EEOS Department - 100 Morrissey Blvd. - Boston, MA 02125

Ellen in Tabo, India

Ellen M. Douglas, PE, PG, PhD

 

Associate Professor
Hydrology

Office: (617) 287-7437

Fax: (617) 287-7474

Email: Ellen.Douglas@umb.edu

 

Curriculum Vitae

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Ph.D. Water Resources Engineering, 2002
    Tufts University, MA
  • M.S. Civil Engineering, 1994
    University of New Hampshire, NH
  • B.S. Hydrology, 1991 (summa cum laude)
    University of New Hampshire, NH
  • Professional Geologist, State of New Hampshire, 2002
  • Professional Engineer, State of New Hampshire, 1998

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am a hydrologist and an engineer. My research utilizes computer modeling and data analysis to define and support sustainable management policies and practices related to water resources and climate change adaptation.  Broad topics of interest include:

  • quantifying the impacts of climate change on hydroclimatology in the Northeast
  • evaluating feasible climate change adaptation strategies for New England communities
  • monitoring the performance of river restoration activities
  • using economic models for promoting sustainable water use 

My current, on-going research projects include: 

1. Monitoring the restoration of Red Brook, Wareham, MA
2. Biomonitoring of Eel River Headwaters Restoration Project, Plymouth, MA
3. Incorporating environmental costs and benefits in dam removal decision-making in Massachusetts
4. Promoting sustainable irrigation water use through benefits trading on the Yellow River, China
5. Quantifying the environmental impacts of expanded agricultural irrigation in southeastern Turkey
6. Simulating the impacts of overextraction and climate change on groundwater in Northwest India
7. Evaluating the future of water resources in Northwest India: impacts of overextraction and climate change on glacier-fed rivers in Punjab state, India
8. Adapting to climate change in the Northeastern U.S. focusing on stormwater and coastal flooding impacts.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Massachusetts Environmental Trust: Monitoring dam removal in Massachusetts: Towards a regional river restoration strategy. PI Douglas, Jul 1, 2011 through Jun 30, 2012, $35,000.

NOAA Climate and Society Interactions (CSI)-Coasts: Overcoming the obstacles and capitalizing on the incentives for climate change adaptation in coastal environmental justice communities, PI Douglas (UMB), co-Is: Kirshen (Tufts), Paolisso(UMaryland), Wiggin (UHI), Sep 1, 2011 through Aug 31, 2013, $299,971.

NASA Terrestrial Hydrology Program: The history of agricultural irrigation expansion: developing useful datasets of global irrigated area and irrigation water use from remote sensing and hydrologic modeling. PI Douglas, co-Is Frolking (UNH) and Friedl (UBM) Oct 1, 2007-Sep 30, 2011. $549,798 (UMB portion: $205,455)



 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

  • EEOS 657 Fluvial Hydrology
  • EEOS 261 Statistics for Environmental, Earth and Ocean Sciences
  • EEOS 305 Principles of Hydrology

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • EEOS Graduate Program Director
  • EEOS IRB coordinator

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Team Hydro Logo

  • Emily Faivre, PhD student
  • Karen Simpson, PhD student
  • Mohammad Alshawaf, PhD student 
  • Elizabeth Sun, PhD candidate
  • Vijaya Jyoti, PhD student
  • Shabnam Rouhani, PhD student
  • Doina Oglavie, MS Env. Sci, graduated Dec 2011
  • Kevin O'Brion, MS student
  • Liz Carpenter, MS student
  • Vijaylaxsmi Kesavan, MS student
  • Chandler Goodale, BS EEOS
  • Michael Riccio, MS Env. Sci, graduated Aug 2011
  • Mythreyi Balaji, BS EEOS, graduated June 2011 
  • Steve Kichefski, MS Env, Sci, graduated Dec 2009
  • Barry Fradkin, MS Env. Sci, graduated Dec 2009
  • Brett Hillman, MS student, graduated Dec 2009
  • Liz Carpenter, BA EEOS, graduated June 2009
  • Chelsea Faribank, BS EEOS, graduated May 2008
  • Mike Richardi, non-matriculated

    Click here to see recent Team Hydro activities!

    Click here to download Team Hydro information!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Review or Preparation (as of 12/20/2011)



Sun, E.*, D. Terkla and E. Douglas, Water rights trading and willingness to pay survey: A case study in the Yellow River basin in China, J. Environmental Management, in review, Septebmer 2011  

    (PDF Format)

Oglavie, D.R.*, E. M. Douglas, D. G. Terkla and B. Lambert, A framework for better dam removal decision making in Massachusetts, anticipated submission Dec 2011.

O’Brion, K.*, E. Douglas and A. Christian, Biomonitoring the Eel River headwaters restoration project, Plymouth, Massachusetts, Freshwater Biology, anticipated submission, Jun 2012.

Douglas, E. M., B. Fradkin*, S. Kichefski*, and C. Goodale* , Monitoring and modeling changes in flow and sediment transport in Red Brook, a small coastal stream in southeastern, Massachusetts, in preparation.

Simpson, K. E.*, E. M. Douglas, J. F. Limbrunner, G. Özertan, D. Wisser and D. Terkla, in preparation, The environmental and socioeconomic impacts of large-scale irrigation in southeastern Turkey, Journal of Environmental Management, in preparation.

Salmon, J. M.*, M Friedl, D. Sulla-Menashe, A. Sibley, D. Bolton, S. Frolking, E. Douglas, and M. Ozdogan, Mapping Global Irrigated Lands with MODIS, Global Ecology and Biogeography, in preparation.

Carpenter, E.*, E. Douglas and G. Gill, Modeling the impacts of intensive irrigation on groundwater in southwestern Punjab state, India, in preparation.

Freeman, S.*, E. M. Douglas, R. M. Vogel, P. Weiskel and C. J. Vörösmarty, Addressing water stress in Africa through green and blue water management indicators, HESS, in preparation.

Published

Paolisso, M., E. Douglas, A. Enrici*, Kirshen, P. and M. Ruth, Environmental Justice and Climate Change: Knowledge and Adaptation among African American Communities in the Chesapeake Bay Region, Weather, Climate and Society, accepted, Feb 2012 .(PDF Format)


Hillman, B.*, E. M. Douglas and D. G. Terkla, Sustainable Water Use and Economic Valuation: A Case Study of the Yakima River in Washington, in review, J. Environmental Management, accepted for publication, Dec 2011.(PDF Format)


Douglas, E., P. Kirshen, M. Paolisso C. Watson, A. Enrici* and M. Ruth, Coastal flooding and climate change: impacts and adaptations for an environmental justice community in Boston, Massachusetts, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, in press, Dec 2011.

    (PDF Format)


Douglas, E. M. and C. Fairbank.  Is precipitation in New England becoming more extreme? J. Hydrologic Engineering, 16 (3):203-217, 2011.(PDF Format)

Wisser, D., E. M. Douglas, B. Fekete and C. J. Vörösmarty. Blue and green water: The significance of local water resources , special issue of J.  Hydrology, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.07.032, published on-line July 11, 2009. (PDF Format)

Douglas, E. M., J. M.  Jacobs, and D. M. Sumner, Calculated and Measured Potential Evapotranspiration across Land Uses in Florida, J. Hydrology, 373 (3-4): 366-376, 2009. (PDF Format)

Douglas, E. M., A. Beltran-Przekurat, D. S. Niyogi, R.A. Pielke, Sr., and C. J. Vörösmarty. Simulating Changes in Land-Atmosphere Interactions From Expanding Agriculture and Irrigation in India and the Potential Impacts on the Indian Monsoon, Global and Planetary Change, 67, (1-2): 117–128, 2009(PDF Format)

Wisser D, S Frolking, EM Douglas, BM Fekete, CJ Vörösmarty, AH Schumann. Global Irrigation Water Demand: Variability and Uncertainties Arising from Agricultural and Climate Data Sets, Geophysical Research Letters, VOL. 35, LXXXXX, doi:10.1029/2008GL035296, 2008(PDF Format)

Kirshen, P., C. Watson, E. Douglas, A. Gontz, J. Lee,  and Y. Tian. Coastal Flooding in the Northeastern USA under High and Low GHG Emission Scenarios, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 13:437–451, 2008. 
(PDF Format)

Roy, S. S., R. Mahmodo, D. Niyogi, S. A. Foster, K. G. Hubbard, E. M. Douglas and R. A. Pielke, Sr. 2007. Impacts of the Agricultural Green Revolution Induced Land Use Changes on Air Temperatures in India, JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 112, D21108, doi:10.1029/2007JD008834. (PDF Format)

Douglas, E. M., S. Wood, K. Sebastian and C. J. Vorosmarty. Policy implications of a pan-tropic assessment of the simultaneous hydrological and biodiversity impacts of deforestation. Water Resources Management, 21 (1): 211-232, 2007. (PDF Format)

Douglas, E. M., D. Niyogi, S. Frolking, J. B. Yeluripati, R. A. Pielke, Sr., N. Niyogi, C. J. Vorosmarty, and U. C. Mohanty (2006). Changes in moisture and energy fluxes due to agricultural land use and irrigation in the Indian Monsoon Belt. Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L14403. doi:10.1029/2006GL026550, 2006. (PDF Format)

Frolking S., J. B. Yeluripati, and E. Douglas. New district-level maps of rice cropping in India: a foundation for scientific input into policy assessment. Fields Crop Research, 98(2-3): 164-177, 2006.

Douglas, E. M. and R. M. Vogel. The behaviour of the Flood of Record for Basins in the U.S. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 11 (5): 482-488, 2006. (PDF Format)

Levy, M. A., C. Thurkelson, C. Vorosmarty, E. Douglas, and M. Humphreys. Freshwater availability anomalies adn the outbreak of internal war: results from a global spatial time series analysis. Human Security and Climate Change Workshop, Asker, Norway, June 21-23, 2006.

Sullivan, C., Vorosmarty, C., Craswell, E., Bunn, S., Cline, S., Heidecke, C., Storygard, A., Proussevitch, A., Douglas, E., Bossio, D., Gunther, D., Giacomello, A. M., O'Regan, D. and Meigh, J. Mapping the links between water, poverty and food security. Report on the Water Indicators Workshop held at the Center for Evcology and Hydrology, Wallingford, 16-19 May, 2005.

Vorosmarty, C. J., E. M. Douglas, P. A. Green and C. Revenga. Geospatial indicators of emerging water stress: an application in Africa. Ambio, 34(3):230-236, 2005. (PDF Format)

Vorosmarty, C. J., C. Leveque, C. Revenga (COnvening LEad Authors) Coordinating Lead Authors: Chris Caudill, John Chilton, Ellen M. Douglas, Michel Meybeck, Daniel Prager. Chapter 7: Fresh Water Ecosystems, In: Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, Volume 1: Condition and Trends Working Group Report, Island Press. 2005.

Douglas, E. M., K. Sebastian, C. J. Vörösmarty and S. Wood, 2005. The role of tropical forests in supporting biodiversity and hydrologic integrity, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 3635, Social Science Research Network, Washington, DC., 2005, available on-line at http://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/3635.html

Douglas, E. M. and A. P. Barros. Probable maximum precipitation estimation using multifractals: applications to the eastern United States. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 4(6):1012-1024, 2003. 
(PDF Format)

Walker, Jr., F. R. and E. M. Douglas. Identifying hydrologic variability and change for strategic water supply planning and design. In AGU Monograph entitled Science and Water Resources Issues: Challenges and Opportunities. R. Lawford and H. Hartmann, eds. Water Resources Monograph 16, American Geophysical Union, 2003.

Douglas, E. M., R. M. Vogel and C. N. Kroll. Impact of streamflow persistence on hydrologic design. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 7(3):220-227, 2002. (PDF Format)

Douglas, E. M., R. M. Vogel and C. N. Kroll. Trends in flood and low flows in the United States: impact of spatial correlation. Journal of Hydrology, 240(1-2):90-105, 2000. (PDF Format)