Michelle Walvoord is a Research Hydrologist in the Water Cycle Branch of the Earth System Processes Division of the Water Resources Mission Area. Her areas of expertise include permafrost hydrology, unsaturated zone and groundwater hydrology, and non-isothermal, multiphase flow and transport modeling. Her current research activities are aimed at better understanding environmental impacts on hydrologic systems undergoing change in cold regions. She serves as an Associate Editor for Water Resources Research and as a science steering member the Permafrost Action Team for NSF's SEARCH project. Michelle is an adjunct faculty member at Colorado School of Mines in the Geology and Geological Engineering Department.
EDUCATION
PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS
PROFESSIONAL AWARDS
ABoVE: Vulnerability of inland waters and the aquatic carbon cycle to changing permafrost and climate across boreal northwestern North America.
Carbon released from thawing permafrost may fuel terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems or contribute to greenhouse gas emission, leading to a potential warming feedback and further thaw.
Groundwater withdrawals in the western US are a critical component of the water resources strategy for the region. Climate change already may be substantially altering recharge into groundwater systems; however, the quantity and direction (increase or decrease) of changes are relatively unknown as most climate change assessments have focused on surface water systems. We propose to conduct a...
Groundwater processes are often overlooked in permafrost environments, but subsurface storage and routing can strongly influence water and biogeochemical cycling in northern catchments. Groundwater flow in permafrost regions is controlled by the temporal and spatial distribution of frozen ground, causing the hydrogeologic framework to be...
Kurylyk, Barret L.; Walvoord, Michelle A. As the Arctic warms and wildfire occurrence increases, talik formation in permafrost regions is projected to expand and affect the cycling of water and carbon. Yet, few unified field and modeling studies have examined this process in detail, particularly in areas of continuous permafrost. We address this gap by presenting multimethod,...
Rey, David; Walvoord, Michelle A.; Minsley, Burke J.; Ebel, Brian A.; Voss, Clifford I.; Singha, Kamini Permafrost thaw has been widely observed to alter the biogeochemistry of recipient aquatic ecosystems. However, research from various regions has shown considerable variation in effect. In this paper, we propose a state factor approach to predict the release and transport of materials from permafrost through aquatic networks. Inspired by Hans...
Tank, Suzanne E.; Vonk, Jorien E.; Walvoord, Michelle A.; McClelland, James W.; Laurion, Isabelle; Abbott, Benjamin W. Research has traditionally focused on atmospheric release of carbon from thawing permafrost, yet overlooked waterborne release pathways likely contribute significantly, especially in a warming Arctic. To address this knowledge gap and better constrain the fate of carbon in the North, we recommend inter-disciplinary efforts bridging physical,...
Jorien Vonk; Suzanne Tank; Walvoord, Michelle Ann Boreal forest regions are a focal point for investigations of coupled water and biogeochemical fluxes in response to wildfire disturbances, climate warming, and permafrost thaw. Soil hydraulic, physical, and thermal property measurements for mineral soils in permafrost regions are limited, despite substantial influences on cryohydrogeologic model...
Ebel, Brian A.; Koch, Joshua C.; Walvoord, Michelle A. Lakes in boreal lowlands cycle carbon and supply an important source of freshwater for wildlife and migratory waterfowl. The abundance and distribution of these lakes are supported, in part, by permafrost distribution, which is subject to change. Relationships between permafrost thaw and lake dynamics remain poorly known in most boreal regions....
Rey, David; Walvoord, Michelle Ann; Minsley, Burke; Rover, Jennifer; Singha, Kamini Permafrost thaw alters subsurface flow in boreal regions that in turn influences the magnitude, seasonality, and chemical composition of streamflow. Prediction of these changes is challenged by incomplete knowledge of timing, flowpath depth, and amount of groundwater discharge to streams in response to thaw. One important phenomenon that may...
Walvoord, Michelle A.; Voss, Clifford I.; Ebel, Brian A.; Minsley, Burke J. Elevated tritium, radiocarbon, Hg, and volatile organic compounds associated with low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) at the USGS Amargosa Desert Research Site (ADRS) have stimulated research on factors and processes that affect contaminant gas distribution and transport. Consequently, we examined the sources, mixing, and biogeochemistry of CO2...
Conaway, Christopher H.; Walvoord, Michelle Ann; Thomas, Randall B.; Green, Christopher; Baker, R.J.; Thordsen, James J.; Stonestrom, David A.; Andraski, Brian J. The distribution of shallow frozen ground is paramount to research in cold regions, and is subject to temporal and spatial changes influenced by climate, landscape disturbance and ecosystem succession. Remote sensing from airborne and satellite platforms is increasing our understanding of landscape-scale permafrost distribution, but typically...
Briggs, Martin A.; Campbell, Seth; Nolan, Jay; Walvoord, Michelle Ann; Ntarlagiannis, Dimitrios; Day-Lewis, Frederick D.; Lane, John W. Understanding the role of permafrost in controlling groundwater flow paths and fluxes is central in studies aimed at assessing potential climate change impacts on vegetation, species habitat, biogeochemical cycling, and biodiversity. Recent field studies in interior Alaska show evidence of hydrologic changes hypothesized to result from permafrost...
Walvoord, Michelle Ann; Voss, Clifford I.; Wellman, Tristan Existing studies on the impacts of climate change on groundwater recharge are either global or basin/location-specific. The global studies lack the specificity to inform decision making, while the local studies do little to clarify potential changes over large regions (major river basins, states, or groups of states), a scale often important in...
Meixner, Thomas; Manning, Andrew H.; Stonestrom, David A.; Allen, Diana M.; Ajami, Hoori; Blasch, Kyle W.; Brookfield, Andrea E.; Castro, Christopher L.; Clark, Jordan F.; Gochis, David; Flint, Alan L.; Neff, Kirstin L.; Niraula, Rewati; Rodell, Matthew; Scanlon, Bridget R.; Singha, Kamini; Walvoord, Michelle Ann Where present, permafrost exerts a primary control on water fluxes, flowpaths, and distribution. Climate warming and related drivers of soil thermal change are expected to modify the distribution of permafrost, leading to changing hydrologic conditions, including alterations in soil moisture, connectivity of inland waters, streamflow seasonality,...
Walvoord, Michelle Ann; Kurylyk, Barret L.