Chris Pearson

Associate Research Scientist, Hydrology

Phone

775-673-7416

E-Mail

Chris.Pearson@dri.edu

Campus

Reno Campus

Division

Hydrologic Sciences

Publications

2025

Zhao, B., Kao, S., Pearson, C., Holman, K. D., Huntington, J. L., Allen, G. H., Yadav, A., Shao, M., & Gao, H. (2025). Trends and meteorological drivers of extreme daily reservoir evaporation events in the western United States. Journal of Hydrology, 651, Article No. 132589. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.132589

2024

Volk, J. M., Huntington, J. L., Melton, F. S., Allen, R., Anderson, M., Fisher, J. B., Kilic, A., Ruhoff, A., Senay, G. B., Minor, B. A., Morton, C. G., Ott, T., Johnson, L., Comini de Andrade, B., Carrara, W., Doherty, C. T., Dunkerly, C. W., Friedrichs, M., Guzman, A., Hain, C., Halverson, G., Kang, Y., Knipper, K., Laipelt, L., Ortega-Salazar, S., Pearson, C., Parrish, G. E., Purdy, A., ReVelle, P., Wang, T., Yang, Y. (2024). Assessing the accuracy of OpenET satellite-based evapotranspiration data to support water resource and land management applications, Nature Water, 13 p. 10.1038/s44221-023-00181-7

Ott, T., Majumdar, S., Huntington, J. L., Pearson, C., Bromley, M., Minor, B. A., ReVelle, P., Morton, C. G., Sueki, S., Beamer, J. P., Jasoni, R. L. (2024). Toward field-scale groundwater pumping and improved groundwater management using remote sensing and climate data, Agricultural Water Management, 302, Article No. 109000, 10.1016/j.agwat.2024.109000

Zhao, B., Huntington, J. L., Pearson, C., Zhao, G., Ott, T., Zhu, J., Weinberg, A., Holman, K. D., Zhang, S., Anderson, R., Strickler, M., Cotter, J., Fernando, N., Nowak, K., Gao, H. (2024). Developing a general Daily Lake Evaporation Model and demonstrating its application in the state of Texas, Water Resources Research, 60 (3), Article No. e2023WR036181. 10.1029/2023WR036181

Pearson, C., Minor, B. A., Morton, C. G., Volk, J. M., Dunkerly, C. W., Jensen, E., ReVelle, P., Kilic, A., Allen, R., Huntington, J. L. (2024). Historical Evapotranspiration and Consumptive Use of Irrigated Areas of the Upper Colorado River Basin. Desert Research Institute: Las Vegas, NV, DRI Report No. 41304. http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.31069.63206

2023

Volk, J. M., Huntington, J. L., Melton, F., Allen, R., Anderson, M., Fisher, J., Kilic, A., Senay, G., Halverson, G., Knipper, K., Minor, B. A., Pearson, C., Wang, T., Yang, Y., Evett, S., French, A. N., Jasoni, R. L., Kustas, W. (2023). Development of a benchmark Eddy flux evapotranspiration dataset for evaluation of satellite-driven evapotranspiration models over the CONUS, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 331, 109307. Elsevier

Bromley, M., Minor, B. A., Pearson, C., Beamer, J., Dunkerly, C. W., Ott, T., Huntington, J. L., Hoskinson, M. (2023). Evapotranspiration, Net Irrigation Water Requirements, and Reservoir Evaporation Estimates for Oregon

Fisher, J., Dohlen, M., Halverson, G., Collison, J., Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L. (2023). Remotely sensed terrestrial open water evaporation, Scientific Reports, 13 (1), 8174, 10.1038/s41598-023-34921-2

Pearson, C., Ott, T., Daudert, B., Sueki, S., Zhao, B., & Gao, H. (2023). Monitoring daily reservoir evaporation losses for the State of Texas. Report submitted to the Texas Water Development Board and United States Army Crop of Engineers

2022

Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L., Bromley, M., Ott, T., Allen, R. (2022). Upper Colorado River Basin Demand Management Investigation: Phase I Interim Report

Pearson, C., Carroll, E. C., Huntington, J. L., Allen, R. (2022). Upper Colorado River Basin Demand Management Investigation: Phase II Interim Report – Transit Loss Evaluation using Remote Sensing Methods

Holman, K., Pearson, C., Jasoni, R. L., Huntington, J. L., Volk, J. M. (2022). Evaporation from Lake Powell: In-situ Monitoring between 2018 and 2021, USBR, Technical Memorandum No. ENV-2023-007, 10.13140/RG.2.2.19477.19684

Huntington, J. L., Pearson, C., Minor, B. A., Volk, J. M., Morton, C. G., Melton, F. S., Allen, R. (2022). Appendix G: Upper Colorado River Basin OpenET Intercomparison Summary, Technical Report prepared for U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

Huntington, J. L., Pearson, C., Minor, B. A., Volk, J. M., Morton, C. G., Melton, F., Allen, R. (2022). Appendix G: Upper Colorado River Basin OpenET Intercomparison Summary

2021

Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L., Volk, J. M., Dunkerly, C. W. (2021). Agricultural Evapotranspiration and Net Irrigation Water Requirements for the Upper Colorado River Basin: 2020 ET Demands Model Summary. Report summitted to United States Bureau of Reclamation.

Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L., Bromley, M., Ott, T., Allen, R. (2021). UCRB Demand Management Investigation: Phase 1 Interim Report, Draft report submitted to United States Bureau of Reclamation

Huntington, J. L., Pearson, C., Minor, B. A., Volk, J. M., Morton, C. G., Melton, F., Allen, R. (2021). Appendix G: Upper Colorado River Basin OpenET Intercomparison Summary. . Report submitted to United States Bureau of Reclamation

2020

Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L., Broman, D., Spears, J. M. (2020). Turfgrass Irrigation Water Demand Estimates, West-Wide Climate and Hydrology Assessment, In Technical Memorandum No. ENV-2021-001, Chapter 7.

Pearson, C., Hausner, M. B., Morton, C. G., Huntington, J. L. (2020). Development of Remote Sensing Analyses to Support Management of Mountain Meadows in the Lake Tahoe Basin

Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L., Volk, J. M., Dunkerly, C. W. (2020). Agricultural Evapotranspiration and Net Irrigation Water Requirements for the Upper Colorado River Basin: 2019 ET Demands Model Summary

Pearson, C., Lutz, A. D., Huntington, J. L. (2020). Improving Evaporation Monitoring at Lake Hodges, California: FY2020 Summary

Pearson, C., Volk, J. M., Lyles, B. F., Bromley, M., Huntington, J. L. (2020). Evaporation Monitoring at Lahontan Reservoir, Nevada: 2014-2020 Data Collection Summary

2019

Pearson, C., Howard, D. A., Moore, C. W., Obrist, D. (2019). Mercury and trace metal wet deposition across five stations in Alaska: controlling factors, spatial patterns, and source regions, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 19, 6913â6929, 10.5194/acp-2018-1207

Lyles, B. F., Pearson, C., McCurdy, G. D., Huntington, J. L. (2019). NICE Net Precipitation Summary Report: 2017: Reno, 41276

Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L., Volk, J. M., Morton, C. G., Dunkerly, C. W. (2019). Agricultural Evapotranspiration and Net Irrigation Water Requirements for the Upper Colorado River Basin: 2018 Model Result Summary

Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L. (2019). Remote Sensing and Cloud Computing to Support Lake Tahoe Nearshore Monitoring

2018

Friedrich, K., Grossman, R., Huntington, J. L., Blanken, P., Lenters, J., Holman, K., Gochis, D., Livneh, B., Prairie, J., Skeie, E., Healey, N., Dahm, K., Pearson, C., Finnessey, T., Hook, S., Kowalski, T. (2018). Reservoir Evaporation in the Western United States: Current Science, Challenges, and Future Needs, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00224.1

Huntington, J. L., Pearson, C., Morton, C. G., Dunkerly, C. W. (2018). Agricultural Evapotranspiration and Net Irrigation Water Requirements for the Upper Colorado River Basin, Summary report submitted to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, September 2018

2016

Obrist, D., Pearson, C., Webster, J., Kane, T., Lin, C., Aiken, G. R., Alpers, C. N. (2016). A Synthesis of Terrestrial Mercury in the Western United States: Spatial Distribution Defined by Land Cover and Plant Productivity, Sci. Total Environ., 568, 522-535, 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.11.104

Lutz, A. D., Crews, J. B., Pearson, C., Apambire, W. B. (2016). Final Report to Water4, July 6, 2016

Obrist, D., Pearson, C., Moore, C. W. (2016). Mercury and Other Trace Element Wet Deposition in Alaska: Spatial Patterns, Controlling Factors, and Source Regions-September 19, 2016, Final Report to Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L., Morton, C. G., Saftner, D. M., Acharya, K. (2016). Developing a rapid-response tool for detecting algae using Landsat imagery. National Park Service GBCESU, September 1, 2014-December 31, 2016, P11AC8R001/P14AC01522

2015

Pearson, C., Schumer, R., Trustman, B. D., Rittger, K., Johnson, D. W., Obrist, D. (2015). Nutrient and Mercury Deposition and Storage in an Alpine Snowpack of the Sierra Nevada, USA, Biogeosciences, 12, 3665-3680, 10.5194/bg-12-3665-2015

James, R. M., Huntington, J. L., Pearson, C., Lyles, B. F. (2015). Assessing Emissivity Effects on Estimated Evaporation using Aerodynamic-Bulk Mass Transfer Methods, Sensors

Conference Proceedings

2024

Majumdar, S., Ott, T., Huntington, J. L., Smith, R. G., Pearson, C., Bromley, M., Minor, B. A., Morton, C. G., ReVelle, P., Hasan, M. F., Beamer, J. P., Conway, B. D. (2024). Tracking groundwater pumping, consumptive use, and irrigation efficiencies in the Western U.S. through OpenET. AGU WaterSciCon24: St. Paul, MN, Oral presentation.

ReVelle, P., Minor, B. A., Bromley, M., Pearson, C., Majumdar, S., Morton, C. G., Huntington, J. L. (2024). Enhancing Hydrographic Basin Water Resource Management with OpenET: Quantifying Consumptive Use Volumes and Evaluating Variability across Models and Irrigation Status Datasets. AGU WaterSciCon24: St. Paul, MN

Majumdar, S., Ott, T., Huntington, J. L., Pearson, C., Bromley, M., Minor, B. A., Morton, C. G., Sueki, S., Beamer, J. P., Jasoni, R. L. (2024). Assessing statistical and machine learning approaches to estimate field-scale groundwater pumping using Landsat-based evapotranspiration, irrigation, and climate data. AGU Chapman Conference: Remote Sensing of the Water Cycle: Honolulu, HI

Pearson, C., Holman, K., Ott, T., Zhao, B., Yadav, A., de Andrade, B. C., Allen, G. H., Gao, H., Huntington, J. L. (2024). Leveraging In-situ, Modeling, and Remote Sensing Data for Improved Estimation of Open Water Evaporation. AGU, Chapman Conference on Remote Sensing of the Water Cycle: Honolulu, HI, February 13, 2024-February 16, 2024

Pearson, C., Ott, T., Daudert, B., Dunkerly, C. W., Huntington, J. L., Holman, K., Gao, H., Zhao, B., Yadav, A., Allen, G., Abatzoglou, J. T. (2024). Developing reservoir evaporation forecasts for improved operations and management. TWDB and LCRA Workshop on Surface Water Evaporation Monitoring and Estimation: New Developments and Implications for Reservoir Operations and Water Planning: Austin, TX, Oral presentation.

2023

Zhao, B., Kao, S. C., Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L., Holman, K., Allen, G., Gao, H. (2023). Meteorological Drivers and the Trend of Extreme Daily Reservoir Evaporation in Western United States. AGU Fall Meeting: San Francisco, CA, December 11, 2023-December 15, 2023

Yadav, A., Zhang, S., Zhao, B., George, A., Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L., Holman, K., Gao, H. (2023). A Novel Algorithm for Monitoring Reservoir Surface AReas in the Western US using the improved Temporal Resolution of the Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel Data. AGU Fall Meeting: San Francisco, CA, December 11, 2023-December 15, 2023

Comini de Andrade, B. C., Huntington, J. L., Pearson, C., Morton, C. G., Albano, C. M. (2023). A novel application and intercomparison of the Complementary Relationship for operational global evapotranspiration monitoring. American Geophysical Union: San Francisco, CA

2022

Bromley, M., Pearson, C., Minor, B. A., Huntington, J. L. (2022). Evapotranspiration Analysis for Klamath River Basin, Klamath River Basin Natural Flow Study Stakeholder Workshop: Medford, OR, November 2, 2022-November 3, 2022

Huilin, G., Huntington, J. L., Zhao, B., Allen, G., Pearson, C., Holman, K., Nowak, K. (2022). Developing New Estimates of Reservoir Evaporation in Support of Modern Water Resource Management, USBR Water Resource Management Seminar: USBR, September 8, 2022

Zhao, B., Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L., Allen, G., Holman, K., Nowak, K., Ott, T., Zhao, G., Huang, C., Zhang, S., Gao, H. (2022). Monitoring and Forecasting Reservoir Evaporation for the Western US, AGU Fall Meeting: Chicago, Illinois, December 12, 2022-December 16, 2022

Zhao, B., Huntington, J. L., Pearson, C., Gao, H., Zhao, G., Weinberg, A., Zhu, J., Anderson, R., Cotter, J., Fernando, N. (2022). Developing a Long-term Daily Reservoir Evaporation Database for the State of Texas, American Meteorological Society: Houston, TX, January 25, 2022

2021

Reitz, M., Huntington, J. L., Volk, J. M., Ott, T., Melton, F., Pearson, C., Minor, B. A., Carrara, W. (2021). A machine learning approach to weighting the remotely sensed ET ensemble members of OpenET. AGU Fall Meeting: New Orleans, LA

Hausner, M. B., Pearson, C., Morton, C. G., Huntington, J. L. (2021). Analyzing trends in Tahoe Basin meadows using the Landsat archive and gridded meteorological data. Annual Meeting of the Nevada Water Resources Association, January 25, 2021-January 28, 2021

Gao, H., Huntington, J. L., Pearson, C., Zhao, B., Zhao, G., Weinberg, A., Fernando, N. (2021). Toward Monitoring Daily Reservoir Evaporation Losses for the State of Texas. 101st American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting: [Virtual], January 10, 2021-January 15, 2021

2020

Hausner, M. B., Pearson, C., Morton, C. G., Huntington, J. L. (2020). Using the Landsat archive and gridded climate data to assess restoration of mountain meadows. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting: Online, December 1, 2020-December 17, 2020, EP039-0013

Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L., Jasoni, R. L., Lyles, B. F., Broman, D., Holman, K., Nowak, K. (2020). Improving Reservoir Evaporation Estimates for Enhanced Decision Support. 2020 NWRA Annual Conference: Las Vegas, NV, February 10, 2020-February 13, 2020

Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L., Jasoni, R. L., Lyles, B. F., Broman, D., Holman, K., Spears, J. M. (2020). In-situ Evaporation Monitoring at Lake Powell. BOR Reservoir Evaporation Research Workshop, September 25, 2020

Holman, K., Broman, D., Clifton, N., Pearson, C., Jasoni, R. L., Huntington, J. L. (2020). Estimating Open-Water Evaporation from Lake Powell, 2020 AGU Fall Meeting, December 1, 2020-December 17, 2020

Albano, C. M., Daudert, B., Hausner, M. B., McEvoy, D. J., McGwire, K. C., Minor, B. A., Morton, C. G., Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L. (2020). Assessing the Effects of Climate and Management on Meadow and Riparian Vegetation Using the Landsat Archive and Cloud Computing – Tools and Applications. Society for Ecological Restoration – California Chapter, September 1, 2020-September 24, 2020

Broman, D., Clifton, N., Pearson, C., Jasoni, R. L., Huntington, J. L. (2020). Estimating Open-Water Evaporation from Lake Powell, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting: [Virtual], December 1, 2020-December 17, 2020

Holman, K. D., Jasoni, R. L., Pearson, C., Broman, D., Huntington, J. L. (2020). Estimating Open-Water Evaporation from Lake Powell, 2020, H021-02, AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts: [Virtual]

2019

Hausner, M. B., Albano, C. M., Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L. (2019). Assessing changes in mountain meadow condition using the Landsat archive. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting: Phoenix, AZ, September 22, 2019-September 25, 2019, 17-12

Huntington, J. L., McGwire, K. C., Pearson, C., Hausner, M. B., Albano, C. M., Minor, B. A., McEvoy, D. J., Morton, C. G. (2019). Assessing the role of climate and resource management on groundwater dependent ecosystem changes in arid environments with the Landsat archive and cloud computing. American Fisheries Society/The Wildlife Society Joint Meeting: Reno, NV, September 30, 2019-October 3, 2019, 8014-3

Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L., Morton, C. G., Kuchnicki, J. (2019). Towards Operational Remote Sensing of Nearshore Water Quality, Lake Tahoe, USA. AGU Fall Meeting: San Francisco, December 11, 2019-December 11, 2019

Huntington, J. L., Johnson, L., Morton, C. G., Guzman, A., Daudert, B., Hansen, J., Bromley, M., Pearson, C., Melton, F. (2019). Operational Remote Sensing of Agricultural Water Use in Cooperation with Western State Water Resource Agencies for Improved Water Management. AGU Fall Meeting: San Francisco, December 10, 2019, 567701

Hausner, M. B., Albano, C. M., Huntington, J. L., Pearson, C. (2019). Using the Landsat Archive to Understand and Assess Changes in Mountain Meadow Vegetation. AGU Fall Meeting: San Francisco, CA, December 9, 2019-December 13, 2019, Presentation No. EP51E-2173

Pearson, C., Kuchnicki, J., Morton, C., Huntington, J. L., Pahlevan, N. (2019). Towards Operational Remote Sensing of Nearshore Water Quality, Lake Tahoe, USA. AGU Fall Meeting: San Francisco, CA, December 9, 2019-December 13, 2019, Presentation No. H31N-1939

Broman, D., Pearson, C., Holman, K. D., Huntington, J. L., Bearup, L. A. (2019). Assessment of In-Situ Open Water Evaporation Estimates in Support of Water Management. AGU Fall Meeting: San Francisco, CA, December 9, 2019-December 13, 2019, Presentation No. H22B-04

Pearson, C., Huntington, J. L., Morton, C. G. (2019). Remote Sensing to Support Lake Tahoe Nearshore Monitoring. DRI Lightning Lunch Series: DRI-Reno, NV, December 17, 2019

2016

Agnan, Y., Crews, J. B., Hedge, C. L., Pearson, C., Hoberg, J. R., Obrist, D. (2016). Canopy Influence on Metal Dynamics in Snowfall, Snowpack, and Snowmelt. 18th International Conference on Heavy Metals in the Environment (ICHMET 2016): Ghent, Belgium, September 12, 2016-September 15, 2016

Pohll, G. M., Schumer, R., Rybarski, S. C., Crews, J. B., Pearson, C. (2016). Assessment of Drought Resiliency in Rural Northern Nevada. Presented to Nevada Division of Emergency Management: Carson City, NV, April 25, 2016

2015

Huntington, J. L., Pearson, C., Hook, S., McEvoy, D. J., Schladow, G., Mathis, T. (2015). Evaporation Estimates for Lake Tahoe: Review, Challenges, and Future Opportunities. Tahoe Science Conference: Reno, NV, September 1, 2015-September 3, 2015

2014

Trustman, B. D., Obrist, D., Schumer, R., Pearson, C., Moore, C. W. (2014). Nutrient and Mercury Dynamics in the Lake Tahoe basin Snowpack. Mountain Observatories: Reno, NV, July 18, 2014

Obrist, D., Moore, C. W., LeDantec, T., Agnan, Y., Pearson, C. (2014). Soil mercury sequestration and re-mobilization and relationships to the global cycling of mercury. Soil Science Society of America Annual Meeting: Long Beach, CA, November 2, 2014

2013

Obrist, D., Moore, C. W., Pearson, C., Pierce, A. M., Schumer, R., Helmig, D., Van Dam, B., Fain, X., Steffen, A., Staebler, R., Nghiem, S., Douglas, T. (2013). Mercury in alpine and Arctic snow: atmospheric deposition and fate processes. Seminar, Graduate Program of Hydrologic Sciences, University of Nevada: Reno, NV, April 1, 2013

Pearson, C., Obrist, D., Schumer, R. (2013). Nutrient and Mercury Concentrations and Loads in Tahoe Basin Snowpack. AGU Fall Meeting: San Francisco, CA, December 9, 2013

Pearson, C., Obrist, D., Schumer, R. (2013). Nitrogen and Phosphorus Concentrations and Loads within Lake Tahoe Snowpack. University Council on Water Resources 2013 Annual Conference: Lake Tahoe, CA, June 1, 2013

2012

Pearson, C., Obrist, D., Schumer, R. (2012). Quantifying Nutrient and Mercury Concentrations and Loads in Lake Tahoe Snowpack. 2012 AGU Fall Meeting: San Francisco

Pearson, C., Obrist, D., Schumer, R. (2012). Quantifying Nutrient and Mercury Concentrations and Loads in Tahoe Snowpack. Water Summit 2012: Milwaukee, WI, September 27, 2012

Obrist, D., Moore, C. W., Douglas, T. A., Steffen, A., Staebler, R. M., Pearson, C. (2012). Concentrations of total and dissolved Hg in snow and vapor deposition collected during Atmospheric Mercury Depletion Events (AMDEs) in Barrow, Alaska during the BROMEX campaign. Abstract A31D-0059. AGU Fall Meeting: San Francisco, CA, December 3, 2012

Pearson, C., Obrist, D., Schumer, R. (2012). Quantifying Nutrient and Mercury Concentrations and Loads in Lake Tahoe Snowpack. Abstract B23H-0540, Presentation at AGU 2012 Fall Meeting: San Francisco, CA, December 3, 2012