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Watershed Function – Scientific Focus Area

Blogs

Steefel leads new project to Advance Watershed System Understanding through Exascale Simulation and Machine Learning

The ExaSheds project is the first-ever systematic effort to advance powerful machine learning and Exascale computing to transform our ability to predict watershed behavior and increase the use of ever-larger and more-complex data obtained from watershed field observations.

Carl Steefel leads the new ExaSheds project, which will develop groundbreaking capabilities critical for transforming our ability to predict how watersheds are responding to a rapidly changing environment. It is expected that the developed ExaSheds capabilities will be useful at the East River watershed site as well as to watersheds throughout the world. Read more »

Susan Hubbard Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

portrait of Susan Hubbard
Susan Hubbard – Associate Lab Director Earth and Environmental Sciences Area

Susan Hubbard, Associate Laboratory Director of the Berkeley Lab Earth & Environmental Sciences Area and lead for the Watershed Function SFA, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a 239-year old honorary society that recognizes accomplished scholars, scientists and artists in academia, the humanities, arts, business, and government. She is one of four Berkeley Lab scientists elected to the prestigious Academy this year. Read more »

Susan Hubbard Honored by Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame

Susan Hubbard, Associate Laboratory Director for the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, will be inducted into the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame, at an annual awards ceremony on March 30. Hubbard is being honored for her scientific contributions to key environmental challenges of our time, including the use of geophysical methods to quantify how watersheds and ecosystems are responding to changing conditions, and implications for water and biogeochemical cycles.

Susan Hubbard joins 13 other local women who represent the region’s rich diversity and a remarkable range of achievements made working to address issues such as environmental sustainability; and racial, income, and healthcare inequality; and to strengthen access to arts education and athletics programs for girls and young women.

Bhavna Arora speaks with News Deeply about the consequences of drought on Colorado

Bhavna Arora (right) and former intern Madison Burrus discuss the computer simulations they are creating using data about river discharge, precipitation, and snowpack collected from the East River catchment site near Crested Butte, CO. (Credit: Marilyn Chung/Berkeley Lab)

SFA researcher Bhavna Arora was interviewed on Water Deeply regarding how declining snowpack is altering water quality in the Colorado River.

A more comprehensive interview and story were conducted by the Berkley Lab News Center, where Bhavna explains how drought and other extremes impact water pollution. Read more »

Vadose Zone Journal Special Issue features Watershed Function SFA Overview

An overview of the Watershed function SFA and the associated East River Watershed was published in in the Vadose Zone Journal “Special Section: Hydrological Observatories”. The paper describes several recently developed approaches to interrogate, monitor and simulate transient watershed partitioning and biogeochemical responses – from genome to watershed spatial scales and from episodic to decadal timescales.

View the full paper (open access) here.