Ryan R McShane
Biography
As a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center, Ryan has been working on developing geospatial tools for predicting water availability in streams, and building models for assessing water use associated with energy development. His research interests include: 1) understanding how scale modifies the influence of physiography and climate on the hydrologic and geomorphic processes that drive spatial and temporal patterns of high and low flow in streams; 2) understanding how changes in climate and water use for food and energy could affect water availability in streams; 3) understanding how water resources management influences the distribution and abundance of aquatic and riparian species; and 4) understanding how alterations to the management of water supply from streams might help sustain aquatic animals and riparian plants while still maintaining human demands for water. For his dissertation research, Ryan has been studying how changes in climate might affect water availability and use in the upper Green River basin in Wyoming, and how modifying streamflow regulation could influence the distribution and abundance of native and non-native aquatic and riparian species.
For his master’s research in New Mexico, Ryan studied how invasive fishes affected native aquatic organisms in streams during drought. After college, Ryan worked as a fishery biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Western Fisheries Research Center in Nevada, studying the effects of invasive species and hydrologic and geomorphic alteration on threatened and endangered aquatic species in the Basin and Range and Sierra Nevada.
Ryan is working on his PhD in ecology at Colorado State University. He has a MS in fisheries and wildlife science from New Mexico State University, and a BS in natural resources and environmental science from University of Michigan.
Science and Products
WLCI: Determining Streamflow Drivers in Wyoming Range Small Streams
Flow in small mountain and plains streams is dependent on many factors such as precipitation, groundwater inflow, topography, and geology.
Geospatial Research and Development to Understand Hydrologic Processes
All natural phenomena have a spatial component. Remote sensing, GIS, and geostatistical methods can be used to evaluate the spatial components of hydrologic phenomena and understand characteristics, such as water quality, streamflow, and hydraulics.
Probability of Streamflow Permanence (PROSPER)
PRObability of Streamflow PERmanence (PROSPER)
Rivers and streams are constantly changing. Streamflows can change throughout the year and between years due to snowmelt, precipitation, diversions, and return flows. For many streams, these fluctuations determine whether a stream has year-round flow or not. PROSPER is a project initiated to better understand what causes these fluctuations...
Data to Estimate Water Use Associated with Continuous Oil and Gas Development, Williston Basin, United States, 1980-2017
This U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Data Release provides data to estimate water use associated with continuous oil and gas development in the Williston Basin during 1980-2017. Data included: 1. Data records from the national hydraulic fracturing chemical registry, FracFocus, including the state, county, latitude and longitude of each well, and the year and volume of water used for...
Estimates of water use associated with continuous oil and gas development in the Williston Basin, North Dakota and Montana, 2007–17
This study of water use associated with development of continuous oil and gas resources in the Williston Basin is intended to provide a preliminary model-based analysis of water use in major regions of production of continuous oil and gas resources in the United States. Direct, indirect, and ancillary water use associated with development of...
McShane, Ryan R.; Barnhart, Theodore B.; Valder, Joshua F.; Haines, Seth S.; Macek-Rowland, Kathleen M. ; Carter, Janet M.; Delzer, Gregory C.; Thamke, Joanna N.Analytical framework to estimate water use associated with continuous oil and gas development
An analytical framework was designed to estimate water use associated with continuous oil and gas (COG) development in support of the U.S. Geological Survey Water Availability and Use Science Program. This framework was developed to better understand the relation between the production of COG resources for energy and the amount of water needed to...
Valder, Joshua F.; McShane, Ryan R.; Barnhart, Theodore B.; Wheeling, Spencer L.; Carter, Janet M.; Macek-Rowland, Kathleen M. ; Delzer, Gregory C.; Thamke, Joanna N.U.S. Geological Survey science for the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative—2017 annual report
The Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI) was established in 2008 to address the scientific and conservation questions associated with land use changes because of energy development and other factors in southwest Wyoming. Over the past decade, partners from U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), State and Federal land management agencies,...
Zeigenfuss, Linda C.; Aikens, Ellen; Aldridge, Cameron L.; Anderson, Patrick J.; Assal, Timothy J.; Bowen, Zachary H.; Chalfoun, Anna D.; Chong, Geneva W.; Eddy-Miller, Cheryl A.; Germaine, Stephen S.; Graves, Tabitha; Homer, Collin G.; Huber, Christopher; Johnston, Aaron; Kauffman, Matthew J.; Manier, Daniel J.; McShane, Ryan R.; Miller, Kirk A.; Monroe, Adrian P.; Ortega, Anna; Walters, Annika W.; Wyckoff, Teal B.Probability of streamflow permanence model (PROSPER): A spatially continuous model of annual streamflow permanence throughout the Pacific Northwest
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed the PRObability of Streamflow PERmanence (PROSPER) model, a GIS raster-based empirical model that provides streamflow permanence probabilities (probabilistic predictions) of a stream channel having year-round flow for any unregulated and minimally-impaired stream channel in the Pacific Northwest...
Jaeger, Kristin; Sando, Thomas R.; McShane, Ryan R.; Dunham, Jason B.; Hockman-Wert, David; Kaiser, Kendra E; Hafen, Konrad; Risley, John; Blasch, KyleConceptual model to assess water use associated with the life cycle of unconventional oil and gas development
As the demand for energy increases in the United States, so does the demand for water used to produce many forms of that energy. Technological advances, limited access to conventional oil and gas accumulations, and the rise of oil and gas prices resulted in increased development of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) accumulations. Unconventional oil...
Valder, Joshua F.; McShane, Ryan R.; Barnhart, Theodore B.; Sando, Roy; Carter, Janet M.; Lundgren, Robert F.A review of surface energy balance models for estimating actual evapotranspiration with remote sensing at high spatiotemporal resolution over large extents
Many approaches have been developed for measuring or estimating actual evapotranspiration (ETa), and research over many years has led to the development of remote sensing methods that are reliably reproducible and effective in estimating ETa. Several remote sensing methods can be used to estimate ETa at the high spatial resolution of agricultural...
McShane, Ryan R.; Driscoll, Katelyn P.; Sando, RoyPre-USGS Publications
A Spatially Continuous Model of Annual Streamflow Permanence Throughout the Pacific Northwest
An interdisciplinary team comprised of USGS and university scientists has developed the Probability of Streamflow Permanence Model or PROSPER which predicts flow permanence for unregulated and minimally impaired streams in the Pacific Northwest.