Our local Hudson River watershed includes a mix of forested and agricultural landscapes and flat and high relief areas. The frequency and intensity of storm events have been increasing in the northeastern United States, due to climate change. In some areas of the Hudson River catchment, water flow is restricted by dams and other impoundments. Together, these features also leave an imprint on the dissolved organic matter in the Hudson River.
Upper Hudson river in the evening.
Our local Hudson River watershed includes a mix of forested and agricultural landscapes and flat and high relief areas. The frequency and intensity of storm events have been increasing in the northeastern United States, due to climate change. In some areas of the Hudson River catchment, water flow is restricted by dams and other impoundments. Together, these features also leave an imprint on the dissolved organic matter in the Hudson River.
This study was led by Alex Collins, who used optical measurements to evaluate the combined effects of these environmental features on dissolved organic matter dynamics in the Hudson River. He discovered that damming and hydrologic management, rather than land cover, had a greater effect on the type of dissolved organic matter in-stream. Furthermore, expected rainfall‐runoff impacts on dissolved organic matter were muted in areas where dams are prevalent. However, overall, storm events resulted in the export of more and browner dissolved organic matter to downstream areas.
Water is released over the Conklingville Dam - Times Union
This work is entitled “Hydrologic management convolutes expected spatiotemporal patterns of dissolved organic matter in the Hudson River” and was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.
