BER Science Highlights
U.S. Department of Energy | Office of Science | Biological and Environmental Research Program

Watershed Sciences

  • Two researchers sit in front of a computer and point at maps on the screen.

    Scientists with Flow Simulation Models

    Flow Simulation Models. Scientists seek to determine how perturbations (e.g., floods, drought, and early snowmelt) to mountainous watersheds affect the downstream delivery of water, nutrients, carbon, and metals over seasonal to decadal time scales through the development and testing of scale-adaptive models.

  • Graphic of the flow of water among the atmosphere, land, and human environments, such as streams, groundwater, dams, and human consumption.

    Atmosphere, Terrestrial, and Human Systems (ATH): Integrated Components of Mountainous Regions

    Atmosphere, Terrestrial, and Human Systems (ATH): Integrated and Connected Components of
    Mountainous Regions. Atmospheric conditions in mountain regions regulate water partitioning through the
    terrestrial compartment (e.g., through infiltration and runoff partitioning to surface water and ground-water). Subsurface biogeochemical cycles from bedrock through vegetation regulate evapotranspiration fluxes back to the atmosphere; carbon dioxide fluxes from soils and streams; and watershed exports of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and other elements. When water and elements reach downstream human systems, water regulation and decision-making become critical controls on water and elemental feedbacks to the atmosphere.

  • Graphic with land features, human emissions, and plant emissions surrounded by circular flow of the water cycle, climate change, and soil processes.

    Feedback Processes Across the Atmosphere-To-Bedrock Interface

    Examples of Feedback Processes Across the Atmosphere-To-Bedrock Interface in Mountain Regions. Mountain hydroclimates deliver precipitation and aerosols at intervals that are influenced by climate change, including air temperature fluctuations and carbon dioxide (CO2) rise. Variations in precipitation timing, magnitude, and frequency will alter subsequent hydrological partitioning and watershed vegetation–hydro biogeochemical processes. River corridor networks will exhibit these changes through unique stream signals of salinity, temperature, nitrogen, and other elemental trends, which reflect the aggregated nature of landscape changes. Because streams are amalgamations of these interacting and bidirectional processes, rivers will be critical indicators of landscape change. Additionally, in response to biogeochemical change, river corridors and landscape soils will release CO2 emissions back into the atmosphere, which is a direct feedback effect to climate change.

  • Shrubs and hills line a river bank.

    Columbia River Watershed

    Shrubs and hills line a river bank along the Columbia River Watershed.

  • Diagram of relationships among ESS programs like JGI, EMSL, IDEAS, KBase, and NMDC.

    Connecting Resources and Capabilities

    Resources and Capabilities Need to be Connected. There is significant need, as well as opportunities, to build formal, robust connections among capabilities supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Biological and Environmental Research program (BER) that include data generation, data archiving, and analytics and modeling. Watershed system science would advance more rapidly with a deeper mechanistic foundation if connections were built across BER capabilities, in addition to other agencies. Doing so will require sustained focus, particularly in terms of new cyberinfrastructure.

  • Valley with winding river and hillside covered in vegetation.

    East River in Colorado

    East River Watershed, Crested Butte, Colo.

  • Meadow with mountains above a river.

    East River Watershed

    East River watershed in upper Colorado River Basin.

  • A map of the United States with a network of people above and scales of research from DNA to ecosystem function.

    Integrated Watershed Science Scale and Network

    Watersheds and their associated basins organize terrestrial landscapes (map of continental United States with different colors indicating different basins) and integrate physical, chemical, and biological processes across scales (lower boxes showing molecular to river corridor scales). The vision of open watershed science by design is for the community to pursue integrated watershed science as a collective network (indicated by connected people in the graphic) that does together what would be impossible to do alone.

  • Science Focus Areas and their area of interested on a model stream bed.

    IDEAS Watersheds Community-Based Approach

    The Interoperable Design of Extreme-scale Application Software (IDEAS)–Watersheds project seeks to enhance scientific productivity by adapting modern software engineering tools, practices, and processes to build a flexible scientific software ecosystem. Six major research activities, or Science Focus Areas (SFAs), address important scientific challenges, provide community research resources, and foster interagency collaboration. IDEAS-Watersheds aims to advance systems-level understanding of how watersheds function and to translate that understanding into advanced, science-based models of watershed systems.

  • Mountains reflected in a riverbend.

    Headwaters of Snake River

    Headwaters of Snake River.