Author Archives: Laura Toran

We started examining historic data from the USGS/PWD stations monitored for the Urban CZ NSF project.  Comparing long term records at the Pine Rd station showed an increase in both conductivity and pH from 2010 to 2017, suggesting increased impacts … Continue reading →

A new paper on urban stream temperatures was recently accepted by Hydrological Processes, co-authored with Sarah Beganskas. We found that impervious cover did not predict max temperatures across our sites although it did predict temperature surges during storms.  However, these … Continue reading →

Between Two Owls is hosted by CST Advising to highlight CST faculty members and the work they do. These short interviews (roughly 10 minutes) cover topics such as a professor’s educational background, professional experience, and personal narrative.   My interview included … Continue reading →

My undergraduate assistant Rachel Pendrak and I started biweekly sampling on the Pennypack Creek for the new NSF CZN grant.  These data will be used to understand weather processes in urban environments.    We sample on a regular schedule, rain or … Continue reading →

Two papers for publication were accepted the past month or so.  One is in Freshwater Science on a tracer test to measure stream metabolism in the Wissahickon Creek (Ledfordetal_RazRhu).  The second is on a model of sediment loading and settling … Continue reading →

This month we flew the I-95 stormwater basins with a drone to capture photogrammetry images that measure canopy height.  My colleague, Josh Caplin, will compare these images to the ones we took a year ago to look for growth or … Continue reading →

As part of the new Urban Critical Zone Network grant, our team is collecting water isotope data from streams to identify source areas.  An important source to characterize is rainwater, but you need a local meteoric water line (the relationship … Continue reading →

We wrapped up the virtual Carbonate RCN conference this month, with various study groups honing research questions for future work. Find out more at the RCN website!

We took a tour of meadows in the Pennypack Creek with our collaborators at the Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust and new grad student Bojan Milinic.  Bojan is interested in using geophysics to study how infiltration differs with different plantings.

I joined with a team of scientists along the east coast to develop a successful proposal to study critical zone processes in urban settings.  We plan to examine how urbanization results in a shift from supply-limited transport of weathering agents … Continue reading →