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Jessica Driscoll, PhD

Dr. Jessica Driscoll is currently the Science Program Officer for the Rocky Mountain Region.

Professional Experience

  • Science Program Officer, U.S. Geological Survey, Rocky Mountain Region (2022 - present)

  • Hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Mission Area, Integrated Modeling and Prediction Division (2019 - 2022)

  • Hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Rocky Mountain Region, New Mexico Water Science Center (2014 - 2019)

Education and Certifications

  • PhD: Hydrology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona. Thesis: Impacts of climate change in snowmelt-dominated catchments: development and application of comparative methods to quantify the ...

  • Graduate Certificates: Water Policy, Geographic Information Systems

  • MS: Hydrology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona. Thesis: Use of a reaction path model to identify hydrologic structure in an alpine catchment, Colorado, USA.

  • BA: Geology, cum laude, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts. Thesis: Aragonite pseudomorphs as kinematic indicators of Syros Island, Greece.

Science and Products

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Colorado Basin Focus Area Study carousel

Integrated Water Availability Assessments (IWAAs)

The USGS Integrated Water Availability Assessments (IWAAs) are a multi-extent, stakeholder driven, near real-time census and prediction of water availability for both human and ecological uses at regional and national extents.
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Water Resources Mission Area
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Integrated Water Availability Assessments (IWAAs)

The USGS Integrated Water Availability Assessments (IWAAs) are a multi-extent, stakeholder driven, near real-time census and prediction of water availability for both human and ecological uses at regional and national extents.
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Illustration of the NHM infrastructure as applied to the PRMS model.

National Hydrologic Model Infrastructure

The USGS National Hydrologic Model (NHM) infrastructure supports the efficient construction of local-, regional-, and national-scale hydrologic models. The NHM infrastructure consists of: 1) an underlying geospatial fabric of modeling units with an associated parameter database, 2) a model input data archive, and 3) a repository of the physical model simulation code bases.
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Water Resources Mission Area
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National Hydrologic Model Infrastructure

The USGS National Hydrologic Model (NHM) infrastructure supports the efficient construction of local-, regional-, and national-scale hydrologic models. The NHM infrastructure consists of: 1) an underlying geospatial fabric of modeling units with an associated parameter database, 2) a model input data archive, and 3) a repository of the physical model simulation code bases.
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Two separate landscapes showing rivers flowing through them

Improved hydrologic forecasting through synthesis of critical storage components and timescales across watersheds worldwide

Models that predict the flow of rivers and streams are critically important for planning flood control, hydropower, and reservoir operations, as well as for management of fish and wildlife populations. As temperatures and precipitation regimes change globally, the need to improve and develop these models for a wider spatial coverage and higher spatial fidelity becomes more imperative. Currently, o
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John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis
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Improved hydrologic forecasting through synthesis of critical storage components and timescales across watersheds worldwide

Models that predict the flow of rivers and streams are critically important for planning flood control, hydropower, and reservoir operations, as well as for management of fish and wildlife populations. As temperatures and precipitation regimes change globally, the need to improve and develop these models for a wider spatial coverage and higher spatial fidelity becomes more imperative. Currently, o
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Image: How Much Water is Available?

National Water Census

The National Water Census is a USGS research program on national water availability and use that develops new water accounting tools and assesses water availability at the regional and national scales. Through the Water Census, USGS is integrating diverse research on water availability and use and enhancing the understanding of connection between water quality and water availability.
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Water Availability and Use Science Program
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National Water Census

The National Water Census is a USGS research program on national water availability and use that develops new water accounting tools and assesses water availability at the regional and national scales. Through the Water Census, USGS is integrating diverse research on water availability and use and enhancing the understanding of connection between water quality and water availability.
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National Hydrologic Model Alaska Domain parameter database, version 1

This data release contains input data for hydrologic simulations of the Alaska Domain application of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Precipitation Runoff Modelling System (PRMS) as implemented in the National Hydrologic Model (NHM) infrastructure (Regan and others, 2018). The NHM Alaska Domain parameter database consists of 114 parameter files in ASCII format (CSV), two files needed to run the A
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Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Geospatial Fabric for the National Hydrologic Model Alaska Domain, version 1

This metadata record documents a geospatial dataset for the U.S. Geological Survey Precipitation Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) used to drive the National Hydrologic Model (NHM). The Alaska Geospatial Fabric v1 is the spatial representation of the hydrologic response units (HRUs) used for the PRMS NHM Alaska domain. These HRUs were generated using the twelve-digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC12) water
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Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Data release in support of Runoff sensitivity to snow depletion curve representation within a continental scale hydrologic model

This data release includes simulation output from a modeling experiment conducted using the initial calibration of the conterminous United States (CONUS) application of the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) (Hay, 2019) as implemented in the National Hydrologic Model (NHM) infrastructure (Regan et al, 2018). The study associated with this data release (Sexstone et al., 2019) used the same
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Colorado Water Science Center

Base flow estimation via optimal hydrograph separation at CONUS watersheds and comparison to the National Hydrologic Model - Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System by HRU calibrated version

Optimal hydrograph separation (OHS) is a two-component, hydrograph separation method that uses a two-parameter, recursive digital filter (RDF) constrained via chemical mass balance to estimate the base flow contribution to a stream or river (Rimmer and Hartman, 2014; Raffensperger et al., 2017). A recursive digital filter distinguishes between high-frequency and low-frequency discharge data within
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Water Resources Mission Area
Colorado River near Canyonlands National Park
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High resolution SnowModel simulations reveal future elevation-dependent snow loss and earlier, flashier surface water input for the Upper Colorado River Basin

Continued climate warming is reducing seasonal snowpacks in the western United States, where >50% of historical water supplies were snowmelt-derived. In the Upper Colorado River Basin, declining snow water equivalent (SWE) and altered surface water input (SWI, rainfall and snowmelt available to enter the soil) timing and magnitude affect streamflow generation and water availability. To adapt effec
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John C. Hammond, Graham A. Sexstone, Annie Laura Putman, Theodore B. Barnhart, David Rey, Jessica M. Driscoll, Glen Liston, Kristen L. Rasmussen, Daniel McGrath, Steven R. Fassnacht, Stephanie K. Kampf
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Water Resources Mission Area, Colorado Water Science Center, New Mexico Water Science Center, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

HydroBench: Jupyter supported reproducible hydrological model benchmarking and diagnostic tool

Evaluating whether hydrological models are right for the right reasons demands reproducible model benchmarking and diagnostics that evaluate not just statistical predictive model performance but also internal processes. Such model benchmarking and diagnostic efforts will benefit from standardized methods and ready-to-use toolkits. Using the Jupyter platform, this work presents HydroBench, a model-
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Edom Moges, Benjamin Ruddell, Liang Zhang, Jessica M. Driscoll, Parker A. Norton, Fernando Perez, Laurel Larsen
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Water Resources Mission Area, New Mexico Water Science Center, Dakota Water Science Center

Evaluating hydrologic region assignment techniques for ungaged basins in Alaska, USA

Building continental-scale hydrologic models in data-sparse regions requires an understanding of spatial variation in hydrologic processes. Extending these models to ungaged locations requires techniques to group ungaged locations with gaged ones to make process importance and model parameter transfer decisions to ungaged locations. This analysis (1) tested the utility of fundamental streamflow st
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Theodore B. Barnhart, William Farmer, John C. Hammond, Graham A. Sexstone, Janet H. Curran, Joshua C. Koch, Jessica M. Driscoll
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Water Resources Mission Area, Alaska Science Center, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Strength and memory of precipitation's control over streamflow across the conterminous United States

How precipitation (P) is translated into streamflow (Q) and over what timescales (i.e., “memory”) is difficult to predict without calibration of site-specific models or using geochemical approaches, posing barriers to prediction in ungauged basins or advancement of general theories. Here, we used a data-driven approach to identify regional patterns and exogenous controls on P–Q interactions. We ap
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Edom Moges, Benjamin L. Ruddell, Liang Zhang, Jessica M. Driscoll, Laurel Larsen
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Water Resources Mission Area

Implications of model selection: A comparison of publicly available, conterminous US-extent hydrologic component estimates

Spatiotemporally continuous estimates of the hydrologic cycle are often generated through hydrologic modeling, reanalysis, or remote sensing (RS) methods and are commonly applied as a supplement to, or a substitute for, in situ measurements when observational data are sparse or unavailable. This study compares estimates of precipitation (P), actual evapotranspiration (ET), runoff (R), snow water e
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Samuel Saxe, William Farmer, Jessica M. Driscoll, Terri S. Hogue
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Water Resources Mission Area

Prioritizing river basins for intensive monitoring and assessment by the US Geological Survey

The US Geological Survey (USGS) is currently (2020) integrating its water science programs to better address the nation’s greatest water resource challenges now and into the future. This integration will rely, in part, on data from 10 or more intensively monitored river basins from across the USA. A team of USGS scientists was convened to develop a systematic, quantitative approach to prioritize c
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Peter C. Van Metre, Sharon Qi, Jeffrey R. Deacon, Cheryl A. Dieter, Jessica M. Driscoll, Michael N. Fienen, Terry A. Kenney, Patrick M. Lambert, David P. Lesmes, Christopher Allen Mason, Anke Mueller-Solger, MaryLynn Musgrove, Jaime A. Painter, Donald O. Rosenberry, Lori A. Sprague, Anthony J. Tesoriero, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, David M. Wolock
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Water Resources Mission Area

Runoff sensitivity to snow depletion curve representation within a continental scale hydrologic model

The spatial variability of snow water equivalent (SWE) can exert a strong influence on the timing and magnitude of snowmelt delivery to a watershed. Therefore, the representation of subgrid or subwatershed snow variability in hydrologic models is important for accurately simulating snowmelt dynamics and runoff response. The U.S. Geological Survey National Hydrologic Model infrastructure with the P
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Graham A. Sexstone, Jessica M. Driscoll, Lauren Hay, John C. Hammond, Theodore B. Barnhart
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Water Resources Mission Area, Colorado Water Science Center

Spatiotemporal variability of modeled watershed scale surface-depression storage and runoff for the conterminous United States

This study uses the explores the viability of a proxy model calibration strategy through assessment of the spatiotemporal variability of surface-depression storage and runoff generated with the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Hydrologic Model (NHM) infrastructure for hydrologic response units (HRUs; n=109,951) across the conterminous United States (CONUS). Simulated values for each HRU of daily
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Jessica M. Driscoll, Lauren Hay, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Roland J. Viger
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Water Resources Mission Area, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Estimation of base flow by optimal hydrograph separation for the conterminous United States and implications for national-extent hydrologic models

Optimal hydrograph separation (OHS) uses a two-parameter recursive digital filter that applies specific conductance mass-balance constraints to estimate the base flow contribution to total streamflow at stream gages where discharge and specific conductance are measured. OHS was applied to U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) stream gages across the conterminous United States to examine the range/distribu
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Sydney Foks, Jeff Raffensperger, Colin A. Penn, Jessica M. Driscoll
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Water Resources Mission Area, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Water Science Center, Colorado Water Science Center

Simulation of water availability in the Southeastern United States for historical and potential future climate and land-cover conditions

A study was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GCPO LCC) and the Department of the Interior Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center, to evaluate the hydrologic response of a daily time step hydrologic model to historical observations and projections of potential climate and land-cover change
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Jacob H. LaFontaine, Rheannon M. Hart, Lauren E. Hay, William H. Farmer, Andy R. Bock, Roland J. Viger, Steven L. Markstrom, R. Steven Regan, Jessica M. Driscoll
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Water Resources Mission Area, Colorado Water Science Center, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, New Mexico Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

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 significant change in storage. Eight surface basins and 8 aqu
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Naga Manohar Velpuri, Gabriel Senay, Jessica M. Driscoll, Samuel Saxe, Lauren E. Hay, William H. Farmer, Julie E. Kiang
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Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

Event-response ellipses: A method to quantify and compare the role of dynamic storage at the catchment scale in snowmelt-dominated systems

A method for quantifying the role of dynamic storage as a physical buffer between snowmelt and streamflow at the catchment scale is introduced in this paper. The method describes a quantitative relation between hydrologic events (e.g., snowmelt) and responses (e.g., streamflow) by generating event-response ellipses that can be used to (a) characterize and compare catchment-scale dynamic storage pr
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Jessica M. Driscoll, Thomas Meixner, Noah P. Molotch, Ty P. A. Ferre, Mark W. Williams, James O. Sickman
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Water Resources Mission Area

Science and Products