EEAS students and faculty conduct high-impact research in Environmental Geoscience and Atmospheric Sciences. Our research includes global-scale and regional modeling, state-of-the-art laboratory analyses including trace metal and stable isotopes, and field research that engages our students and faculty in countries across the globe.

Climatology, Climate Variability, Forecasting and Modeling of Extreme Events (Droughts, Floods, Snow Squalls), Ensemble Modeling, Atmospheric Boundary Layer Structure, Mesoscale Wind Patterns, Synoptic-scale Circulations.

Research Groups:

• Frank Colby
• Matthew Barlow

Environmental Geochemistry, Petrology, Geochronology, Isotopic Measurements, Cosmogenic Exposure Dating.

Research Groups:

• Nelson Eby
• Richard Gaschnig
• Kate Swanger

Rock Weathering Processes, Blast Petrology, Forensic Geology Cold-based Glacier Processes and Deposits, Buried Ice Geochemical Records, McMurdo Dry Valleys Geology, Tree Ring Studies.

Research Groups:

• Nelson Eby
• Kate Swanger

Global and Regional Element Cycles, Heavy Metal Contamination, Atmospheric Chemistry, Greenhouse Gas Dynamics, Atmosphere-Surface Flux Exchange, Soil Pollution, Hydrologic Cycle and Hydrogeology.

Research Groups:

• Nelson Eby
• Daniel Obrist
• Lori Weeden
• Arnold O’Brien

Spectral Line Shapes, Planetary Atmospheres, Remote Sensing of the Earth’s Troposphere, Stratosphere, and Ionosphere, Planetary Atmospheres, Ionospheric Modeling and Prediction.

Research Groups:

• Robert Gamache

Physical Hydrogeology and links between groundwater dynamics and biogeochemistry in coastal, estuarine, and marine environments.

www.uml.edu/Sciences/EEAS/faculty/Heiss-James.aspx

My research area is hydrogeology with a focus on the exchange of groundwater and surface water across the land-ocean interface from wave to climate time scales. My work involves understanding how geology and hyrdrologic processes interact in the subsurface to impact solute transport and nutrient cycling in coastal aquifers. This involves understanding the role of terrestrial (e.g. recharge, groundwater pumping) and coastal (e.g. waves, tides, currents, storm surge, sea level rise) forcings on affecting groundwater dynamics and salinity. Research projects within these themes typically involve a combination of field work, laboratory experiments, and numerical modeling. 

Russoniello, C.J., J.W. Heiss, and H.A. Michael (2018), Variability in benthic exchange rate, depth, and residence time beneath a shallow coastal estuary, Journal of Geophysical Research – Oceans, doi.org/10.1002/2017JC013568

Heiss, J. W., V. A. E. Post, T. Laattoe, C. J. Russoniello, and H. A. Michael (2017), Physical controls on biogeochemical processes in intertidal zones of beach aquifers, Water Resources Research, doi:10.1002/2017WR021110.

Kim, K. H., J. W. Heiss, H. A. Michael, W.-J. Cai, T. Laattoe, V. E. A. Post, and W. J. Ullman (2017), Spatial patterns of groundwater biogeochemical reactivity in an intertidal beach aquifer, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 122, doi.org/10.1002/2017JG003943.

Heiss, J. W., J. A. Puleo, W. J. Ullman, and H. A. Michael (2015), Coupled surface-subsurface hydrologic measurements reveal recharge and discharge dynamics across the swash zone of a sandy beach, Water Resources Research, 51, doi:10.1002/2015WR017395.