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Martin A. Briggs

(he/him)

Martin Briggs (he/him) is a Research Hydrologist for the Hydrologic Remote Sensing Branch of the USGS Water Resources Mission Area Observing Systems Division.

At the USGS Hydrologic Remote Sensing Branch (HRSB) Marty works on a wide range of pressing hydrological issues across climates and hydrogeological terrain.  As a national office, one of HRSB’s primary functions is to support regional USGS Water Science Centers through providing hydrogeophysical tools, training, and collaboration on novel water research. As central missions at the Branch are training and methods development, Marty often travels to provide workshops, participate in outreach events, and to field-test new methods that are then utilized for research applications. Although his specialty is in surface water/groundwater exchange processes, Marty works on a wide range of pressing national hydrological issues where geophysical and remotely sensed data lend insight. Marty also contributes to several Water Mission Area Programs including the Next Generation Water Observing System and co-advises graduate students at the University of Connecticut through a Cooperative Agreement, leveraging reimbursable projects. Marty asks that you please reach out if you are interested in discussing objectives, methods, and/or research related to his work.

Professional Experience

  • Development of new heat tracing methodology and refinement of existing methods for location and quantifying groundwater/surface water exchanges over a range of scales including the development of several software tools to improve accessibility to such methods. These tools include: VFLUX2, DTS-GUI, 1DTempPro2, GW-SW MST

  • Extensive characterization of groundwater preferential groundwater discharge zones and related physical processes across a range of headwater and mainstem river settings nationally

  • Repeat expeditions to Alaska as field team leader to characterize discontinuous permafrost dynamics using seismic, electrical, radar, thermal and mechanical methods coupled with processed-based models

  • Measuring and modeling dual-domain mass transfer of contaminated groundwater and natural anoxic microzones involving the novel use of combined electrical and chemical methods

  • Installation of sea water intrusion monitoring network on a remote Pacific atoll to monitor the effects of climate change and sea level rise on atoll fresh water and identify controlling geologic processes that were tested in a numerical modeling framework

  • Innovative characterization of endangered shellfish and native brook trout habitat in a variety of systems, particularly in the context of groundwater discharge to surface water

Education and Certifications

  • Ph.D., 2012. Syracuse University, (Hydro) Geology.

  • M.S., 2009. Colorado School of Mines. Hydrology.

Honors and Awards

  • 2022 American Geophysical Union Edward A. Flinn III Award (group award)

  • 2017 Geologic Society of America Hydrogeology Division Kohout Early Career Award

  • Exceptional rating, USGS performance review 2013, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 21

  • Syracuse University College of Arts and Sciences Doctoral Dissertation Prize, 2012

Science and Products

Filter Total Items: 46
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Filter Total Items: 79

Influence of groundwater on distribution of dwarf wedgemussels (Alasmidonta heterodon) in the upper reaches of the Delaware River, northeastern USA

The remaining populations of the endangered dwarf wedgemussel (DWM) (Alasmidonta heterodon) in the upper Delaware River, northeastern USA, were hypothesized to be located in areas of greater-than-normal groundwater discharge to the river. We combined physical (seepage meters, monitoring wells and piezometers), thermal (fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing, infrared, vertical bed-temperature
Authors
Donald O. Rosenberry, Martin A. Briggs, Emily B. Voytek, John W. Lane

Combined use of thermal methods and seepage meters to efficiently locate, quantify, and monitor focused groundwater discharge to a sand-bed stream

Quantifying flow of groundwater through streambeds often is difficult due to the complexity of aquifer-scale heterogeneity combined with local-scale hyporheic exchange. We used fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing (FO-DTS), seepage meters, and vertical temperature profiling to locate, quantify, and monitor areas of focused groundwater discharge in a geomorphically simple sand-bed stream. Th
Authors
Donald O. Rosenberry, Martin A. Briggs, Geoffrey N. Delin, Danielle K. Hare
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Environmental Health Program

Upscaling of U (VI) desorption and transport from decimeter‐scale heterogeneity to plume‐scale modeling

Scientifically defensible predictions of field scale U(VI) transport in groundwater requires an understanding of key processes at multiple scales. These scales range from smaller than the sediment grain scale (less than 10 μm) to as large as the field scale which can extend over several kilometers. The key processes that need to be considered include both geochemical reactions in solution and at s
Authors
Gary P. Curtis, Matthias Kohler, Ramakrishnan Kannappan, Martin A. Briggs, Frederick D. Day-Lewis
By
Water Resources Mission Area

A comparison of thermal infrared to fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing for evaluation of groundwater discharge to surface water

Groundwater has a predictable thermal signature that can be used to locate discrete zones of discharge to surface water. As climate warms, surface water with strong groundwater influence will provide habitat stability and refuge for thermally stressed aquatic species, and is therefore critical to locate and protect. Alternatively, these discrete seepage locations may serve as potential point sourc
Authors
Danielle K Hare, Martin A. Briggs, Donald O. Rosenberry, Dave Boutt, John W. Lane

1DTempPro V2: new features for inferring groundwater/surface-water exchange

A new version of the computer program 1DTempPro extends the original code to include new capabilities for (1) automated parameter estimation, (2) layer heterogeneity, and (3) time-varying specific discharge. The code serves as an interface to the U.S. Geological Survey model VS2DH and supports analysis of vertical one-dimensional temperature profiles under saturated flow conditions to assess groun
Authors
Franklin W. Koch, Emily B. Voytek, Frederick D. Day-Lewis, Richard W. Healy, Martin A. Briggs, John W. Lane, Dale D. Werkema

Practical limitations on the use of diurnal temperature signals to quantify groundwater upwelling

Groundwater upwelling to streams creates unique habitat by influencing stream water quality and temperature; upwelling zones also serve as vectors for contamination when groundwater is degraded. Temperature time series data acquired along vertical profiles in the streambed have been applied to simple analytical models to determine rates of vertical fluid flux. These models are based on the downwar
Authors
Martin A. Briggs, Laura K. Lautz, Sean F. Buckley, John W. Lane
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Environmental Health Program

Dual-domain mass-transfer parameters from electrical hysteresis: Theory and analytical approach applied to laboratory, synthetic streambed, and groundwater experiments

Models of dual‐domain mass transfer (DDMT) are used to explain anomalous aquifer transport behavior such as the slow release of contamination and solute tracer tailing. Traditional tracer experiments to characterize DDMT are performed at the flow path scale (meters), which inherently incorporates heterogeneous exchange processes; hence, estimated “effective” parameters are sensitive to experimenta
Authors
Martin A. Briggs, Frederick D. Day-Lewis, John B. Ong, Judson W. Harvey, John W. Lane
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Environmental Health Program

Science and Products

Filter Total Items: 46
No Result Found
No results found.
Filter Total Items: 79

Influence of groundwater on distribution of dwarf wedgemussels (Alasmidonta heterodon) in the upper reaches of the Delaware River, northeastern USA

The remaining populations of the endangered dwarf wedgemussel (DWM) (Alasmidonta heterodon) in the upper Delaware River, northeastern USA, were hypothesized to be located in areas of greater-than-normal groundwater discharge to the river. We combined physical (seepage meters, monitoring wells and piezometers), thermal (fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing, infrared, vertical bed-temperature
Authors
Donald O. Rosenberry, Martin A. Briggs, Emily B. Voytek, John W. Lane

Combined use of thermal methods and seepage meters to efficiently locate, quantify, and monitor focused groundwater discharge to a sand-bed stream

Quantifying flow of groundwater through streambeds often is difficult due to the complexity of aquifer-scale heterogeneity combined with local-scale hyporheic exchange. We used fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing (FO-DTS), seepage meters, and vertical temperature profiling to locate, quantify, and monitor areas of focused groundwater discharge in a geomorphically simple sand-bed stream. Th
Authors
Donald O. Rosenberry, Martin A. Briggs, Geoffrey N. Delin, Danielle K. Hare
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Environmental Health Program

Upscaling of U (VI) desorption and transport from decimeter‐scale heterogeneity to plume‐scale modeling

Scientifically defensible predictions of field scale U(VI) transport in groundwater requires an understanding of key processes at multiple scales. These scales range from smaller than the sediment grain scale (less than 10 μm) to as large as the field scale which can extend over several kilometers. The key processes that need to be considered include both geochemical reactions in solution and at s
Authors
Gary P. Curtis, Matthias Kohler, Ramakrishnan Kannappan, Martin A. Briggs, Frederick D. Day-Lewis
By
Water Resources Mission Area

A comparison of thermal infrared to fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing for evaluation of groundwater discharge to surface water

Groundwater has a predictable thermal signature that can be used to locate discrete zones of discharge to surface water. As climate warms, surface water with strong groundwater influence will provide habitat stability and refuge for thermally stressed aquatic species, and is therefore critical to locate and protect. Alternatively, these discrete seepage locations may serve as potential point sourc
Authors
Danielle K Hare, Martin A. Briggs, Donald O. Rosenberry, Dave Boutt, John W. Lane

1DTempPro V2: new features for inferring groundwater/surface-water exchange

A new version of the computer program 1DTempPro extends the original code to include new capabilities for (1) automated parameter estimation, (2) layer heterogeneity, and (3) time-varying specific discharge. The code serves as an interface to the U.S. Geological Survey model VS2DH and supports analysis of vertical one-dimensional temperature profiles under saturated flow conditions to assess groun
Authors
Franklin W. Koch, Emily B. Voytek, Frederick D. Day-Lewis, Richard W. Healy, Martin A. Briggs, John W. Lane, Dale D. Werkema

Practical limitations on the use of diurnal temperature signals to quantify groundwater upwelling

Groundwater upwelling to streams creates unique habitat by influencing stream water quality and temperature; upwelling zones also serve as vectors for contamination when groundwater is degraded. Temperature time series data acquired along vertical profiles in the streambed have been applied to simple analytical models to determine rates of vertical fluid flux. These models are based on the downwar
Authors
Martin A. Briggs, Laura K. Lautz, Sean F. Buckley, John W. Lane
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Environmental Health Program

Dual-domain mass-transfer parameters from electrical hysteresis: Theory and analytical approach applied to laboratory, synthetic streambed, and groundwater experiments

Models of dual‐domain mass transfer (DDMT) are used to explain anomalous aquifer transport behavior such as the slow release of contamination and solute tracer tailing. Traditional tracer experiments to characterize DDMT are performed at the flow path scale (meters), which inherently incorporates heterogeneous exchange processes; hence, estimated “effective” parameters are sensitive to experimenta
Authors
Martin A. Briggs, Frederick D. Day-Lewis, John B. Ong, Judson W. Harvey, John W. Lane
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Environmental Health Program
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