Amy East
I study how landscapes change over time, focusing on response to hydroclimatic and anthropogenic disturbances. These studies inform resource management as well as fundamental understanding of earth-surface processes. I am also interested in how sediment moves from source to sink, and how the sedimentary record reflects changes in sediment supply and transport.
Research Topics
Landscape Response to Climate Change
Climatic changes associated with modern global warming have been documented widely, but physical landscape responses are poorly understood. Landscape signals of modern climate change relate to human health and safety, infrastructure, water security, and ecosystems. Our project investigates landscape responses to modern climate change, primarily in the western US, focusing on slope failures, watershed sediment yields, river morphology, and aeolian (wind-blown) sediment mobilization.
Post-Fire Sediment Mobilization
Watershed sediment yields increase after fire, but by how much and with what driving factors is not well understood for some regions. Our group studies several CA wildfires, monitoring sediment yield and related processes. We have studied landscape change after seven California fires spanning 2016 to 2022.
Effects of Large Dam Removal
Colleagues and I have studied river response to large dam removals on the Elwha River, WA, and Carmel River, CA, and study the Klamath River (CA and OR) preparing for dam removals there. I helped lead a USGS Powell Center working group on the state of dam-removal science.
Landscape Response to Hydroclimatic Extremes
Western US landscapes export large sediment fluxes, due to steep terrain, tectonic activity, and potential for extreme rain. I study landscape response to hydroclimatic disturbances—drought and extreme rain. We studied sediment export from the San Lorenzo River, CA, from record rainfall in 2017; and debris flows caused by intense rain in 2018 over the Tuolumne basin. Understanding such disturbances is critical to constraining effects of extreme events on landscapes and sediment budgets.
Landscape Evolution in the Colorado River Ecosystem
From 2003 to 2017 I studied connectivity among fluvial, aeolian, and hillslope processes in the Colorado River corridor, AZ. Since 1963, dam operations have altered flows and sediment supply in the Colorado River, Grand Canyon National Park. Loss of sandbars in the dammed river reduces windblown sand supply to aeolian dunes, affecting archaeological-site stability and ecosystem properties.
Aeolian Landscape Stability
Our work quantified sediment accumulation and landscape stability in areas of the California desert considered for solar-energy projects. I also studied aeolian landscapes on the Navajo Nation, where during drought wind-blown sand mobility has destabilized ground surfaces, endangering housing and transportation, jeopardizing grazing lands, and impacting air quality.
Professional Experience
Research Geologist, 2006-present: USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Santa Cruz, CA, Principal Investigator of Landscape Response to Disturbance project
Editor-in-Chief, January 2019-present: Journal of Geophysical Research, Earth Surface
Postdoctoral Researcher, 2003-2006: USGS/UC Santa Cruz
Education and Certifications
Ph.D., Geology and Geophysics, 2003: MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
B.S., Geological Sciences, 1997: Tufts University
Science and Products
Rain measurements in Santa Cruz County, California, January 2023
Rain measurements in the Dolan Fire Area, Los Padres National Forest, California, 2021 to 2022
Aerial imagery and structure-from-motion data products from a UAS survey of the Los Padres Reservoir delta, Carmel River valley, CA, 2017-11-01
Rain measurements in and near the CZU Lightning Complex Fire area, Santa Cruz Mountains, California, 2021 to 2022
River-channel topography, grain size, and turbidity records from the Carmel River, California, before, during, and after removal of San Clemente Dam (ver. 2.0, March 2022)
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and suspended sediment concentrations in the San Lorenzo River, Santa Cruz, California, USA
Rain measurements in and near the CZU Lightning Complex Fire area, Santa Cruz Mountains, California, 2020 to 2021
Sediment grain-size data from the Klamath estuary, California
Luminescence, weather, and grain-size data from eastern Chuckwalla Valley, Riverside County, California
Bathymetry, topography and orthomosaic imagery for Whiskeytown Lake, northern California (ver. 2.0, July 2021)
Grain-size data for sediment samples collected in Whiskeytown Lake, northern California, in 2018 and 2019
Chirp sub-bottom data collected in 2019 in Whiskeytown Lake, California during USGS field activity 2018-686-FA
Fires, floods and other extreme events – How watershed processes under climate change will shape our coastlines
21st-century stagnation in unvegetated sand-sea activity
Fire (plus) flood (equals) beach: Coastal response to an exceptional river sediment discharge event
Watershed sediment yield following the 2018 Carr Fire, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, northern California
Flooding duration and volume more important than peak discharge in explaining 18 years of gravel–cobble river change
Landscape evolution in eastern Chuckwalla Valley, Riverside County, California
Geomorphic and sedimentary effects of modern climate change: Current and anticipated future conditions in the western United States
Linking mesoscale meteorology with extreme landscape response: Effects of narrow cold frontal rainbands (NCFR)
Commentary: Variability in shelf sedimentation in response to fluvial sediment supply and coastal erosion over the past 1,000 Years in Monterey Bay, CA, United States
Case study: Thomas Fire
Refining the Baseline Sediment Budget for the Klamath River, California
Four dams in the Klamath River Hydroelectric Project (KHP) in Oregon and California (Figure 1) are currently scheduled to be removed over a period of a few weeks or months, beginning in January 2021. The Klamath dam removal will be the largest in the world by almost all measures, and is an unprecedented opportunity to advance science of river responses to such events. The KHP contains approximatel
Conceptualizing ecological responses to dam removal: If you remove it, what's to come?
Non-USGS Publications**
ISSN: 0197-9337 , 1096-9837 (online) , 1096-9837; DOI: 10.1002/esp.5561
Draut, A.E., and Clift, P.D., 2001, Geochemical evolution of arc magmatism during arc-continent collision, South Mayo, Ireland: Geology v. 29 (6): 543–546. doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029<0543:GEOAMD>2.0.CO;2
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Science and Products
Rain measurements in Santa Cruz County, California, January 2023
Rain measurements in the Dolan Fire Area, Los Padres National Forest, California, 2021 to 2022
Aerial imagery and structure-from-motion data products from a UAS survey of the Los Padres Reservoir delta, Carmel River valley, CA, 2017-11-01
Rain measurements in and near the CZU Lightning Complex Fire area, Santa Cruz Mountains, California, 2021 to 2022
River-channel topography, grain size, and turbidity records from the Carmel River, California, before, during, and after removal of San Clemente Dam (ver. 2.0, March 2022)
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and suspended sediment concentrations in the San Lorenzo River, Santa Cruz, California, USA
Rain measurements in and near the CZU Lightning Complex Fire area, Santa Cruz Mountains, California, 2020 to 2021
Sediment grain-size data from the Klamath estuary, California
Luminescence, weather, and grain-size data from eastern Chuckwalla Valley, Riverside County, California
Bathymetry, topography and orthomosaic imagery for Whiskeytown Lake, northern California (ver. 2.0, July 2021)
Grain-size data for sediment samples collected in Whiskeytown Lake, northern California, in 2018 and 2019
Chirp sub-bottom data collected in 2019 in Whiskeytown Lake, California during USGS field activity 2018-686-FA
Fires, floods and other extreme events – How watershed processes under climate change will shape our coastlines
21st-century stagnation in unvegetated sand-sea activity
Fire (plus) flood (equals) beach: Coastal response to an exceptional river sediment discharge event
Watershed sediment yield following the 2018 Carr Fire, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, northern California
Flooding duration and volume more important than peak discharge in explaining 18 years of gravel–cobble river change
Landscape evolution in eastern Chuckwalla Valley, Riverside County, California
Geomorphic and sedimentary effects of modern climate change: Current and anticipated future conditions in the western United States
Linking mesoscale meteorology with extreme landscape response: Effects of narrow cold frontal rainbands (NCFR)
Commentary: Variability in shelf sedimentation in response to fluvial sediment supply and coastal erosion over the past 1,000 Years in Monterey Bay, CA, United States
Case study: Thomas Fire
Refining the Baseline Sediment Budget for the Klamath River, California
Four dams in the Klamath River Hydroelectric Project (KHP) in Oregon and California (Figure 1) are currently scheduled to be removed over a period of a few weeks or months, beginning in January 2021. The Klamath dam removal will be the largest in the world by almost all measures, and is an unprecedented opportunity to advance science of river responses to such events. The KHP contains approximatel
Conceptualizing ecological responses to dam removal: If you remove it, what's to come?
Non-USGS Publications**
ISSN: 0197-9337 , 1096-9837 (online) , 1096-9837; DOI: 10.1002/esp.5561
Draut, A.E., and Clift, P.D., 2001, Geochemical evolution of arc magmatism during arc-continent collision, South Mayo, Ireland: Geology v. 29 (6): 543–546. doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029<0543:GEOAMD>2.0.CO;2
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.