Learn to design and build the world around you.


We rely on civil engineers to build our bridges, dams, highways, transit networks, airports, tunnels, water systems, industrial and commercial buildings, and to protect our environment. As a civil engineer, you will be faced with creating innovative ways to build and improve infrastructure in the face of climate change and increasing urbanization. Santa Clara prepares you to meet this challenge.

Our curriculum combines a unique balance of the practical aspects of engineering with a strong theoretical foundation. The curriculum covers environmental, structural, construction, geotechnical, transportation, and water resources engineering. You'll find small classes complemented by hands-on projects, time in the lab and field trips.

Faculty members are active scholars as well as practicing engineers. You'll go to them for advice and mentorship; and there will be several opportunities to develp camaraderie during regular department events.

For undergraduates, we offer a B.S. degree, as well as a combined B.S./M.S. five-year program. Graduate students can focus on structural engineering, general civil engineering, or construction management in pursuit of their M.S. degree.

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Submissions from 2021

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Towards smallholder food and water security: Climate variability in the context of multiple livelihood hazards in Nicaragua, Christopher M. Bacon, William A. Sundstrom, Iris Stewart-Frey, Edwin P. Maurer, and Lisa C. Kelley

Submissions from 2018

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Adjusting Flood Peak Frequency Changes to Account for Climate Change Impacts in the Western United States, Edwin P. Maurer, Gretchen Kayser, Laura Doyle, and Andrew W. Wood

Submissions from 2017

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Climate variability and vadose zone controls on damping of transient recharge, Claudia R. Corona, Jason J. Gurdak, Jesse E. Dickinson, T.P.A. Ferré, and Edwin P. Maurer

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Assessing Climate Change Impacts on Water Supply Reliability for Santa Clara County, California, Kayden Haleakala, Edwin P. Maurer, and Samantha Greene

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Projected 21st-century changes in the Central American mid-summer drought using statistically downscaled climate projections, Edwin P. Maurer, Nicholas Roby, Iris T. Stewart-Frey, and Christopher M. Bacon

Submissions from 2016

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Climate change and the Delta, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science, Michael D. Dettinger, Jamie Anderson, Michael L. Anderson, Larry R. Brown, Daniel R. Cayan, and Edwin P. Maurer

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Assessing differences in snowmelt-dependent hydrologic projections using CMIP3 and CMIP5 climate forcing data for the western United States, Darren L. Ficklin, Sally L. Letsinger, Iris T. Stewart-Frey, and Edwin P. Maurer

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Technical Note: The impact of spatial scale in bias correction of climate model output for hydrologic impact studies, Edwin P. Maurer, Darren L. Ficklin, and W. Wang

Submissions from 2015

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Improved Bias Correction Techniques for Hydrological Simulations of Climate Change, David W. Pierce, Daniel R. Cayan, Edwin P. Maurer, John T. Abatzoglou, and Katherine C. Hegewisch

Submissions from 2014

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Climate change and stream temperature projections in the Columbia River basin: habitat implications of spatial variation in hydrologic drivers, Darren L. Ficklin, B. L. Barnhart, J. H. Knouft, Iris T. Stewart-Frey, Edwin P. Maurer, Sally L. Letsinger, and G. W. Whittaker

The Effectiveness Of Sustainable Floating Structures In The Gulf Region (Middle East), Amin Ghafooripour, E. Nezamifar, O. Ogwuda, and M. Sun

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An Enhanced Archive Facilitating Climate Impacts and Adaptation Analysis, Edwin P. Maurer, Levi Brekke, Tom Pruitt, Bridget Thrasher, J. Long, Philip B. Duffy, Michael D. Dettinger, Daniel R. Cayan, and James W. Arnold

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Bias correction can modify climate model simulated precipitation changes without adverse effect on the ensemble mean, Edwin P. Maurer and David W. Pierce

Submissions from 2013

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Snowpack and runoff response to climate change in Owens Valley and Mono Lake watersheds, Mariza Costa-Cabral, Sujoy B. Roy, Edwin P. Maurer, William B. Mills, and Limin Chen

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Increases in Flood Magnitudes in California Under Warming Climates, Tapash Das, Edwin P. Maurer, David W. Pierce, Michael D. Dettinger, and Daniel R. Cayan

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Using a Gridded Global Dataset to Characterize Regional Hydroclimate in Central Chile, E.M.C. Demaria, Edwin P. Maurer, J. Sheffield, E. Bustos, D. Poblete, S. Vicuña, and F. Meza

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Climate change impacts on an alpine watershed in Chile: Do new model projections change the story?, E.M.C. Demaria, Edwin P. Maurer, Bridget Thrasher, S. Vicuña, and F.J. Meza

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Climate Change Impacts on Streamflow and Subbasin- Scale Hydrology in the Upper Colorado River Basin, Darren L. Ficklin, Edwin P. Maurer, and Iris T. Stewert

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Effects of climate change on stream temperature, dissolved oxygen, and sediment concentration in the Sierra Nevada in California, Darren L. Ficklin, Iris T. Stewart-Frey, and Edwin P. Maurer

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Effects of projected climate change on the hydrology in the Mono Lake Basin, California, Darren L. Ficklin, Iris T. Stewart-Frey, and Edwin P. Maurer

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Making Climate Data Relevant to Decision Making: The important details of Spatial and Temporal Downscaling, Evan H. Girvetz, Edwin P. Maurer, Philip B. Duffy, Aaron Ruesch, Bridget Thrasher, and Chris Zganjar

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A Long-Term Hydrologically Based Dataset of Land Surface Fluxes and States for the Conterminous United States: Update and Extensions, Ben Livneh, Eric A. Rosenberg, Chiyu Lin, Bart Nijssen, Vimal Mishra, Kostas M. Andreadis, Edwin P. Maurer, and Dennis P. Lettenmaier

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Errors in climate model daily precipitation and temperature output: time invariance and implications for bias correction, Edwin P. Maurer, Tapash Das, and Daniel R. Cayan

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The Key Role of Heavy Precipitation Events in Climate Model Disagreements of Future Annual Precipitation Changes in California, David W. Pierce, Daniel R. Cayan, Tapash Das, Edwin P. Maurer, Norman L. Miller, Yan Bao, M. Kanamitsu, Kei Yoshimura, Mark A. Snyder, Lisa C. Sloan, Guido Franco, and Mary Tyree

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Probabilistic estimates of future changes in California temperature and precipitation usingstatistical and dynamical downscaling, David W. Pierce, Tapash Das, Daniel R. Cayan, Edwin P. Maurer, Norman L. Miller, Yan Bao, M. Kanamitsu, Kei Yoshimura, Mark A. Snyder, Lisa C. Sloan, Guido Franco, and Mary Tyree

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Tools for Assessing Climate Impacts on Fish and Wildlife, Chad B. Wilsey, Joshua J. Lawler, Edwin P. Maurer, Donald McKenzie, Patricia A. Townsend, Richard Gwozdz, James A. Freund, Keala Hagmann, and Karen M. Hutten

Submissions from 2012

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Low-Tech Coconut Shell Activated Charcoal Production, Ami Cobb, Mikel Warms, Edwin P. Maurer, and Steven Chiesa

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Slope Stability of the Design Concept of the Sheet Pile and Contiguous Bored Pile Walls, Koohyar Faizi, Ramli Nazir, Khairul Anuar Kassim, T. Loon, Behnam Adhami, Amin Ghafooripour, and Hossein Moayedi

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Development and application of a hydroclimatological stream temperature model within the Soil and Water Assessment Tool, Darren L. Ficklin, Yuzhou Luo, Iris T. Stewart-Frey, and Edwin P. Maurer

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Projections of 21st Century Sierra Nevada Local Hydrologic Flow Components Using an Ensemble of General Circulation Models, Darren L. Ficklin, Iris T. Stewart-Frey, and Edwin P. Maurer

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The Role of Geosynthetics in Slope Stability, Hamed Niroumand, Khairul Anuar Kassim, Amin Ghafooripour, and Ramli Nazir

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Performance of Helical Anchors in Sand, Hamed Niroumand, Khairul Anuar Kassim, Amin Ghafooripour, Ramli Nazir, and H. S. Chuan

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Investigation of Slope Failures in Soil Mechanics, Hamed Niroumand, Khairul Anuar Kassim, Amin Ghafooripour, Ramli Nazir, and Sayyed Yaghoub Zolfeghari Far

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Uplift Capacity of Enlarged Base Piles in Sand, Hamed Niroumand, Khairul Anuar Kassim, Amin Ghafooripour, Ramli Nazir, and T. G. Hu

Numerical Simulation of Buried Pipe under Wheel Loads, Hamed Niroumand, Khairul Anuar Kassim, Ramli Nazir, Koohyar Faizi, R. Hainin, Behnam Adhami, Amin Ghafooripour, and Hossein Moayedi

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Projecting Water Withdrawal and Supply for Future Decades in the U.S. under Climate Change Scenarios, Sujoy B. Roy, Limin Chen, Evan H. Girvetz, Edwin P. Maurer, William B. Mills, and Thomas M. Grieb

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Technical Note: Bias correcting climate model simulated daily temperature extremes with quantile mapping, Bridget Thrasher, Edwin P. Maurer, Philip B. Duffy, and Colin McKellar

Submissions from 2011

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Guidelines for constructing climate scenarios, Philip Mote, Levi D. Brekke, Philip B. Duffy, and Edwin P. Maurer

Submissions from 2010

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Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change: Small Mammal Migration Pathways in the Great Lakes States, Karen E. Francl, Katharine Hayhoe, Margaret Saunders, and Edwin P. Maurer

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Contrasting lumped and distributed hydrology models for estimating climate change impacts on California watersheds, Edwin P. Maurer, Levi D. Brekke, and Tom Pruitt

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The utility of daily large-scale climate data in the assessment of climate change impacts on daily streamflow in California, Edwin P. Maurer, H. G. Hidalgo, T. Das, M. D. Dettinger, and D. R. Cayan

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Evaluating Sustainability of Projected Water Demands Under Future Climate Change Scenarios, Sujoy R. Roy, Limin Chen, Evan Girvetz, Edwin P. Maurer, William B. Mills, and Thomas M. Grieb

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Climate change impacts on water demand and salinity in California's irrigated agriculture, Gerrit Schoups, Edwin P. Maurer, and Jan Hopmans

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Basin-scale water system operations with uncertain future climate conditions: Methodology and case studies, Sebastian Vicuna, John A. Dracup, Jay R. Lund, Larry L. Dale, and Edwin P. Maurer

Submissions from 2009

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Damage detection in jacket type offshore platforms using modal strain energy, B. Asgarian, M. Amiri, and Amin Ghafooripour

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Assessing reservoir operations risk under climate change, Levi D. Brekke, Edwin P. Maurer, Jamie D. Anderson, Michael D. Dettinger, and Edwin S. Townsley

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Climate change scenarios and sea level rise estimates for the California 2008 Climate Change Scenarios Assessment, Daniel R. Cayan, Mary Tyree, Michael D. Dettinger, Hugo Hildago, Tapash Das, Edwin P. Maurer, Peter Bromirski, Nicholas Graham, and Reinhard Flick

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Applied Climate-Change Analysis: The Climate Wizard Tool, Evan H. Girvetz, Chris Zganjar, George T. Raber, Edwin P. Maurer, Peter Kareiva, and Joshua J. Lawler

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Projected climate-induced faunal change in the western hemisphere, Joshua J. Lawler, Sarah L. Shafer, Denis White, Peter Kareiva, Edwin P. Maurer, Andrew R. Blaustein, and Patrick J. Bartlein

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Observed 1970-2005 cooling of summer daytime temperatures in coastal California, Bereket Lebassi, Jorge González González, Drazen Fabris, Edwin P. Maurer, Norman L. Miller, Cristina Milesi, Paul Switzer, and Robert Bornstein

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Climate model based consensus on the hydrologic impacts of climate change to the Rio Lempa basin of Central America, Edwin P. Maurer

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Water for Life: A Journey to Nicaragua Exploring Sustainable Development, Edwin P. Maurer

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Using synoptic-scale land surface moisture indices for hydrologic prediction, Andrew Wood and Edwin P. Maurer

Submissions from 2008

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Significance of model credibility in estimating climate projection distributions for regional hydroclimatological risk assessments, Levi D. Brekke, Michael D. Dettinger, Edwin P. Maurer, and Michael L. Anderson

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Climate change scenarios for the California region, Daniel R. Cayan, Edwin P. Maurer, Michael D. Dettinger, Mary Tyree, and Katharine Hayhoe

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Regional climate change projections for the Northeast USA, Katharine Hayhoe, Cameron Wake, Bruce Anderson, Xin-Zhong Liang, Edwin P. Maurer, Jinhong Zhu, James Bradbury, Art DeGaetano, Anne Marie Stoner, and Donald Wuebbles

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Impact of Climate Change on Irrigation Water Availability, Crop Water Requirements and Soil Salinity in the SJV, CA, Jan Hopmans and Edwin P. Maurer

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Utility of daily vs. monthly large-scale climate data: an intercomparison of two statistical downscaling methods, Edwin P. Maurer and Hugo G. Hidalgo

Submissions from 2007

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Dependency of COD on ground motion intensity and stiffness distribution, Mark Aschheim, Edwin P. Maurer, and JoAnn Browning

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Uncertainty in hydrologic impacts of climate change in the Sierra Nevada, California under two emissions scenarios, Edwin P. Maurer

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Fine-Resolution climate projections enhance regional climate change impact studies, Edwin P. Maurer, Levi Brekke, Tom Pruitt, and Philip P. Duffy

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Detection, attribution, and sensitivity of trends toward earlier streamflow in the Sierra Nevada, Edwin P. Maurer, Iris T. Stewart-Frey, Celine Bonfils, Philip B. Duffy, and Daniel R. Cayan

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The sensitivity of California water resources to climate change scenarios, Sebastian Vicuña, Edwin P. Maurer, Brian Joyce, John A. Dracup, and David Purkey

Submissions from 2006

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A spatially distributed model for the dynamic prediction of sediment erosion and transport in mountainous forested watersheds, Colleen O. Doten, Laura C. Bowling, Jordan S. Lanini, Edwin P. Maurer, and Dennis P. Lettenmaier

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Climate scenarios for California, Edwin P. Maurer, Michael Dettinger, Daniel Cayan, Mary Tyree, Katherine Hayhoe, Celine Bonfils, Philip B. Duffy, and Benjamin Santer

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Amplification of streamflow impacts of El Niño by increased atmospheric greenhouse gases, Edwin P. Maurer, Seran Gibbard, and Philip B. Duffy

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Using Radar Data to Partition Precipitation into Rain and Snow in a Hydrologic Model, Edwin P. Maurer and Clifford Mass

Submissions from 2005

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Uncertainty in projections of streamflow changes due to climate change in California, Edwin P. Maurer and Philip B. Duffy

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Detection time for plausible changes in annual precipitation, evapotranspiration, and streamflow in three Mississippi River sub-basins, Alan D. Ziegler, Edwin P. Maurer, Justin Sheffield, Bart Nijssen, Eric F. Wood, and Dennis P. Lettenmaier

Submissions from 2004

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Emissions pathways, climate change, and impacts on California, Katherine Hayhoe, Daniel Cayan, Christopher B. Field, Peter C. Frumhoff, Edwin P. Maurer, Norman L. Miller, Susanne C. Moser, Stephen H. Schneider, Kimberly Nicholas Cahill, Elsa E. Cleland, Larry Dale, Ray Drapek, R. Hanemann, Laurence S. Kalkstein, James Lenihan, Claire K. Lunch, Ronald P. Nielson, Scott C. Sheridan, and Julia H. Verville

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Potential effects of long-lead hydrologic predictability on Missouri River main-stem reservoirs, Edwin P. Maurer and Dennis P. Lettenmaier

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Variability and potential sources of predictability of North American runoff, Edwin P. Maurer, Dennis P. Lettenmaier, and Nathan J. Mantua

Submissions from 2003

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Predictability of seasonal runoff in the Mississippi River basin, Edwin P. Maurer and Dennis P. Lettenmaier

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Evaluation of the Snow-Covered Area Data Product from MODIS, Edwin P. Maurer, Joshua D. Rhoads, Ralph O. Dubayah, and Dennis P. Lettenmaier

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GCIP water and energy budget synthesis (WEBS), J. Roads, R. Lawford, E. Bainto, E. Berbery, S. Chen, B. Fekete, K. Gallo, A. Grundstein, W. Higgins, M. Kanamitsu, W. Krajewski, V. Lakshmi, D. Leathers, Dennis P. Lettenmaier, L. Luo, Edwin P. Maurer, T. Meyers, D. Miller, K. Mitchell, T. Mote, R. Pinker, T. Reichler, D. Robinson, A. Robock, J. Smith, G. Srinivasan, K. Verdin, K. Vinnikov, T. Vonder Haar, C. Vörösmarty, S. Williams, and E. Yarosh

Submissions from 2002

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A Long-Term Hydrologically-Based Data Set of Land Surface Fluxes and States for the Conterminous United States, Edwin P. Maurer, A. W. Wood, J. C. Adam, Dennis P. Lettenmaier, and B. Nijssen

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Long range experimental hydrologic forecasting for the eastern U.S., Andrew W. Wood, Edwin P. Maurer, Arun Kumar, and Dennis P. Lettenmaier

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Detection of intensification of the global water cycle: the potential role of FRIEND, Alan D. Zeigler, Justin Sheffield, Eric F. Wood, Bart Nijssen, Edwin P. Maurer, and Dennis P. Lettenmaier

Submissions from 2001

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Evaluation of the Land Surface Water Budget in NCEP/NCAR and NCEP/DOE Reanalyses using an Off-line Hydrologic Model, Edwin P. Maurer, Greg M. O'Donnell, and Dennis P. Lettenmaier

Submissions from 2000

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Use of Reanalysis Land Surface Water Budget Variables in Hydrologic Studies, Edwin P. Maurer, B. Nijssen, and Dennis P. Lettenmaier

Submissions from 1996

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A Simplified Model for Predicting Transmission Losses in a Stream Channel, Chris X. Rao and Edwin P. Maurer

Submissions from 1990

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Assessing the costs of adapting to sea-level rise: a case study of San Francisco Bay, Peter H. Gleick and Edwin P. Maurer