Hilary McMillan
@mcmillanhydro.bsky.social
Professor of Water Resources at San Diego State University. Watershed hydrology and hydrological processes.
"The struggle of figuring out the right analysis approach, wrestling with an unexpected result, or trying to turn a messy set of findings into a coherent story is not an obstacle to learning. It _is_ the learning". Required reading for AI in the lab: blekhman.substack.com/p/you-need-t...
You need to make AI guidelines for your lab
Here's why you should, and how to start
blekhman.substack.com
New analysis in ECOSYSTEMS identifies all headwater streams of continental U.S.; 77% of U.S. network is headwater streams. doi.org/10.1007/s100... @monicagturner.bsky.social
Identifying Headwater Streams across the Conterminous United States - Ecosystems
Headwater streams play critical roles in hydrologic and biogeochemical processes and functions, yet their spatial distribution and land cover context remain poorly understood at continental scales, an...
doi.org
An ephemeral stream valley, southwestern Nebraska, after heavy rain (left) and four days later. View upstream.
Thanks for the share - and here's a link to view the article: rdcu.be/eXM3l
Forest streamflow driven by soils, topography and previous rains
Nature Water - Forests cover almost a third of earth’s land and supply high-quality streamflow and groundwater. A global synthesis of forested catchments provides surprising insights into the...
rdcu.be
Nature Water @natwater.nature.com · 6mo agoPlease find related News & Views by Hilary McMillan @mcmillanhydro.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s44...
One final reminder! Bettina Schaefli and I warmly invite you to submit abstracts to a new EGU session A strong focus on theory in times of big data HS2.2.5 New Developments in Hydrological Synthesis Abstract submission: www.egu26.eu/session/55911
Ross Woods@rosswoodskiwi.bsky.social · 8mo agoBettina Schaefli and I warmly invite you to submit abstracts to a new EGU session HS2.2.5 New Developments in Hydrological Synthesis Abstract submission: www.egu26.eu/session/55911 1/6
National assessment of river protection in the U.S. Article: doi.org/10.1038/s418... Policy Brief: doi.org/10.1038/s418... Rivers Explorer: map.myriver.americanrivers.org Collaboration b/t American Rivers, Conservation Science Partners, Univ WA @americanrivers.bsky.social Thread 👇 | DM for PDF
I wrote a commentary discussing Daniele's huge new global synthesis of controls on hydrological processes in forested catchments: read it here: rdcu.be/eXTrq . Some surprising findings on the importance of overland flow, soils and antecedent conditions.
Forest streamflow driven by soils, topography and previous rains
Nature Water - Forests cover almost a third of earth’s land and supply high-quality streamflow and groundwater. A global synthesis of forested catchments provides surprising insights into the...
rdcu.be
Daniele Penna@danielepenna.bsky.social · 7mo agoHow do #climate, #antecedent #moisture, #soils, #topography, #geology, and #vegetation control #runoff #processes in #forested #catchments worldwide? Find this out here rdcu.be/eXTtd! @natwater.nature.com Thanks a lot @mcmillanhydro.bsky.social for this commentary www.nature.com/articles/s44...!
When did hydrologists become historians? #FDRI has released 35 years of hi-res data from the Plynlimon Research Catchments! Read about our process of unearthing 35 years of measurements and what it means for understanding river processes: https://f.mtr.cool/grqzmwiqsd 🧪
@rarakihydro.bsky.social leads an exiting new preprint that maps dominant hydrologic processes across >14k US watersheds using streamflow signatures + ML. It’s been such fun following Ryoko and Hilary’s leadership alongside Admin, Anne and Gemma. egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20...
💧 Check out McMillan lab research at #AGU25! @mcmillanhydro.bsky.social. Shoutout to @alessing26.bsky.social for the cute flyer! 💧 Visit runoff generation processes poster session on Monday PM by @aliva-nanda.bsky.social, @nitinsingh.bsky.social, @kjmcguire.bsky.social, Bryn Stewart and me!
How about some real actual hydrology? 🌊 West Kettle River near Rhone Sep 2 2021 ~ 0.53 m3/s typical late season low flow Apr 20 2025 ~53 m3/s ramping up to Q2 at start of freshet
Hydrology Paper of the Day @iflscience.com on weird hydrology: rivers that flow in different drainage basins; why some rivers flow in two directions or have a reversed direction of flow; a lake that drains into two oceans; river capture and geological controls; modelling; and management challenges.
IFLScience@iflscience.com · last yr.In a new study, scientists have reviewed nine rivers and lakes in the Americas that appear at first to break away from the conventional rules of hydrology. www.iflscience.com/scientists-s...
OUT NOW: A fantastic new read for hydrologists 📚: a wrap-up of the Panta Rhei scientific decade of @iahs-aish.bsky.social. Between 2013 and 2022, it explored links between changes in hydrology and society. 🌍 In this paper, Heidi Kreibich and her colleagues present ten years of progress. 👇
Panta Rhei: a decade of progress in research on change in hydrology and society
To better understand the increasing human impact on the water cycle and the feedbacks between hydrology and society, the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) organized the scie...
tandfonline.com
New paper! After much work by me and my students we created a global database of hundreds of research watersheds, and perceptual models of their hydrologic processes. We use the data to test classic theories on how climate and landscape control dominant processes. www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Global patterns in observed hydrologic processes - Nature Water
This study presents a global, searchable database of 400 research watersheds with published descriptions of dominant hydrologic flow pathways, supporting efficient hypothesis testing to investigate em...
nature.com
Today we were in the Re della Pietra #catchment danielepenna.wixsite.com/redellapietra. We installed a new #weather station and showed the site to some private #stakeholders. And this little paper came out right today. rdcu.be/efM8w Congrats @mcmillanhydro.bsky.social and coauthors!
Where does macroplastic pollution in rivers come from? In urban San Diego, most is dumped directly in the river corridor. Volunteer clean up efforts are essential, but plastic stored in the river keeps increasing. Paper from MS student TJ Palmer agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Quantifying Sources, Sinks and Mitigation of Macroplastic and Other River Debris: A Trash Balance Model
We developed a holistic model of riverine macroplastic and debris sources, sinks and transport dynamics for urban rivers Much more debris is directly deposited on the floodplain by dumping and ab...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Hope to see CSU students at this meeting! I will be attending alongside graduate students from SDSU Geography
CSU COAST@csucoast.bsky.social · last yr.Hey CSU grad students-deadline to submit your abstract to the #GordonResearchConference is March 16! #GRC is an amazing meeting, you should go!!! #sciencerocks #hydrology #biology #geochemistry #calstate
Are you a graduate student or postdoc interested in the GRS/GRC Catchment hydrology conferences this June? GRS Chair Ally Jacoby has just published this first-time attendees guide! younghs.com/2025/03/03/a...
A First-Time Attendee’s Guide to the 2025 Catchment Science Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) and Conference (GRC)
Written by Ally Jacoby When I first heard the Gordon Research Conference on Catchment Science described as ‘hydrology summer camp’, I was immediately sold on going. I attended for the first time in…
younghs.com
Hydrology Paper of the Day @rarakihydro.bsky.social on how soil moisture metrics and observations improve the outputs of a rainfall-runoff model: evaluation of model performance with hydrologic signatures; application to watersheds in New Zealand and the US; partitioning; and calibration.
Ryoko Araki@rarakihydro.bsky.social · last yr.My 1st PhD chapter is (finally) out! 🥳 We have tested soil moisture as an objective metric in a Next-Gen rainfall-runoff model—a Conceptual Functional Equivalent (CFE) of WRF-Hydro. Thank you my mentor @mcmillanhydro.bsky.social and Dr. Fred Ogden for their guidance! doi.org/10.1111/1752...
Talk abstracts for Catchment Science Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) before GRC are due on 3/15/25. Submit early for a talk! Exciting venue for science + networking for early careers! Keynote speaker Dr Ryan Emanuel on Environmental Justice. @waterpotential.bsky.social www.grc.org/catchment-sc...
I'm really looking forward to this talk!
Dr. Ryan E. Emanuel@waterpotential.bsky.social · last yr.I’m excited to be the keynote speaker for this summer’s Gordon Research Seminar on Catchment Science! I’ve never attended a Gordon Conference before, and the early career seminar seems like a great opportunity for grad students and postdocs. Check it out! #EnvironmentalJustice
Remember to apply and register for this summer's Catchment Science GRC! The best conference you'll ever go to. Deadlines coming up on March 16 for graduate students to submit their oral abstracts to the GRS. www.grc.org/catchment-sc...
My 1st PhD chapter is (finally) out! 🥳 We have tested soil moisture as an objective metric in a Next-Gen rainfall-runoff model—a Conceptual Functional Equivalent (CFE) of WRF-Hydro. Thank you my mentor @mcmillanhydro.bsky.social and Dr. Fred Ogden for their guidance! doi.org/10.1111/1752...
Amongst all of this, our students are still publishing excellent papers. My recent Masters student Annie Holt, now at NWS, shows how geologic age and (region-dependent) wetland fraction metrics can be used to improve our predictions of baseflow in watersheds across the U.S.: doi.org/10.1002/hyp....
New Predictors for Hydrologic Signatures: Wetlands and Geologic Age Across Continental Scales
This article contributes to the longstanding effort to use landscape metrics to predict streamflow dynamics. We introduce two new metrics describing wetlands and geologic age and use random forests t....
doi.org
A little bit delayed, but I hear it's picking up over here so sending this out into the world: our Lafayette team including Rachel Hurley (now grad student at WPI), Dave Brandes, and me put out this piece on flashiness across the Mid-Atlantic: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Drivers and Buffers of Stream Flashiness in the Mid‐Atlantic United States
In this study, we investigated flashiness across 195 Mid-Atlantic sites, each within one of seven different physiographic regions. Our findings identified several drivers and buffers of flashiness, e...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Heads up for the Weather Community! You can now find NOAA (@noaa.gov), NOAA Climate (@climate.noaa.gov) & NWS HQ (@nws.noaa.gov; still being set up) on Bluesky!
