Sally E Thompson
Plants, water and ecosystems
Ecohydrologists like Sally ask: "What do changes in ecosystems and vegetation mean for water? What do changes in water cycling mean for life? and What consequences does the link between life and water have for human and natural systems?"
Answering these questions takes our Ecohydrology Research Group around the world - with projects based in the US, Brazil, India, Ethiopia, Australia and Oceania. We use mathematical modeling, remote sensing, and field observations.
Research Projects
Australian Critical Zone Observatory Network
Five intensive monitoring sites are being established across Australia to enable Critical Zone Science in the Southern Hemisphere. See https://www.tern.org.au/critical-zone/ and
https://www.tern.org.au/real-time-soil-sensing-and-sampling-for-critical-wa-agricultural-monitoring-site/ for more information.
Recharge Estimation Collaboration / Recharge in a Changing Climate
Seven monitoring sites have been established on the Western Australian coastal plain to observe unsaturated - saturated zone dynamics and learn about recharge to the critical water supply Gnangara Aquifer system.
See https://www.wa.gov.au/government/announcements/collaboration-the-importance-of-groundwater-recharge-estimation and https://insidewater.com.au/whiteman-park-highlights-groundwater-research/ for more information.
Past Projects
About Sally
Sally received her undergraduate degrees (in Environmental Chemistry and Environmental Engineering) from the University of Western Australia. She worked as an engineering consultant for several years, before starting her PhD with the support of a General Sir John Monash Award at Duke University in 2006. Upon graduating in 2010, Sally worked as a postdoctoral scholar at Princeton and Purdue Universities. She was appointed Assistant Professor of Surface Hydrology at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2012, and promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2017, at which time she was also appointed the inaugural Claire and Hsieh-Wen Shen Distinguished Research Chair. Sally began work at the University of Western Australia in 2019. Sally is also the recipient of the US National Science Foundation CAREER award, the American Geophysical Union Early Career Award in Hydrology, and the European Geophysical Union Jim Dooge Award for "best paper" in Hydrology and Earth System Science.
You can find Sally's work via: