David Tarboton: Utah State University

Interests

Surface Water Hydrology, Hydrologic Modeling, Hydrologic Information Systems, Terrain Analysis in Hydrology, Stochastic Hydrology, and Snowmelt. My research crosses the disciplinary interface between hydrology and information technology. I focus on advancing the capability for hydrologic prediction by developing models that take advantage of new information and process understanding enabled by new technology. I strive to synthesize modeling and numerical analysis with field observations and hydrologic information systems and tailor software and computing systems to the needs of hydrologists.

I lead the development of HydroShare (www.hydroshare.org), a hydrologic information system for sharing hydrologic data and models operated by the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. HydroShare is a platform for users to share and publish data and models in a variety of flexible formats, and to make this information available in a citable, shareable and discoverable manner in support of transparent and reproducible science. Hydroshare also includes tools (web apps) that can act on content in HydroShare providing users with a gateway to computing and analysis. I also work on terrain analysis for hydrology, terrain stability mapping and stream sediment inputs, geomorphology, stochastic and nonparametric statistical methods in hydrology, and snow hydrology. My group has developed and supports open source software packages implementing many of the research capabilities developed. This includes the Terrain Analysis using Digital Elevation Models (TauDEM) package for derivation of hydrologic information from digital elevation models, and the Utah Energy Balance snowmelt model.

My work includes the use of Geographic Information Systems to take advantage of spatially distributed information for hydrologic prediction. I believe that models serve as a way to codify and make precise our understanding as well as apply this understanding to practical and management purposes. My general approach to research focuses on the following objectives:

Development of a sound physical understanding of the processes involved.
Incorporation of this physical understanding into concise parameterizations of the important processes.
Development of precise representations of the physical environment and information system tools for using this representation in numerical models.
Recognition of nonlinearity, physical feedbacks and interactions which lead to interesting behavior which needs to be understood.
Recognition of heterogeneity and spatial variability. The development of techniques (often statistical) to account for heterogeneity and spatial variability.

Current Projects

Great Salt Lake Strike Team. 2022-ongoing.
Enabling collaboration through data and model sharing with CUAHSI HydroShare. NOAA Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology. David Tarboton, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, Shaowen Wang, Jordan Read, Irene Garousi-Nejad, Anthoy Castronova, Clara Cogswell, 6/1/2023 - 5/31/2025. http://www.hydroshare.org.
HydroLearn Training Workshop and Hackathon Learning Module Development to Support CIROH Diverse Education and Workforce Development. NOAA Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology. David Tarboton, Deanna McCay, Emad Habib, Melissa Gallagher, Courtney Di Vittorio, Cat Maiorca, Veronica Sosa-Gonzalez. 6/1/2023 - 5/31/2025. http://www.hydrolearn.org.
I-GUIDE. National Science Foundation award 2118329. HDR Institute: Geospatial Understanding through an Integrative Discovery Environment, Shaowen Wang, Mohan Ramamurthy, Deanna Hence, Xiaohui Song, David Tarboton, subcontract from the University of Illinois, 10/1/2021-9/30/2026.
CZNet Coordinating Hub. National Science Foundation award 2012748. Collaborative Research: Network Hub: Enabling, Supporting, and Communicating Critical Zone Research,Jeffery S. Horsburgh, David Tarboton, USU part of NSF collaborative award led by Jerad Bales, CUAHSI, Elizabeth Boyer (separate collaborative award 2012893), Kerstin Lehnert (separate collaborative award 2012593). 9/1/2020-8/31/2025.

Completed Projects

US Bureau of Reclamation. Cataloguing and Generating Hydrology Scenarios in the Colorado River, David Tarboton, 8/1/2021-1/31/2024. US. Dept of Interior grant R21AC10342-00. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR037225
HydroFrame. National Science Foundation award 1835569. Collaborative Research: Framework: Software: NSCI : Computational and data innovation implementing a national community hydrologic modeling framework for scientific discovery. Reed Maxwell (PI), Ilkay Altintas, Catherine Olschanowsky, Alejandro Flores, Laura Condon, Michelle Strout, Paul Constantine, David Tarboton, Jerad Bales. 10/1/2018-9/30/2023.
ReproBench. National Science Foundation award 1928369. EarthCube Data Capabilities: Collaborative Research: Integration of Reproducibility into Community CyberInfrastructure, David Tarboton, Tanu Malik (separate collaborative award 1928288), Jon Goodall (separate collaborative award 1928315) , 9/1/2019-8/31/2023.
HydroShare. National Science Foundation award 1664061. Collaborative Research, HydroShare: Cyberinfrastructure for Advancing Hydrologic Knowledge through Collaborative Integration of Data Science, Modeling and Analysis. David Tarboton, Dan Ames, Martyn Clark, Alva Couch, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, Ray Idaszak, Michael J. Stealey, Hong Yi, Shaowen Wang. 10/1/2017-9/30/2022.
HydroLearn. National Science Foundation award 1725989. Collaborative Research: Improving Student Learning in Hydrology & Water Resources Engineering by Enabling the Development, Sharing and Interoperability of Active Learning Resources, Emad Habib, Khalid Elgazzar, Doug Williams, David Tarboton, Dan Ames, James Nelson, 9/1/2017-8/31/2022.
UFOKN Phase 2 year 1. National Science Foundation award 2033607. The Urban Flooding Open Knowledge Network (UF-OKN): Delivering Flood Information to AnyOne, AnyTime, AnyWhere, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, David Tarboton, subcontract from University of Cincinnati (PI Lilit Yeghiazarian), 9/1/2020-8/31/2021.
UFOKN Phase 1. National Science Foundation award 1937099. Convergence Accelerator Phase I (RAISE): The Urban Flooding Open Knowledge Network, David Tarboton, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, subcontract from University of Cincinnati (PI Lilit Yeghiazarian), 9/10/2019-5/31/2021.
The Catena Foundation. Future of the Colorado River, John C Schmidt, David Tarboton. 11/27/18-1/15/2020. [Salehabadi, et al. white paper, 2020 Announcement, Paper, Exec Summary]
The Walton Family Foundation. Future of the Colorado River, John C Schmidt, Bethany Neilson, David Rosenberg, David Tarboton. 7/1/2018-6/30/2019. [Salehabadi, et al. white paper, 2020 Announcement, Paper, Exec Summary]
William Penn Foundation/Stroud Water Research Center. Wiki Watershed Web Toolkit for Advancing Water Quality Restoration in Delaware River Basin, David Tarboton, Jeff Horsburgh, 2/1/2017-1/31/2019.
NASA/Riverside Technology Inc., Advancing Water Supply Forecasts in the Colorado River Basin for Improved Decision Making, D. G. Tarboton, 3/18/2015-3/17/2019. [Gichamo et al., 2019]
National Science Foundation award 1761673. RAPID:Archiving and Enabling Community Access to Data from Recent US Hurricanes, David Tarboton, Jerad Bales, Ray Idaszak, David Maidment, 10/1/2017-9/30/2018.
National Science Foundation award 1639655. EarthCube Building Blocks: Collaborative Proposal: GeoTrust: Improving Sharing and Reproducibility of Geoscience Applications, Tanu Malik, Ian Foster, Scott Peckham, Jon Goodall, Asti Bhatt, Eunseo Choi, David Tarboton, 9/1/2016-8/31/2018.
US Army Corps of Engineers, Snowmelt Testing and Validation for HEC-HMS, David Tarboton, 7/12/17-1/12/2018.
National Science Foundation award 1148453, Collaborative Research: SI2-SSI: HydroShare: An interactive software infrastructure for sustaining collaborative community innovation in the hydrologic sciences, David G. Tarboton, Daniel P. Ames, Jennifer Arrigo, David R. Maidment, Jonathan L. Goodall, Ray Idaszak, Jeffery S Horsburgh, Venkatesh Merwade, Alva Couch, David Valentine, 7/1/2012-6/30/2018.
State of Utah/CH2MHill, Integrated Water Resources Management Model for the Great Salt Lake Basin, D. G. Tarboton, 3/24/2015-6/30/2017.
US Army Corps of Engineers, TauDEM Enhancement, D. G. Tarboton, 5/22/2015-11/21/2015.
William Penn Foundation/Stroud Water Research Center, Delaware River Basin Model My Watershed, D. G. Tarboton, 5/1/2014-4/30/2016.
Utah Department of Natural Resources, Climate variability impacts for Utah’s Great Salt Lake with proposed causeway modifications, Sarah Null and David G Tarboton, 7/1/2014-6/30/2015. [Paper http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144111]
National Science Foundation, Collaborative Research: CI-WATER, Cyberinfrastructure to Advance High Performance Water Resource Modeling, N. Jones (BYU), D.G. Tarboton (USU), Fred Ogden, (UWYO), L. Hunter (UU), J. Nelson (BYU), S. Corbato (UU), 9/2011-8/2015.
National Science Foundation, Collaborative Research: Development of Adaptable Web Modules to Stimulate Active Learning in Hydrology using Data and Model Simulations, D.G.Tarboton in collaboration with lead PI E. Habib (University of Louisiana) and U. Lall (University of Columbia), 10/2011-9/2015.
National Science Foundation, Integrated Data Management System for Critical Zone Observatories, Award to Anthony Aufdenkampe Stroud Water Research Center, subaward to Utah State University Jeffery S Horsburgh, David G Tarboton, 8/1/2012-7/31/2015.
National Science Foundation, Developing a Community Information Model and Supporting Software to Extend Interoperability of Sensor and Sample Based Earth Observations, Jeffery S Horsburgh, Anthony K Aufdenkampe, Kerstin A Lehnert, Emilio Mayorga, Ilya Zaslavsky, David G Tarboton, 8/1/2012-7/31/2015.
US Forest Service, GRAIP Model Software Reprogramming for ArcGIS 10, D. G. Tarboton, 4/14/2014-5/31/2016.
Biowest, Great Salt Lake Modeling, D. G. Tarboton, 9/2009-6/2015.
Utah Department of Natural Resources, How do changes to the causeway in Utah’s Great Salt Lake affect water and salt flow in Gilbert and Gunnison Bays?, Sarah Null and David G Tarboton, 7/1/2013-7/1/2014.
NASA, Extending Utah Energy Balance Snowmelt Model to Glacial Melt Calculations in HIMALA, D.G. Tarboton, 6//2011-12/2013.
Environmental Protection Agency, Consequences of Global Climate Change for Stream Biodiversity, C.P. Hawkins, D.G. Tarboton, J Jin, 8/2009 - 9/2013. [Paper http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rra.3029]
US Forest Service, Understanding Trends in Western Water Balances, D.G. Tarboton, 9/2009-9/2013.
US Forest Service, GRAIP Model Software Updates, D. G. Tarboton, 8/2010-9/2013.
NSF, Development of Informatics Infrastructure for the Hydrologic Sciences, P.I. David Maidment, University of Texas at Austin. Subaward to Utah State University, D G Tarboton, 2004-2012.
USGS, NIDIS Drought Index Information System Development, D.G. Tarboton, J.S. Horsburgh, 1/2010-12/2012.
US Army Corps of Engineers, Advanced Terrain Analysis in Hydrology using Parallel Processing, D. G. Tarboton and D Watson, 9/2008-2/2012.
USDA. Utah Drought Management Project, Paul Johnson, Scott Jones, David Tarboton, Roger Kjelgren, Janis Boettinger, 2006-2011.
NSF, Development of Critical Zone Observatory Information System, D.G. Tarboton, J.S. Horsburgh, 1/2010-8/2011.
Inland Northwest Research Alliance, ICEWATER Information System Development and Support, D. G. Tarboton and J. S. Horsburgh, 11/2008-12/2010.
State of Utah, An Internet Based Great Salt Lake Information System, J.S. Horsburgh and D. G. Tarboton, 9/2008-6/2010.
National Science Foundation, Tools for Environmental Observatory Design and Implementation: Sensor Networks, Dynamic Bayesian Nutrient Flux Modeling, and Cyberinfrastructure Advancement, D. S. Stevens, D. G. Tarboton, J. S. Horsburgh, N. Mesner, 2006-2008.
WATer and Environmental Systems (WATERS Network) Science and Engineering Design Stragegy , P.I. Barbara Minsker. D G Tarboton member of design team, 2007-2008.
Utah Governor's Office of Public Lands Policy Coordination, Water production related to watershed and land management, 2007-2008. Report.
Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology. Terrain analysis tools for water quality analysis. M E Baker, D G Tarboton, 2007-2008.
EPA, Testing Watershed Classifications Relevant to Bioassessment, Conservation Planning, and Watershed Restoration, Charles P. Hawkins, David Tarboton, Yong Cao, Michelle Baker, 2003-2007. MWD Tool.
USFS, GIS Based Analysis Tools for Forest Roads, D G Tarboton. 2003-2008.
National Weather Service, COMET outreach program, Online Instructional Module on Rainfall Runoff Processes , D G Tarboton, C Hult, M Zachry, D Brandon, 2001 to 2003.
U.S. Geological Survey, Development of a GIS-Based Approach for Better Statewide Water Use Estimation, (Arc-ET) M McKee, D G Tarboton, L Austin, H Hadley, 2001 to 2003.
USDA, Quantifying the Exposture of Streams to Sediment Inputs From Managed Forests, A Risk-Based Approach, R. T. Pack, D. G. Tarboton, L Benda, 1999 to 2002.
U.S. Geological Survey, Source Water Protection Assessment Tools Development, D Sorenson, R Sims, J Sims, J Kaluarachchi, M Kemblowski, D. G. Tarboton, U Lall, R Dupont, July 1999 to June 2000.
National Aeronautical and Space Administration, Snow Hydrology: The parameterization of subgrid processes within a physically based snow energy and mass balance model, D. G. Tarboton, K Elder, D. Cline, C. Luce, 1998 – 2002.
INEEL, Development of a User Driven Decision Support System for Water Availability and Quality Management, U. Lall, D. Stevens, R. Price, D. G. Tarboton, J. Kaluarachchi, Q. Weninger, T. Glover, G Urroz, 1997 to 2002.
USGS, Biogeochemical Research at the Noland Divide Watershed, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, H. Van Miegroet, D. G. Tarboton, N Nicholas, I Creed, 1997 to 2001.
National Science Foundation/EPA, Scaling up Spatially Distributed Hydrologic Models of Arid Watersheds, Tarboton, D. G., C M U Neale, Keith R. Cooley, Mark S. Seyfreid, G. Flerchinger, C. Hanson, C. W. Slaughter, 1995-2000.
National Science Foundation, International programs division, Spatially Distributed Hydrologic Models and Spatial Patterns, Cooperative project with NIWA for sabbatical in New Zealand, D. G. Tarboton, 1997 to 1998
Forest Renewal of British Columbia, Improvements of Terrain Stability Classification Methods using a DEM-derived stability index, R. T. Pack and D. G. Tarboton, 1997-1998.
National Science Foundation, Geomorphological Processes, Scale and the Evolution of Fluvial Landforms, D. G. Tarboton, 1994-1995.
U.S. Geological Survey, A Spatially Distributed Water Balance based on Physical, Isotopic and Airborne Remotely Sensed Data, C. M. U. Neale, D. G. Tarboton, J. J. McDonnell, 1991 to 1994.
U.S. Geological Survey, Non-parametric stochastic simulation of streamflow in the Colorado River, D. G. Tarboton, U. Lall, 1992 to 1995.
USU Faculty research grant, Snowmelt energy balance, the turbulent fluxes, D. G. Tarboton, 1992-1993.
U.S. Forest Service, Development of Mountain Climate Generator and Snowpack Model for Erosion Predictions in the Western United States using WEPP, D. S. Bowles, U. Lall, G. Bingham, D. G. Tarboton, 1991 to 1996. (My role in this was development of the snowmelt component.)
U.S. Geological Survey, Coping with Severe Sustained Drought in the Southwestern United States, L. D. James, F. Gregg, D. G. Tarboton, D. R. Kendall, B. Harding, H. J. Vaux, D. T. Patten, T. C. Modde, R. S. Krannich, D. H. Getches, 1990 to 1993. (My role in this was the hydrology and consisted of identification of drought scenario's for analysis based on tree ring data and statistical disaggregation of these to give source inflows for the Colorado River System Simulation model.)
USU Faculty research grant, Distributed hydrologic modeling using digital topographic and geographic data, D. G. Tarboton, 1990-1992.