Climate Variability and Watershed Response as an Integrated Biophysical System

Watersheds respond to climate variability and human impact in a range of ways including hydrological states and fluxes, vegetation biomass and plant functional types, soil erosion landsliding, and sediment yields. Gradual changes in biophysical states could also lead to changes in the watershed response to extreme climatic events such as floods and droughts. We will discuss examples of watershed response to change agents from semi-arid and humid climates and explore types of numerical models for modeling of watershed systems.

Short Bio
Erkan Istanbulluoglu is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington, Seattle. Erkan Istanbulluoglu is interested in understanding and modeling interactions among hydrologic, ecologic, and geomorphic processes in watersheds; their connections to society; and the impact of climate change on the watershed response. He holds a Ph.D. from Utah State University. He had previous appointments as a postdoc at MIT and assistant professor at the  University of Nebraska, Lincoln before joining to UW.
He currently serves as an Associate Editor in Water Resources Research and served on the CUAHSI board of directors.