Rob Striegl
Rob Striegl is an Emeritus Research Hydrologist with the USGS Water Resources Mission Area.
Professional Studies/Experience
I am a Research Aquatic Biogeochemist / Hydrologist located in Boulder, Colorado. My research focuses on the role of inland waters in the global carbon cycle and on hydrologic, climatic, and disturbance controls on the biogeochemical cycling, sequestration, transport, and surface-atmosphere exchange of aquatic carbon. Investigations conducted by me and my research group address a broad range of field, laboratory and modeling studies, including the transport of inorganic and organic carbon by surface and subsurface waters; the production, consumption, and atmospheric exchange of carbon dioxide and methane by streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and soils; the effects of climate warming, permafrost thaw, and other disturbances on the carbon cycle of subarctic and boreal regions; and extrapolation of inland waters carbon biogeochemical processes and rates of carbon exchange from site to regional, continental, and global scales. I lead USGS LandCarbon investigations of Ecosystem Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas Exchange by Inland Waters of the USA and am also the Principal Investigator of the NASA Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) project "Aquatic Vulnerabilites of Inland Waters and the Aquatic Carbon Cycle to Changing Permafrost and Climate across Boreal North America".
Professional societies/affiliations/committees/editorial boards
- Carbon Cycle Scientific Steering Group,
- U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program,
- U.S. Global Change Research Program
- Associate Editor, Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences, American Geophysical Union
Education and Certifications
Education
PhD: University of Wisconsin - Madison; Oceanography and Limnology
MSc: Univeristy of Illinois - Urbana; Biology / Aquatic Ecology
BSc: Western Illinois Univeristy - Macomb; Zoology
Science and Products
Reorganization of vegetation, hydrology and soil carbon after permafrost degradation across heterogeneous boreal landscapes
Biodegradability of dissolved organic carbon in the Yukon River and its tributaries: Seasonality and importance of inorganic nitrogen
Carbon dioxide and methane emissions from the Yukon River system
Carbon export by rivers draining the conterminous United States
Landscape-level controls on dissolved carbon flux from diverse catchments of the circumboreal
Annual estimates of water and solute export from 42 tributaries to the Yukon River
Variation in soil carbon dioxide efflux at two spatial scales in a topographically complex boreal forest
The regional abundance and size distribution of lakes and reservoirs in the United States and implication for estimates of global lake extent
Vulnerability of high-latitude soil organic carbon in North America to disturbance
A whole ecosystem approach to studying climate change in interior Alaska
The aquatic real-time monitoring network; in-situ optical sensors for monitoring the nation's water quality
Anthropogenic aerosols as a source of ancient dissolved organic matter in glaciers
Science and Products
- Science
- Data
- Multimedia
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 142
Reorganization of vegetation, hydrology and soil carbon after permafrost degradation across heterogeneous boreal landscapes
The diversity of ecosystems across boreal landscapes, successional changes after disturbance and complicated permafrost histories, present enormous challenges for assessing how vegetation, water and soil carbon may respond to climate change in boreal regions. To address this complexity, we used a chronosequence approach to assess changes in vegetation composition, water storage and soil organic caAuthorsM. Torre Jorgenson, Jennifer Harden, Mikhail Kanevskiy, Jonathan O'Donnell, Kim Wickland, Stephanie Ewing, Kristen Manies, Qianlai Zhuang, Yuri Shur, Robert G. Striegl, Joshua C. KochBiodegradability of dissolved organic carbon in the Yukon River and its tributaries: Seasonality and importance of inorganic nitrogen
Northern high-latitude rivers transport large amounts of terrestrially derived dissolved organic matter (DOM) from boreal and arctic ecosystems to coastal areas and oceans. Current knowledge of the biodegradability of DOM in these rivers is limited, particularly for large rivers discharging to the Arctic Ocean. We conducted a seasonally comprehensive study of biodegradable dissolved organic carbonAuthorsKimberly P. Wickland, George R. Aiken, Kenna D. Butler, Mark M. Dornblaser, RGM Spencer, Robert G. StrieglCarbon dioxide and methane emissions from the Yukon River system
Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions are important, but poorly quantified, components of riverine carbon (C) budgets. This is largely because the data needed for gas flux calculations are sparse and are spatially and temporally variable. Additionally, the importance of C gas emissions relative to lateral C exports is not well known because gaseous and aqueous fluxes are not commonly meAuthorsRobert G. Striegl, Mark M. Dornblaser, Cory P. McDonald, Jennifer R. Rover, Edward G. StetsCarbon export by rivers draining the conterminous United States
Material exports by rivers, particularly carbon exports, provide insight to basin geology, weathering, and ecological processes within the basin. Accurate accounting of those exports is valuable to understanding present, past, and projected basin-wide changes in those processes. We calculated lateral export of inorganic and organic carbon (IC and OC) from rivers draining the conterminous United StAuthorsEdward G. Stets, Robert G. StrieglLandscape-level controls on dissolved carbon flux from diverse catchments of the circumboreal
While much of the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) within rivers is destined for mineralization to CO2, a substantial fraction of riverine bicarbonate (HCO3-) flux represents a CO2 sink, as a result of weathering processes that sequester CO2 as HCO3-. We explored landscape-level controls on DOC and HCO3- flux in subcatchments of the boreal, with a specific focus on the effect of permafrost on riveriAuthorsSuzanne Tank, Karen E. Frey, Robert G. Striegl, Peter A. Raymond, R. Max Holmes, James W. McClelland, Bruce J. PetersonAnnual estimates of water and solute export from 42 tributaries to the Yukon River
Annual export of 11 major and trace solutes for the Yukon River is found to be accurately determined based on summing 42 tributary contributions. These findings provide the first published estimates of tributary specific distribution of solutes within the Yukon River basin. First, we show that annual discharge of the Yukon River can be computed by summing calculated annual discharges from 42 tribuAuthorsFrederick Zanden, Suzanne P. Anderson, Robert G. StrieglVariation in soil carbon dioxide efflux at two spatial scales in a topographically complex boreal forest
Carbon dynamics of high-latitude regions are an important and highly uncertain component of global carbon budgets, and efforts to constrain estimates of soil-atmosphere carbon exchange in these regions are contingent on accurate representations of spatial and temporal variability in carbon fluxes. This study explores spatial and temporal variability in soilatmosphere carbon dynamics at both fine aAuthorsKatharine C. Kelsey, Kimberly P. Wickland, Robert G. Striegl, Jason C. NeffThe regional abundance and size distribution of lakes and reservoirs in the United States and implication for estimates of global lake extent
We analyzed complete geospatial data for the 3.5 million lakes and reservoirs larger than 0.001 km2, with a combined surface area of 131,000 km2, in the contiguous United States (excluding the Laurentian Great Lakes) and identified their regional distribution characteristics. For Alaska, we also analyzed (1) incomplete data that suggest that the state contains 1–2.5 million lakes larger than 0.001AuthorsCory P. McDonald, Jennifer Rover, Edward G. Stets, Robert G. StrieglVulnerability of high-latitude soil organic carbon in North America to disturbance
This synthesis addresses the vulnerability of the North American high-latitude soil organic carbon (SOC) pool to climate change. Disturbances caused by climate warming in arctic, subarctic, and boreal environments can result in significant redistribution of C among major reservoirs with potential global impacts. We divide the current northern high-latitude SOC pools into (1) near-surface soils wheAuthorsGuido Grosse, Jennifer W. Harden, Merritt Turetsky, A. David McGuire, Philip Camill, Charles Tarnocai, Steve Frolking, Edward A.G. Schuur, Torre Jorgenson, Sergei Marchenko, Vladimir Romanovsky, Kimberly P. Wickland, Nancy French, Mark P. Waldrop, Laura L. Bourgeau-Chavez, Robert G. StrieglA whole ecosystem approach to studying climate change in interior Alaska
Yukon River Basin Principal Investigators Workshop; Portland, Oregon, 18-20 January 2011; High latitudes are known to be particularly susceptible to climate warming, leading to an emphasis of field and modeling research on arctic regions. Subarctic and boreal regions such as the Yukon River Basin (YRB) of interior Alaska and western Canada are less well studied, although they encompass large areasAuthorsSusan Riggins, Robert G. Striegl, Michael McHaleThe aquatic real-time monitoring network; in-situ optical sensors for monitoring the nation's water quality
Floods, hurricanes, and longer-term changes in climate and land use can have profound effects on water quality due to shifts in hydrologic flow paths, water residence time, precipitation patterns, connectivity between rivers and uplands, and many other factors. In order to understand and respond to changes in hydrology and water quality, resource managers and policy makers have a need for accurateAuthorsBrian A. Pellerin, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Peter S. Murdoch, Bryan D. Downing, John Franco Saraceno, George R. Aiken, Robert G. StrieglAnthropogenic aerosols as a source of ancient dissolved organic matter in glaciers
Glacier-derived dissolved organic matter represents a quantitatively significant source of ancient, yet highly bioavailable carbon to downstream ecosystems. This finding runs counter to logical perceptions of age–reactivity relationships, in which the least reactive material withstands degradation the longest and is therefore the oldest. The remnants of ancient peatlands and forests overrun by glaAuthorsAron Stubbins, Eran Hood, Peter A. Raymond, George R. Aiken, Rachel L. Sleighter, Peter J. Hernes, David Butman, Patrick G. Hatcher, Robert G. Striegl, Paul F. Schuster, Hussain A.N. Abdulla, Andrew W. Vermilyea, Durelle T. Scott, Robert G.M. Spencer