John A Moody
John A. Moody is a Scientist Emeritus Research Hydrologist with the USGS Water Resources Mission Area.
I was born and raised in Colorado, and have a BA and MA in physics from the CU Boulder and SUNY at Stony Brook. In 1968, I studied Oceanography at MIT and WHOI. I taught Earth Sciences, Marine Biology and Oceanography on Cape Cod and worked as a Physical Oceanographer for the USGS doing environmental research on the Continental Shelf and in submarine canyons. I returned to Colorado in 1987 to coordinate a multidiscipline project studying sediment-transported pollutants in the Mississippi River, and to work on additional research that focuses on river geomorphology. A severe wildfire in Colorado and subsequent flooding in 1996 provided the opportunity to study the geomorphic response of burned watersheds.
Education
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 9/1968. Minor: various oceanography courses
- State University of New York, 1967-1968. Major: Physics. Degree: M. A. 6/1968
- University of Colorado, 1962-1967. Major: Physics. Degree: B.A. 6/1967
Professional Studies/Experience
- Research Hydrologist, GS-15, U.S. Geological Survey
- October 1996 TO: Present - PROJECT TITLE: Erosion and Deposition Studies - Wildfire and its consequences have become major problems after 100 years of fire suppression in the United States. Process-based research has been conducted in Colorado, New Mexico and California to understand the changes in the complex hydrologic processes caused by the heat from a wildfire and to improve the predictions of rainfall-runoff, erosion and sedimentation at a watershed scale.
- October 1995 TO: Present - PROJECT TITLE: Flood plain dynamics - River restoration, dam removal, and management have generated a need for understanding the physical processes of river flood plain growth and evolution. The focus is on the short-time scale process (days to decades) that dominate flood plain dynamics. The primary research location is in southeastern Montana on the Powder River.
- October 1987 TO: 1995 - PROJECT TITLE: Studies of Large Rivers - Studies of sediment transport of contaminants in large rivers such as the Mississippi River in the United States of America and the Ob’ River in Russia used the Lagrangian sampling method to collect samples of the same water mass as it flowed downstream. Using this method the evolution of the properties of these water masses could be determined.
- October 1978 TO: 1987 - PROJECT TITLE: Physical Oceanography of Continental Shelf and Slope - This work involved the measurement of the circulation pattern and suspended sediment transport on the eastern continental shelf ofNorth America and in the submarine canyons along the edge of the shelf.
Science and Products
Estimates of peak flood discharge for 21 sites in the Front Range in Colorado in response to extreme rainfall in September 2013
Illuminating wildfire erosion and deposition patterns with repeat terrestrial lidar
Changes in the discharge of sediment through the Missouri-Mississippi River system, 1940-2007
Measurements of the initiation of post-wildfire runoff during rainstorms using in situ overland flow detectors
Preserving geomorphic data records of flood disturbances
Relations between soil hydraulic properties and burn severity
Infiltration and runoff generation processes in fire-affected soils
Erosional and depositional changes wrought by the flood of May 1978 in the channels of Powder River, southeastern Montana
Current research issues related to post-wildfire runoff and erosion processes
Variations in soil detachment rates after wildfire as a function of soil depth, flow properties, and root properties
Rethinking infiltration in wildfire-affected soils
Difference infiltrometer: a method to measure temporally variable infiltration rates during rainstorms
Science and Products
- Science
- Data
- Maps
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 43
Estimates of peak flood discharge for 21 sites in the Front Range in Colorado in response to extreme rainfall in September 2013
Extreme rainfall in September 2013 caused destructive floods in part of the Front Range in Boulder County, Colorado. Erosion from these floods cut roads and isolated mountain communities for several weeks, and large volumes of eroded sediment were deposited downstream, which caused further damage of property and infrastructures. Estimates of peak discharge for these floods and the associated rainfAuthorsJohn A. MoodyIlluminating wildfire erosion and deposition patterns with repeat terrestrial lidar
Erosion following a wildfire is much greater than background erosion in forests because of wildfire-induced changes to soil erodibility and water infiltration. While many previous studies have documented post-wildfire erosion with point and small plot-scale measurements, the spatial distribution of post-fire erosion patterns at the watershed scale remains largely unexplored. In this study lidar suAuthorsFrancis K. Rengers, G.E. Tucker, J. A. Moody, Brian EbelChanges in the discharge of sediment through the Missouri-Mississippi River system, 1940-2007
Presentation. No abstract available.AuthorsRobert H. Meade, John A. MoodyMeasurements of the initiation of post-wildfire runoff during rainstorms using in situ overland flow detectors
Overland flow detectors (OFDs) were deployed in 2012 on a hillslope burned by the 2010 Fourmile Canyon fire near Boulder, Colorado, USA. These detectors were simple, electrical resistor-type instruments that output a voltage (0–2·5 V) and were designed to measure and record the time of runoff initiation, a signal proportional to water depth, and the runoff hydrograph during natural convective rainAuthorsJohn A. Moody, Richard G. MartinPreserving geomorphic data records of flood disturbances
No central database or repository is currently available in the USA to preserve long-term, spatially extensive records of fluvial geomorphic data or to provide future accessibility. Yet, because of their length and continuity these data are valuable for future research. Therefore, we built a public accessible website to preserve data records of two examples of long-term monitoring (40 and 18 yearsAuthorsJohn A. Moody, Deborah A. Martin, Robert H. MeadeRelations between soil hydraulic properties and burn severity
Wildfire can affect soil hydraulic properties, often resulting in reduced infiltration. The magnitude of change in infiltration varies depending on the burn severity. Quantitative approaches to link burn severity with changes in infiltration are lacking. This study uses controlled laboratory measurements to determine relations between a remotely sensed burn severity metric (dNBR, change in normaliAuthorsJohn A. Moody, Brian A. Ebel, Petter Nyman, Deborah A. Martin, Cathelijne R. Stoof, Randy McKinleyInfiltration and runoff generation processes in fire-affected soils
Post-wildfire runoff was investigated by combining field measurements and modelling of infiltration into fire-affected soils to predict time-to-start of runoff and peak runoff rate at the plot scale (1 m2). Time series of soil-water content, rainfall and runoff were measured on a hillslope burned by the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire west of Boulder, Colorado during cyclonic and convective rainstorms iAuthorsJohn A. Moody, Brian A. EbelErosional and depositional changes wrought by the flood of May 1978 in the channels of Powder River, southeastern Montana
Powder River’s second largest flood of record (1919–2012) moved through northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana during May 1978. Within a ninety-kilometer reach of the channel in southeastern Montana, the most prominent planform effects of the flood were the growth of meander bends by bank erosion (this was most intense just downriver of bend apexes, causing 1–2 channel widths of lateral disAuthorsRobert H. Meade, John A. MoodyCurrent research issues related to post-wildfire runoff and erosion processes
Research into post-wildfire effects began in the United States more than 70 years ago and only later extended to other parts of the world. Post-wildfire responses are typically transient, episodic, variable in space and time, dependent on thresholds, and involve multiple processes measured by different methods. These characteristics tend to hinder research progress, but the large empirical knowledAuthorsJohn A. Moody, Richard A. Shakesby, Peter R. Robichaud, Susan H. Cannon, Deborah A. MartinVariations in soil detachment rates after wildfire as a function of soil depth, flow properties, and root properties
Wildfire affects hillslope erosion through increased surface runoff and increased sediment availability, both of which contribute to large post-fire erosion events. Relations between soil detachment rate, soil depth, flow and root properties, and fire impacts are poorly understood and not represented explicitly in commonly used post-fire erosion models. Detachment rates were measured on intact soiAuthorsJohn A. Moody, Peter NymanRethinking infiltration in wildfire-affected soils
Wildfires frequently result in natural hazards such as flash floods (Yates et al., 2001) and debris flows (Cannon et al., 2001a,b; Gabet and Sternberg, 2008). One of the principal causes of the increased risk of post-wildfire hydrologically driven hazards is reduced in filtration rates (e.g. Scott and van Wyk, 1990; Cerdà, 1998; Robichaud, 2000; Martin and Moody, 2001). Beyond the reduction in peak infilAuthorsBrian A. Ebel, John A. MoodyDifference infiltrometer: a method to measure temporally variable infiltration rates during rainstorms
We developed a difference infiltrometer to measure time series of non-steady infiltration rates during rainstorms at the point scale. The infiltrometer uses two, tipping bucket rain gages. One gage measures rainfall onto, and the other measures runoff from, a small circular plot about 0.5-m in diameter. The small size allows the infiltration rate to be computed as the difference of the cumulativeAuthorsJohn A. Moody, Brian A. Ebel