Papers by Francisco Muñoz-Arriola
Hydrology
Changing water supplies and demands, inherent to climate fluctuations and human activities, are p... more Changing water supplies and demands, inherent to climate fluctuations and human activities, are pushing for a paradigm shift in water management worldwide. The occurrence of extreme hydrometeorological and climate events such as extended wet periods and droughts, compounded with contaminants, impair the access to water resources, demanding novel designs, construction, and management across multiple hydrologic scales and biogeochemical processes. A constraint to studying hydrologic and biogeochemical disturbances and improving best management practices for water quantity and quality at the watershed scale resides in the suitable monitoring, data availability, and the creation of frameworks. We hypothesize that streamflow and contaminants, simulated by the hydrologic model Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and evaluated during drought and extended wet periods, capture the nonlinearities of contaminants of multiple biogeochemical complexities, indicating the adaptive abilities of w...
Hydrology
The present work proposes to improve estimates of snowpack and snowmelt and their assessment in t... more The present work proposes to improve estimates of snowpack and snowmelt and their assessment in the steep Himalayan ranges at the sub-catchment scale. Temporal variability of streamflow and the associated distribution of accumulated snow in catchments with glacier presence in the Himalayas illustrates how changes in snowpack and snowmelt can affect the water supply for local water management. The primary objective of this study is to assess the role of elevation, temperature lapse rate (TLR), and precipitation lapse rate (PLR) in the computation of snowpack (or snowfall) and snowmelt in sub-catchments of the Satluj River basin. Modeling of snowpack and snowmelt was constructed using the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) in both historical (1991–2008) and near-time scenarios (2011–2030) by implementing real-time hydrometeorological, snow-hydrological parameters, and Global Circulation Model (GCM) datasets. The modeled snowmelt-induced streamflow showed a good agreement with the obser...
Database for the Geospatial Synthesis of Biogeochemical Attributions of Porphyrins to Oil Pollution in Marine Sediments of the Gulf of México
This dataset is associated with the journal article "Geospatial Synthesis of Biogeochemical ... more This dataset is associated with the journal article "Geospatial Synthesis of Biogeochemical Attributions of Porphyrins to Oil Pollution in Marine Sediments of the Gulf of México" by Muñoz-Arriola and Macias-Zamora (2022). The porphyrin and biogeochemical data were obtained by and analyzed at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California's Instituto de Investigaciones Oceanológicas. The samples were collected to identify the effects of natural and human-originated oil spills in the Campeche Sound, and these efforts are part of the oceanographic campaign Xaman-Ek. Associated references are: Munoz-Arriola, F. and V. Macias-Zamora (Accepted) <em>Geospatial Synthesis of Biogeochemical Attributions of Porphyrins to Oil Pollution in Marine Sediments of the Gulf of México</em>. Geosciences. Macias-Zamora, J. V., J. A. Villaescusa-Celaya; A. Munoz-Barbosa; and G. Gold-Bouchot (1999). Trace metals in sediment cores from the Campeche shelf, Gulf of Mexico. Environmental...
The 13th EFITA International Conference, 2022
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
A spatially comprehensive, hydrologic model-based data set for Mexico, the U.S., and southern Canada, 1950-2013
A data set of simulated hydrologic fluxes and states from the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC... more A data set of simulated hydrologic fluxes and states from the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model, gridded to a 1/16 degree (~6km) resolution that spans the entire country of Mexico, the conterminous U.S. (CONUS), and regions of Canada south of 53 degrees N for the period 1950-2013. Because of the consistent gridding methodology, the current product reduces transboundary discontinuities making it suitable for estimating large-scale hydrologic phenomena.
Geosciences, 2022
Porphyrins are highly persistent in the environment and represent a helpful biogeochemical attrib... more Porphyrins are highly persistent in the environment and represent a helpful biogeochemical attribute to assess the spatial distribution of the effects of oil spills on ecosystems and their resilience. In areas prone to natural and human-originated oil spills, the measurement of VO– and nickel–porphyrins in marine–sediment samples can identify the effects of oil pollution across spatiotemporal scales. The goal is to explore whether or not these compounds can be useful indicators of the geospatial attributions of oil contamination in the surficial sediments. We hypothesize that the geospatial gradients of porphyrins in marine sediments from petroleum spills and seepage activities—related to traditional indices of oil pollution, such as heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons—can be identified in small sediment samples and concentrations. The objectives are two-fold: (1) extract and measure VO– and nickel–porphyrins from small marine sediment samples using high-pressure liqui...
ArXiv, 2017
Agriculture provides economic opportunity through innovation; helps rural America to thrive; prom... more Agriculture provides economic opportunity through innovation; helps rural America to thrive; promotes agricultural production that better nourishes Americans; and aims to preserve natural resources through healthy private working lands, conservation, improved watersheds, and restored forests. From agricultural production to food supply, agriculture supports rural and urban economies across the U.S. It accounts for 10% of U.S. jobs and is currently creating new jobs in the growing field of data-driven farming. However, U.S. global competitiveness associated with food and nutrition security is at risk because of accelerated investments by many other countries in agriculture, food, energy, and resource management. To ensure U.S. global competitiveness and long-term food security, it is imperative that we build sustainable physical and cyber infrastructures to enable self-managing and sustainable farming. Such infrastructures should enable next generation precision-farms by harnessing m...
Short-Term resilience and transformation of urban socioenvironmental systems to COVID-19 lockdowns in India using air quality as proxy
Environmental Resilience and Transformation in Times of COVID-19, 2021
Aqua-LAC, 2011
Los modelos hidrológicos de superficie terrestre (MHS) fueron inicialmente creados para proveer d... more Los modelos hidrológicos de superficie terrestre (MHS) fueron inicialmente creados para proveer de condiciones de frontera en la interfaz suelo-atmosfera a los Modelos Globales de Circulación. En su evolución los MHS enriquecieron la información provista por los modelos hidrológicos conceptuales mediante la generación distribuida de variables generales y variables de estado asociadas a los diferentes componentes del ciclo hidrológico en la superficie terrestre. Tanto los modelos hidrológicos conceptuales como los MHS requieren de un proceso de calibración que usualmente es llevado a cabo manualmente. Lo subjetivo de dicha técnica ha permitido el fortaleciendo del uso de las técnicas de calibración automática aplicadas a la modelación hidrológica. El presente trabajo tiene como objeto: a) implementar las técnicas de calibración automática Evolución Compleja Multiobjetivo (MOCOM , por sus siglas en inglés) y Estimación de Parámetros (PEST) para el uso del MHS de Capacidades de Infiltr...
<i>Analytics for climate-uncertainty estimation and propagation in maize-phenotype predictions</i>
2020 ASABE Annual International Virtual Meeting, July 13-15, 2020, 2020
2020 ASABE Annual International Virtual Meeting, July 13-15, 2020, 2020
Use of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) in agriculture has risen in the past decade. These systems ... more Use of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) in agriculture has risen in the past decade. These systems are key to modernizing agriculture. UASs collect and elucidate data previously difficult to obtain and used to help increase agricultural efficiency and production. Typical commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) UASs are limited by small payloads and short flight times. Such limits inhibit their ability to provide abundant data at multiple spatiotemporal scales. In this paper, we describe the design and construction of the tethered aircraft unmanned system (TAUS), which is a novel power-over-tether UAS leveraging the physical presence of the tether to launch multiple sensors along the tether at multiple altitudes. With power from a ground station, the TAUS can acquire continuous data for several hours. The system is used to sense atmospheric conditions and temperature gradients across altitude. The development of the prototyped system is presented, along with the results of field experiments. The influence that power losses across the tether have on the sensors' abilities to accurately sense is discussed. We demonstrate a 6-hour continuous flight at an altitude of 50 feet, and a 1-hour flight at sunset to acquire the gradually decreasing atmospheric temperature from an array of 6 sensors. An empirical evaluation of the system's performance found that the prototype successively demonstrated proof of concept by considerably increasing flight times and throughput by simultaneously acquiring data from the sensor array. The TAUS will be improved by integrating performance-monitoring circuitry, elevated levels of algorithm-based autonomy, and multivariable sensors.
Journal of Hydrology, 2020
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions, 2016
The need for accurate, real-time, reliable, and multi-scale soil water content (SWC) monitoring i... more The need for accurate, real-time, reliable, and multi-scale soil water content (SWC) monitoring is critical for a multitude of scientific disciplines trying to understand and predict the earth's terrestrial energy, water, and nutrient cycles. One promising technique to help meet this demand is fixed and roving cosmic-ray neutron probes (CRNP). However, the relationship between observed low-energy neutrons and SWC is affected by local soil and vegetation calibration parameters. This effect may be accounted for by a calibration equation based on local soil type and the amount of standing biomass. However, determining the calibration parameters for this equation is labor and time intensive, thus limiting the full potential of the roving CRNP in large surveys and long transects, or its use in novel environments. In this work, our objective is to develop and test the accuracy of using globally available datasets (clay weight percent, soil bulk density, and soil organic carbon) to sup...
Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest United States, 2013
This chapter examines climate-related vulnerability in the western portion of the U.S.-Mexico bor... more This chapter examines climate-related vulnerability in the western portion of the U.S.-Mexico border region from the Pacific coast of California-Baja California to El Paso-Ciudad Juárez, focusing primarily on border counties in the United States and municipalities in Mexico. Beginning with a brief overview of projected climate changes for the region, the chapter analyzes the demographic, socioeconomic, institutional, and other drivers of climate-related vulnerability, and the potential impacts of climate change across multiple sectors (e.g., water, agriculture and ranching, and biodiverse ecosystems). The border region has higher poverty, water insecurity, substandard housing,
Water Resources Research, 2009
The Yaqui River Basin (YRB) is the most important wheat-producing region in Mexico. The main sour... more The Yaqui River Basin (YRB) is the most important wheat-producing region in Mexico. The main source of irrigation water in the Yaqui basin (over 80%) is surface water. Crop production sustainability is therefore closely linked to YRB streamflow and potentially to its sensitivity to climate variability and land use changes. We study the sensitivity of streamflow to land cover change resulting primarily from conversion of natural vegetation to unirrigated agriculture within the basin. We also examine how this sensitivity is influenced by midscale (North American Monsoon) and large-scale (El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)) climate regimes. Streamflow simulations using the variable Infiltration Capacity Model were performed in which current land use was altered incrementally within the three major subbasins of the YRB. In general, we found that the sensitivity of basin runoff to ENSOand PDO-related variations in precipitation was much greater than to land cover-related changes and was highest during winter. Furthermore, climate and land cover runoff sensitivities appear to be related; in El Niño (generally wet) years the sensitivity of streamflow to land cover change can be four times higher than in La Niña (generally dry) years. The sensitivity of streamflow to PDO phase was smaller. Streamflow sensitivities to climate were the highest when PDO and ENSO were in phase. We conclude that climate variability exerts stronger controls on the surface hydrology than does land use change associated with the extensification of agriculture. For instance, flows in El Niño versus La Niña years differed by 76% in winter and 16% in summer, whereas maximum monthly (winter) flow changes were at most 4%.
Journal of Hydrometeorology, 2012
The links between vegetation, evapotranspiration (ET), and soil moisture (SM) are prominent in we... more The links between vegetation, evapotranspiration (ET), and soil moisture (SM) are prominent in western Mexico—a region characterized by an abrupt increase in rainfall and ecosystem greenup during the North American monsoon (NAM). Most regional-scale land surface models use climatological vegetation and are therefore unable to capture fully the spatiotemporal changes in these linkages. Interannually varying and climatological leaf area index (LAI) were prescribed, both inferred from the space-borne Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), as the source of vegetation parameter inputs to the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model applied over the NAM region for 2001–08. Results at two eddy covariance tower sites for three summer periods were compared and evaluated. Results show that both vegetation greening onset and dormancy dates vary substantially from year to year with a range of more than half a month. The model using climatological LAI tends to predict lower (hi...
Nutrient Balance at the Colorado River Delta
A simple machine learning approach to model real-time streamflow using satellite inputs: Demonstration in a data scarce catchment
Journal of Hydrology
Hydrology
Common pool resource (CPR) management has the potential to overcome the collective action dilemma... more Common pool resource (CPR) management has the potential to overcome the collective action dilemma, defined as the tendency for individual users to exploit natural resources and contribute to a tragedy of the commons. Design principles associated with effective CPR management help to ensure that arrangements work to the mutual benefit of water users. This study contributes to current research on CPR management by examining the process of implementing integrated management planning through the lens of CPR design principles. Integrated management plans facilitate the management of a complex common pool resource, ground and surface water resources having a hydrological connection. Water governance structures were evaluated through the use of participatory methods and observed records of interannual changes in rainfall, evapotranspiration, and ground water levels across the Northern High Plains. The findings, documented in statutes, field interviews and observed hydrologic variables, poi...
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Papers by Francisco Muñoz-Arriola