Sheila Murphy
Sheila Murphy is a Research Hydrologist for the USGS Water Resources Mission Area.
Sheila Murphy is a research hydrologist who focuses on how disturbances (such as wildfire, floods, hurricanes, land use change) alter watershed response, water quality, and water quantity. Her recent research has evaluated the effects of wildfire on water quality in the western U.S., and the hydrologic and geochemical responses to land cover change and hurricanes in a tropical forest in Puerto Rico.
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 58
Atmospheric dust deposition varies by season and elevation in the Colorado Front Range, USA
As atmospheric dust deposition continues to increase across the southwestern United States, it has the potential to alter ecosystem productivity and structure by delivering nutrients, base cations, and pollutants to remote mountain sites. Due to the sparse distribution of dust monitoring sites, open questions remain about the spatial and temporal variability of dust fluxes and...
Authors
Ruth C. Heindel, Annie L. Putman, Sheila F. Murphy, Deborah A. Repert, Eve-Lyn S. Hinckley
Inorganic nitrogen wet deposition gradients in the Denver-Boulder metropolitan area and Colorado Front Range – Preliminary implications for Rocky Mountain National Park and interpolated deposition maps
For the first time in the 40-year history of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program / National Trends Network (NADP/NTN), a unique urban-to-rural transect of wet deposition monitoring stations were operated as part of the NTN in 2017 to quantify reactive inorganic nitrogen wet deposition for adjacent urban and rural, montane regions. The transect of NADP stations (sites) was used to...
Authors
Gregory A. Wetherbee, Katherine Benedict, Sheila F. Murphy, Emily Elliott
Before the storm: Antecedent conditions as regulators of hydrologic and biogeochemical response to extreme climate events
While the influence of antecedent conditions on watershed function is widely recognized under typical hydrologic regimes, gaps remain in the context of extreme climate events (ECEs). ECEs are those events that far exceed seasonal norms of intensity, duration, or impact upon the physical environment or ecosystem. In this synthesis, we discuss the role of source availability and hydrologic...
Authors
Sara K. McMillan, Henry F. Wilson, Christina L. Tague, Daniel M. Hanes, Shreeram Inamdar, Diana L. Karwan, Terry Loecke, Jonathan Morrison, Sheila F. Murphy, Philippe Vidon
Fire, flood, and drought: Extreme climate events alter flow paths and stream chemistry
Extreme climate events—such as hurricanes, droughts, extreme precipitation, and wildfires—have the potential to alter watershed processes and stream response. Yet due to the destructive and hazardous nature and unpredictability of such events, capturing their hydrochemical signal is challenging. A 5‐year postwildfire study of stream chemistry in the Fourmile Creek watershed, Colorado...
Authors
Sheila F. Murphy, R. Blaine McCleskey, Deborah A. Martin, Jeffrey H. Writer, Brian A. Ebel
Anthropocene landscape change and the legacy of nineteenth- and twentieth-century mining in the Fourmile Catchment, Colorado Front Range
Human impacts on earth surface processes and materials are fundamental to understanding the proposed Anthropocene epoch. This study examines the magnitude, distribution, and long-term context of nineteenth- and twentieth-century mining in the Fourmile Creek catchment, Colorado, coupling airborne LiDAR topographic analysis with historical documents and field studies of river banks exposed...
Authors
David P. Dethier, William B. Ouimet, Sheila F. Murphy, Maneh Kotikian, Will Wicherski, Rachel M. Samuels
A method for quantifying cloud immersion in a tropical mountain forest using time-lapse photography
Quantifying the frequency, duration, and elevation range of fog or cloud immersion is essential to estimate cloud water deposition in water budgets and to understand the ecohydrology of cloud forests. The goal of this study was to develop a low-cost and high spatial-coverage method to detect occurrence of cloud immersion within a mountain cloud forest by using time-lapse photography...
Authors
Maoya Bassiouni, Martha A. Scholl, Angel J. Torres-Sanchez, Sheila F. Murphy
Reassessing rainfall in the Luquillo Mountains, Puerto Rico: Local and global ecohydrological implications
Mountains receive a greater proportion of precipitation than other environments, and thus make a disproportionate contribution to the world’s water supply. The Luquillo Mountains receive the highest rainfall on the island of Puerto Rico and serve as a critical source of water to surrounding communities. The area’s role as a long-term research site has generated numerous hydrological...
Authors
Sheila F. Murphy, Robert F. Stallard, Martha A. Scholl, Grizelle Gonzalez, Angel J. Torres-Sanchez
Critical zone properties control the fate of nitrogen during experimental rainfall in montane forests of the Colorado Front Range
Several decades of research in alpine ecosystems have demonstrated links among the critical zone, hydrologic response, and the fate of elevated atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition. Less research has occurred in mid-elevation forests, which may be important for retaining atmospheric N deposition. To explore the fate of N in the montane zone, we conducted plot-scale experimental rainfall...
Authors
Eve-Lyn S. Hinckley, Brian A. Ebel, Rebecca T. Barnes, Sheila F. Murphy, Suzanne P. Anderson
Water-quality response to a high-elevation wildfire in the Colorado Front Range
Water quality of the Big Thompson River in the Front Range of Colorado was studied for 2 years following a high‐elevation wildfire that started in October 2012 and burned 15% of the watershed. A combination of fixed‐interval sampling and continuous water‐quality monitors was used to examine the timing and magnitude of water‐quality changes caused by the wildfire. Prefire water quality...
Authors
M. Alisa Mast, Sheila F. Murphy, David W. Clow, Colin A. Penn, Graham A. Sexstone
The role of precipitation type, intensity, and spatial distribution in source water quality after wildfire
Storms following wildfires are known to impair drinking water supplies in the southwestern United States, yet our understanding of the role of precipitation in post-wildfire water quality is far from complete. We quantitatively assessed water-quality impacts of different hydrologic events in the Colorado Front Range and found that for a three-year period, substantial hydrologic and...
Authors
Sheila F. Murphy, Jeffrey H. Writer, R. Blaine McCleskey, Deborah A. Martin
Stable-isotope and solute-chemistry approaches to flow characterization in a forested tropical watershed, Luquillo Mountains, Puerto Rico
The prospect of changing climate has led to uncertainty about the resilience of forested mountain watersheds in the tropics. In watersheds where frequent, high rainfall provides ample runoff, we often lack understanding of how the system will respond under conditions of decreased rainfall or drought. Factors that govern water supply, such as recharge rates and groundwater storage...
Authors
Martha A. Scholl, James B. Shanley, Sheila F. Murphy, Jane K Willenbring, Marcie Occhi, Grizelle González
Precipitation isotopes link regional climate patterns to water supply in a tropical mountain forest, eastern Puerto Rico
Like many mountainous areas in the tropics, watersheds in the Luquillo Mountains of eastern Puerto Rico have abundant rainfall and stream discharge and provide much of the water supply for the densely populated metropolitan areas nearby. Projected changes in regional temperature and atmospheric dynamics as a result of global warming suggest that water availability will be affected by...
Authors
Martha A. Scholl, Sheila F. Murphy
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 58
Atmospheric dust deposition varies by season and elevation in the Colorado Front Range, USA
As atmospheric dust deposition continues to increase across the southwestern United States, it has the potential to alter ecosystem productivity and structure by delivering nutrients, base cations, and pollutants to remote mountain sites. Due to the sparse distribution of dust monitoring sites, open questions remain about the spatial and temporal variability of dust fluxes and...
Authors
Ruth C. Heindel, Annie L. Putman, Sheila F. Murphy, Deborah A. Repert, Eve-Lyn S. Hinckley
Inorganic nitrogen wet deposition gradients in the Denver-Boulder metropolitan area and Colorado Front Range – Preliminary implications for Rocky Mountain National Park and interpolated deposition maps
For the first time in the 40-year history of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program / National Trends Network (NADP/NTN), a unique urban-to-rural transect of wet deposition monitoring stations were operated as part of the NTN in 2017 to quantify reactive inorganic nitrogen wet deposition for adjacent urban and rural, montane regions. The transect of NADP stations (sites) was used to...
Authors
Gregory A. Wetherbee, Katherine Benedict, Sheila F. Murphy, Emily Elliott
Before the storm: Antecedent conditions as regulators of hydrologic and biogeochemical response to extreme climate events
While the influence of antecedent conditions on watershed function is widely recognized under typical hydrologic regimes, gaps remain in the context of extreme climate events (ECEs). ECEs are those events that far exceed seasonal norms of intensity, duration, or impact upon the physical environment or ecosystem. In this synthesis, we discuss the role of source availability and hydrologic...
Authors
Sara K. McMillan, Henry F. Wilson, Christina L. Tague, Daniel M. Hanes, Shreeram Inamdar, Diana L. Karwan, Terry Loecke, Jonathan Morrison, Sheila F. Murphy, Philippe Vidon
Fire, flood, and drought: Extreme climate events alter flow paths and stream chemistry
Extreme climate events—such as hurricanes, droughts, extreme precipitation, and wildfires—have the potential to alter watershed processes and stream response. Yet due to the destructive and hazardous nature and unpredictability of such events, capturing their hydrochemical signal is challenging. A 5‐year postwildfire study of stream chemistry in the Fourmile Creek watershed, Colorado...
Authors
Sheila F. Murphy, R. Blaine McCleskey, Deborah A. Martin, Jeffrey H. Writer, Brian A. Ebel
Anthropocene landscape change and the legacy of nineteenth- and twentieth-century mining in the Fourmile Catchment, Colorado Front Range
Human impacts on earth surface processes and materials are fundamental to understanding the proposed Anthropocene epoch. This study examines the magnitude, distribution, and long-term context of nineteenth- and twentieth-century mining in the Fourmile Creek catchment, Colorado, coupling airborne LiDAR topographic analysis with historical documents and field studies of river banks exposed...
Authors
David P. Dethier, William B. Ouimet, Sheila F. Murphy, Maneh Kotikian, Will Wicherski, Rachel M. Samuels
A method for quantifying cloud immersion in a tropical mountain forest using time-lapse photography
Quantifying the frequency, duration, and elevation range of fog or cloud immersion is essential to estimate cloud water deposition in water budgets and to understand the ecohydrology of cloud forests. The goal of this study was to develop a low-cost and high spatial-coverage method to detect occurrence of cloud immersion within a mountain cloud forest by using time-lapse photography...
Authors
Maoya Bassiouni, Martha A. Scholl, Angel J. Torres-Sanchez, Sheila F. Murphy
Reassessing rainfall in the Luquillo Mountains, Puerto Rico: Local and global ecohydrological implications
Mountains receive a greater proportion of precipitation than other environments, and thus make a disproportionate contribution to the world’s water supply. The Luquillo Mountains receive the highest rainfall on the island of Puerto Rico and serve as a critical source of water to surrounding communities. The area’s role as a long-term research site has generated numerous hydrological...
Authors
Sheila F. Murphy, Robert F. Stallard, Martha A. Scholl, Grizelle Gonzalez, Angel J. Torres-Sanchez
Critical zone properties control the fate of nitrogen during experimental rainfall in montane forests of the Colorado Front Range
Several decades of research in alpine ecosystems have demonstrated links among the critical zone, hydrologic response, and the fate of elevated atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition. Less research has occurred in mid-elevation forests, which may be important for retaining atmospheric N deposition. To explore the fate of N in the montane zone, we conducted plot-scale experimental rainfall...
Authors
Eve-Lyn S. Hinckley, Brian A. Ebel, Rebecca T. Barnes, Sheila F. Murphy, Suzanne P. Anderson
Water-quality response to a high-elevation wildfire in the Colorado Front Range
Water quality of the Big Thompson River in the Front Range of Colorado was studied for 2 years following a high‐elevation wildfire that started in October 2012 and burned 15% of the watershed. A combination of fixed‐interval sampling and continuous water‐quality monitors was used to examine the timing and magnitude of water‐quality changes caused by the wildfire. Prefire water quality...
Authors
M. Alisa Mast, Sheila F. Murphy, David W. Clow, Colin A. Penn, Graham A. Sexstone
The role of precipitation type, intensity, and spatial distribution in source water quality after wildfire
Storms following wildfires are known to impair drinking water supplies in the southwestern United States, yet our understanding of the role of precipitation in post-wildfire water quality is far from complete. We quantitatively assessed water-quality impacts of different hydrologic events in the Colorado Front Range and found that for a three-year period, substantial hydrologic and...
Authors
Sheila F. Murphy, Jeffrey H. Writer, R. Blaine McCleskey, Deborah A. Martin
Stable-isotope and solute-chemistry approaches to flow characterization in a forested tropical watershed, Luquillo Mountains, Puerto Rico
The prospect of changing climate has led to uncertainty about the resilience of forested mountain watersheds in the tropics. In watersheds where frequent, high rainfall provides ample runoff, we often lack understanding of how the system will respond under conditions of decreased rainfall or drought. Factors that govern water supply, such as recharge rates and groundwater storage...
Authors
Martha A. Scholl, James B. Shanley, Sheila F. Murphy, Jane K Willenbring, Marcie Occhi, Grizelle González
Precipitation isotopes link regional climate patterns to water supply in a tropical mountain forest, eastern Puerto Rico
Like many mountainous areas in the tropics, watersheds in the Luquillo Mountains of eastern Puerto Rico have abundant rainfall and stream discharge and provide much of the water supply for the densely populated metropolitan areas nearby. Projected changes in regional temperature and atmospheric dynamics as a result of global warming suggest that water availability will be affected by...
Authors
Martha A. Scholl, Sheila F. Murphy