Projects

A brief summary of research highlights within the Logan River Observatory. 

Current Projects

  1. Groundwater Assessment of Cache Valley: An updated evaluation of groundwater recharge, yield, and vulnerability in Cache Valley, E. Humphrey, T. Marston (Utah USGS Water Science Center), B. Neilson, D. Newell (USU), K. Solomon (University of Utah), Utah Division of Water Rights/Cache Water District/Cache County, 2024-2027.
  2. Linking long-term data from the Logan River Observatory to changes in snowpack to inform local water management and conservation planning, S. Hotaling, B.T. Neilson, K. Becker, USU Extension Water Initiative Grants Program, 2024-2026.
  3. Monitoring and Quantification of Great Salt Lake Inflows from the Bear River, B.T. Neilson, B. Crookston US Fish and Wildlife Service via GSL-WET, 2024-2025.
  4. Preliminary Data Collection to Support the Groundwater Assessment of Cache Valley, B.T. Neilson, Utah Division of Water Rights, 2023-2024.
  5. Hydrochemical Tracer Sampling in Logan River to Inform Future Water Availability, B.T. Neilson, USU Extension Water Initiative Grants Program, 2022-2024.
  6. CIROH: Advancing Snow Observation Systems to Improve Operational Streamflow Prediction Capabilities, C.A. Oroza, R. Johnson, D. Taylor, C. Skalka, J. Horsburgh, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2023–2026.
  7. Advancing Camera-Based Monitoring for Operational Hydrologic Applications, S. Young, J.S. Horsburgh, E. Goharian, United States Geological Survey, 2023–2026.
  8. Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology (CIROH): Modernized Standards and Tools for Sharing and Integrating Real time Hydrologic Observations Data, J.S. Horsburgh, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2022–2025
  9. Collaborative Research: Separating the climate and weather of river channels: Characterizing dynamics of coarse-grained river channel response to perturbations across scales, C.B. Phillips, National Science Foundation, 2022–2025
  10. Collaborative Research: Quantifying Watershed Dynamics in Snow-Dominated Mountainous Karst Watersheds Using Hybrid Physically Based and Deep Learning Models, B.T. Neilson and D.L. Newell, National Science Foundation, 2021–2024
  11. Monitoring and Research for Water Quality and Stormwater Management in Logan City, UT, B.T. Neilson and J.S. Horsburgh, Logan City, 2018–2023
  12. Determining the mobility, fate, and ecological consequences of dust-derived constituents in mountain watersheds, J. Brahney, National Science Foundation, 2020–2025
  13. Quantifying microplastic and nanoplastic deposition in the Bear River Mountains, J. Brahney, United States Department of Agriculture, 2021–2024

Past Projects

  • Hydrochemical Tracer Sampling in Logan River to Inform Future Water Availability, B.T. Neilson, D.L. Newell, E. Rivers, P. Brooks, USU Extension Water Initiative Grants Program, 2022–2023
  • Microplastic transport to the Great Salt Lake through the Logan and Bear River system, J. Brahney, P. Budy, B.T. Neilson, State of Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands, 2021–2022
  • Assessing the Sources, Transport, and Fate of Microplastic in the Logan River Watershed, K. Moor, J. Brahney, B.T. Neilson, United States Geological Survey 104(b)/UWRL, 2021–2022
  • Leveraging LIDAR and Citizen-Science for Low-Cost, High-Resolution Snow-Depth Estimation, Carlos A. Oroza, USGS 104(b), 2020-2021
  • Improving the Hydraulics of Urban Flooding, Z.B. Sharp, USGS 104(b), 2020–2022
  • Monitoring and Research for Water Quality and Stormwater Management in Logan City, UT, B.T. Neilson and J.S. Horsburgh, Logan City, 2018–2021
  • Mapping Didymosphenia in the Logan River Drainage, (USGS 104(b)/UWRL), Brahney and B.T. Neilson
  • Obtaining Lidar Data to Support Research in the Logan River Watershed, B.T. Neilson, 2020UT304B Utah Water Research Laboratory and USU Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, 2020–2021