Research Geomorphologist at the USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station
Which mathematical representation for geomorphic processes best matches a given study site? How can we test agreement or disagreement between models and reality? How should we determine what values to use for model parameters?
Three papers representing the culmination of ~four years of work (led by the indefatigable Katy Barnhart of CU Boulder) on these problems were just published in JGR: Earth Surface. Find part 1, part 2, and part 3.
How do feedbacks between rivers and their adjacent hillslopes control the shape and evolution of iconic river canyons? Myself and recently-defended ex-grad-student Rachel Glade did some modeling work to understand how big blocks of rock govern channel-hillslope coupling and canyon shape. Find the paper here.
Check out Katy Barnhart’s multi-model analysis toolkit, “Terrainbento,” published today in Geoscientific Model Development.
Katy Barnhart’s terrainbento model intercomparison toolkit is now up for public peer review in Geoscientific Model Development, a very cool EGU journal that’s starting to publish a lot of geomorphology-related modeling papers. If you do a lot of landscape evolution modeling terrainbento will almost certainly make your life easier.
Greg Tucker, Matt Rossi and I have been trying to understand how hillslope-derived blocks of rock alter erosion thresholds and landscape change; here’s our best guess so far in JGR: Earth Surface.
