As home to the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics (NCED), SAFL research includes modeling the coupling of ecosystem, landscape, climate change, and land-use dynamics at the watershed scale. This work integrates field- and laboratory-scale physical research with computational modeling, seeking to provide a better basis for hypothesis-driven predictive research. The premises of this research are based on topographic signatures and vegetation patterns derived by optical sensing technologies from individual sediment grain to landscape scale.  

Focus Areas

• Stochastic modeling of surface hydrologic and geomorphologic processes
• Climate change impact on sediment transport, water quality, and fish habitat 
• River network dynamics
• Modeling and estimation of space-time rainfall from multiple sensors