Adrian Harpold

Photo of Adrian Harpold, Extension

Adrian Harpold

Associate Professor

Summary

My interests are in quantifying catchment and basin scale water and solute budgets and the linkages between hydrology, hydrochemistry, geomorphology, and ecology in montane forested systems. Moutain ecosystems are the major water source and carbon sink in western North America and subject to ongoing changes in climate and disturbance.  Improved ecohydrological process understanding has the potential to improve local to global-scale water resource management in the 21st century.

My research program (Nevada Mountain Ecohydrology Lab) utilizes existing observation networks and new field observations to improve the ecohydrological process underpinnings of Earth systems models.  My diverse interests and background has led to investigations of runoff generation mechanisms via hydrological tracers and models, as well as the partitioning of water to its various stores and fluxes.  I am particularly interested in better linking the hydrological sub-disciplines of catchment and snow hydrology to improve our predictions of headwater catchment response to environmental change.

Education

B.S. Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 2003
M.S. Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 2005
Ph.D. Cornell University, 2010

Programs

slide mountain from washoe lake

SNOWPACS: Synthesizing kNowledge to Optimize Water Policy for Agriculture under Changing Snowpack

SNOWPACS is a National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)-funded project on the impact of changes in mountain snowpack on agricultural production and water allocation institutions in the western United States.

Courses

NRES 295: Principles of Ecohydrology (Fall every year)

NRES 482/682: Small Watershed Hydrology (Spring every year)

 

Honors and Awards

  • CABNR Researcher of the Year, 2019
  • Haury Fellowship, University of Arizona, 2019
  • National Science Foundation EAR Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2012 - 2014
  • NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 2005 - 2009
  • Virginia Conservationist of the Year, Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS), 2005
  • Summa cum laude, B.S., 2003

Accomplishments

2012 - 2014         INSTAAR, University of Colorado and NCAR                Research Fellow

2010 - 2012         Hydrology and Water Resources Dept., U. of Arizona    Postdoctoral Researcher

Service

  • UNR representative to Tahoe Science Advisory Council, 2019-present