Claire Welty

Professor of Environmental Engineering
Director, Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education

Contact Information

Technology Research Center (TRC), Room 102
weltyc@umbc.edu
410-455-1766

Welty Lab Website

Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE)

Education

Ph.D. Civil and Environmental Engineering – M.I.T., 1989
M.S. Environmental Engineering – The George Washington University, 1983
B.S. Environmental Sciences – University of Virginia, 1976

Research Interests

Our interest is in developing an end-to-end system of field-deployed sensors and fully coupled groundwater-surface water mathematical models to quantify and predict the urban hydrologic cycle and coupled biogeochemical cycles from neighborhood to regional scales. Our goal is to be able to assimilate sensor data into hydrologic and water quality models in near-real time for predicting flow paths, fluxes and stores of water and chemicals on land surfaces and in the subsurface. We work in collaboration with the Baltimore Ecosystem Study Long-Term Ecological Research Site and the USGS MD-DE-DC Water Science Center. While methods are being developed using place-based research in Baltimore area, the methods are widely applicable to other urban areas.

 

Sustainability: Water – Baltimore’s Urban Streams from NBC News Learn

Selected Publications

  1. Welty. C., J. Moore, D. Bain, J. T. Kemper, P. M. Groffman, and J.M. Duncan. 2023. Spatial Heterogeneity and Temporal Stability of Baseflow Stream Chemistry in an Urban Watershed.  Water Resources Research. DOI: 10.1029/2021WR031804.
  2. Seck, Alimatou and C. Welty. 2022. Quantifying groundwater storage dynamics in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed using a large scale integrated hydrologic model with detailed three-dimensional subsurface representation. Hydrogeology Journal.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-022-02563-9.
  3. Aljafari, J. H. M., S. Sharvelle, N E. Brinkman, M. A. Jahne, S. P. Keely, E. A. Wheaton, J. Garland, C. Welty; M. C. Sukop, T. Meixner. 2022. Characterization of Roof Runoff Microbial Quality in Four U.S. Cities with Varying Climate and Land Use Characteristics. Water Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2022.119123.
  4. Zahn, E., C. Welty, J.A. Smith, S. J. Kemp, M.-L. Baeck, and E. Bou-Zeid. 2021. The Hydrological Urban Heat Island: Determinants of Acute and Chronic Heat Stress in Urban Streams, Journal of the American Water Resources Association, https:// doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12963.
  5. Talebpour M., C. Welty, E.  Bou-Zeid. 2021. Development and testing of a fully-coupled subsurface-land surface-atmosphere model: high-resolution application in urban terrains”. Urban Climate, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2021.100985
  6. Miller, A.J., C. Welty, J.M. Duncan, M.L Baeck and J. A. Smith. 2021. Assessing urban rainfall-runoff response to stormwater management extent. Hydrological Processes, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14287