Center Director, New Mexico Water Science Center
Jeannie Barlow is currently serving as the Center Director of the New Mexico Water Science Center. She received a B.S. in geology from Millsaps College in Jackson, MS, a M.S. from the University of Arizona's Hydrology and Water Resources Program in Tucson, AZ, and completed her doctoral degree from Mississippi State University's Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture. She has spent a large part of her career studying the role of groundwater and surface-water exchange on water quantity and quality in water stressed regions.
Science and Products
Unintended consequences of biofuels production?The effects of large-scale crop conversion on water quality and quantity
In the search for renewable fuel alternatives, biofuels have gained strong political momentum. In the last decade, extensive mandates, policies, and subsidies have been adopted to foster the development of a biofuels industry in the United States. The Biofuels Initiative in the Mississippi Delta resulted in a 47-percent decrease in cotton acreage with a concurrent 288-percent increase in corn acre
Simulation of water-use conservation scenarios for the Mississippi Delta using an existing regional groundwater flow model
The Mississippi River alluvial plain in northwestern Mississippi (referred to as the Delta), once a floodplain to the Mississippi River covered with hardwoods and marshland, is now a highly productive agricultural region of large economic importance to Mississippi. Water for irrigation is supplied primarily by the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, and although the alluvial aquifer has a l
Demonstrating usefulness of real-time monitoring at streambank wells coupled with active streamgages - Pilot studies in Wyoming, Montana, and Mississippi
Groundwater and surface water in many cases are considered separate resources, but there is growing recognition of a need to treat them as a single resource. For example, groundwater inflow during low streamflow is vitally important to the health of a stream for many reasons, including buffering temperature, providing good quality water to the stream, and maintaining flow for aquatic organisms. Th
Expanded stream gauging includes groundwater data and trends
Population growth has increased water scarcity to the point that documenting current amounts of worldwide water resources is now as critical as any data collection in the Earth sciences. As a key element of this data collection, stream gauges yield continuous hydrologic information and document long-term trends, recording high-frequency hydrologic information over decadal to centennial time frames
Occurrence and transport of nitrogen in the Big Sunflower River, northwestern Mississippi, October 2009-June 2011
The Big Sunflower River Basin, located within the Yazoo River Basin, is subject to large annual inputs of nitrogen from agriculture, atmospheric deposition, and point sources. Understanding how nutrients are transported in, and downstream from, the Big Sunflower River is key to quantifying their eutrophying effects on the Gulf. Recent results from two Spatially Referenced Regressions on Watershed
Characterization of Water Quality in Unmonitored Streams in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, Northwestern Mississippi, May-June 2006
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality is required to develop restoration and remediation plans for water bodies not meeting their designated uses, as stated in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Water Act section 303(d). The majority of streams in northwestern Mississippi are on the 303(d) list of water-quality limited waters. Agricultural effects on streams in northwes
Hydrogeology of the upper and middle Verde River watersheds, central Arizona
The upper and middle Verde River watersheds in central Arizona are primarily in Yavapai County, which in 1999 was determined to be the fastest growing rural county in the United States; by 2050 the population is projected to more than double its current size (132,000 in 2000). This study combines climatic, surface-water, ground-water, water-chemistry, and geologic data to describe the hydrogeologi
Use of heat to estimate streambed fluxes during extreme hydrologic events
Using heat as a tracer, quantitative estimates of streambed fluxes and the critical stage for flow reversal were calculated for high‐flow events that occurred on the Bogue Phalia (a tributary of the Mississippi River) following the 2005 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In June 2005, piezometers were installed in the Bogue Phalia upstream from the stream gage near Leland, Mississippi, to monitor temper
Pre-USGS Publications
Barlow, J.R. B., Kröger, R., 2014, Nitrogen transport within an agricultural landscape: Insights on how hydrology, biogeochemistry, and the landscape intersect to control the fate and transport of nitrogen in the Mississippi Delta. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 69(1), 11A–16A. doi:10.2489/jswc.69.1.11A.
Barlow, J.R.B, Kingsbury, J.A., and Coupe, R.H., 2012, Changes in shallow groundwater quality beneath recently urbanized areas in the Memphis, Tennessee Area, Journal of the American Water Resources Association, vol. 48, no. 2, p. 336-354.
Barlow, J.R.B., and Coupe, R.H., 2012, Groundwater and surface-water exchange and resulting nitrate dynamics in the Bogue Phalia Basin in northwestern Mississippi. J. Environ. Qual. 41:155-169.
Bryson, J.R, Blasch, K.W., Hoffmann, J.P., 2006, A Local Meteoric Water line and Isotope-Elevation Gradient Relations for the Upper and Middle Verde River Watersheds: Southwest Hydrology, January/February 2007.
Blasch, K.W., and Bryson, J.R., 2006, Distinguishing Sources of Ground-water Recharge in Central Arizona Using d2H and d18O: Ground Water, Vol. 45, No. 3: 294-308.
Science and Products
- Science
- Publications
Unintended consequences of biofuels production?The effects of large-scale crop conversion on water quality and quantity
In the search for renewable fuel alternatives, biofuels have gained strong political momentum. In the last decade, extensive mandates, policies, and subsidies have been adopted to foster the development of a biofuels industry in the United States. The Biofuels Initiative in the Mississippi Delta resulted in a 47-percent decrease in cotton acreage with a concurrent 288-percent increase in corn acreSimulation of water-use conservation scenarios for the Mississippi Delta using an existing regional groundwater flow model
The Mississippi River alluvial plain in northwestern Mississippi (referred to as the Delta), once a floodplain to the Mississippi River covered with hardwoods and marshland, is now a highly productive agricultural region of large economic importance to Mississippi. Water for irrigation is supplied primarily by the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, and although the alluvial aquifer has a lDemonstrating usefulness of real-time monitoring at streambank wells coupled with active streamgages - Pilot studies in Wyoming, Montana, and Mississippi
Groundwater and surface water in many cases are considered separate resources, but there is growing recognition of a need to treat them as a single resource. For example, groundwater inflow during low streamflow is vitally important to the health of a stream for many reasons, including buffering temperature, providing good quality water to the stream, and maintaining flow for aquatic organisms. ThExpanded stream gauging includes groundwater data and trends
Population growth has increased water scarcity to the point that documenting current amounts of worldwide water resources is now as critical as any data collection in the Earth sciences. As a key element of this data collection, stream gauges yield continuous hydrologic information and document long-term trends, recording high-frequency hydrologic information over decadal to centennial time framesOccurrence and transport of nitrogen in the Big Sunflower River, northwestern Mississippi, October 2009-June 2011
The Big Sunflower River Basin, located within the Yazoo River Basin, is subject to large annual inputs of nitrogen from agriculture, atmospheric deposition, and point sources. Understanding how nutrients are transported in, and downstream from, the Big Sunflower River is key to quantifying their eutrophying effects on the Gulf. Recent results from two Spatially Referenced Regressions on WatershedCharacterization of Water Quality in Unmonitored Streams in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, Northwestern Mississippi, May-June 2006
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality is required to develop restoration and remediation plans for water bodies not meeting their designated uses, as stated in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Water Act section 303(d). The majority of streams in northwestern Mississippi are on the 303(d) list of water-quality limited waters. Agricultural effects on streams in northwesHydrogeology of the upper and middle Verde River watersheds, central Arizona
The upper and middle Verde River watersheds in central Arizona are primarily in Yavapai County, which in 1999 was determined to be the fastest growing rural county in the United States; by 2050 the population is projected to more than double its current size (132,000 in 2000). This study combines climatic, surface-water, ground-water, water-chemistry, and geologic data to describe the hydrogeologiUse of heat to estimate streambed fluxes during extreme hydrologic events
Using heat as a tracer, quantitative estimates of streambed fluxes and the critical stage for flow reversal were calculated for high‐flow events that occurred on the Bogue Phalia (a tributary of the Mississippi River) following the 2005 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In June 2005, piezometers were installed in the Bogue Phalia upstream from the stream gage near Leland, Mississippi, to monitor temperPre-USGS Publications
Barlow, J.R. B., Kröger, R., 2014, Nitrogen transport within an agricultural landscape: Insights on how hydrology, biogeochemistry, and the landscape intersect to control the fate and transport of nitrogen in the Mississippi Delta. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 69(1), 11A–16A. doi:10.2489/jswc.69.1.11A.Barlow, J.R.B, Kingsbury, J.A., and Coupe, R.H., 2012, Changes in shallow groundwater quality beneath recently urbanized areas in the Memphis, Tennessee Area, Journal of the American Water Resources Association, vol. 48, no. 2, p. 336-354.Barlow, J.R.B., and Coupe, R.H., 2012, Groundwater and surface-water exchange and resulting nitrate dynamics in the Bogue Phalia Basin in northwestern Mississippi. J. Environ. Qual. 41:155-169.Bryson, J.R, Blasch, K.W., Hoffmann, J.P., 2006, A Local Meteoric Water line and Isotope-Elevation Gradient Relations for the Upper and Middle Verde River Watersheds: Southwest Hydrology, January/February 2007.Blasch, K.W., and Bryson, J.R., 2006, Distinguishing Sources of Ground-water Recharge in Central Arizona Using d2H and d18O: Ground Water, Vol. 45, No. 3: 294-308. - News