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Kristina Hopkins

Intro:

Krissy Hopkins studies the impacts of urbanization on rivers and streams, focused on understanding how the intensity and type of development impacts water quality and quantity. This includes examining the impacts of different types of stormwater management strategies, both conventional and infiltration-based (i.e., green infrastructure), on watershed hydrology and nutrient fluxes. Her work also focuses on translating ecosystem functions into ecosystem services and values by applying ecosystem services approaches to floodplain systems and green stormwater infrastructure.

Krissy received an undergraduate degree in biology/environmental science and geography from Syracuse University in 2007. She completed her Ph.D. in geology at the University of Pittsburgh in 2014 and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) in Annapolis, Maryland. She joined the U.S. Geological Survey in 2016 as a Research Physical Scientist.

 

CURRENT RESEARCH FOCUS

  • Assessing hydrologic, chemical, and geomorphic changes associated with urban development.
  • Assessing the effectiveness of urban stormwater management practices. 
  • Developing geospatial tools to map stream channel and floodplain characteristics at regional scales.
  • Quantifying and valuing the ecosystem services that floodplains provide to people. 

 

EDUCATION

Ph.D. 2014, Geology and Environmental Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

Dissertation: From small watersheds to regions: Variation in hydrologic response to urbanization

B.S. 2007 Biology/Environmental Science (2nd Major Geography), Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2017 - Present, Research Physical Scientist, South Atlantic Water Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Raleigh, NC.

2016 - 2017, Research Physical Scientist, Eastern Geographic Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

2014 - 2016, Postdoctoral Fellow, National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, University of Maryland, Annapolis, MD.

 

Science and Products

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Stormwater facilities in Clarksburg, Maryland after a rain event

Unique 20-year study assesses ecosystem response to different types of stormwater management

Issue: Managing stormwater runoff in developing areas
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Chesapeake Bay Activities, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)
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Unique 20-year study assesses ecosystem response to different types of stormwater management

Issue: Managing stormwater runoff in developing areas
Learn More
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Raleigh Erosion Study Area Map

Raleigh Bank Erosion Project

The City of Raleigh partnered with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to assist in assessing streambank erosion hotspots along the City of Raleigh’s stream network to support the City’s efforts of prioritizing future stream mitigation projects. Streambank erosion potential will be assessed using remotely sensed light detection and ranging (lidar) data, field assessments of streambank conditions...
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South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)
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Raleigh Bank Erosion Project

The City of Raleigh partnered with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to assist in assessing streambank erosion hotspots along the City of Raleigh’s stream network to support the City’s efforts of prioritizing future stream mitigation projects. Streambank erosion potential will be assessed using remotely sensed light detection and ranging (lidar) data, field assessments of streambank conditions...
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USGS streamgage located on Little Back Creek, Bath, Virginia

New dataset available on stream and floodplain geometry to inform restoration decisions

Issue: The need for stream mapping The physical shape of streams and floodplains can provide information about how water, sediment, and other matter moves through the landscape. Streams can have deep channels (tall streambanks) disconnected from the floodplain or wide shallow channels that easily spill over the banks into the floodplain during high flows. Mapping where streams fall along this...
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Core Science Systems, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)
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New dataset available on stream and floodplain geometry to inform restoration decisions

Issue: The need for stream mapping The physical shape of streams and floodplains can provide information about how water, sediment, and other matter moves through the landscape. Streams can have deep channels (tall streambanks) disconnected from the floodplain or wide shallow channels that easily spill over the banks into the floodplain during high flows. Mapping where streams fall along this...
Learn More
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Stormwater retention pond

New Insights on using Green Stormwater Infrastructure to Reduce Suburban Runoff

The Issue with Runoff Across the United States, suburban development is replacing agricultural and forested lands. In urban and suburban areas, large amounts of stormwater runoff are generated from rooftops and roadways during rain events. Runoff is quickly piped to streams and rivers, leading to flash flooding, stream bank erosion, and damages to stream health. Reducing nutrients, sediment, and...
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Ecosystems, Land Change Science Program, Chesapeake Bay Activities, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)
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New Insights on using Green Stormwater Infrastructure to Reduce Suburban Runoff

The Issue with Runoff Across the United States, suburban development is replacing agricultural and forested lands. In urban and suburban areas, large amounts of stormwater runoff are generated from rooftops and roadways during rain events. Runoff is quickly piped to streams and rivers, leading to flash flooding, stream bank erosion, and damages to stream health. Reducing nutrients, sediment, and...
Learn More
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Map of North Carolina River Basins

SPARROW Modeling for North Carolina Watersheds

In North Carolina, excessive nutrient and sediment loadings have contributed to the degradation of surface-water quality across the state as a result of agricultural activities and population growth increases. To further understand the influences of human activities and natural processes on surface-water quality, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed the SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced...
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South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)
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SPARROW Modeling for North Carolina Watersheds

In North Carolina, excessive nutrient and sediment loadings have contributed to the degradation of surface-water quality across the state as a result of agricultural activities and population growth increases. To further understand the influences of human activities and natural processes on surface-water quality, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed the SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced...
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Location of study watersheds in Clarksburg, Maryland.

Understanding the Effects of Stormwater Management Practices on Water Quality and Flow

Urban development can have detrimental impacts on streams including altering hydrology, increasing nutrient, sediment, and pollutant loadings, and degrading biological integrity. Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) can be used to mitigate the effects of urban development by retaining large volumes of stormwater runoff and treating runoff to remove pollutants. This project focuses on...
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Ecosystems, Land Change Science Program, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)
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Understanding the Effects of Stormwater Management Practices on Water Quality and Flow

Urban development can have detrimental impacts on streams including altering hydrology, increasing nutrient, sediment, and pollutant loadings, and degrading biological integrity. Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) can be used to mitigate the effects of urban development by retaining large volumes of stormwater runoff and treating runoff to remove pollutants. This project focuses on...
Learn More
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Field Sampling Sites within the Delaware River Basin

Quantifying Floodplain Ecological Processes and Ecosystem Services in the Delaware River Watershed

Floodplain and wetland areas provide critical ecosystem services to local and downstream communities by retaining sediments, nutrients, and floodwaters. The loss of floodplain functionality due to land use conversion and degradation reduces the provisioning of these services. Assessing, quantifying, and valuing floodplain ecosystem services provide a framework to estimate how floodplain systems...
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South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)
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Quantifying Floodplain Ecological Processes and Ecosystem Services in the Delaware River Watershed

Floodplain and wetland areas provide critical ecosystem services to local and downstream communities by retaining sediments, nutrients, and floodwaters. The loss of floodplain functionality due to land use conversion and degradation reduces the provisioning of these services. Assessing, quantifying, and valuing floodplain ecosystem services provide a framework to estimate how floodplain systems...
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Filter Total Items: 16

Datasets for Rapid Assessment of Streambank Erosion Potential for Selected Streams throughout the Greater Raleigh Area, North Carolina, 2022

As part of a collaborative study with the City of Raleigh, North Carolina, the U.S. Geological Survey is assessing streambank erosion potential in selected stream reaches throughout the Greater Raleigh metropolitan area. Rapid field measurement techniques were used to assess streambank stability at 124 stream segments between January and March 2022. Field data were collected using the Bank Erosion
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South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Geomorphic metrics across four catchments in Clarksburg, Maryland, 2002-19

This dataset contains geomorphic metrics across 32 cross-sections at four catchments within the Clarksburg Special Protection Area in Montgomery County, Maryland. These data were derived from raw cross-sectional data collected by the Montgomery County, Maryland Department of Environmental Protection. Geomorphic metrics include channel area, bed location, channel depth, channel width, and bank move
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Chesapeake Bay Activities, New Jersey Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Stream cross-section, benthic macroinvertebrate and fish taxa counts and abundance, and water chemistry data for the Clarksburg study area in Montgomery County, Maryland, 1992 - 2020

Montgomery County, Maryland Department of Environmental Protection has collected datasets to assess the health of streams since the early 1990s. Datasets include geomorphic stream cross-sectional surveys, fish and benthic macroinvertebrate counts and taxa abundance, and water chemistry data collected at the time of benthic and fish sampling (dissolved oxygen, pH, specific conductance, air temperat
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Chesapeake Bay Activities, New Jersey Water Science Center

Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration in North Carolina Catchments

Alterations to stream hydrology, which includes changes in stream geomorphology, are primary impacts of anthropogenic disruption. In North Carolina, hydrological alterations lead to environmental impacts through degraded ecosystems and water quality. In collaboration with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Mitigation Services (DMS), the USGS South Atlantic Water Sc
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South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Data release for Piloting Urban Ecosystem Accounting for the United States

In this study, we develop urban ecosystem accounts in the U.S., using the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EEA) framework. Most ecosystem accounts focus on regional and national scales, which are appropriate for many ecosystem services. However, ecosystems provide substantial services in cities, improving quality of life and contributing to resili
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Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Predictions of floodplain and streambank geomorphic change and flux of sediment and nutrients, and streambed characteristics, for stream reaches in the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware River watersheds

Input predictor variables and output predictions from statistical modeling of floodplains, streambanks, and streambeds for each NHDPlusV2 stream reach in the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware River watersheds of the U.S. Mid-Atlantic. Random Forest statistical models using either 1) characteristics of upstream drainage area, or 2) characteristics of upstream drainage area (Wieczorek et al. 2018, https:/
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Chesapeake Bay Activities, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Physico-chemical characteristics and sediment and nutrient fluxes of floodplains, streambanks, and streambeds in the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware River watersheds

Dataset includes site averages of measurements of floodplain and streambank sediment physico-chemistry and long-term (dendrogeomorphic) vertical and lateral geomorphic change, and reach scale floodplain width, streambank height, channel width, and streambed particle size. This information was used to calculate fluxes of sediment, fine sediment, sediment-C, sediment-N, and sediment-C of floodplains
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Chesapeake Bay Activities, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Geomorphometry for Streams and Floodplains in the Chesapeake and Delaware Watersheds

Geomorphometry for Streams and Floodplains in the Chesapeake and Delaware Watersheds was generated as part of the project Quantifying Floodplain Ecological Processes and Ecosystem Services in the Delaware River Watershed funded through the William Penn Foundation's Delaware Watershed Research fund. This dataset contains geomorphometry for streams and floodplains in the Chesapeake and Delaware Rive
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Chesapeake Bay Activities, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Streamflow and precipitation event statistics for treatment, urban control, and forested control watersheds in Clarksburg, MD USA (2004-2018)

This dataset describes streamflow and precipitation event statistics for four watersheds located in Clarksburg, Maryland, USA. Streamflow and precipitation events were identified from fourteen years of sub-daily (5- and 15-minute) monitoring data from October 1, 2004 through September 30, 2018. A 6-hour inter-event window was used to define discrete streamflow and precipitation events. The followi
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Chesapeake Bay Activities, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Land Use Land Cover for Selected Basins in Clarksburg, Montgomery County, MD

This dataset contains digitized land use/land cover (LULC) for the years 2011, 2015, and 2017. The dataset contains a 1-meter resolution raster maps for each year covering the geographic area for six watersheds within and near the Clarksburg Special Protection Area located in Montgomery County, Maryland, USA. The area includes LULC within 500-foot buffered watersheds. Watershed boundaries for Cabi
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Chesapeake Bay Activities, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

SPARROW model dataset for total suspended solids in North Carolina, including simulated stream loads

To better understand the influence of human activities and natural processes on surface-water quality, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed the SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes) (Schwarz and others, 2006; Alexander and others, 2008) model. The framework is used to relate water-quality monitoring data to sources and watershed characteristics that affect the f
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South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Geomorphological Features of North Carolina

Three statewide datasets were compiled to provide information on the geomorphology for North Carolina. Geomorphology is commonly a missing element in many Earth-surface process models, thus it is essential to extract this missing information from available DEMs and use it to inform models and better understand the area of interest. For these threee datasets, information was extracted and post proc
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South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)
Close up of running water with the text, "Soaking Up Stormwater". link
Close up of running water with the text, "Soaking Up Stormwater". link
New Hope Creek
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Simms Branch, Durant Nature Preserve, Raleigh, NC
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Sand filter and dry detention pond located in Clarksburg, Maryland. Behind a residential neighborhood.
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Filter Total Items: 25

Learning from arid and urban aquatic ecosystems to inform more sustainable and resilient futures

The hydrology and aquatic ecology of arid environments has long been understudied relative to temperate regions. Yet spatially and temporally intermittent and ephemeral waters characterized by flashy hydrographs typify arid regions that comprise a substantial proportion of the Earth. Additionally, drought, intense storms, and human modification of landscapes increasingly affect many temperate regi
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Water Resources, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Urbanization of grasslands in the Denver area affects streamflow responses to rainfall events

A thorough understanding of how urbanization affects stream hydrology is crucial for effective and sustainable water management, particularly in rapidly urbanizing regions. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of changes in streamflow response to rainfall events across a rural to urban gradient in the semi-arid area of Denver, Colorado. We used 8 years of April to October instantaneous str
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Water Resources, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Urbanization and stream ecology: Moving the bar on multidisciplinary solutions to wicked urban stream problems

Decades of research on the effects of urbanization on stream ecology have shown that urban stream problems are inherently wicked. These problems are wicked in the sense that they are difficult to solve because information is incomplete, changing, or conflicting and because finding potential solutions often requires input from stakeholders who can have conflicting and competing values. The 5th Symp
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Water Resources, Cooperative Research Units, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Tracking geomorphic changes after suburban development with a high density of green stormwater infrastructure practices in Montgomery County, Maryland

Stream morphology is affected by changes on the surrounding landscape. Understanding the effects of urbanization on stream morphology is a critical factor for land managers to maintain and improve vulnerable stream corridors in urbanizing landscapes. Stormwater practices are used in urban landscapes to manage runoff volumes and peak flows, potentially mitigating alterations to the flow regime that
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Water Resources, Chesapeake Bay Activities, New Jersey Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC), Utah Water Science Center

Closing the gap on wicked urban stream restoration problems: A framework to integrate science and community values

Restoring the health of urban streams has many of the characteristics of a wicked problem. Addressing a wicked problem requires managers, academics, practitioners, and community members to make negotiated tradeoffs and compromises to satisfy the values and perspectives of diverse stakeholders involved in setting restoration project goals and objectives. We conducted a gap analysis on 11 urban stre
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Water Resources, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Ephemeral stream network extraction from lidar-derived elevation and topographic attributes in urban and forested landscapes

Under-representations of headwater channels in digital stream networks can result in uncertainty in the magnitude of headwater habitat loss, stream burial, and watershed function. Increased availability of high-resolution (
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Water Resources, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC), Utah Water Science Center

Streambank and floodplain geomorphic change and contribution to watershed material budgets

Stream geomorphic change is highly spatially variable but critical to landform evolution, human infrastructure, habitat, and watershed pollutant transport. However, measurements and process models of streambank erosion and floodplain deposition and resulting sediment fluxes are currently insufficient to predict these rates in all perennial streams over large regions. Here we measured long-term lat
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Chesapeake Bay Activities, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Lessons learned from 20 y of monitoring suburban development with distributed stormwater management in Clarksburg, Maryland, USA

Urban development is a well-known stressor for stream ecosystems, presenting a challenge to managers tasked with mitigating its effects. For the past 20 y, streamflow, water quality, geomorphology, and benthic communities were monitored in 5 watersheds in Montgomery County, Maryland, USA. This study presents a synthesis of multiple studies of monitoring efforts in the study area and new analysis o
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Water Resources, Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Water Science Center, New Jersey Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

A call to record stormwater control functions and to share network data

Urban stormwater is an ongoing contributor to the degradation of the health of many watersheds and water bodies. In the United States, federal regulations (e.g., Clean Water Act) require monitoring and reporting of relevant water quality metrics in regulated waterbodies to ensure standards are being met, but decisions about how to manage urban stormwater are left up to state or other local agencie
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Water Resources, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Nitrogen in the Chesapeake Bay watershed—A century of change, 1950–2050

ForewordSustaining the quality of the Nation’s water resources and the health of our diverse ecosystems depends on the availability of sound water-resources data and information to develop effective, science-based policies. Effective management of water resources also brings more certainty and efficiency to important economic sectors. Taken together, these actions lead to immediate and long-term e
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Water Resources, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Water Science Center, New York Water Science Center, Pennsylvania Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC), Utah Water Science Center, Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center

Piloting urban ecosystem accounting for the United States

In this study, we develop urban ecosystem accounts in the U.S., using the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EEA) framework. Most ecosystem accounts focus on regional and national scales, which are appropriate for many ecosystem services. However, ecosystems provide substantial services in cities, improving quality of life and contributing to resili
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Water Resources, Science and Decisions Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Mapping stream and floodplain geomorphic characteristics with the Floodplain and Channel Evaluation Tool (FACET) in the Mid-Atlantic Region, United States

Quantifying channel and floodplain geomorphic characteristics is essential for understanding and modeling sediment and nutrient dynamics in fluvial systems. The increased availability of high-resolution elevation data from light detection and ranging (lidar) has helped improve methods for extracting these metrics at a greater accuracy across regional scales. The Floodplain and Channel Evaluation T
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Water Resources, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Water Science Center

Floodplain and Channel Evaluation Tool (FACET)

The Floodplain and Evaluation Tool (FACET) is an open-source python tool that maps the floodplain extent and derives reach-scale summaries of stream and floodplain geomorphic measurements from high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs).

Floodplain and Channel Evaluation Tool: FACET

FACET is a Python tool that uses open source modules to map the floodplain extent and derive reach-scale summaries of stream and floodplain geomorphic measurements from high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs). Geomorphic measurements include channel width, stream bank height, floodplain width, and stream slope. FACET allows the user to hydrologically condition the DEM, generate the stream
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Stream Channel and Floodplain Metric Toolbox

The Stream Channel and Floodplain Metric Toolbox was developed to demonstrate the feasibility of mapping fluvial geomorphic features from high-resolution bare-earth elevation data.

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South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)
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Floodplain Ecosystem Service Mapper Released

The Floodplain Ecosystem Service Mapper is a web application that displays field site data and lidar-derived floodplain and stream channel geomorphic...

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Green Stormwater Infrastructure to Reduce Suburban Runoff

A new study finds that a high density of green stormwater infrastructure can provide enhanced mitigation of peak flows and runoff volumes compared to...

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Listen in on SAWSC Scientist's Lunchtime Discovery Lecture at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

SAWSC research physical scientist Dr. Krissy Hopkins gave a Lunchtime Discovery Lecture at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences on August 14...

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Geomorphological Features of North Carolina Dataset Released

Three statewide datasets were compiled to provide information on geomorphological features in North Carolina. Datasets include state-wide coverages of...

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