Brian A. Ebel
(He/him)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 Mission Area.
Professional Experience
2014-present: Research Hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Water 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
Illuminating wildfire erosion and deposition patterns with repeat terrestrial lidar
Aspect-dependent soil saturation and insight into debris-flow initiation during extreme rainfall in the Colorado Front Range
Relations between soil hydraulic properties and burn severity
Infiltration and runoff generation processes in fire-affected soils
Wildfire and aspect effects on hydrologic states after the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire
Rethinking infiltration in wildfire-affected soils
Soil-water dynamics and unsaturated storage during snowmelt following wildfire
An alternative process model of preferential contaminant travel times in the unsaturated zone: Application to Rainier Mesa and Shoshone Mountain, Nevada
Difference infiltrometer: a method to measure temporally variable infiltration rates during rainstorms
Aspect control of water movement on hillslopes near the rain–snow transition of the Colorado Front Range
Hyper-dry conditions provide new insights into the cause of extreme floods after wildfire
Hydrologic conditions controlling runoff generation immediately after wildfire
Non-USGS Publications**
**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
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Filter Total Items: 55
Illuminating wildfire erosion and deposition patterns with repeat terrestrial lidar
Erosion following a wildfire is much greater than background erosion in forests because of wildfire-induced changes to soil erodibility and water infiltration. While many previous studies have documented post-wildfire erosion with point and small plot-scale measurements, the spatial distribution of post-fire erosion patterns at the watershed scale remains largely unexplored. In this study lidar suAuthorsFrancis K. Rengers, G.E. Tucker, J. A. Moody, Brian EbelAspect-dependent soil saturation and insight into debris-flow initiation during extreme rainfall in the Colorado Front Range
Hydrologic processes during extreme rainfall events are poorly characterized because of the rarity of measurements. Improved understanding of hydrologic controls on natural hazards is needed because of the potential for substantial risk during extreme precipitation events. We present field measurements of the degree of soil saturation and estimates of available soil-water storage during the SeptemAuthorsBrian A. Ebel, Francis K. Rengers, Gregory E. TuckerRelations between soil hydraulic properties and burn severity
Wildfire can affect soil hydraulic properties, often resulting in reduced infiltration. The magnitude of change in infiltration varies depending on the burn severity. Quantitative approaches to link burn severity with changes in infiltration are lacking. This study uses controlled laboratory measurements to determine relations between a remotely sensed burn severity metric (dNBR, change in normaliAuthorsJohn A. Moody, Brian A. Ebel, Petter Nyman, Deborah A. Martin, Cathelijne R. Stoof, Randy McKinleyInfiltration and runoff generation processes in fire-affected soils
Post-wildfire runoff was investigated by combining field measurements and modelling of infiltration into fire-affected soils to predict time-to-start of runoff and peak runoff rate at the plot scale (1 m2). Time series of soil-water content, rainfall and runoff were measured on a hillslope burned by the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire west of Boulder, Colorado during cyclonic and convective rainstorms iAuthorsJohn A. Moody, Brian A. EbelWildfire 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 disturbanceAuthorsBrian A. EbelRethinking 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 peak infilAuthorsBrian A. Ebel, John A. MoodySoil-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 the snowmeltAuthorsBrian A. Ebel, E.S. Hinckley, Deborah A. MartinAn 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 Rainier Mesa aAuthorsBrian A. Ebel, John R. NimmoDifference 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 cumulativeAuthorsJohn A. Moody, Brian A. EbelAspect 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 south‐facingAuthorsEve-Lyn S. Hinckley, Brian A. Ebel, R. T. Barnes, R.S Anderson, M.W. Williams, S.P. AndersonHyper-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 the wildAuthorsJohn A. Moody, Brian A. EbelHydrologic 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 water retAuthorsBrian A. Ebel, John A. Moody, Deborah A. MartinNon-USGS Publications**
Ebel, B. A., 2013, Simulated unsaturated flow processes after wildfire and interactions with slope aspect, Water Resources Research, 49, 8090–8107, doi: 10.1002/2013WR014129Loague, 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/B978-0-12-374739-6.00154-8Ebel, 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/s12665-009-0445-2BeVille, 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-zEbel, 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:10.1029/2007WR006442Ebel, 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:10.2475/04.2007.02Ebel, 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:10.2475/04.2007.03Mirus, 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.1387Ebel, 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_18Loague, 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.