|
|
|
|
Biography
After concluding a B.S. in Environmental Science from Creighton University (1996), I began my studies at the University of Wyoming where I earned M.S. (1999) and Ph.D. (2003) degrees in botany. There, I studied snow redistribution by wind at treeline and its subsequent ecosystem effects. Following graduate school, I worked as a Research Associate/Scientist in Colorado State’s Department of Atmospheric Science, where I gained additional skills in atmospheric science modeling, snow modeling, and science education. I joined CIRA in 2006 and am supported by projects that entail snow measurement and modeling efforts in various environments, with a particular emphasis on sagebrush steppe and the Arctic.
I strive to link physical and biological processes, verify and improve models and model products, and frequently contribute to field measurement campaigns and other collaborative efforts. I integrate observations and modeling efforts. My background and training has been intentionally multidisciplinary, spanning botany, ecology, geography, and atmospheric science. This multidisciplinary background and my familiarity with field techniques, remote sensing, GIS, GPS, and models (ecological and physical) fosters fruitful collaborations and scientifically valuable projects that focus on interactions among the physical environment and ecosystem structure and function.
Recent Work
Sagebrush steppe is a dominant component of intermountain western landscapes, occupying over 36 million ha of the contiguous United States. Here, winters are cold and windy. Snow distribution patterns, determined by interactions among snow, wind, topography, radiation, and vegetation (canopy height and spacing), are heterogeneous and of variable duration. A North Park site (above) is dominated by Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyena shrubs (5-103 cm high; 38 cm mean height; 66% cover) and was sampled bi-weekly during the winters of 2005-06 and 2006-07. These images show 1200 snow depth measurements observed during 31 January 2007 (maximum average seasonal depth) overlaid on an orthophoto that shows shrub distribution. The rectangular transect on the left is 800 by 200 m and was sampled every 3-5 m. The square transect in the middle is 50 by 50 m and the measurement interval was .25 m. Southwest winds, topography, and vegetation interact to influence snow patterns in this landscape. Snow accumulates on the lee side of the ridge (left figure) and where shrubs are dense (left, middle, and right figures). In contrast, snow is scoured from the top of the ridge (left figure), which features shorter shrubs and areas with less shrubs (middle figure). Because snow affects the amount of plant-available water, winter ecosystem processes (e.g., decomposition), energy, and spectral signature, it is important to define features that influence sagebrush steppe snow amount and distribution. Results from these analyses are being used to inform and improve model simulations for snow accumulation and ablation in the sagebrush steppe  Selected Publications
General Themes
|
||
|
Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1375
|
|
|
|
Email:
webmaster@cira.colostate.edu, Phone: 970-491-8448, Fax: 970-491-8241
|
||