Matthew Miller
Biography
Matt Miller is a Research Hydrologist with the Earth Systems Modeling Branch of the Integrated Modeling and Prediction Division in Boulder, Colorado. His current research focuses on developing new approaches for interpreting large data sets to quantify the relationships between water quality, hydrology, land use, and climate at watershed, regional, and national scales. Matt develops and applies modeling tools that improve process understanding of integrated terrestrial-aquatic systems to improve understanding of water availability. Current projects include projecting the baseflow component of streamflow in the Upper Colorado River Basin, estimating future nutrient loading to estuaries in the southeastern United States, identifying sources of nitrogen to streams in Brazilian watersheds, and using water quality data to better understand groundwater discharge to streams in the Delaware River Basin.
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder (2008)
M.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder (2004)
B.S., Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Madison (2000)
Science and Products
Targeted management of a small number of catchments may help reduce nitrogen loading to Chesapeake Bay
Largest projected reductions associated with decreasing agricultural fertilizer application
Salinity
Studies of Sources and Transport of Dissolved Solids (Salt) in the Colorado River Basin using the Spatially Referenced Regressions on Watershed Attributes (SPARROW) Model
The Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB) encompasses about 112,000 mi2 and discharges more than 6 million tons of dissolved solids (salt) annually to the lower Colorado River Basin. It has been estimated...
Baseflow
The Colorado River has been identified as the most overallocated river in the world. Considering predicted future imbalances between water supply and demand and the growing recognition that base flow (a proxy for groundwater discharge to streams) is critical for sustaining flow in streams and rivers, there is a need to develop methods to better quantify present-day base flow across large...
High-frequency nitrate-concentration data
High-frequency nitrate-concentration data can be used to inform the development of best management practices to reduce nitrogen loading to Chesapeake Bay. Although nitrogen loads entering Chesapeake Bay have decreased in recent decades, they exceed levels that are compatible with a healthy ecosystem as a result of urbanization, agriculture, and other human activities in the bay watershed, and...
Natural Monthly Flow Estimates for the Conterminous United States, 1950-2015
This metadata record describes monthly estimates of natural stream flows for greater than 2.5 million stream reaches, defined by the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) Version 2.0, in the conterminous United States for the period 1950-2015. A statistical machine learning technique - random forest modeling - was applied to estimate natural flows using 200 potential predictor variables. T
Temporal and spatial variations in river specific conductivity: Implications for understanding sources of river water and hydrograph separations
Specific conductivity (SC) is commonly used to estimate the proportion of baseflow (i.e., waters from within catchments such as groundwater, interflow, or bank return flows) contributing to rivers. Reach-scale SC comparisons are also useful for identifying where multiple water stores contribute to baseflow. Daily SC values of adjacent gauges in...
Cartwright, Ian; Miller, MatthewApplication of the RSPARROW modeling tool to estimate total nitrogen sources to streams and evaluate source reduction management scenarios in the Grande River Basin, Brazil
Large-domain hydrological models are increasingly needed to support water-resource assessment and management in large river basins. Here, we describe results for the first Brazilian application of the SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) model using a new open-source modeling and interactive decision support system...
Miller, Matthew; de Souza, Marcelo L; Alexander, Richard B; Gorman Sanisaca, Lillian; de Amorim Teixeira, Alexandre; Appling, Alison P.Relating hydroclimatic change to streamflow, baseflow, and hydrologic partitioning in the Upper Rio Grande Basin, 1980 to 2015
Understanding how changing climatic conditions affect streamflow volume and timing is critical for effective water management. In the Rio Grande Basin of the southwest U.S., decreasing snowpack, increasing minimum temperatures, and decreasing streamflow have been observed in recent decades, but the effects of hydroclimatic changes on baseflow, or...
Rumsey, Christine; Miller, Matthew; Sexstone, Graham A.Response of nitrogen loading to the Chesapeake Bay to source reduction and land use change scenarios: A SPARROW‐informed analysis
In response to concerns regarding the health of streams and receiving waters, the United States Environmental Protection Agency established a total maximum daily load for nitrogen in the Chesapeake Bay watershed for which practices must be in place by 2025 resulting in an expected 25% reduction in load from 2009 levels. The response of total...
Miller, Matthew; Capel, Paul D.; Garcia, Ana M.; Ator, Scott W.Salinity yield modeling of the Upper Colorado River Basin using 30-meter resolution soil maps and random forests
Salinity loading in the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB) costs local economies upwards of $300 million US dollars annually. Salinity source models have generally included coarse spatial data to represent non‐agriculture sources. We developed new predictive soil property and cover maps at 30 m resolution to improve source representation in...
Nauman, Travis; Ely, Christopher; Miller, Matthew; Duniway, MichaelMonitoring the Riverine Pulse: Applying high-frequency nitrate data to advance integrative understanding of biogeochemical and hydrological processes
Widespread deployment of sensors that measure river nitrate (NO3-) concentrations has led to many recent publications in water resources journals including review papers focused on data quality assurance, improved load calculations, and better nutrient management. The principal objective of this paper is to review and synthesize studies of high-...
Burns, Douglas A.; Pellerin, Brian A.; Miller, Matthew P.; Capel, Paul; Tesoriero, Anthony J.; Duncan, Jonathan M.The role of baseflow in dissolved solids delivery to streams in the Upper Colorado River Basin
Salinity has a major effect on water users in the Colorado River Basin, estimated to cause almost $300 million per year in economic damages. The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program implements and manages projects to reduce salinity loads, investing millions of dollars per year in irrigation upgrades, canal projects, and other...
Schwarz, Gregory; Hirsch, Robert M.; Susong, David; Rumsey, Christine; Miller, Matthew P.; Schwarz, Gregory E.; Hirsch, Robert M.; Susong, David D.A database of natural monthly streamflow estimates from 1950 to 2015 for the conterminous United States
Quantifying and understanding the natural streamflow regime, defined as expected streamflow that would occur in the absence of anthropogenic modification to the hydrologic system, is critically important for the development of management strategies aimed at protecting aquatic ecosystems. Water balance models have been applied frequently to...
Miller, Matthew P.; Carlisle, Daren; Wolock, David M.; Wieczorek, MichaelStream‐centric methods for determining groundwater contributions in karst mountain watersheds
Climate change influences on mountain hydrology are uncertain, but likely to be mediated through changes in subsurface hydrologic residence times and flowpaths. The heterogeneity of karst aquifers add complexity in assessing the resiliency of these water sources to perturbation, suggesting a clear need to quantify contributions from and losses to...
Neilson, Bethany; Tennant, Hyrum; Barnes, Michelle; Stout, Trinity; Miller, Matthew P.; Gabor, Rachel S.; Jameel, Yusef; Millington, Mallory; Gelderloos, Andrew; Bowen, Gabriel J.; Brooks, Paul D.Managing salinity in Upper Colorado River Basin streams: Selecting catchments for sediment control efforts using watershed characteristics and random forests models
Elevated concentrations of dissolved-solids (salinity) including calcium, sodium, sulfate, and chloride, among others, in the Colorado River cause substantial problems for its water users. Previous efforts to reduce dissolved solids in upper Colorado River basin (UCRB) streams often focused on reducing suspended-sediment transport to streams, but...
Tillman, Fred; Anning, David W.; Heilman, Julian A.; Buto, Susan G.; Miller, Matthew P.Estimating discharge and nonpoint source nitrate loading to streams from three end‐member pathways using high‐frequency water quality data
The myriad hydrologic and biogeochemical processes taking place in watersheds occurring across space and time are integrated and reflected in the quantity and quality of water in streams and rivers. Collection of high‐frequency water quality data with sensors in surface waters provides new opportunities to disentangle these processes and quantify...
Miller, Matthew P.; Tesoriero, Anthony J.; Hood, Krista; Terziotti, Silvia; Wolock, David M.Predicting redox-sensitive contaminant concentrations in groundwater using random forest classification
Machine learning techniques were applied to a large (n > 10,000) compliance monitoring database to predict the occurrence of several redox-active constituents in groundwater across a large watershed. Specifically, random forest classification was used to determine the probabilities of detecting elevated concentrations of nitrate, iron, and...
Tesoriero, Anthony J.; Gronberg, Jo Ann M.; Juckem, Paul F.; Miller, Matthew P.; Austin, Brian P.Pre-USGS Publications
Targeted management of a small number of catchments may help reduce nitrogen loading to Chesapeake Bay
A new USGS study uses the SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes) model to assess how nitrogen loading to the Chesapeake Bay might change in response to changing different sources of nitrogen inputs. The largest reduction in load is predicted to occur if nitrogen fertilizer applied to agricultural land is decreased.