past STUDENT-LED RESEARCH
Each year, the Montana Water Center awards Montana graduate students with financial support through an annual Water Resource Fellowship Program. To learn more about the past Montana Water Center Fellows, please read about their work below.
2017 STUDENT FELLOWS
christine brissette: Science to inform restoration - effects of channel reconstruction on hydraulic EXCHANGE and baseflow generation
Channel restoration is increasingly being considered as a tool to enhance late-season flows by modifying the storage and exchange capacities of streams and their adjacent alluvial aquifers. Faced with unpredictable changes in water availability due to climate change, scientists, government agencies and natural resource managers have begun to view restoration as a mitigation tool, enhancing the adaptability and resiliency of aquatic resources. However, the influence of channel and riparian zone restoration on hydrologic function has not been well characterized.
Christine Brissette, a graduate student at the University of Montana, is studying the effect of channel reconstruction on hydraulic exchange, storage and baseflow generation processes. This is a critical first step towards understanding the efficacy of restoration in degraded watersheds and identifying how restoration may improve late season flows in the context of a changing climate and increased demands for water resources.
JONATHaN BYERS: MEASURING ALPINE SNOWPACK IN THE BITTERROOT MOUNTAINS USING UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS (UAS)
The ability to accurately map and measure snow cover in alpine areas is critical in understanding and adapting to changes in precipitation patterns that supply water for 20% of Earth's population and support vital aquatic ecoystems. Current measurements of snowpack that inform runoff models and water management do not accurately represent high elevation and complex terrain areas. This project seeks to apply recent advances in remote sensing using Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) to increase the spatial density of high elevation snowpack measurements, with applications for basin scale water modeling improvement.
Jonathon Byers is a Masters student in Geography at the University of Montana. In collaboration with the Autonomous Aerial Systems Office and the Fire Center, he is developing a custom fixed-wing UAS and will be using it to measure snowpack in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana.
charles shama: estimating mountain front recharge in a basin and range province in southwest montana
A major component of recharge to inter-mountain basin-fill aquifers is from spring snowmelt from adjacent mountains. Sub-surface flow from mountains is important in groundwater source protection, regional development planning, and water rights disputes for regional basin-fill aquifers. Current estimates of recharge from the mountains have large uncertainties and spatial differences between large, high mountain watersheds and smaller highland watersheds.
Charles Shama, a graduate student at Montana Tech of the University of Montana, is researching a combination of methods to quantify the valley-focused groundwater recharge component of the Mountain Front Recharge (MFR) zone in the Tobacco Root Mountains near Ennis, Montana. Understanding how MFR varies spatially from small watersheds to large watersheds will provide information for larger groundwater studies of the regional basin aquifer.
caelan simeone: impacts of climate-induced drought on forest distribution
More frequent and intense drought can have a devastating impact on forests, rendering them vulnerable to fire and disease. Changes in the timing and the reduction of water available to plants result in hydrologic stress in vegetation, which requires increasingly higher suction forces to extract water from the soil. Higher tension increases the likelihood or cavitation (formation of bubbles) in the plant hydraulic column, reducing the efficiency with which the plant can transport water and nutrients and increasing its vulnerability to disease and fires.
Caelan Simeone, a graduate student in the University of Montana Geosciences Department, is teaming up with hydrologists, ecologists, and plant physiologists to incorporate plant hydraulic processes into a physically based hydrologic model, Ech2o. The model is currently the most advanced in its category and can simulate the suction potential in tree leaves under different climate scenarios. With this information, Caelan can determine the distribution and intensity of drought-induced stress in forests, which he uses to provide insight into forest vulnerability to drought and to understand historical tree die-offs.
emily stoick: microbially induced metal precipitation in mine influenced water
The Carpenter-Snow Creek EPA Superfund site in central Montana discharges mine influenced water with high concentrations of zinc, cadmium, copper, and lead into both Carpenter Creek and Snow Creek, which flow into Belt Creek. At present Carpenter and Snow Creek are completely devoid of fish.
Emily Stoick, a graduate student at Montana State University, is researching the application of microbially-induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) in conjunction with biotic sulfate reduction for the removal of metals from mine influenced water (MIW) at the Carpenter-Snow Creek Superfund site. Treatability studies have concluded that MICP and sulfate reduction separately can successfully remove metals from MIW at this site. Past research has not investigated the application of MICP in a two-step process with sulfate reduction to promote metal sulfide precipitation. Native bacteria necessary for both processes are present at the site. Emily will test this potential remediation strategy and eventually determine design parameters for implementation in the field.
Robin welling: influence of large wood on sediment storage in low-order mountain streams
Mountain streams transport water and sediment from peaks and valleys. Scientists have found that large wood stores fluvial sediment, thereby disrupting the transport of sediment from hillslopes to the valley bottom. Most studies of wood and sediment storage have focused on streams and in coastal mountain ranges, which differ markedly in their forest composition and hillslope erosion processes from watersheds in semi-arid climates. Understanding the role that wood plays in sediment routing within channels is important because the balance of sediment supply and transport capacity controls channel morphology, which influences water storage, susceptibility to flooding, and aquatic habitat.
Robin Welling, a graduate student at the University of Montana, is investigating the relationship between large wood and sediment routing in low-order mountain streams. She will study wood-associated sediment storage in two streams in the Bitterroot Mountains in western Montana, and she will use field data to calibrate a model to represent this process over a longer time scale. Her research will provide a baseline understanding for the role of wood on sediment storage in low-order mountain streams, with an emphasis on those in semi-arid climates.