Protocols

Systematic collection of groundwater samples at regular depth intervals using sediment coring and peristaltic pumping, with immediate field analysis and laboratory chemical characterization. Targets t...

Continuous automated monitoring of soil temperature, moisture, and gas concentrations at multiple depths using sensor arrays. Provides high-resolution temporal data on soil microenvironmental conditio...

High-resolution integrated hydrological modeling using coupled PRMS-MODFLOW system to simulate surface water and groundwater interactions extending 400 m into subsurface. Model accounts for complex te...

Installation of three 10-meter deep monitoring wells along a hillslope transect equipped with suction lysimeters, pressure transducers, and temperature sensors for long-term subsurface monitoring. Wel...

Comprehensive chemical analysis of water samples including major ions, trace metals, and conservative tracers using multiple analytical techniques. Includes field measurements and laboratory analyses ...

Hydrological modeling approach that stratifies mountain watersheds by elevation zones to quantify water budget components and assess climate change impacts on streamflow and groundwater storage.

Integrated groundwater flow and reactive transport modeling using PHT-USG coupled with MODFLOW-USG for geochemical reactions and PHREEQC for reaction modeling. Includes parameter estimation using PEST...

Systematic collection of snowpack samples across elevation gradients using snow pits dug at 10 cm increments to obtain SWE-weighted composite isotopic signatures representative of accumulated snowpack...

Quantitative XRD analysis of powdered rock samples using Rietveld refinement to determine mineral concentrations and spatial distribution. Samples analyzed under multiple conditions including ethylene...

Sampling of 3H and 4He environmental tracers from screened groundwater wells to constrain groundwater age distributions and validate numerical model predictions of mixing between modern and pre-modern...

Standardized wet sieving method using Yoder device to determine soil aggregate size distributions. Measures water-stable aggregates across multiple size classes to assess soil structure.

Uses stable isotope ratios (δ²H and δ¹⁸O) of precipitation and streamflow to quantify the relative contributions of snow versus rain to streamflow and evapotranspiration through endmember mixing and s...

High-resolution mass spectrometry analysis using Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance to characterize the molecular composition of organic matter in different chemical extractions.

Photographs of soil pit faces are overlaid with 1×1 cm grids to systematically score presence or absence of fine and coarse roots in each grid cell, providing depth-resolved estimates of root spatial ...

Daily water and energy budget modeling at 100-m grid resolution using the US Geological Survey Precipitation-Modeling Runoff System (PRMS) with climate forcing from SNOTEL stations and LiDAR snow obse...

Depth-resolved sampling and analysis of subsurface materials for mineralogical composition, organic matter content, and spatial distribution of weathering products from soil through bedrock.

Autonomous sampling system using osmotic pumps to continuously collect water samples over extended periods for chemical analysis. Tubing inlets placed at different depths collect time-integrated sampl...

Extended X-ray absorption fine structure analysis of Fe-bearing colloids using synchrotron radiation with cryogenic sample preparation and shell-by-shell fitting to determine molecular coordination en...

Aqueous CO2 concentrations determined by headspace equilibration in glass bottles followed by IRGA analysis of extracted headspace gas with correction factors applied.

Extraction of iron and manganese from sediments using 0.5 N HCl with hydroxylamine hydrochloride in anaerobic conditions, followed by ICP-AES analysis. This method targets metals associated with reduc...

Separation of sediment organic carbon into free light fraction (FLF), occluded light fraction (OLF), and heavy fraction (HF) using sodium polytungstate density separation at 1.65 g/mL with sonication ...

A brokering framework that uses OGC standards to integrate heterogeneous environmental datasets from multiple sources into synthesized time-series data accessible through Python and web interfaces.

A novel approach that captures the difference in concentration in a river segment over the difference in discharge, accounting for gains, losses or fractional solute turnover between sampling stations...

Coupled integrated hydrologic and particle tracking modeling approach that simulates groundwater flow using ParFlow-CLM and age distributions using EcoSLIM, with matrix diffusion effects incorporated ...

Development and application of a 2-D multiphase reactive transport model using PFLOTRAN to simulate coupled hydrological and biogeochemical processes in shale weathering. The model integrates variably...

Deionized water extraction of sediments following Gregorich and Carter (2007) to measure dissolved nutrients and organic carbon. Designed to minimize physical disruption and reflect carbon and nutrien...

Systematic characterization of alluvial sediment physical properties through grain size analysis and bulk density measurements to derive hydraulic conductivity, porosity, and van Genuchten parameters ...

Combined use of major ion chemistry and Sr isotope signatures to identify distinct groundwater end members and quantify their contributions to stream flow using PCA-based end member mixing analysis.

Longitudinal grab sampling along Coal Creek mainstem during three critical hydrograph stages (peak flow, falling limb, low flow) across multiple years to characterize spatial and temporal variability ...

Measurement of oxygen consumption rates in pore water samples using resazurin as an indicator dye. Samples preserved at 4°C for 24 hours before spectrofluorometric analysis to determine aerobic respir...

Sequential chemical extractions using water, sodium pyrophosphate, HCl, and sodium dithionite to selectively dissolve mineral phases of varying crystallinity and their associated organic carbon.

A comprehensive statistical framework for quality assurance and quality control of meteorological time series data involving preliminary data exploration, quality assessment with outlier detection, an...

Sulfur K-edge X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure spectroscopy was used to determine sulfur speciation in solid samples including bedrock, soils, and sediments. Linear combination fitting was used to...

Standard analytical chemistry methods using ion chromatography for anions and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for cations and trace elements in filtered water samples.

Measurement of radiocarbon content in bulk sediments and density fractions using accelerator mass spectrometry after acid fumigation pretreatment to remove inorganic carbon.

Bayesian framework using Markov-chain Monte Carlo to infer groundwater residence time distributions from environmental tracer observations while quantifying parameter uncertainties.

Application of uniform temperature increases to historical climate sequences to assess hydrological response to warming. Seasonal warming scenarios applied independently to test timing effects on wate...

Collection of dissolved noble gases from groundwater wells using copper tubes with down-hole pumps and back-pressure valves to prevent degassing during sample collection.

Direct measurement of soil depth using auger drilling to bedrock contact, validated with cone penetrometer resistance profiles. Distinguishes mobile regolith from weathered bedrock layers.

Colorimetric determination of ferrous iron concentrations using ferrozine reagent with spectrophotometric measurement at 562 nm absorption peak and calibration curve from standard solutions.

Frequent collection and ICP-MS analysis of river water samples to detect thorium concentration excursions as indicators of bedrock fracture processes. Samples collected up to daily frequency and analy...

Integrated approach combining borehole drilling with comprehensive geophysical logging including NMR, electrical resistivity, temperature, and electromagnetic measurements to characterize subsurface b...

A methodology using random forest algorithms to fill missing values in sub-hourly groundwater monitoring data with entropy-based uncertainty quantification.

Stepped-temperature thermal analysis to quantify readily oxidizable organic carbon (OC400), total inorganic carbon (TIC), and residual organic carbon (ROC) fractions with different thermal stabilities...

Sequential extraction and ICP-MS analysis of soil pools and plant tissues to trace nutrient sources using 87Sr/86Sr ratios. Includes mixing model calculations to quantify proportional contributions fr...

Computational pipeline using VirSorter2 and CheckV for viral sequence identification, followed by clustering into viral operational taxonomic units and taxonomic/host prediction.

Regression analysis applied to simulated water table declines across nested catchments to identify relationships between topographic characteristics, vegetation cover, and groundwater response to clim...

Processing of sediment samples in anaerobic chamber with nitrogen-hydrogen gas mixture to preserve field conditions.

Water level elevations obtained using barometric pressure from pressure transducers in wells, combined with TOC elevation and depth measurements.

Anaerobic incubation of hyporheic sediments with artificial river water for 57 days to study kinetics of Fe(II), Mn(II), DOC and nitrate. Conducted in sealed bottles under N2 atmosphere.