Christine Hatch

Surface water and groundwater are increasingly viewed as a single resource. Interesting processes and transitions occur at interfaces between streams (surface water) and underground reservoirs (groundwater aquifers), some of which can be tracked using heat as a tracer (including Distributed Temperature Sensing: DTS, or fiber-optic cables). When water moves between these reservoirs, there are wide-ranging effects on biological communities, water resources and water quantity and quality. I strive to understand these systems and to educating others about how they function so that together we may effectively preserve and protect our most basic and precious natural resource: water. As anthropogenic forcings produce now inevitable changes in our climate, I hope to quantify the effects of these changes on our water resources to help us prepare for a safe and sustainable future.