Ecological restoration in wetlands and post-flood riparian areas; monitoring long-term results of volunteer restoration projects; erosion control with native species in Ecuadorian cloud forest.
James Balog has been a leader in photographing, understanding and interpreting the natural environment for three decades. To reveal the impact of climate change, James founded the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS), the most wide-ranging, ground-based, photographic study of glaciers ever conducted. National Geographic showcased this work in June 2007 and June 2010 issues. The project is also featured in the 2009 NOVA documentary Extreme Ice and in the 2012 feature-length documentary Chasing Ice.
Creation of lake-based records of climate change in the western United States; response of prehistoric Native American cultures to climate change; application of cosmogenic isotopes to the dating of glacial features in the Rocky Mountains.
Geochemistry, recent paleoclimate, Cenozoic oceanography, climate variability of arid regions, desert dust, earth history.
Interactions between the biosphere and the cycling of water, energy, and biogeochemicals, primarily carbon and nutrients.
Burko locates her practice at the intersection of art and science. In 2006, her concern for the future of our environment and issues of climate change led her to develop an ongoing project: Politics of Snow. She develops visual strategies in paintings and photography using historical comparisons of global glacial change through repeat photography, Landsat maps, and other visual data to help explain earth science to the public. Her work confronts issues of geological and chronological time—past, present, and future.
Glacial geology; geomorphology; Quaternary geology.
Terrestrial ecosystem ecology and soil biogeochemistry. In general, his research focuses on understanding the biotic and abiotic controls over terrestrial biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem processes.
Arctic archeology; Paleoindian archeology; Quaternary paleoecology; high altitude-high latitude adaptations; museum studies.
Unsaturated flow and soil physics, surface water/groundwater interaction, hillslope hydrology and runoff generation, near-surface hydrologic response simulation, landslide and debris flow initiation, preferential flow, quantitative model performance evaluation, and post-wildfire hydrology.
Geochemistry, clay mineralogy, X-ray diffraction, crystal growth.
Quaternary insect fossils, paleoecology, paleoclimatology.
Glacier hydrology
Quaternary stratigraphy, glacial geology, paleoclimatology.
Palynology, pollen transport and deposition, pollination biology, long-distance transport of biological material, airborne fungal spores.
Mountain geomorphology and climate change; applied GIS modeling.
River mechanics, erosion and sedimentation, hydraulics, geosciences, surface hydrology.
Glaciology, hydrology and climate in high mountain areas of the world.
Terrestrial ecosystem ecology, nutrient cycling and linkages between elements, ecosystem responses to environmental change.
Determining the biotic and abiotic controls on ecosystem-level carbon and energy balance across spatial and temporal scales.
Coastal geomorphology, geoarchaeology, northwest Alaska prehistory.
The development of fisheries policies for high-latitude regions, where the impacts of global warming and climatic change are forecast to be especially severe; fishing communities and fisheries management.
Plant community ecology and watershed biogeochemistry, particularly in alpine environments.
Surface and ground water quality; aquatic biogeochemistry; atmospheric deposition and organic aerosols; water and sustainability in southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Geomorphology, soils, and stratigraphy to reconstruct paleoclimates over the past two and a half million years of geologic time.
Glacier-climate interactions and sea level rise; small glaciers; glacier-generated seismicity; photogrammetry.
Aviva Rahmani is an ecological artist who works with scientists to design solutions for degraded environments.
Development of dry landscapes and ecosystems through understanding interactions among geologic, ecologic, and climatic processes; geologic, biologic, and human controls on dust generation; Quaternary climate and evolution of landscapes in response to climatic change; environmental magnetism; chemical and magnetic records of pollution in sediments and mineral dust.
Soil science, ecology, and biogeochemistry, particularly the cycling of elements within natural systems and the response of these cycles to changing climate and atmospheric deposition.
Currently working on R&D projects concerned with flood inundation modeling, floodplain mapping, and current and potential satellite missions for hydrology.
Ecology, plant biodiversity.
Water chemistry and trace element analysis.
Soil geography and geomorphology.
Study of the topographic, meteorologic and canopy controls on the spatial scaling properties of snow depth fields; hydrology and climatology of high-elevation watersheds.
Wildfire impacts on water quality and aquatic ecosystems, coupling of ecological and engineered infrastructure, fate and transport of emerging contaminants.
