Rich Sheibley
Rich is a research hydrologist for the Washington Water Science Center in Tacoma, WA.
His research interests include water quality, nutrient cycling, and groundwater-surface water exchange in lakes, streams and rivers.
Professional Experience
U.S. Geological Survey Washington Water Science Center, Tacoma, WA
Research Hydrologist October 2009 – Present
Hydrologist January 2008 – October 2009
Education and Certifications
University of California, Davis. Ph.D., Chemical Engineering with a focus on environmental modeling. June 2001. Dissertation: Nitrogen transformation kinetics in the hyporheic zo
University of Pennsylvania. Bachelor of Science, Chemical Engineering with a minor in Environmental Engineering. May 1995.
Science and Products
Hood Canal
Chehalis River Basin
WSDOT Stormwater Monitoring
Nutrient attenuation in rivers and streams, Puget Sound Basin, Washington
The Pacific northwest stream quality assessment
Water and nutrient budgets for Vancouver Lake, Vancouver, Washington, October 2010-October 2012
Low transient storage and uptake efficiencies in seven agricultural streams: implications for nutrient demand
Discharge, water temperature, and selected meteorological data for Vancouver Lake, Vancouver, Washington, water years 2011-13
Quantifying benthic nitrogen fluxes in Puget Sound, Washington: a review of available data
Nitrogen deposition effects on diatom communities in lakes from three National Parks in Washington State
Three new Psammothidium species from lakes of Olympic and Cascade Mountains in Washington State, USA
Temporal variability of exchange between groundwater and surface water based on high-frequency direct measurements of seepage at the sediment-water interface
Atmospheric deposition, water-quality, and sediment data for selected lakes in Mount Rainer, North Cascades, and Olympic National Parks, Washington, 2008-10
Nitrous oxide emission from denitrification in stream and river networks
Baseline hydrologic studies in the lower Elwha River prior to dam removal
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Science and Products
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Hood Canal
In September 2002, fish in Hood Canal near Hoodsport were under stress from low concentrations of dissolved oxygen, prompting the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife to temporarily close parts of Hood Canal to some types of fishing during the month of October. In 2003, low dissolved oxygen conditions worsened, some fish kills were observed as early as June, and by October large fish...Chehalis River Basin
The Chehalis River flows approximately 125 miles in southwestern Washington north-northwesterly to Grays Harbor and the Pacific Ocean, draining an area of approximately 2,700 square miles. The Chehalis River Basin is the second largest basin in Washington State. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the east by the Deschutes River Basin, on the north by the Olympic Mountains, and on...WSDOT Stormwater Monitoring
The Washington State Department of Transportation, or WSDOT, monitors the water quality of runoff from state highways and other transportation facilities under their National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. The NPDES permit requires WSDOT to make sure that the stormwater meets Clean Water Act and other regulations designed to restore and protect our country's water resources... - Data
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Filter Total Items: 34
Nutrient attenuation in rivers and streams, Puget Sound Basin, Washington
Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are important for aquatic ecosystem health. Excessive amounts of nutrients, however, can make aquatic ecosystems harmful for biota because enhanced growth and decay cycles of aquatic algae can reduce dissolved oxygen in the water. In Puget Sound marine waters, low dissolved oxygen concentrations are observed in a number of marine nearshore areas, and nutriAuthorsRich W. Sheibley, Christopher P. Konrad, Robert W. BlackThe Pacific northwest stream quality assessment
In 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program is assessing stream quality in the Pacific Northwest. The goals of the Pacific Northwest Stream Quality Assessment (Pacific Northwest study) are to assess the quality of streams in the region by characterizing multiple water-quality factors that are stressors to aquatic life and to evaluate the relation beAuthorsPeter C. Van Metre, Jennifer L. Morace, Rich W. SheibleyWater and nutrient budgets for Vancouver Lake, Vancouver, Washington, October 2010-October 2012
Vancouver Lake, a large shallow lake in Clark County, near Vancouver, Washington, has been undergoing water-quality problems for decades. Recently, the biggest concern for the lake are the almost annual harmful cyanobacteria blooms that cause the lake to close for recreation for several weeks each summer. Despite decades of interest in improving the water quality of the lake, fundamental informatiAuthorsRich W. Sheibley, James R. Foreman, Cameron A. Marshall, Wendy B. WelchLow transient storage and uptake efficiencies in seven agricultural streams: implications for nutrient demand
We used mass load budgets, transient storage modeling, and nutrient spiraling metrics to characterize nitrate (NO3−), ammonium (NH4+), and inorganic phosphorus (SRP) demand in seven agricultural streams across the United States and to identify in-stream services that may control these conditions. Retention of one or all nutrients was observed in all but one stream, but demand for all nutrients wasAuthorsRich W. Sheibley, John H. Duff, Anthony J. TesorieroDischarge, water temperature, and selected meteorological data for Vancouver Lake, Vancouver, Washington, water years 2011-13
The U.S. Geological Survey partnered with the Vancouver Lake Watershed Partnership in a 2-year intensive study to quantify the movement of water and nutrients through Vancouver Lake in Vancouver, Washington. This report is intended to assist the Vancouver Lake Watershed Partnership in evaluating potential courses of action to mitigate seasonally driven blooms of harmful cyanobacteria and to improvAuthorsJames R. Foreman, Cameron A. Marshall, Rich W. SheibleyQuantifying benthic nitrogen fluxes in Puget Sound, Washington: a review of available data
Understanding benthic fluxes is important for understanding the fate of materials that settle to the Puget Sound, Washington, seafloor, as well as the impact these fluxes have on the chemical composition and biogeochemical cycles of marine waters. Existing approaches used to measure benthic nitrogen flux in Puget Sound and elsewhere were reviewed and summarized, and factors for considering each apAuthorsRichard W. Sheibley, Anthony J. PaulsonNitrogen deposition effects on diatom communities in lakes from three National Parks in Washington State
The goal of this study was to document if lakes in National Parks in Washington have exceeded critical levels of nitrogen (N) deposition, as observed in other Western States. We measured atmospheric N deposition, lake water quality, and sediment diatoms at our study lakes. Water chemistry showed that our study lakes were ultra-oligotrophic with ammonia and nitrate concentrations often at or belowAuthorsRichard W. Sheibley, Mihaela Enache, Peter W. Swarzenski, Patrick W. Moran, James R. ForemanThree new Psammothidium species from lakes of Olympic and Cascade Mountains in Washington State, USA
Populations of several Psammothidium species were found in core sediments from nine remote, high elevation, ultraoligotrophic and oligotrophic, Olympic and Cascade Mountain lakes. Three of these species, P. lacustre, P. alpinum, and P. nivale, are described here as new. The morphology of the silica frustules of these species was documented using light and scanning electron microscopy. We discuss tAuthorsMihaela D. Enache, Marina Potapova, Rich Sheibley, Patrick MoranTemporal variability of exchange between groundwater and surface water based on high-frequency direct measurements of seepage at the sediment-water interface
Seepage at the sediment-water interface in several lakes, a large river, and an estuary exhibits substantial temporal variability when measured with temporal resolution of 1 min or less. Already substantial seepage rates changed by 7% and 16% in response to relatively small rain events at two lakes in the northeastern USA, but did not change in response to two larger rain events at a lake in MinneAuthorsDonald O. Rosenberry, Rich W. Sheibley, Stephen E. Cox, Frederic W. Simonds, David L. NaftzAtmospheric deposition, water-quality, and sediment data for selected lakes in Mount Rainer, North Cascades, and Olympic National Parks, Washington, 2008-10
To evaluate the potential effect from atmospheric deposition of nitrogen to high-elevation lakes, the U.S. Geological Survey partnered with the National Park Service to develop a "critical load" of nitrogen for sediment diatoms. A critical load is defined as the level of a given pollutant (in this case, nitrogen) at which detrimental effects to a target endpoint (sediment diatoms) result. BecauseAuthorsRich W. Sheibley, James R. Foreman, Patrick W. Moran, Peter W. SwarzenskiNitrous oxide emission from denitrification in stream and river networks
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change and stratospheric ozone destruction. Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) loading to river networks is a potentially important source of N2O via microbial denitrification that converts N to N2O and dinitrogen (N2). The fraction of denitrified N that escapes as N2O rather than N2 (i.e., the N2O yield) is an important determinanAuthorsJ. J. Beaulieu, J. L. Tank, S. K. Hamilton, W. M. Wollheim, R. O. Hall, P. J. Mulholland, B. J. Peterson, L. R. Ashkenas, L. W. Cooper, Clifford N. Dahm, W. K. Dodds, N. B. Grimm, S. L. Johnson, W. H. McDowell, G. C. Poole, Valett H. Maurice, C. P. Arango, M. J. Bernot, A. J. Burgin, C. L. Crenshaw, A. M. Helton, L. T. Johnson, J. M. O'Brien, J. D. Potter, R.W. Sheibley, D. J. Sobota, S. M. ThomasBaseline hydrologic studies in the lower Elwha River prior to dam removal
After the removal of two large, long‑standing dams on the Elwha River, Washington, the additional load of sediment and wood is expected to affect the hydrology of the lower river, its estuary, and the alluvial aquifer underlying the surrounding flood plain. To better understand the surface-water and groundwater characteristics of the river and estuary before dam removal, several hydrologic data seAuthorsChristopher S. Magirl, Christopher A. Curran, Rich W. Sheibley, Jonathan A. Warrick, Jonathan A. Czuba, Christiana R. Czuba, Andrew S. Gendaszek, Patrick B. Shafroth, Jeffrey J. Duda, James R. ForemanNon-USGS Publications**
Paulson, A.J., B. Cater, R.W. Sheibley. (2012) Control of Toxic Chemicals in Puget Sound: Assessment of Selected Toxic Chemicals in the Puget Sound Basin, 2007-2011 – Addendum No. 1: Evaluation of Fate and Transport Mechanisms for Primary Releases of Copper, PCBs, and PBDEs, 91 p.Beaulieu, J.J., M. J. Bernot, D. J. Sobota, R. O. Hall Jr., P. J. Mulholland, W. K. Dodds, J. R. Webster, J. L. Tank, L. R. Ashkenas, L. W. Cooper, C. N. Dahm, S.y V. Gregory, N. B. Grimm, S. K. Hamilton, S. L. Johnson, W.H. McDowell, J.L. Meyer, B. Peterson, G. C. Poole, H. M. Valett, C. Arango, A. J. Burgin, C.L. Crenshaw, A. M. Helton, L.T. Johnson, J. Merriam, B.R. Niederlehner, J.M. O’Brien, J.D. Potter, R.W. Sheibley, S.M. Thomas, and K. Wilson. (2010) Nitrous oxide emission from denitrification in stream and river networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences doi:10.1073/pnas.1011464108Crenshaw C.L., N.B. Grimm, L.H. Zeglin, R.W. Sheibley, C.N. Dahm, A.D. Pershall (2010) Dissolved inorganic nitrogen dynamics in the hyporheic zone of reference and human-altered southwestern U. S. streams. Fundamental and Applied Limnology / Archiv fur Hydrobiologie 176: 391-405Valett, H.M. and R.W. Sheibley (2010) Groundwater and Surface Water Interactions. In: Biogeochemistry of inland waters, edited by G.E. Likens, p95-106Valett, H.M. & R.W. Sheibley (2009) Ground Water and Surface Water Interaction. In: Encyclopedia of Inland Waters. Edited by Likens, G. E, pp. 691-702. Academic Press, Oxford.Dodds, W. K., J. J. Beaulieu, J. J. Eichmiller, J. R. Fischer, N. R. Franssen, D. A. Gudder, A. S. Makinster, M. J. McCarthy, J. N. Murdock, J. M. O’Brien, J. L. Tank, and R. W. Sheibley (2008). Nitrogen cycling and metabolism in the thalweg of a prairie river. Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences. 113, G04029, doi:10.1029/2008JG000696.Tanio Y., N. Ohte, M. Fujimoto, & R.W. Sheibley (2008) Nitrate and phosphate uptake in a temperate forest stream in central Japan. In: From Headwaters to the Ocean: Hydrological Changes and Watershed Management (eds. M. Taniguchi, W. C. Burnett, Y. Fukushima, M. Haigh & Y. Umezawa) pp. 83-89. Taylor & Francis Group, London.Warren E., E.M. Godsy, H.J. Duff, F.J. Triska, A.P. Jackman, and R.W. Sheibley (2006) Nitrate reduction and microbial numbers in Upper Mississippi River Sediments, Verh. Internat. Verein. Limnol. 29: 1578-1582.Sheibley, R.W., J.H. Duff, A.P. Jackman, F.J. Triska, E. Warren, and E.M. Godsy (2006b) Nitrate reduction in sediment perfusion cores from Pool 8, Upper Mississippi River, La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA. Verh. Internat. Verein. Limnol. 29: 1289-1295Sheibley R.W., D.S. Ahearn, and R.A. Dahlgren (2006) Nitrate loss from a restored floodplain in the lower Cosumnes River, California. Hydrobiologia. 571:261-272.Ahearn, D.S., R.W. Sheibley, R.A. Dahlgren, M. Anderson, and J. Johnson. (2005) Land use and land cover influence on water quality in the last free-flowing river draining the western Sierra Nevada, California. Journal of Hydrology. 313: 234-247.Grimm, N.B., R.W. Sheibley, C.L. Crenshaw, C.N. Dahm, W.J. Roach, and L.H. Zeglin (2005) Nitrogen retention and transformation in urban streams. Journal of the North American Benthological Society. 24(3): 626-642.Ahearn, D.S., R.W. Sheibley, and R.A. Dahlgren. (2005) Effects of river regulation on water quality in the lower Mokelumne River, California. River Research and Applications. 21: 651-670.Grimm, N.B., J.R. Arrowsmith, C. Eisinger, J. Heffernan, A. MacLeod, D.B. Lewis, L. Prashad , T. Rychener, W.J. Roach, and R.W. Sheibley. (2004) Effects of urbanization on nutrient biogeochemistry of aridland streams. In R. DeFries, G. Asner, and R. Houghton (editors). Ecosystem interactions with land use change. Geophysical Monograph. American Geophysical UnionAhearn, D.S., R.W. Sheibley, R.A. Dahlgren, and K.E. Keller. (2004) Temporal dynamics of stream chemistry in the last free-flowing river draining the Sierra Nevada, CA. Journal of Hydrology. 295: 47-63Sheibley, R.W. (2001) Nitrogen transformations in the hyporheic zone. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Davis. Advisor: Dr. Alan P. Jackman.**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
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