Matt Ely
Biography
Matt Ely is the Director of the USGS Colorado Water Science Center, a diverse team of 110 scientists and administrative and IT professionals. Previously he served as the Deputy Director and Associate Director of Hydrologic Interpretive Programs with the New England Water Science Center, Geohydrology Studies Chief with the USGS New Mexico Water Science Center, and as a project hydrologist with the USGS Washington Water Science Center. He received a B.S. in Marine Science from the University of South Carolina and an M.S. in Geoscience from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Matt developed numerous groundwater-flow and watershed models and served as project chief on regional water resource assessments. He has been with the USGS since 1998.
Science and Products
New England Drought, 2020
Below average and infrequent rainfall from May through September 2020 led to an extreme hydrologic drought across much of New England, with some areas experiencing a flash (quick-onset) drought.
New England Drought Information
Droughts are among the most costly hydrologic hazards in the United States. They are generally slow in developing, frequently occur over a long period of time, and can affect large areas and populations. The severity of a hydrologic drought is not always obvious until these water supplies are seriously depleted.
Development of Flood Insurance Maps in New England
FEMA has requested USGS expertise in hydraulics, hydrology, and mapping to generate flood insurance maps for New England.
IJC Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River Project
The record setting floods of 2011 in Lake Champlain Vermont/New York U.S. and the Richelieu River in the province of Quebec Canada prompted the U.S. and Canadian governments to work together to identify how flood forecasting, preparedness and mitigation can be improved in the Lake Champlain-Richelieu River (LCRR) basin.
Groundwater development stress: Global-scale indices compared to regional modeling
The increased availability of global datasets and technologies such as global hydrologic models and the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites have resulted in a growing number of global-scale assessments of water availability using simple indices of water stress. Developed initially for surface water, such indices are...
Alley, William; Clark, Brian R.; Ely, Matt; Faunt, Claudia C.
Groundwater availability of the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho
The Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System (CPRAS) covers about 44,000 square miles of southeastern Washington, northeastern Oregon, and western Idaho. The area supports a $6-billion per year agricultural industry, leading the Nation in production of apples, hops, and eight other commodities. Groundwater pumpage and surface-water diversions...
Vaccaro, J. J.; Kahle, S.C.; Ely, D.M.; Burns, E.R.; Snyder, D.T.; Haynes, J.V.; Olsen, T.D.; Welch, W.B.; Morgan, D.S.
Numerical simulation of groundwater flow in the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington
A three-dimensional numerical model of groundwater flow was constructed for the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System (CPRAS), Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, to evaluate and test the conceptual model of the system and to evaluate groundwater availability. The model described in this report can be used as a tool by water-resource managers and...
Ely, D. Matthew; Burns, Erick R.; Morgan, David S.; Vaccaro, John J.
Hydrogeologic framework and groundwater/surface-water interactions of the upper Yakima River Basin, Kittitas County, central Washington
The hydrogeology, hydrology, and geochemistry of groundwater and surface water in the upper (western) 860 square miles of the Yakima River Basin in Kittitas County, Washington, were studied to evaluate the groundwater-flow system, occurrence and availability of groundwater, and the extent of groundwater/surface-water interactions. The study area...
Gendaszek, Andrew S.; Ely, D. Matthew; Hinkle, Stephen R.; Kahle, Sue C.; Welch, Wendy B.
Chemical and isotopic data collected from groundwater, surface-water, and atmospheric precipitation sites in Upper Kittitas County, Washington, 2010-12
As part of a multidisciplinary U.S. Geological Survey study of water resources in Upper Kittitas County, Washington, chemical and isotopic data were collected from groundwater, surface-water, and atmospheric precipitation sites from 2010 to 2012. These data are documented here so that interested parties can quickly and easily find those chemical...
Hinkle, Stephen R.; Ely, D. Matthew
Simulation of groundwater and surface-water resources and evaluation of water-management alternatives for the Chamokane Creek basin, Stevens County, Washington
A three-dimensional, transient numerical model of groundwater and surface-water flow was constructed for Chamokane Creek basin to better understand the groundwater-flow system and its relation to surface-water resources. The model described in this report can be used as a tool by water-management agencies and other stakeholders to quantitatively...
Ely, D. Matthew; Kahle, Sue C.
Numerical simulation of groundwater flow for the Yakima River basin aquifer system, Washington
A regional, three-dimensional, transient numerical model of groundwater flow was constructed for the Yakima River basin aquifer system to better understand the groundwater-flow system and its relation to surface-water resources. The model described in this report can be used as a tool by water-management agencies and other stakeholders to...
Ely, D.M.; Bachmann, M.P.; Vaccaro, J. J.
Hydrogeologic Framework of the Yakima River Basin Aquifer System, Washington
The Yakima River basin aquifer system underlies about 6,200 square miles in south-central Washington. The aquifer system consists of basin-fill deposits occurring in six structural-sedimentary basins, the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG), and generally older bedrock. The basin-fill deposits were divided into 19 hydrogeologic units, the CRBG was...
Vaccaro, J. J.; Jones, M. A.; Ely, D.M.; Keys, M.E.; Olsen, T.D.; Welch, W.B.; Cox, S.E.
Seepage Investigation for Selected River Reaches in the Chehalis River Basin, Washington
A study was completed in September 2007 in the Chehalis River basin to determine gain or loss of streamflow by measuring discharge at selected intervals within various reaches along the Chehalis River and its tributaries. Discharge was measured at 68 new and existing streamflow sites, where gains and losses were determined for 36 stream reaches....
Ely, D. Matthew; Frasl, Kenneth E.; Marshall, Cameron A.; Reed, Fred OPR-PPR, a computer program for assessing data importance to model predictions using linear statistics
The OPR-PPR program calculates the Observation-Prediction (OPR) and Parameter-Prediction (PPR) statistics that can be used to evaluate the relative importance of various kinds of data to simulated predictions. The data considered fall into three categories: (1) existing observations, (2) potential observations, and (3) potential information about...
Tonkin, Matthew J.; Tiedeman, Claire; Ely, D. Matthew; Hill, Mary C. Analysis of sensitivity of simulated recharge to selected parameters for seven watersheds modeled using the precipitation-runoff modeling system
Recharge is a vital component of the ground-water budget and methods for estimating it range from extremely complex to relatively simple. The most commonly used techniques, however, are limited by the scale of application. One method that can be used to estimate ground-water recharge includes process-based models that compute distributed water...
Ely, D. Matthew Conceptual model and numerical simulation of the ground-water-flow system in the unconsolidated deposits of the Colville River Watershed, Stevens County, Washington
Increased use of ground- and surface-water supplies in watersheds of Washington State in recent years has created concern that insufficient instream flows remain for fish and other uses. Issuance of new ground-water rights in the Colville River Watershed was halted by the Washington Department of Ecology due to possible hydraulic continuity of the...
Ely, D. Matthew; Kahle, Sue C.
New England WSC Data Releases and Publications in the Second Quarter of 2021
List of data releases and publications from the New England Water Science Center released in the second quarter of 2021.
Potential drought conditions developing in New England
Recent surface-water, groundwater, and precipitation data indicate that drought conditions may presently be developing in parts of New England.
New England WSC Data Releases and Publications in the First Quarter of 2021
List of data releases and publications from the New England Water Science Center released in the first quarter of 2021.
New England WSC Data Releases and Publications - 2020
List of data releases and publications from the New England Water Science Center released in 2020.