Dale M Robertson
Dale Robertson is a Research Hydrologist with the Upper Midwest Water Science Center.
Dale is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Michigan Technological University, and University of Toledo, and a Honorary Fellow with the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His current research with the USGS deals with modeling eutrophication and mixing in lakes, estimating loads and concentrations of nutrients and sediment in streams over large geographic areas, such as the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Basins, developing nutrient criteria for streams and rivers, and examining the effects of climate change on the physical dynamics, ice cover, and productivity of lakes.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- Biogeochemistry - Hydrology/Limnology
- Eutrophication - Nutrient Transport and Fate
- Limnology
- Water-quality modeling in Lakes
- Watershed modeling (SPARROW)
- Influence of environmental factors, watershed management strategies, and in-lake management alternatives on the water quality of rivers and lakes
- Climate Change - Ice as climatic indicators
- Regional loading estimates
Education and Certifications
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, in Reservoir Modeling - Centre for Water Research, University of Western Australia, Perth. 1989-1991.
Ph.D Oceanography and Limnology - University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dissertation: "The Use of Lake Water Temperature and Ice Cover as Climatic Indicators", 1984-1989.
M.S. Oceanography and Limnology-University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Thesis:"Interbasin Separation and Its Impact on the Annual Heat Budgets of the Individual Basins in Trout Lake, Wisconsin," 1981-1984.
B.S. Biology, Chemistry, and Mathematics - St. Norbert College, DePere, Wisconsin, 1976-1981.
Science and Products
Anvil Lake: Response of lake water quality to changes in nutrient loading, with special emphasis on the effects of changes in water level
Impact of phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations on the biological integrity of Wisconsin streams
An Assessment of Midwestern Lake and Stream Temperatures under Climate Change
Water-quality and streamflow datasets used for estimating loads considered for use in the 2002 Midcontinent nutrient SPARROW models, United States and Canada, 1970-2012
Quantifying regional effects of best management practices on nutrient losses from agricultural lands
Response in the water level of Anvil Lake, Wisconsin, to changes in meteorological and climatic changes, Wisconsin
Estimating urban air pollution contribution to South Platte River nitrogen loads with National Atmospheric Deposition Program data and SPARROW model
Loss of ice cover, shifting phenology, and more extreme events in Northern Hemisphere lakes
Long-term epilimnetic temperature trends in Lake Mendota and Trout Lake, Wisconsin
Earlier winter/spring runoff and snowmelt during warmer winters lead to lower summer chlorophyll-a in north temperate lakes
Appendix E. Water quality and hydrology of Green Lake, Wisconsin, and the response in its near-surface water-quality and metalimnetic dissolved oxygen minima to changes in phosphorus loading
Great Lakes harmful algal blooms: Current knowledge gaps
Partitioning and transformation of organic and inorganic phosphorus among dissolved, colloidal and particulate phases in a hypereutrophic freshwater estuary
Nitrogen and phosphorus sources and delivery from the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin: An update using 2012 SPARROW models
Evaluating management options to reduce Lake Erie algal blooms using an ensemble of watershed models
Uncertainty in critical source area predictions from watershed-scale hydrologic models
Science and Products
- Science
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Anvil Lake: Response of lake water quality to changes in nutrient loading, with special emphasis on the effects of changes in water level
Anvil Lake is a relatively shallow, high-quality lake whose water level has dropped dramatically in recent years, adversely affecting the recreational and aesthetic values of the lake. The USGS is developing detailed water and phosphorus budgets, determining groundwater contributions, modeling likely responses to changes in phosphorus loading, and assessing the effect of climate on water quality.Impact of phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations on the biological integrity of Wisconsin streams
The USGS and Wisconsin DNR collected water-quality and biological data from 240 wadeable streams and 40 nonwadeable rivers throughout Wisconsin to evaluate the potential environmental benefits of enforcing nutrient criteria and standards for streams and rivers if they better reflected regionally defined, scientifically defensible thresholds to biotic response.An Assessment of Midwestern Lake and Stream Temperatures under Climate Change
Water temperatures are warming in lakes and streams, resulting in the loss of many native fish. Given clear passage, coldwater stream fishes can take refuge upstream when larger streams become too warm. Likewise, many Midwestern lakes “thermally stratify” resulting in warmer waters on top of deeper, cooler waters. Many of these lakes are connected to threatened streams. To date, assessments of the - Data
Filter Total Items: 13
Water-quality and streamflow datasets used for estimating loads considered for use in the 2002 Midcontinent nutrient SPARROW models, United States and Canada, 1970-2012
The United States Geological Survey's (USGS) SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) model was developed to aid in the interpretation of monitoring data and simulate water-quality conditions in streams across large spatial scales. SPARROW is a hybrid empirical⁄process-based mass balance model that can be used to estimate the major sources and environmental factors that a - Multimedia
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 149
Quantifying regional effects of best management practices on nutrient losses from agricultural lands
Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) losses from agricultural areas have degraded the water quality of downstream rivers, lakes, and oceans. As a result, investment in the adoption of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) has grown, but assessments of their effectiveness at large spatial scales have lagged. This study applies regional Spatially Referenced Regression On Watershed-attributes (SPAAuthorsVictor L. Roland, Ana María García, David A. Saad, Scott W. Ator, Dale M. Robertson, Gregory E. SchwarzResponse in the water level of Anvil Lake, Wisconsin, to changes in meteorological and climatic changes, Wisconsin
Anvil Lake, a relatively shallow seepage lake in northern Wisconsin, USA, has experienced dramatic changes in water level since elevation records began in 1938 in response to changes in meteorological and climatic conditions (Figure 1. Robertson et al., 2018). Anvil Lake’s water level record shows a pronounced 10–15-yr cycle, with recurring highs and lows with a typical swing of over 1 m. AlthoughAuthorsDale M. RobertsonEstimating urban air pollution contribution to South Platte River nitrogen loads with National Atmospheric Deposition Program data and SPARROW model
Air pollution is commonly disregarded as a source of nutrient loading to impaired surface waters managed under the Clean Water Act per states’ 303(d) list programs. The contribution of air pollution to 2017–2018 South Platte River nitrogen (N) loads was estimated from the headwaters to the gage at Weldona, Colorado, USA (100 km downstream of Denver), using data from the National Atmospheric DeposiAuthorsGregory A. Wetherbee, Michael Wieczorek, Dale M. Robertson, David A. Saad, Jon Novick, Alisa MastLoss of ice cover, shifting phenology, and more extreme events in Northern Hemisphere lakes
Long-term lake ice phenological records from around the Northern Hemisphere provide unique sensitive indicators of climatic variations, even prior to the existence of physical meteorological measurement stations. Here, we updated ice phenology records for 60 lakes with time-series ranging from 107–204 years to provide the first re-assessment of Northern Hemispheric ice trends since 2004 by addingAuthorsSapna Sharma, David Richardson, Iestyn R Woolway, M.A. Imrit, Damien Bouffard, Kevin Blagrave, Julia Daly, Alessandro Filazzola, Nikolay Granin, Johanna Korhonen, John J. Magnuson, Wlodzimierz Marszelewski, Shin I Matsuzaki, William J. Perry, Dale M. Robertson, Lars G. Rudstam, Gesa A. Weyhenmeyer, Huaxia YaoLong-term epilimnetic temperature trends in Lake Mendota and Trout Lake, Wisconsin
Warming of lake surface waters has become a concern to limnologists and water managers because air temperatures, which directly affect near-surface water temperatures, are projected to increase in Wisconsin (WICCI 2011) as well as globally (IPCC 2018). This projected increase is in addition to the changes in air temperatures that have already occurred in recent decades(WICCI 2011, NOAA 2017).The dAuthorsRichard C Lathrop, Dale M. RobertsonEarlier winter/spring runoff and snowmelt during warmer winters lead to lower summer chlorophyll-a in north temperate lakes
Winter conditions, such as ice cover and snow accumulation, are changing rapidly at northern latitudes and can have important implications for lake processes. For example, snowmelt in the watershed—a defining feature of lake hydrology because it delivers a large portion of annual nutrient inputs—is becoming earlier. Consequently, earlier and a shorter duration of snowmelt are expected to affect anAuthorsAllison R. Hrycik, Peter D. F. Isles, Rita Adrian, Matthew Albright, Linda C. Bacon, Stella A. Berger, Ruchi Bhattacharya, Hans-Peter Grossart, Josef Hejzlar, Amy L. Hetherington, Lesley B. Knoll, Alo Laas, Cory P. McDonald, Kellie Merrell, Jens C. Nejstgaard, Kirsten Nelson, Peeter Noges, Andrew M. Paterson, Rachel M. Pilla, Dale M. Robertson, Lars G. Rudstam, James A. Rusak, Steven Sadro, Eugene A. Silow, Jason D. Stockwell, Huaxia Yao, Kiyoko Yokota, Donald C. PiersonAppendix E. Water quality and hydrology of Green Lake, Wisconsin, and the response in its near-surface water-quality and metalimnetic dissolved oxygen minima to changes in phosphorus loading
Green Lake is the deepest natural inland lake in Wisconsin, USA, with a maximum depth of about 72 meters (m). In the early 1900’s, the lake was believed to have very good water quality (low nutrient concentrations and good water clarity), with low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations only in the deepest part of the lake. Because of increased phosphorus (P) inputs from anthropogenic activities in iAuthorsDale M. Robertson, Benjamin J. Siebers, Robert Ladwig, David P. Hamilton, Paul Reneau, Cory P. McDonald, Stephanie Prellwitz, Richard C LathropGreat Lakes harmful algal blooms: Current knowledge gaps
Freshwater Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) pose serious risks throughout the world to drinking water, recreation, and ecosystem health. The Great Lakes, which contain nearly 20% of the world’s available surface freshwater, have been experiencing an increase in HABs since the 1990s. Knowledge gaps relating to HABs remain even after extensive and ongoing research efforts. These knowledge gaps are presenAuthorsGregory L. Boyer, Mary Anne Evans, Timothy Maguire, Silvia Newell, Heather Raymond, Dale M. Robertson, Katie Stammler, Nicole Zacharda, Kenneth J. GibbonsPartitioning and transformation of organic and inorganic phosphorus among dissolved, colloidal and particulate phases in a hypereutrophic freshwater estuary
Phosphorus (P) loadings to the Great Lakes have been regulated for decades, but re-eutrophication and seasonal hypoxia have recently been increasingly reported. It is of paramount importance to better understand the fate, transformation, and biogeochemical cycling processes of different P species across the river-lake interface. We report here results on chemical speciation of P in the seasonallyAuthorsBin Yang, Hui Lin, Sarah L Bartlett, Erin M Houghton, Dale M. Robertson, Laodong GuoNitrogen and phosphorus sources and delivery from the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin: An update using 2012 SPARROW models
Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) inputs throughout the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin (MARB) have been linked to the Gulf of Mexico hypoxia and water‐quality problems throughout the MARB. To describe N and P loading throughout the MARB, SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) models were previously developed based on nutrient inputs and management similar to 1992 andAuthorsDale M. Robertson, David A. SaadEvaluating management options to reduce Lake Erie algal blooms using an ensemble of watershed models
Reducing harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie, situated between the United States and Canada, requires implementing best management practices to decrease nutrient loading from upstream sources. Bi-national water quality targets have been set for total and dissolved phosphorus loads, with the ultimate goal of reaching these targets in 9-out-of-10 years. Row crop agriculture dominates the land use in tAuthorsJay F. Martin, Margaret M Kalcic, Noel Aloysis, Anna Apostel, Michael Brooker, Grey R. Evenson, Jeffrey B Kast, Haley Kujawa, Asmita Murumkar, Richard Becker, Chelsie Boles, Remegio Confesor, Awoke T Dagnew, Tian Guo, Colleen M Long, Rebecca Logsdon Muenich, Donald Scavia, Todd Redder, Dale M. Robertson, Yu-Chen WangUncertainty in critical source area predictions from watershed-scale hydrologic models
Watershed-scale hydrologic models are frequently used to inform conservation and restoration efforts by identifying critical source areas (CSAs; alternatively 'hotspots'), defined as areas that export relatively greater quantities of nutrients and sediment. The CSAs can then be prioritized or ‘targeted’ for conservation and restoration to ensure efficient use of limited resources. However, CSA simAuthorsGrey R. Evenson, Margaret M Kalcic, Yu-Chen Wang, Dale M. Robertson, Donald Scavia, Jay Martin, Noel Aloysius, Anna Apostel, Chelsie Boles, Michael Brooker, Remegio Confesor, Awoke T Dagnew, Tian Guo, Jeffrey Kast, Hailey Kajawa, Rebecca Logsdon Muenich, Asmita Murumkar, Todd Redder - Web Tools
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