Civil Engineering ETDs

Publication Date

Summer 7-28-2026

Abstract

Wildfires alter the water quantity and quality in downstream river networks. Fires promote biodiversity, maintain habitat, and provide many ecosystem services in a fire-adapted landscape. However, changes in the natural fire regimes can alter ecosystem function and threaten the water security of impacted downstream communities. The magnitude, timing, and persistence of these impacts are difficult to predict due to the lack of high-resolution datasets with adequate coverage to evaluate spatiotemporal trends after a fire. This dissertation moves us beyond the status quo to evaluate post-fire fluvial responses across scales, from the event-scale impacts after the Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon wildfire in New Mexico, to the national-scale hydrologic patterns derived from sites impacted by four decades of fires in the United States.

First, we used high-frequency time series datasets from multiparameter sondes collocated with stream gages to understand drivers of changing transport dynamics along a connected fluvial network. Second, we created an R-based framework that integrates datasets from the MTBS fire perimeters, U.S. Geological Survey National Water Information System, and the National Hydrography Dataset, to identify existing and future time series datasets in fire-impacted watersheds, identifying 1,225 timeseries datasets across the United States. Finally, we used derived hydrologic metrics to simplify the complex time series datasets we identified to compare the magnitude and persistence of extreme post-fire responses across stream sites in multiple ecoregions for 36 months post-fire, providing a national-scale analysis of fire behavior. By analyzing high-frequency field observations, driven by data discovery tools and scalable metrics, this dissertation adds to the current understanding of post-fire impacts on a national scale. It provides tools to improve monitoring network design, support post-fire responses, and water resource management in fire-affected watersheds.

Keywords

river network, wildfire, water quality, water quantity, map-based tools, sensor data

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Civil Engineering

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Civil Engineering

First Committee Member (Chair)

Dr. Ricardo González-Pinzón

Second Committee Member

Dr. Anjali Mulchandani

Third Committee Member

Dr. Abdullah Mueen

Fourth Committee Member

Dr. William Farmer

Download

Share

COinS