David Butman

My research focuses on the influence of humans and climate on carbon cycling at the intersection of terrestrial and aquatic systems. I use satellite remote sensing, field campaigns and watershed modeling to quantify ecosystem scale change because of anthropogenic carbon emissions, human landscape alteration and changing climate. More recently, I have started to focus on the use of large-scale geospatial data management and modelling platforms to investigate shifting patters in water quality at the regional to national scale. This work will focus on understanding the role that warming in the arctic plays in the release of carbon from permafrost into aquatic systems, and the potential emissions of carbon dioxide that may result. This effort is funded as part of the NASA Arctic and Boreal Vulnerability Experiment. I am also working with the City of Seattle and Seattle Public Utilities to explore the use of environmental sensors to monitor water quality in high spatial and temporal resolution. This effort will begin to identify the impacts of stream and river restoration projects across Seattle under storm conditions.

As an assistant professor in Civil & Environmental Engineering and the School of Environmental and Forest Science, I teach graduate-level courses on satellite remote sensing, biogeochemistry and undergraduate level courses on ecosystems science. I received my PhD from Yale University focusing on biogeochemical cycling in large river systems, a Master’s degree in Environmental Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and a B.A. in Economics and Environmental Studies from Connecticut College. Prior to coming to the University of Washington I was a Postdoctoral Associate with the U.S. Geological Survey where I was  involved in a national assessment of carbon sequestration potential within natural ecosystems.