution, hydraulic conductivity, and soil...
Authors
Brian A. Ebel, John A. Moody, Deborah A. Martin
Impact of wildfire and slope aspect on soil temperature in a mountainous environment Impact of wildfire and slope aspect on soil temperature in a mountainous environment
Soil temperature changes after landscape disturbance impact hydrology, ecology, and geomorphology. This study used field measurements to examine wildfire and aspect effects on soil temperatures. Combustion of the litter and duff layers on north-facing slopes removed pre-fire aspect-driven soil temperature controls. Wildfire is one of the most significant disturbances in mountainous...
Authors
Brian A. Ebel
Wildfire impacts on soil-water retention in the Colorado Front Range, United States Wildfire impacts on soil-water retention in the Colorado Front Range, United States
This work examined the plot-scale differences in soil-water retention caused by wildfire in the area of the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire in the Colorado Front Range, United States. We measured soil-water retention curves on intact cores and repacked samples, soil particle-size distributions, and organic matter content. Estimates were also made of plant-available water based on the soil...
Authors
Brian A. Ebel
Assessing the detail needed to capture rainfall-runoff dynamics with physics-based hydrologic response simulation Assessing the detail needed to capture rainfall-runoff dynamics with physics-based hydrologic response simulation
Concept development simulation with distributed, physics-based models provides a quantitative approach for investigating runoff generation processes across environmental conditions. Disparities within data sets employed to design and parameterize boundary value problems used in heuristic simulation inevitably introduce various levels of bias. The objective was to evaluate the impact of...
Authors
B.B. Mirus, B.A. Ebel, C.S. Heppner, K. Loague
Hydraulic Property and Soil Textural Classification Measurements for Rainier Mesa, Nevada Test Site, Nevada Hydraulic Property and Soil Textural Classification Measurements for Rainier Mesa, Nevada Test Site, Nevada
This report presents particle size analysis, field-saturated hydraulic conductivity measurements, and qualitative descriptions of surficial materials at selected locations at Rainier Mesa, Nevada. Measurements and sample collection were conducted in the Rainier Mesa area, including unconsolidated sediments on top of the mesa, an ephemeral wash channel near the mesa edge, and dry U12n...
Authors
Brian A. Ebel, John R. Nimmo
Non-USGS Publications**
Ebel, B. A., 2013, Simulated unsaturated flow processes after wildfire and interactions with slope aspect, Water Resources Research, 49, 8090–8107, doi: 10.1002/2013WR014129
Loague, K., and , B. A. Ebel, 2013, Conceptualization in catchment modeling. In Treatise on Geomorphology, Edited by J. F. Shroder, Vol. 7, pp. 105-121. San Diego, Academic Press, doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-374739-6.00154-8
Ebel, B. A., K. Loague, and R. I. Borja, 2010, The impacts of hysteresis on variably-saturated hydrologic response and slope failure, Environmental Earth Sciences, 61, 1215-1225, doi: 10.1007/s12665-009-0445-2
BeVille, S. H., B. B. Mirus, B. A. Ebel, G. G. Mader, and K. Loague, 2010, Using simulated hydrologic response to revisit the 1973 Lerida Court landslide, Environmental Earth Sciences, 61, 1249-1257, doi: 10.1007/s12665-010-0448-z
Ebel, B. A., K. Loague, D. R. Montgomery, and W. E. Dietrich, 2008, Physics-based continuous simulation of long-term near-surface hydrologic response for the Coos Bay experimental catchment, Water Resources Research, 44, W07417, doi:10.1029/2007WR006442
Ebel, B. A., and K. Loague, 2008, Rapid simulated hydrologic response within the variably saturated near surface, Hydrological Processes, 22, 464-471, doi:10.1002/hyp.6926
Ebel, B. A., K. Loague, W. E. Dietrich, D. R. Montgomery, R. Torres, S. P. Anderson, and T. W. Giambelluca, 2007, Near-surface hydrologic response for a steep, unchanneled catchment near Coos Bay, Oregon: 1. Sprinkling experiments, American Journal of Science, 307, 678-708, doi:10.2475/04.2007.02
Ebel, B. A., K. Loague, J. E. VanderKwaak, W. E. Dietrich, D. R. Montgomery, R. Torres, and S. P. Anderson, 2007, Near-surface hydrologic response for a steep, unchanneled catchment near Coos Bay, Oregon: 2. Physics-based simulations, American Journal of Science, 307, 709-748, doi:10.2475/04.2007.03
Mirus, B. B., B. A. Ebel, K. Loague, and B. C. Wemple, 2007, Simulated effect of a forest road on near-surface hydrologic response: Redux, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 32, 126–142, doi: 10.1002/esp.1387
Ebel, B. A., and K. Loague, 2006, Physics-based hydrologic-response simulation: Seeing through the fog of equifinality, Hydrological Processes, 20, 2887–2900, doi:10.1002/hyp.6388
Borja, R. I., G. Oettl, B. Ebel, and K. Loague, 2006, Hydrologically driven slope failure initiation in variably saturated porous media. In Modern Trends in Geomechanics. Wu, W. and H.S. Yu (Eds.), pp. 303-311, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, doi: 10.1007/978-3-540-35724-7_18
Loague, K., C. S. Heppner, B. B. Mirus, B. A. Ebel, Q. Ran, A. E. Carr, S. H. BeVille, and J. E. Vander Kwaak, 2006, Physics-based hydrologic-response simulation: foundation for hydroecology and hydrogeomorphology, Hydrological Processes, 20, 1231–1237, doi:10.1002/hyp.6388
Ehlmann, B. L., R. E. Arvidson, B. L. Jolliff, S. S. Johnson, B. Ebel, N. Lovenduski, J. D. Morris, J. A. Byers, N. O. Snider, and R. E. Criss, 2005, Hydrologic and Isotopic Modeling of Alpine Lake Waiau, Mauna Kea, Hawai‘i, Pacific Science, 59, 1–15, doi:10.1353/psc.2005.0005
Loague, K., C. S. Heppner, R. H. Abrams, A. E. Carr, J. E. VanderKwaak, and B. A. Ebel, 2005, Further testing of the Integrated Hydrology Model (InHM): event-based simulations for a small rangeland catchment located near Chickasha, Oklahoma, Hydrological Processes, 19, 1373–1398, doi:10.1002/hyp.5566
**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.