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HORA Lab

Research Areas

Three core research areas — Catchment Hydrology, Large-Scale Modeling, and AI/ML for Hydrology — integrating observations, physics-based models, and machine learning to advance water science.

Publications Collaborate
Research Program

Three Core Research Areas

My research program spans catchment-scale ecohydrology, continental-to-global modeling, and AI-driven hydrological prediction — grounded in 20+ peer-reviewed publications.

01

Catchment Hydrology

Investigating water balance, ecohydrological processes, and sediment dynamics at the catchment scale — linking vegetation productivity, drought propagation, and flood frequency to landscape and climatic controls.

  • Horton Index framework for multi-scale catchment water balance and vegetation dynamics
  • Causal relationships between root zone water availability, VPD, and gross primary productivity
  • Median bed-material sediment particle size mapping across U.S. rivers
  • Flood frequency analysis from coupled human-nature system perspectives
  • Drought propagation through natural-human systems
Horton IndexEcohydrologyWater BalanceSediment
02

Large-Scale Modeling

Developing and advancing continental-to-global hydrological and earth system models — coupling land, river, and reservoir components to simulate water, carbon, and sediment cycles under climate change.

  • E3SM earth system model development and evaluation (DOE flagship model)
  • ELM-MOSART-DOC: large-scale riverine dissolved organic carbon modeling
  • Enhancing reservoir and water management representation in global models (Xanthos)
  • GCAM-GLORY: global reservoir storage in multi-sector human-Earth system models
  • Large-scale suspended sediment modeling with MOSART-sediment
E3SMMOSARTXanthosGCAMReservoir Ops
03

AI / ML for Hydrology

Applying machine learning and deep learning to advance hydrological prediction, parameter estimation, and water systems optimization — from ML-derived geospatial datasets to physics-informed neural networks and reinforcement learning for reservoir operations.

  • Machine learning maps of dissolved organic carbon transformation rates
  • Deep reinforcement learning for hydropower and transboundary reservoir optimization
  • Physics-informed neural networks for streamflow and drought forecasting
  • Agent-based modeling for food-energy-water nexus under climate change
  • Data-driven frameworks for unprecedented flood and drought risk management
Deep LearningReinforcement LearningPhysics-Informed MLAgent-Based
How I Work

Research Approach

A convergent science approach that bridges computation, observation, and theory across spatial and temporal scales.

Earth Observation

Harnessing GRACE-FO, MODIS, Landsat, and Sentinel to constrain models with multi-scale observations of water storage, evapotranspiration, and land cover change.

Physics-Based Modeling

Running E3SM, VIC, and MOSART at regional-to-global scales on national supercomputing facilities (NERSC, Perlmutter) to simulate water cycle dynamics.

Machine Learning Integration

Embedding deep learning within physical model frameworks — using neural networks to learn residuals, emulate expensive computations, and improve predictions.

Decision Support

Translating scientific outputs into actionable frameworks — reservoir operating rules, early warning systems, and policy-relevant metrics for water managers.

Collaborative Science

Working across disciplinary boundaries with hydrologists, climate scientists, economists, and policy experts to tackle complex socio-environmental challenges.

Open Science

Committed to reproducible research — publishing code, data, and workflows on GitHub to advance transparency and accelerate scientific progress in the community.

Partnerships

Institutional Collaborations

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Primary affiliation — HORA Lab

Department of Energy

E3SM Earth System Model project

NASA Goddard

GRACE-FO data assimilation

NERSC / Berkeley Lab

High-performance computing

Interested in collaborating on research in hydrology, AI/ML, or water systems?

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