Portrait of Kyotaek Hwang
Postdoctoral Scholar •
• Critical zone ecohydrology • Ecohydrological remote sensing • Water/energy balance
kyotaek.hwang@colorado.edu

Visit the Ecohydrology Lab

Bio

Education

  •     PhD: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Syracuse University, 2018
  •     MS: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, 2011
  •     BS: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, 2009

Research

  • Ecohydrological remote sensing applications and its impact on critical zone processes
  • Sustainable engineering using green infrastructure/low impact development, urban pollutant/source water tracking
  • Mechanisms and connectivity of surface and subsurface transportation of water/heat
  • Land surface-atmosphere interactions in energy/water/carbon cycling

Ecohydrology is an interdisciplinary science exploring how plants and water interact and how ecological processes and the hydrologic cycle respond to each other. I have been working toward a comprehensive understanding of mechanisms controlling water, energy, and carbon dynamics through field observations, in-situ sampling, and remote sensing in various landscapes across the US, including freshwater marshes, a northeast forested pristine stream network, a northwest intermountain watershed, and a Midwest urban ecosystem. My developing expertise in ecohydrology contributes to a better understanding of dynamics of the environmental fluxes in the critical zone (CZ). In addition, my academic contributions give a better idea of how abiotic factors, including hydrology, promote biological integrity in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum.

My research interests in the CZ geosciences stem from my ecohydrological journey exploring the water and energy budgets within land cover and climate gradients across the US. Using novel field survey methods, I combined theoretical and practical approaches of the energy balance from the northeast pristine watersheds to the Midwest post-industrial city. The range of the study regions stretches over the restored wetlands in the northern New York, temperate forest and farmland in Sleepers River Research Watershed (northeastern Vermont), rangeland in Reynolds Creek CZ (southern Idaho), and urban shrinking city (Detroit, Michigan). My goal is to help inform water resources management across various climate regimes and spatio-temporal scales.

Selected publications

Hood, G. R., Papuga, S. A., Socrates, C., Rankin, K., Kyotaek Hwang 2021: On the phytoscreening potential of insect-induced plant galls. Plant and Soil. DOI: 10.1007/s11104-021-05068-8

Kyotaek Hwang, Chandler, D. G., Shaw, S. B. 2020: Patch scale evapotranspiration of wetland plant species by ground-based infrared thermometry. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 287: 107948. DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2020.107948

Wang, T., Driscoll, C. T., Kyotaek Hwang, Chandler, D. G., Montesdeoca, M. R. 2020: Total and methylmercury concentrations in ground and surface waters in natural and restored freshwater wetlands in northern New YorkT. Ecotoxicology, 29: 1602-1613. DOI: 10.1007/s10646-019-02155-6

Chandler, D. G., Seyfried, M. S., McNamara, J. P., Kyotaek Hwang 2017: Inference of soil hydrologic parameters from electronic soil moisture records. Frontiers in Earth Science, 5. DOI: 10.3389/feart.2017.00025

Kyotaek Hwang, Choi, M., Lee, S. O., Seo, J.-W. 2013: Estimation of instantaneous and daily net radiation from MODIS data under clear sky conditions: A case study in East Asia. Irrigation Science, 31: 1173-1184. DOI: 10.1007/s00271-012-0396-3

Kyotaek Hwang, Choi, M. 2013: Seasonal trends of satellite-based evapotranspiration algorithms over a complex ecosystem in East Asia. Remote Sensing of Environment, 137: 244-263. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2013.06.006