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David W Clow

Dave is a Research Hydrologist with the Colorado Water Science Center



 

Science and Products

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Marble Fork of the Kaweah River

Linking water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles in seasonally snow-covered catchments under changing land resource conditions

Changes in snowpack accumulation, distribution, and melt in high-elevation catchments are likely to have important impacts on water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles, which are tightly coupled through exchanges of energy and biogeochemical compounds between atmospheric, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. Our research helps to better understand how changes in climate will affect water availability...
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Ecosystems, Climate Research and Development Program
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Linking water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles in seasonally snow-covered catchments under changing land resource conditions

Changes in snowpack accumulation, distribution, and melt in high-elevation catchments are likely to have important impacts on water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles, which are tightly coupled through exchanges of energy and biogeochemical compounds between atmospheric, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. Our research helps to better understand how changes in climate will affect water availability...
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Rio Grande River

Developing Tools for Improved Water Supply Forecasting in the Rio Grande Headwaters

The Rio Grande River is a critical source of freshwater for 13 million people in Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico. More than half of the Rio Grande’s streamflow originates as snowmelt in Colorado’s mountains, meaning that changes in the amount of snowmelt can impact the water supply for communities along the entire river. Snowmelt runoff is therefore an important component of water supply o...
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Climate Adaptation Science Centers, Climate Adaptation Science Center
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Developing Tools for Improved Water Supply Forecasting in the Rio Grande Headwaters

The Rio Grande River is a critical source of freshwater for 13 million people in Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico. More than half of the Rio Grande’s streamflow originates as snowmelt in Colorado’s mountains, meaning that changes in the amount of snowmelt can impact the water supply for communities along the entire river. Snowmelt runoff is therefore an important component of water supply o...
Learn More
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Rio Grande River

Developing Tools for Improved Water Supply Forecasting in the Rio Grande Headwaters

The Rio Grande River is a critical source of freshwater for 13 million people in Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico. More than half of the Rio Grande’s streamflow originates as snowmelt in Colorado’s mountains, meaning that changes in the amount of snowmelt can impact the water supply for communities along the entire river. Snowmelt runoff is therefore an important component of water supply o...
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Climate Adaptation Science Centers, Climate Adaptation Science Center
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Developing Tools for Improved Water Supply Forecasting in the Rio Grande Headwaters

The Rio Grande River is a critical source of freshwater for 13 million people in Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico. More than half of the Rio Grande’s streamflow originates as snowmelt in Colorado’s mountains, meaning that changes in the amount of snowmelt can impact the water supply for communities along the entire river. Snowmelt runoff is therefore an important component of water supply o...
Learn More
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USGS science for a changing world logo

Transport of dissolved organic matter by river networks from mountains to the sea: a re-examination of the role of flow across temporal and spatial scales

The transport of dissolved organic matter (DOM) by rivers is an important component of the global carbon cycle, affects ecosystems and water quality, and reflects biogeochemical and hydrological processes in watersheds. Understanding the fundamental relationships between discharge and DOM concentration and composition reveals important information about watershed flow paths, soil flushing, connect
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John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis
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Transport of dissolved organic matter by river networks from mountains to the sea: a re-examination of the role of flow across temporal and spatial scales

The transport of dissolved organic matter (DOM) by rivers is an important component of the global carbon cycle, affects ecosystems and water quality, and reflects biogeochemical and hydrological processes in watersheds. Understanding the fundamental relationships between discharge and DOM concentration and composition reveals important information about watershed flow paths, soil flushing, connect
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Loch Vale, CO in winter

Snowpack Sublimation - Measurements and Modeling in the Colorado River Basin

Snow is an essential resource in the western United States (U.S.), providing water for drinking, irrigation, industry, energy production, and ecosystems across much of the region. In the mountains of the western U.S., most precipitation falls as snow, which accumulates in seasonal snowpacks that serve as a large natural reservoir. Snowpack sublimation, which is analogous to evaporation from land...
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Colorado Water Science Center
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Snowpack Sublimation - Measurements and Modeling in the Colorado River Basin

Snow is an essential resource in the western United States (U.S.), providing water for drinking, irrigation, industry, energy production, and ecosystems across much of the region. In the mountains of the western U.S., most precipitation falls as snow, which accumulates in seasonal snowpacks that serve as a large natural reservoir. Snowpack sublimation, which is analogous to evaporation from land...
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USGS scientist recording data near alpine waterway

Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB): Loch Vale Watershed

Loch Vale is an alpine/subalpine watershed in Rocky Mountain National Park where the U.S. Geological Survey has been conducting research since the 1980s. Our research has focused on the effects of climate change and atmospheric pollutants on water, soil, vegetation, and aquatic life. The alpine/subalpine ecosystem in Loch Vale is sensitive to changes in climate and air pollution. Our long-term...
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Colorado Water Science Center
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Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB): Loch Vale Watershed

Loch Vale is an alpine/subalpine watershed in Rocky Mountain National Park where the U.S. Geological Survey has been conducting research since the 1980s. Our research has focused on the effects of climate change and atmospheric pollutants on water, soil, vegetation, and aquatic life. The alpine/subalpine ecosystem in Loch Vale is sensitive to changes in climate and air pollution. Our long-term...
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View of three USGS Visual Identity items

Water-Quality Sampling at Five Hydrologic Benchmark Stations in the Western United States

The Hydrologic Benchmark Network (HBN) was established in 1963 to provide long-term measurements of streamflow and water quality in areas of the United States that are minimally affected by human activities.
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Colorado Water Science Center
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Water-Quality Sampling at Five Hydrologic Benchmark Stations in the Western United States

The Hydrologic Benchmark Network (HBN) was established in 1963 to provide long-term measurements of streamflow and water quality in areas of the United States that are minimally affected by human activities.
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Continuous water-quality data for selected streams in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, water years 2011-19

This data release contains water-quality and discharge data collected in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), Colorado by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from 10/1/2010 through 9/30/2019 using in-situ sensors and field meters. Data were collected for the purpose of quantifying exchange fluxes of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO₂) from streams. Parameters include daily mean dissolved CO₂, water tempe
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Colorado Water Science Center

Wetland Stream Water Quality Data for West Twin Creek, AK, Allequash Creek, WI, and Big Thompson River, CO, 2010-2020

This dataset includes discrete water quality and discharge data for three streams that flow through wetlands. There are two measurement and sampling locations on each stream: one immediately upstream from the wetland and one immediately downstream from the wetland. Measurements and sample collection occurred in 2010 and 2011 at West Twin Creek, AK; in 2019 and 2020 at Allequash Creek, WI; and in 2
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Water Resources, Climate Research and Development Program

Climatological data for the Loch Vale watershed in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, water years 1992-2019

This data release contains hourly means of climatological data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from 10/1/1991 to 9/30/2019 at three weather stations in the Loch Vale watershed in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), Colorado. In order of increasing elevation, the three weather stations are Loch Vale meteorological station at RMNP, Colo. (Main weather station, USGS station 4017191053
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Climate Research and Development Program, Colorado Water Science Center
Filter Total Items: 64

Spatiotemporal dynamics of CO2 gas exchange from headwater mountain streams

Mountain streams play an important role in the global carbon cycle by transporting, metabolizing, and exchanging carbon they receive from the terrestrial environment. The rates at which these processes occur remain highly uncertain because of a paucity of observations and the difficulty of measuring gas exchange rates in steep, turbulent mountain streams. This uncertainty is compounded by large te
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Water Resources, Climate Research and Development Program, Land Change Science Program, Colorado Water Science Center

The U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Benchmark Network

No abstract available.
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Water Resources, Colorado Water Science Center, New York Water Science Center

Long-term ecosystem and biogeochemical research in Loch Vale watershed, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Loch Vale watershed was instrumented in 1983 with initial support from the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program to ask whether ecosystems of Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) were affected by acidic atmospheric deposition. Research and monitoring activities were expanded in 1991 by the U.S. Geological Survey Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets program to understand the processes,
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Ecosystems, Fort Collins Science Center

Spatial variability in seasonal snowpack trends across the Rio Grande headwaters (1984 - 2017)

This study evaluated the spatial variability of trends in simulated snowpack properties across the Rio Grande headwaters of Colorado using the SnowModel snow evolution modeling system. SnowModel simulations were performed using a grid resolution of 100 m and 3-hourly time step over a 34-yr period (1984–2017). Atmospheric forcing was provided by phase 2 of the North American Land Data Assimilation
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Water Resources, Climate Research and Development Program, Land Change Science Program, Colorado Water Science Center

Changes in climate and land cover affect seasonal streamflow forecasts in the Rio Grande headwaters

Seasonal streamflow forecast bias, changes in climate, snowpack, and land cover, and the effects of these changes on relations between basin‐wide snowpack, SNOw TELemetry (SNOTEL) station snowpack, and seasonal streamflow were evaluated in the headwaters of the Rio Grande, Colorado. Results indicate that shifts in the seasonality of precipitation and changing climatology are consistent with period
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Water Resources, Climate Research and Development Program, Colorado Water Science Center

Preferential elution of ionic solutes in melting snowpacks: Improving process understanding through field observations and modeling in the Rocky Mountains

The preferential elution of ions from melting snowpacks is a complex problem that has been linked to temporary acidification of water bodies. However, the understanding of these processes in snowpacks around the world, including the polar regions that are experiencing unprecedented warming and melting, remains limited despite being instrumental in supporting climate change adaptation.In this study
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Water Resources, Climate Research and Development Program, Colorado Water Science Center

Linking transit times to catchment sensitivity to atmospheric deposition of acidity and nitrogen in mountains of the western United States

Transit times are hypothesized to influence catchment sensitivity to atmospheric deposition of acidity and nitrogen (N) because they help determine the amount of time available for infiltrating precipitation to interact with catchment soil and biota. Transit time metrics, including fraction of young water (Fyw) and mean transit time (MTT), were calculated for 11 headwater catchments in mountains o
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Water Resources, Climate Research and Development Program, Land Change Science Program, Colorado Water Science Center

Influence of climate on alpine stream chemistry and water sources

The resilience of alpine/subalpine watersheds may be viewed as the resistance of streamflow or stream chemistry to change under varying climatic conditions, which is governed by the relative size (volume) and transit time of surface and subsurface water sources. Here, we use end‐member mixing analysis in Andrews Creek, an alpine stream in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, from water year 199

Snow sublimation in mountain environments and its sensitivity to forest disturbance and climate warming

Snow sublimation is an important component of the snow mass balance, but the spatial and temporal variability of this process is not well understood in mountain environments. This study combines a process‐based snow model (SnowModel) with eddy covariance (EC) measurements to investigate (1) the spatio‐temporal variability of simulated snow sublimation with respect to station observations, (2) the
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Water Resources, Colorado Water Science Center

Organic carbon burial in global lakes and reservoirs

Burial in sediments removes organic carbon (OC) from the short-term biosphere-atmosphere carbon (C) cycle, and therefore prevents greenhouse gas production in natural systems. Although OC burial in lakes and reservoirs is faster than in the ocean, the magnitude of inland water OC burial is not well constrained. Here we generate the first global-scale and regionally resolved estimate of modern OC b
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Water Resources, Climate Research and Development Program, Land Change Science Program, Colorado Water Science Center

Effects of backpacker use, pack stock trail use, and pack stock grazing on water-quality indicators, including nutrients, E. coli, hormones, and pharmaceuticals, in Yosemite National Park, USA

We investigated how visitor-use affects water quality in wilderness in Yosemite National Park. During the summers of 2012–2014, we collected and analyzed surface-water samples for water-quality indicators, including fecal indicator bacteria Escherichia coli, nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon), suspended sediment concentration, pharmaceuticals, and hormones. Samples were collected upstream an
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Water Resources, Colorado Water Science Center

Inland waters and their role in the carbon cycle of Alaska

The magnitude of Alaska (AK) inland waters carbon (C) fluxes is likely to change in the future due to amplified climate warming impacts on the hydrology and biogeochemical processes in high latitude regions. Although current estimates of major aquatic C fluxes represent an essential baseline against which future change can be compared, a comprehensive assessment for AK has not yet been completed.
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Aeolian dust deposition to Rocky Mountain snowpacks

This article is part of the Fall 2017 issue of the Earth Science Matters Newsletter.

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Effects of the mountain pine beetle on forest hydrology and chemistry in the southern Rocky Mountains

This article is part of the Spring 2015 issue of the Earth Science Matters Newsletter. 

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