Gabriel B Senay, Ph.D.
Gabriel Senay is a scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, co-located with the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (NC CASC) in Boulder, Colorado. He is also an adjunct professor at South Dakota State University and a Faculty Affiliate with Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.
Biography
Senay, with a background in agricultural engineering, hydrology, and remote sensing, conducts applied research on landscape water use assessment and monitoring using satellite-derived data and hydrologic modeling. He has taught courses on remote sensing of water resources and land surveying. He is a licensed professional engineer (PE) in Civil Engineering (Water Resources) and obtained a BSc in Agricultural Engineering from Alemaya University, Ethiopia; MSc in Hydrology from Wageningen University, The Netherlands; and a PhD from The Ohio State University, USA.
Research topics include:
1) Evapotranspiration modeling for crop water use mapping, drought monitoring, and water budget studies.
2) Runoff and soil moisture modeling for groundwater recharge estimation, small reservoir (pond) monitoring, and ecological drought assessment.
3) Interactions between land cover change and hydrology and their impact on water resources.
4) Spatiotemporal dynamics and trend analyses of agro-hydrolocic processes and climatic drivers.
Science and Products
Using Satellite Imagery to Estimate Consumptive Water Use from Irrigated Lands in the Milk River Basin, United States and Canada
The U.S. Geological Survey, with the support of the International Joint Commission, and in cooperation with Alberta Environment and Parks, Blackfeet Nation, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, is leading a project that should improve information available to apportion water between Canada and the United States in the St. Mary and...
Eyes on Earth Episode 35 – Watching the Water Supply with OpenET
Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we hear about a partnership that aims to simplify and share critical water use data for the Western U.S.
Moving towards EarthMAP: Establishing linkages among USGS land use, water use, runoff, and recharge models
Understanding and anticipating change in dynamic Earth systems is vital for societal adaptation and welfare. USGS possesses the multidisciplinary capabilities to anticipate Earth systems change, yet our work is often bound within a single discipline and/or Mission Area. The proposed work breaks new ground in moving USGS towards an interdisciplinary predictive modeling framework. We are...
Eyes on Earth Episode 17 – Evapotranspiration
Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we learn how EROS scientists use satellites to help manage water use.
Ecological Drought Across the Country
Water resources are critical for ecosystems, agriculture, and communities, and potential climate impacts to hydrologic budgets and cycles are arguably the most consequential to society. Apart from precipitation, evapotranspiration makes up the most significant component of the hydrologic budget. Evapotranspiration is a primary metric for identifying Ecological Drought, a deficit in water...
Estimates of public-supply, domestic, and irrigation water withdrawal, use, and trends in the Upper Rio Grande Basin, 1985 to 2015
The Rio Grande flows approximately 670 miles from its headwaters in the San Juan Mountains of south-central Colorado to Fort Quitman, Texas, draining the Upper Rio Grande Basin (URGB) study area of 32,000 square miles that includes parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. Parts of the basin extend into the United Mexican States (hereafter “Mexico...
Ivahnenko, Tamara I.; Flickinger, Allison K.; Galanter, Amy E.; Douglas-Mankin, Kyle R.; Pedraza, Diana E.; Senay, Gabriel B.
Using satellite imagery to estimate consumptive water use from irrigated lands in the Milk River Basin, United States and Canada
The U.S. Geological Survey, with the support of the International Joint Commission, and in cooperation with Alberta Environment and Parks, Blackfeet Nation, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, is leading a project that should improve information available to apportion water between...
Sando, Roy; Friedrichs, MacKenzie; Senay, Gabriel B.
Dynamics of green and blue water supply stress index across major global cropland basins
Global food and water insecurity could be serious problems in the upcoming decades with growing demands from the increasing global population and more frequent effect of climatic extremes. As the available water resources are diminishing and facing continuous stress, it is crucial to monitor water demand and water availability to understand the...
Khand, Kul Bikram; Senay, Gabriel B.; Kagone, Stefanie; Parrish, Gabriel Edwin Lee Runoff response to directional land cover change across reference basins in the conterminous United States
Land cover change plays a critical role in influencing hydrological responses. Change in land cover has impacted runoff across basins with substantial human interference; however, the impacts in basins with minimal human interference have been studied less. In this study, we investigated the impacts of directional land cover changes (forest to/...
Khand, Kul Bikram; Senay, Gabriel B.
Landscape and climatic influences on actual evapotranspiration and available water using the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) Model in eastern Bernalillo County, New Mexico, 2015
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bernalillo County Public Works Division, conducted a 1-year study in 2015 to assess the spatial and temporal distribution of evapotranspiration (ET) and available water within the East Mountain area in Bernalillo County, New Mexico. ET and available water vary spatiotemporally because of complex...
Douglas-Mankin, Kyle R.; McCutcheon, Ryan J.; Mitchell, Aurelia C.; Senay, Gabriel B. A novel approach for next generation water use mapping using Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellite data
Evapotranspiration (ET) is needed in a range of applications in hydrology, climatology, ecology, and agriculture. Remote sensing-based estimation is the only viable and economical method for ET estimation over large areas. The current Landsat satellites provide images every 16 days limiting the ability to capture biophysical changes affecting...
Singh, Ramesh; Khand, Kul Bikram; Kagone, Stefanie; Schauer, Matthew ; Senay, Gabriel; Wu, Zhuoting Operational global actual evapotranspiration: Development, evaluation, and dissemination
Satellite-based actual evapotranspiration (ETa) is becoming increasingly reliable and available for various water management and agricultural applications from water budget studies to crop performance monitoring. The Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model is currently used by the US Geological Survey (USGS) Famine Early...
Senay, Gabriel; Kagone, Stefanie; Velpuri, Naga M. Evaluation of hydrologic impact of an irrigation curtailment program in the Upper Klamath Lake Basin using Landsat satellite data
Upper Klamath Lake (UKL) is the source of the Klamath river that flows through southern Oregon and northern California. The UKL basin is home to two endangered species and provides water for 81,000+ ha (200,000+ acres) of irrigation on the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) Klamath Project located downstream of the UKL basin. Irrigated...
Velpuri, Naga Manohar ; Senay, Gabriel; Schauer, Matthew ; Garcia, C. Amanda; Singh, Ramesh ; Friedrichs, MacKenzie; Bohms, Stefanie; Haynes, Jonathan V.; Conlon, Terrence D. Evaluating the temperature difference parameter in the SSEBop model with satellite observed land surface temperature data
The Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model uses the principle of satellite psychrometry to produce spatially explicit actual evapotranspiration (ETa) with remotely sensed and weather data. The temperature difference (dT) in the model is a predefined parameter quantifying the difference between surface temperature at bare soil...
Ji, Lei; Senay, Gabriel B.; Velpuri, Naga Manohar ; Kagone, Stefanie Characterizing crop water use dynamics in the Central Valley of California using landsat-derived evapotranspiration
Understanding how different crops use water over time is essential for planning and managing water allocation, water rights, and agricultural production. The main objective of this paper is to characterize the spatiotemporal dynamics of crop water use in the Central Valley of California using Landsat-based annual actual evapotranspiration (ETa)...
Schauer, Matthew ; Senay, Gabriel Long-term (1986–2015) crop water use characterization over the Upper Rio Grande Basin of United States and Mexico using Landsat-based evapotranspiration
The evaluation of historical water use in the Upper Rio Grande Basin (URGB), United States and Mexico, using Landsat-derived actual evapotranspiration (ETa) from 1986 to 2015 is presented here as the first study of its kind to apply satellite observations to quantify long-term, basin-wide crop consumptive use in a large basin. The rich archive of...
Senay, Gabriel; Schauer, Matthew ; Velpuri, Naga Manohar ; Singh, Ramesh ; Kagone, Stefanie; Friedrichs, MacKenzie; Litvak, Marcy; Douglas-Mankin, Kyle R. GRACE storage change characteristics (2003–2016) over major surface basins and principal aquifers in the Conterminous United States
In this research, we characterized the changes in Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment’s (GRACE) monthly total water storage anomaly (TWSA) in 18 surface basins and 12 principal aquifers in the Conterminous United States (CONUS) over 2003–2016. Regions with high variability in storage were identified. Ten basins and 4 aquifers showed...
Velpuri, Naga Manohar; Senay, Gabriel; Driscoll, Jessica M.; Saxe, Samuel; Hay, Lauren E.; Farmer, William H.; Kiang, Julie E.
Landsat in Action - Water Use with Molly Maupin and Gabriel Senay
USGS Hydrologist Molly Maupin and USGS Research Physical Scientist Gabriel Senay discuss how Landsat imagery has been used by the National Water Census and in studying water use trends.
Lasting Link With Landsat Helps Idaho Manage Water
On a ranking of states using water for irrigation, seeing California at the top probably wouldn’t surprise you. But would you expect Idaho to follow right behind?
Landsat will help U.S. and Canada Share River’s Water
A river meanders serenely through the northern prairie, waters flowing eastward. The scene’s simplicity belies the complex nature of how the water is used—especially when the river flows from one country to another and back.
Landsat, Sentinel Data Fusion Offers Potential of More Accurate ET Maps
Scientists at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center have developed an algorithm that fuses Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 data in a way that generates more accurate daily evapotranspiration (ET) maps with a much higher spatial resolution.
Every Pixel in its Place: How Collections Unlock the Potential of the Landsat Archive
Landsat satellite data have never been as valuable or as useful to the science and applications community as they are today.
Landsat research was once largely a before-and-after affair, in which scientists would compare one date of imagery to another to find differences on the landscape.
Water Monitoring, Mapping in Brazil Shows Value of Landsat Globally
For all of Landsat’s value to the United States—a 2017 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study placed the annual economic benefit of its data to this country at $2.06 billion—the satellite system plays a vital role as a global asset.
EROS Scientists Publish Accuracy, Guidance for Global Evapotranspiration Data
Evapotranspiration (ET) presents a difficult problem.
Evaporation from the Earth’s surface and transpiration from the leaves of plants accounts for about 60 percent of the water budget – a budget that has implications for agriculture and food security the world over.
Water Consumption Work at EROS Important Asset to Colorado River Concerns
Western states looking at critical water shortages along the Colorado River got a reprieve this past April when President Trump approved legislation allowing the Interior Secretary—through the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR)—to oversee an updated water conservation plan along the river’s Lower Basin.
Brazilians Work with EROS Staff to Map, Monitor Agricultural Irrigation
Brazilian officials tasked with managing their country’s water resources are working with staff at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center to better understand how that valuable asset is being used for agricultural irrigation in their homeland.
NASA’s AppEEARS Data Extraction Tool Adds USGS Datasets
A powerful data extraction tool that intuitively streamlines and simplifies the exploration of more than 100 datasets within NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) now has expanded to include its first two datasets from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
EROS Discussion Focuses on Irrigation as Part of the National Water Census
The National Water Use Science Project (NWUSP) reports water-use data for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Mission Area, under the Water Availability and Use Science Program (WAUSP).
ECOSTRESS Launch Piques Interest At EROS
NASA launched its ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) instrument early Friday morning in Florida, and the event piqued the interest of several scientists at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center.
EROS Evapotranspiration Model Key Part of Upper Rio Grande Basin Study
Kyle Douglas-Mankin wants to know where the raindrops go when they fall on the arid and semi-arid landscapes of the Upper Rio Grande Basin.