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Theodore B. Barnhart

Dr. Theodore B. Barnhart studies the connection between the mountain snowpack and streamflow.

Dr. Barnhart is interested in furthering the understanding of how changes in the mountain snowpack translate into changes in streamflow and how that process varies across landscapes, land cover types, and climate systems. He is also interested in understanding the water resources implications of the changing mountain snowpack and streamflow and the effects on downstream stakeholders. He uses numerical snowpack and hydrologic models for his research along with observational and remote sensing data sets.

Professional Experience

  • Research Physical Scientist, United States Geological Survey, Wyoming – Montana Water Science Center, Helena, MT: 2020-present.

  • Physical Scientist, United States Geological Survey, Wyoming – Montana Water Science Center, Helena, MT: 2017-2020.

  • Research Assistant, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO: 2013-2018.

  • Research Assistant, Department of Geology, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID: 2011-2013.

Education and Certifications

  • PhD Geography, University of Colorado Boulder, 2018.

  • MS Geology, Idaho State University, 2013.

  • BA Geology-Environmental Studies with Honors, Whitman College, 2010, Cum Laude.

Affiliations and Memberships

  • Present: American Geophysical Union

Science and Products

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Example FCPG showing stream cells with upstream average annual precipitation.

Flow-Conditioned Parameter Grids

Flow-Conditioned Parameter Grids (FCPGs) are a way of storing the upstream average of datasets, such as precipitation or land cover type, for all points on the landscape.
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Water Resources, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center
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Flow-Conditioned Parameter Grids

Flow-Conditioned Parameter Grids (FCPGs) are a way of storing the upstream average of datasets, such as precipitation or land cover type, for all points on the landscape.
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USGS science for a changing world logo

Building a framework to compute continuous grids of basin characteristics for the conterminous United States

The proposed work will create a seamless pilot dataset of continuous basin characteristics (for example upstream average precipitation, elevation, or dominant land cover type) for the conterminous United States. Basin characteristic data are necessary for training or parameterizing statistical, machine learning, and physical models, and for making predictions across the landscape, particularly in
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Community for Data Integration (CDI)
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Building a framework to compute continuous grids of basin characteristics for the conterminous United States

The proposed work will create a seamless pilot dataset of continuous basin characteristics (for example upstream average precipitation, elevation, or dominant land cover type) for the conterminous United States. Basin characteristic data are necessary for training or parameterizing statistical, machine learning, and physical models, and for making predictions across the landscape, particularly in
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Estimated Nitrogen and Phosphorus Input to Fish Creek Watershed

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.
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Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center
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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.
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National Hydrologic Model Alaska Domain parameter database, version 1

This data release contains input data for hydrologic simulations of the Alaska Domain application of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Precipitation Runoff Modelling System (PRMS) as implemented in the National Hydrologic Model (NHM) infrastructure (Regan and others, 2018). The NHM Alaska Domain parameter database consists of 114 parameter files in ASCII format (CSV), two files needed to run the A
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Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Geospatial Fabric for the National Hydrologic Model Alaska Domain, version 1

This metadata record documents a geospatial dataset for the U.S. Geological Survey Precipitation Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) used to drive the National Hydrologic Model (NHM). The Alaska Geospatial Fabric v1 is the spatial representation of the hydrologic response units (HRUs) used for the PRMS NHM Alaska domain. These HRUs were generated using the twelve-digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC12) water
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Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Water Use Data for Hydraulic Fracturing Treatments in and near the Williston Basin, United States, 2000-2015

Water used for hydraulic fracturing treatments in and near the Williston Basin during 2000-2015, was estimated using data reported in IHS Markit (TM) (2016). Hydraulic fracturing treatment data from IHS Markit (TM) (2016) may include volumes in a variety of measurement units, and they may include multiple treatments per well. All listed treatments within the study area were converted to gallons an
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Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Beyond streamflow: Call for a national data repository of streamflow presence for streams and rivers in the United States

Observations of the presence or absence of surface water in streams are useful for characterizing streamflow permanence, which includes the frequency, duration, and spatial extent of surface flow in streams and rivers. Such data are particularly valuable for headwater streams, which comprise the vast majority of channel length in stream networks, are often non-perennial, and are frequently the mos
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Water Resources, Washington Water Science Center

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 continuous oil and gas resources in the Williston Basin
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Water Resources, Water Availability and Use Science Program, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Runoff sensitivity to snow depletion curve representation within a continental scale hydrologic model

The spatial variability of snow water equivalent (SWE) can exert a strong influence on the timing and magnitude of snowmelt delivery to a watershed. Therefore, the representation of subgrid or subwatershed snow variability in hydrologic models is important for accurately simulating snowmelt dynamics and runoff response. The U.S. Geological Survey National Hydrologic Model infrastructure with the P
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Water Resources, Colorado Water Science Center

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 sustain this type of energy development in the Unit
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Dakota Water Science Center, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Conceptual 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 and gas is developed using a method that combines
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Dakota Water Science Center, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Pre-USGS Publications

Barnhart, T.B., Vukomanovic, J., Bourgeron, P., and Molotch, N.P. (2021). Future Land Cover and Climate May Drive Decreases inSnow Wind-Scour and Transpiration, Increasing Streamflow at a Colorado, USA Headwater Catchment. Hydrological Processes, e14416.
Barnhart, T. B., Tague, C. L., & Molotch, N. P. (2020). The counteracting effects of snowmelt rate and timing on runoff. Water Resources Research, 56, e2019WR026634.
Barnhart, T.B., N.P. Molotch, B. Livneh, A.A. Harpold, J.F. Knowles, D. Schneider (2016), Snowmelt Rate Dictates Streamflow: Geophysical Research Letters, 43(15), 8006-8016.
Harpold, A.A., J.A. Marshall, S.W. Lyon, T.B. Barnhart, B. Fisher, M. Donovan, K.M. Brubaker, C.J. Crosby, N.F. Glenn, C.L. Glennie, P.B. Kirchner, N. Lam, K.D. Mankoff, J.L. McCreight, N.P. Molotch, K.N. Musselman, J. Pelletier, T. Russo, H. Sangireddy, Y. Sjöberg, T. Swetnam, and N. West (2015), Laser Vision: Lidar as a Transformative Tool to Advance Critical Zone Science: Hydrology and Earth System Science, 19, 2881-2897.
Barnhart, T.B., and B.T. Crosby (2013), Comparing Two Methods of Surface Change Detection on an Evolving Thermokarst Using High-Temporal-Frequency Terrestrial Laser Scanning, Selawik River, Alaska: Remote Sensing, 5, 2813-2837.

Flow-Conditioned Parameter Grid Tools

The Flow-Conditioned Parameter Grid (FCPG) Tools are a Python 3 library to make FCPGs for either two-digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC2) regions, four-digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC4) regions, or other geospatial tiling schemes. These tools can be used in a Linux-based high performance computing (HPC) environment or locally on your system.

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Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

StreamStats Data Preparation Tools, version 4

A Python package to pre-process and hydro-enforce digital elevation models using hydrography features for use in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) StreamStats project.

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Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center
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New Open-Source Projects Using NHDPlus

Two new open-source projects, Xstrm and FCPGtools, have been released that provide functionality based on versions of the NHDPlus. Both projects...

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Science and Products