William 'Ryan' Currier
Position
Hydrologist
Division
Hydrology Applications
Affiliation
NOAA
About
Originally from upstate New York, Ryan first became interested in hydrometeorology after moving to the arid west to attend the University of Colorado, where he studied Environmental Science and Biology. After graduating from CU Boulder, he moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington. Here, Ryan evaluated atmospheric models and collected snow-related observations for NASA's OLYMPEX campaign in Olympic National Park. Afterwards, Ryan implemented a subgrid scale forest-snow model into a hydrologic model to look at how forest-snow variability affects summer streamflow, which is particularly important for maintaining fish habitat.
Afterward, Ryan moved back to Boulder for a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, where he dynamically and statistically downscaled global models, and assessed how the representation of vegetation affects streamflow projections in the Colorado River Basin.
At NOAA, Ryan is focused on improving hydrological forecasts at a variety of time scales by better understanding the physical processes that affect the hydrological system.
In his free time, Ryan enjoys snowboarding, golfing, running, cooking, and playing various team sports.
Afterward, Ryan moved back to Boulder for a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, where he dynamically and statistically downscaled global models, and assessed how the representation of vegetation affects streamflow projections in the Colorado River Basin.
At NOAA, Ryan is focused on improving hydrological forecasts at a variety of time scales by better understanding the physical processes that affect the hydrological system.
In his free time, Ryan enjoys snowboarding, golfing, running, cooking, and playing various team sports.
Research Interests
- Mountain Meteorology
- Snow Hydrology
- Hydrologic Forecasting
- Downscaling
Education
- Ph.D., Civil Engineering, University of Washington, 2019
- M.Sc., Civil Engineering, University of Washington, 2016
- B.A., Environmental Studies, University of Colorado, 2013
Selected Publications
- Currier, W. R. and others, 2023. Vegetation representation influences projected streamflow changes in the Colorado River Basin. J. Hydrometeor. doi: 10.1175/JHM-D-22-0143.1
- Currier, W. R. and others, 2022. The impact of forest‐controlled snow variability on late‐season streamflow varies by climatic region and forest structure. Hydrological Processes, doi: 10.1002/hyp.14614
- Currier, W. R. and others, 2019. Comparing aerial lidar observations with terrestrial lidar and snow-probe transects from NASA’s 2017 SnowEx campaign. Water Resour. Res., doi:10.1029/2018WR024533
- Currier, W. R. and J. D. Lundquist, 2018. Snow depth variability at the forest edge in multiple climates in the western United States. Water Resour. Res., doi:10.1029/2018WR022553
- Currier, W. R., T. Thorson, and J. D. Lundquist, 2017. Independent evalution of frozen precipitation from WRF and PRISM in the Olympic Mountains, WA, USA. J. Hydrometeor. doi:10.1175/JHM-D-17-0026.1
Professional Memberships
- American Meteorological Society
- American Geophysical Union
Honors and Awards
- NASA Earth and Space Sciences Fellowship
- Ronald and Mary Nece Endowed Fellowship
- AMS Award Winning Student Presentation