Joel B Sankey, Ph.D.
Joel Sankey is a Research Geologist for the USGS Southwest Biological Science Center (SBSC), and the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC), in Flagstaff, Arizona.
I am also an adjunct professor of the School of Earth and Sustainability (SES) at Northern Arizona University. Previously, I was a Mendenhall Fellow with the USGS Western Geographic Science Center located at the University of Arizona in Tucson. I have a Ph.D. in Engineering and Applied Science from the Geosciences Department at Idaho State University.
Overall, my research focus is on geomorphic and ecosystem processes and function of rivers and upland environments. I characterize and interpret physical and biological land surface change that occurs contemporarily at intra-annual to decadal time scales. I study changes that occur as a function of soil erosion and sediment transport. I also study biophysical processes that change the distribution and composition of vegetation. Many of the land surface changes I study are driven by disturbances caused by people, fires, flooding, and wind. My work is directly relevant to either management actions that are implemented by humans to mitigate these disturbances (e.g., large-scale planting and seeding) or management actions that have either intentionally (e.g., controlled river floods; prescribed fires; removal of invasive vegetation) or unintentionally (e.g., climate change) produced the disturbance and therefore are drivers of change. Increasingly, my work focuses on forecasting how future changes in climate, weather, and hydrology, will affect ecosystems and management outcomes.
Much of my work incorporates remote sensing with digital imagery and topographic data acquired from multispectral and LiDAR sensors on ground-based, airborne (including manned and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)), and satellite platforms. I also use detailed field-investigations for ecological and geomorphic assessment.
At the GCMRC, I lead the remote sensing group. I design our research and monitoring to be responsive to the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program (GCDAMP), a Federal Advisory Committee chartered by the US Department of Interior and chaired by the Undersecretary for Water and Science.
Science and Products
Quantifying and forecasting changes in the areal extent of river valley sediment in response to altered hydrology and land cover
Sediment transport and deposition
Mapping and measuring aeolian sand dunes with photogrammetry and LiDAR from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and multispectral satellite imagery on the Paria Plateau, AZ, USA
Post-fire redistribution of soil carbon and nitrogen at a grassland-shrubland ecotone
Ecohydrological implications of aeolian sediment trapping by sparse vegetation in drylands
The response of source-bordering aeolian dunefields to sediment-supply changes 1: Effects of wind variability and river-valley morphodynamics
The response of source-bordering aeolian dunefields to sediment-supply changes 2: Controlled floods of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA
Remote sensing of tamarisk beetle (Diorhabda carinulata) impacts along 412 km of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA
Reply to ‘Wolf-triggered trophic cascades and stream channel dynamics in Olympic National Park: a comment on East et al. (2017)’ by Robert Beschta and William Ripple
Quantifying postfire aeolian sediment transport using rare earth element tracers
Climate, wildfire, and erosion ensemble foretells more sediment in western USA watersheds
Modern landscape processes affecting archaeological sites along the Colorado River corridor downstream of Glen Canyon Dam, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona
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Quantifying and forecasting changes in the areal extent of river valley sediment in response to altered hydrology and land cover
In river valleys, sediment moves between active river channels, near-channel deposits including bars and floodplains, and upland environments such as terraces and aeolian dunefields. Sediment availability is a prerequisite for the sustained transfer of material between these areas, and for the eco-geomorphic functioning of river networks in general. However, the difficulty of monitoring sediment aAuthorsAlan Kasprak, Joel B. Sankey, Daniel Buscombe, Joshua Caster, Amy E. East, Paul E. GramsSediment transport and deposition
Sediment transport and deposition (sedimentation) occurs from natural and anthropogenic sources in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. Substantial changes in sediment transport (such as a major increase or decrease in sediment supply) can impact aquatic ecosystems that depend on a particular sediment quantity and particle size, for example, through altering stream-channel geomorphology or fish habitat.AuthorsJoel B. Sankey, Amy E. East, Jason R. Kreitler, Christina (Naomi) TagueMapping and measuring aeolian sand dunes with photogrammetry and LiDAR from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and multispectral satellite imagery on the Paria Plateau, AZ, USA
The Paria Plateau is a potentially important but relatively unstudied aeolian sand source area in the Grand Canyon region of Arizona, USA. This study used unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV) - based LiDAR and structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry to produce high-resolution topographic models of aeolian dunes on the plateau. We combined the dune topography data with a high-resolution satellite imageAuthorsDaniel Solazzo, Joel B. Sankey, Temuulen T. Sankey, Seth M. MunsonPost-fire redistribution of soil carbon and nitrogen at a grassland-shrubland ecotone
The rapid conversion of grasslands into shrublands has been observed in many arid and semiarid regions worldwide. Studies have shown that fire can provide certain forms of reversibility for shrub-grass transition due to resource homogenization and shrub mortality, especially in the early stages of shrub encroachment. Field-level post-fire soil resource redistribution has rarely been tested. Here wAuthorsGuan Wang, Junran Li, Sujith Ravi, David Dukes, Howell B. Gonzales, Joel B. SankeyEcohydrological implications of aeolian sediment trapping by sparse vegetation in drylands
Aeolian processes are important drivers of ecosystem dynamics in drylands, and important feedbacks exist among aeolian—hydrological processes and vegetation. The trapping of wind‐borne sediments by vegetation canopies may result in changes in soil properties beneath the vegetation, which, in turn, can alter hydrological and biogeochemical processes. Despite the relevance of aeolian transport to ecAuthorsHowell B. Gonzales, Sujith Ravi, Junran Li, Joel B. SankeyThe response of source-bordering aeolian dunefields to sediment-supply changes 1: Effects of wind variability and river-valley morphodynamics
Source-bordering dunefields (SBDs), which are primarily built and maintained with river-derived sediment, are found in many large river valleys and are currently impacted by changes in sediment supply due to climate change, land use changes, and river regulation. Despite their importance, a physically based, applied approach for quantifying the response of SBDs to changes in sediment supply does nAuthorsJoel B. Sankey, Alan Kasprak, Joshua Caster, Amy E. East, Helen C. FairleyThe response of source-bordering aeolian dunefields to sediment-supply changes 2: Controlled floods of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA
In the Colorado River downstream of Glen Canyon Dam in the Grand Canyon, USA, controlled floods are used to resupply sediment to, and rebuild, river sandbars that have eroded severely over the past five decades owing to dam-induced changes in river flow and sediment supply. In this study, we examine whether controlled floods, can in turn resupply aeolian sediment to some of the large source-borderAuthorsJoel B. Sankey, Joshua Caster, Alan Kasprak, Amy E. EastRemote sensing of tamarisk beetle (Diorhabda carinulata) impacts along 412 km of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA
Tamarisk (Tamarix spp.) is an invasive plant species that is rapidly expanding along arid and semi-arid rivers in the western United States. A biocontrol agent, tamarisk beetle (Diorhabda carinulata), was released in 2001 in California, Colorado, Utah, and Texas. In 2009, the tamarisk beetle was found further south than anticipated in the Colorado River ecosystem within the Grand Canyon National PAuthorsAshton Bedford, Temuulen T. Sankey, Joel B. Sankey, Laura E. Durning, Barbara RalstonReply to ‘Wolf-triggered trophic cascades and stream channel dynamics in Olympic National Park: a comment on East et al. (2017)’ by Robert Beschta and William Ripple
No abstract available.AuthorsAmy E. East, Kurt J. Jenkins, Patricia J. Happe, Jennifer A. Bountry, Timothy J. Beechie, Mark C. Mastin, Joel B. Sankey, Timothy J. RandleQuantifying postfire aeolian sediment transport using rare earth element tracers
Grasslands, which provide fundamental ecosystem services in many arid and semiarid regions of the world, are undergoing rapid increases in fire activity and are highly susceptible to postfire-accelerated soil erosion by wind. A quantitative assessment of physical processes that integrates fire-wind erosion feedbacks is therefore needed relative to vegetation change, soil biogeochemical cycling, aiAuthorsDavid Dukes, Howell B. Gonzales, Sujith Ravi, David E. Grandstaff, R. Scott Van Pelt, Junran Li, Guan Wang, Joel B. SankeyClimate, wildfire, and erosion ensemble foretells more sediment in western USA watersheds
The area burned annually by wildfires is expected to increase worldwide due to climate change. Burned areas increase soil erosion rates within watersheds, which can increase sedimentation in downstream rivers and reservoirs. However, which watersheds will be impacted by future wildfires is largely unknown. Using an ensemble of climate, fire, and erosion models, we show that post-fire sedimentationAuthorsJoel B. Sankey, Jason R. Kreitler, Todd Hawbaker, Jason L. McVay, Mary Ellen Miller, Erich R. Mueller, Nicole M. Vaillant, Scott E. Lowe, Temuulen T. SankeyModern landscape processes affecting archaeological sites along the Colorado River corridor downstream of Glen Canyon Dam, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona
The landscape of the Colorado River through Glen Canyon National Recreation Area formed over many thousands of years and was modified substantially after the completion of Glen Canyon Dam in 1963. Changes to river flow, sediment supply, channel base level, lateral extent of sedimentary terraces, and vegetation in the post-dam era have modified the river-corridor landscape and have altered the effeAuthorsAmy E. East, Joel B. Sankey, Helen C. Fairley, Joshua J. Caster, Alan Kasprak - News