New Mexico Tech Graduate Student Contributes to Statewide Water Assessment Initiative

New Mexico Tech Graduate Student Contributes to Statewide Water Assessment Initiative by Catherine Ortega Klett, NM WRRI Program Manager Peter ReVelle, NM Tech master’s degree graduate student in hydrology, has played an important role in NM WRRI’s Statewide Water Assessment initiative. Peter is a member of the groundwater recharge study team that is developing a model that estimates diffuse groundwater recharge for the entire state of New Mexico. Diffuse recharge is the proportion of precipitation that infiltrates vertically through the soil and past the root zone to potentially contribute water to the groundwater system. In order to better quantify groundwater recharge in mountainous regions where a large proportion of the state’s recharge occurs, Peter developed a model that applies topographic-based adjustments to remote sensing products to provide an improved energy product suited for complex terrain that is being used in the model. According to groundwater recharge team member NM Tech Emeritus Professor Fred Phillips, “Peter is a great student and did an amazing job programming up the energy-balance part of the evapotranspiration model.” Peter is scheduled to graduate with a master’s degree in the spring. His thesis research has focused on using remote sensing algorithms to determine the surface energy balance in mountain terrain environments to improve estimates of water losses from vegetation and soil evaporation, and to evaluate the effect of tree thinning on the amount of water lost. Born in DeKalb, Illinois, Peter moved to Los Alamos, NM at the age of eight. He earned an undergraduate degree in environmental science with an option in hydrology at NM Tech in 2012. After graduation, he looks forward to pursuing a second master’s degree in geospatial Information science and technology.