top of page
IMG_4056.jpg

DANA LAPIDES

Research Hydrologist
USDA Agricultural Research Service
Southwest Watershed Research Center
Tucson, Arizona

IMG_4922.jpg

ABOUT

Climate change and increasing demands on water resources are changing streams worldwide. The need for sustainable management urgently calls for an increased understanding of mechanistic processes that drive surface flows and the conditions under which management tools and actions are effective. In my research, I seek to understand mechanistic drivers of water resource availability, how human interventions impact landscape-scale hydrology, and the limits of conventional management tools. I use a variety of methods in my work from analytical modeling and high-performance computing to laboratory scale modeling. I completed a PhD at UC Berkeley in May 2020 with Professors Sally Thompson and Michael Manga. I received a Wisconsin Water Resources Science-Policy Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2020, through which I worked with managers in the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources on issues relevant to managing streamflow depletion due to groundwater pumping. Starting in 2021, I worked as an ORISE postdoctoral scholar with David N Dralle (USDA Forest Service), W Jesse Hahm (Simon Fraser University), and Daniella Rempe (University of Texas, Austin). I was hired as a Category 1 Research Hydrologist with the USDA-ARS Southwest Watershed Research Center in 2023.

RESEARCH THEMES

IMG_0396.jpeg
IMG_8145.jpeg
IMG_3434.jpg

HOW DOES AVAILABILITY OF SURFACE AND SUBSURFACE WATER VARY UNDER DIFFERENT CONDITIONS?

HOW CAN WE DETECT AND MANAGE STREAMFLOW DEPLETION FROM GROUNDWATER PUMPING?

HOW RELIABLE ARE MANAGEMENT TOOLS UNDER CURRENT AND FUTURE CONDITIONS?

IN THE NEWS

See What California’s Record Snowpack Looks Like, Up Close

Sensors on low-flying planes can measure mountaintop snow with great precision, helping forecasters predict what will happen as it melts.

The New York Times

April 3, 2023

See_What_California’s_Record_Snowpack_Looks_Like__Up_Close_-_The_New_York_Times.png
IMG_1664_edited.jpg

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Crompton O, Nichols M, Lapides D, Xu H. "Resolving the hydrologic signature of water spreader berms in the US Southwest." Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (2024). https://www.jswconline.org/content/79/3/155.abstract

​

Zipper S, Brookfield A, Ajami H, Ayers J, Beightel C, Fienen M, Gleeson T, Hammond J, Hill M, Kendall A, Kerr B, Lapides D, Porter M, Parimalarenganayaki S, Rohde M, Wardropper C. "Streamflow depletion caused by groundwater pumping: Fundamental research priorities for management-relevant science." Water Resources Research (2024). https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2023WR035727

​

Hahm WJ, Dralle D, Lapides D, Ehlert R, Rempe D. "Geologic controls on apparent root-zone storage capacity." Water rEsources Research (2024). https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2023WR035362

​

Lapides D, Grindstaff G, Nichols M. "Automated earthwork detection using topological persistence." Water Resources Research (2024). https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2023WR035990

​

Lapides D, Hahm WJ, Forrest M, Rempe D, Hickler T, Dralle D. "Inclusion of bedrock vadose zone in dynamic global vegetation models is key for simulating structure and functioning." Biogeosciences (2023). https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/21/1801/2024/

​

Crompton O, Katul G, Lapides D, Thompson S. "Bridging structural and functional hydrological connectivity in dryland ecosystems." Catena (2023). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0341816223004137

​

Dralle D, Lapides D, Rempe D, Hahm WJ. "Mapping surface water presence and hyporheic flow perperties of headwater stream networks with multispectral satellite imagery." Water Resources Research (2023). https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022WR034169

​

Crompton O, Katul G, Lapides D, Thompson S. "Hydrologic Connectivity and Patch-to-Hillslope Scale Relations in Dryland Ecosystems." Geophysical Research Letters (2023). https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022GL101801

​

Lapides D, Zipper S, Hammond J. "Identifying hydrologic signatures associated with streamflow depletion caused by groundwater pumping." Hydrological Processes (2023). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/hyp.14877

​

Lapides D,  Hahm WJ, Rempe D, Dralle D. “Causes of missing snowmelt following drought.” Geophysical Research Letters (2022). https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022GL100505

​

Hahm WJ, Lapides D, Rempe D, McCormick E, Dralle D. “The age of evapotranspiration: Lower-bound constraints from distributed water fluxes across the continental United States.” Geophysical Research Letters (2022). https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2022wr032961?casa_token=9JKrYyyX4hMAAAAA%3AGCRK0fxovMVegzN32dilMpSyGLS7TezNkl6OGX-sVLEe8NBVFd5TgQsdmHR5Og4oQlaq23bH4QvjJYo

​​

Lapides D, Hahm WJ, Rempe D, Dietrich W, and Dralle D. “Controls on streamwater age in a saturation overland flow-dominated catchment.” Water Resources Research (2022). https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2021WR031665

​

Lapides D,  Sytsma A, Djokic D, Nichols M, Thompson S. “Arc Hydro Hillslope and Critical Duration: New tools for hillslope-scale runoff analysis." Environmental Modeling & Software (2022). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364815222001141?casa_token=2oPx0nLxXbcAAAAA:rjW6ivowBgYZCdE99eQySwQHFRe2GZndlsayn0CetMzt7Vw-jGZspH8flK7KpRibcUyAjjB3

​

Lapides D,  Maitland M, Zipper S, Latzka A, Pruitt A, Greve R. “Advancing environmental flows approaches to streamflow depletion management.” Journal of Hydrology (2022): 127447. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022169422000221

​

Lapides D. “Using sporadic streamflow measurements to improve and evaluate a streamflow model in ungauged basins in Wisconsin.” Journal of Hydrologic Engineering (2022). https://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/%28ASCE%29HE.1943-5584.0002163

​

Lapides D,  Sytsma A, and Thompson S. “Implications of distinct methodological interpretations and runoff coefficient usage for Rational Method predictions.” Journal of the American Water Resources Association (2021). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1752-1688.12949

​

Lapides D,  Sytsma A, Crompton O, and Thompson S. “Rational Method time of concentration can underestimate peak discharge for hillslopes.” Journal of Hydraulic Engineering (2021). https://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/%28ASCE%29HY.1943-7900.0001900.

​

Lapides DLeclerc C, Moidu H, Dralle D, and Hahm WJ. "Variability of headwater stream network extents controlled by flow regime and network hydraulic scaling.” Hydrological Processes (2021). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hyp.14079

​

Lapides DDavid C, Sytsma A, Dralle D, and Thompson S.  “Analytical solutions to runoff on hillslopes with curvature: numerical and laboratory verification." Hydrological Processes (2020).https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hyp.13879

​

Lapides D and Manga M. "Large wood as a confounding factor in interpreting the width of spring-fed streams." Earth Surface Dynamics  (2020). https://esurf.copernicus.org/articles/8/195/2020/

bottom of page