Robert Dudley
Biography
Rob Dudley is a Hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey New England Water Science Center. His work in recent years has focused on regional and national-scale statistical investigations of climate-related trends and variability of surface waters and groundwaters, probabilistic forecasting, and developing methods for computing river flows using satellite imagery and altimetry data.
Science and Products
Trend Reproduction
As part of the National Water Budget Project, our objective is to quantify how well observed trends are simulated.
HBMI PRMS Project
This project will provide a deterministic watershed model of the Meduxnekeag River watershed with a capacity to model water-temperatures capable of simulating future hydrologic and temperature changes based on projected climate estimates.
EPA National Low Flows
Low streamflow has great ecological importance as it defines the minimum extent (and carrying capacity) of in-stream habitat and affects biota composition and distribution, and species trophic structure.
Hydrologic Climate Change Indicators
Background Streams and rivers are an important environmental resource and provide water for many human needs. Streamflow is a measure of the volume of water carried by rivers and streams. Changes in streamflow can directly influence the supply of water available for human consumption, irrigation, generating electricity, and other needs. In addition, many plants and animals depend on...
Webinar: Historical Trends in Summer Precipitation, Baseflows, and Stormflows in New England and Projections of Seasonal Streamflows for Coastal Streams in Maine
Check out this webinar for more information on influencing water flow in Maine rivers and streams.
Impact of Changes in Streamflow and Temperature on Endangered Atlantic Salmon
Coastal rivers draining into the Gulf of Maine are home to the endangered Gulf of Maine Distinct Population Segment of Atlantic salmon. The Gulf of Maine population began to decline significantly by the late 19th century, leading to the closure of the commercial Atlantic salmon fishery in 1948. In recent years, populations have again begun to decrease again. State and federal fisheries...
Comparing trends in modeled and observed streamflows at minimally altered basins in the United States
We compared modeled and observed streamflow trends from 1984–2016 using five statistical transfer models and one deterministic, distributed-parameter, process-based model, for 26 flow metrics at 502 basins in the United States that are minimally influenced by development. We also looked at a measure of overall model fit and average bias. A higher...
Hodgkins, Glenn A.; Dudley, Robert; Russell, Amy M.; LaFontaine, Jacob H.Change points in annual peak streamflows: Method comparisons and historical change points in the United States
Change-point, or step-trend, detection is an active area of research in statistics and an area of great interest in hydrology because change points may be evidence of natural or anthropogenic changes in climatic, hydrologic, or landscape processes. A common change-point technique is the Pettitt test; however, many change-point methods are now...
Ryberg, Karen R.; Hodgkins, Glenn A.; Dudley, RobertLow streamflow trends at human-impacted and reference basins in the United States
We present a continent-scale exploration of trends in annual 7-day low streamflows at 2482 U.S. Geological Survey streamgages across the conterminous United States over the past 100, 75, and 50 years (1916–2015, 1941–2015 and 1966–2015). We used basin characteristics to identify subsets of study basins representative of reference basins with...
Dudley, Robert; Hirsch, Robert M.; Archfield, Stacey A.; Blum, Annalise G.; Renard, BenjaminAtlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) climate scenario planning pilot report
Scenario planning is a structured process that embraces uncertainty and explores plausible alternative future conditions under different assumptions to help manage risk and prioritize actions ( Schwartz 1996, Peterson et al. 2003). It has been used by a variety of organizations to explore and help prepare for the future, lends itself well to...
Borggaard, Diane; Dick, Dori; Star, Jonathan; Alexander, Mike; Bernier, M.; Collins, Matt; Damon-Randall, Kelly; Dudley, Robert; Roger Griffis, Roger; Hayes, Sean; Johnson, Mike; Kircheis, Dan; Kocik, John; Letcher, Benjamin; Mantua, Nate; Morrison, Wendy; Nislow, Keith; Saba, Vince; Saunders, R.; Sheehan, Tim; Staudinger, Michelle D.Updating estimates of low-streamflow statistics to account for possible trends
Accurate estimators of streamflow statistics are critical to the design, planning, and management of water resources. Given increasing evidence of trends in low-streamflow, new approaches to estimating low-streamflow statistics are needed. Here we investigate simple approaches to select a recent subset of the low-flow record to update the commonly...
Blum, Annalise G.; Archfield, Stacey A.; Hirsch, Robert M.; Vogel, Richard M; Kiang, Julie E.; Dudley, RobertDrought forecasting for streams and groundwaters in northeastern United States
BackgroundWhen rainfall is lower than normal over an extended period, streamflows decline, groundwater levels fall, and hydrological drought can occur. Droughts can reduce the water available for societal needs, such as public and private drinking-water supplies, farming, and industry, and for ecological health, such as maintenance of water...
Austin, Samuel H.; Dudley, Robert W.Generalized hydrogeologic framework and groundwater budget for a groundwater availability study for the glacial aquifer system of the United States
The glacial aquifer system groundwater availability study seeks to quantify (1) the status of groundwater resources in the glacial aquifer system, (2) how these resources have changed over time, and (3) likely system response to future changes in anthropogenic and environmental conditions. The glacial aquifer system extends from Maine to Alaska,...
Reeves, Howard W.; Bayless, E. Randall; Dudley, Robert W.; Feinstein, Daniel T.; Fienen, Michael N.; Hoard, Christopher J.; Hodgkins, Glenn A.; Qi, Sharon L.; Roth, Jason L.; Trost, Jared J.Groundwater-level trends in the U.S. glacial aquifer system, 1964-2013
The glacial aquifer system in the United States is a major source of water supply but previous work on historical groundwater trends across the system is lacking. Trends in annual minimum, mean, and maximum groundwater levels for 205 monitoring wells were analyzed across three regions of the system (East, Central, West Central) for four time...
Hodgkins, Glenn A.; Dudley, Robert W.; Nielsen, Martha G.; Renard, Benjamin; Qi, Sharon L.Forecasting the probability of future groundwater levels declining below specified low thresholds in the conterminous U.S.
We present a logistic regression approach for forecasting the probability of future groundwater levels declining or maintaining below specific groundwater-level thresholds. We tested our approach on 102 groundwater wells in different climatic regions and aquifers of the United States that are part of the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater Climate...
Dudley, Robert W.; Hodgkins, Glenn A.; Dickinson, Jesse E.Trends in snowmelt-related streamflow timing in the conterminous United States
Changes in snowmelt-related streamflow timing have implications for water availability and use as well as ecologically relevant shifts in streamflow. Historical trends in snowmelt-related streamflow timing (winter-spring center volume date, WSCVD) were computed for minimally disturbed river basins in the conterminous United States. WSCVD was...
Dudley, Robert W.; Hodgkins, Glenn A.; McHale, Michael; Kolian, Michael J.; Renard, BenjaminWinter-spring streamflow volume and timing data for 75 Hydroclimatic Data Network-2009 basins in the conterminous United States 1920-2014
This dataset contains gage information for 75 Hydroclimatic Data Network-2009 basins in the conterminous United States and associated annual runoff volume, winter-spring runoff volume, and winter-spring runoff timing data 1920-2014, as well as trend results for WSCVD and WSV for periods 1920-2014, 1940-2014, and 1960-2014.
Dudley, Robert W.; Hodgkins, Glenn A.; McHale, Michael; Kolian, Michael J.; Renard, BenjaminStreamflow
This indicator describes trends in the amount of water carried by streams across the United States, as well as the timing of runoff associated with snowmelt.
McHale, Michael; Dudley, Robert W.; Hodgkins, Glenn A.