Yuval Shmilovitz

Understanding hydrogeomorphic impacts of rainstorm variability on dryland catchments

The erosion of the Earth's surface caused by individual rainstorms is one of the most progressive climatic impacts on worldwide landscapes. Especially in climate-sensitive drylands, changes in rainstorms properties, as a consequence of climatic changes, affect erosion rates and patterns that could threaten societies' sustainability. However, evaluations of rainstorm erosion impacts are restricted by short and patchy rainfall records and a lack of erosion models to capture rapid topographic changes during infrequent extreme events. Yuval will work with Greg Tucker and Matthew Rossi on the erosional expression of climate change in drylands as driven by changes in rainstorm properties, utilizing new approaches for rainfall statistical analysis, recently-available climate records, and advances in erosion modeling tools. Through numerical experiments of runoff, erosion, and landscape evolution, the research aims to translate climate change projections to erosion risks and to test hypotheses regarding past topographic changes triggered by rainstorm variability.

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