The "Lead Scientist" for this CD project and is responsible for management, coordination, and communication between all PIs and Nepali counterparts. He has worked in the Himalaya since 1980 and in Nepal for the past 3 years. He is involved in the field- and photo-based studies of landsliding, calibration of bedrock incision rates by rivers, geodetic studies of bedrock deformation, analysis of digital elevation models, and calibration of fluvial sediment and water fluxes.

Responsible for developing and implementing the model for orographic precipitation, snow distribution, climate variability across the study area. She helped design the geometry of the new meteorological network, and she assisted with installation of the field stations and with data collection and interpretation of meteorological field data.  She is using her past experience with modeling of  orographic precipitation to customize a Himalayan model at a 2-km resolution. She is the primary liaison with the NASA Tropical Rainfall Monitoring Mission which has provided funding to her, Burbank, and Putkonen install a meteorological network in the proposed study area. She has coordinated a major radiosonde experiment (MOHPREX) during the 2001 monsoon season.

Responsible for the fission-track and [U-Th]/He  thermochronometry. She is developing chronologies for bedrock cooling using apatite fission-track ages, track-length modeling, and newly developed U-Th-He dating techniques. She has helped to plan and sample the vertical-relief profiles to constrain the thermal model.  Blythe operates and maintains the fission-track lab at USC.  She has been collaborating with researchers in the U-Th-He lab at Caltech.

An Emmy award-winning, documentary film maker specializing in historical, literary, and environmental topics. His films have been broadcast on Public Television beginning in 1976, and have reached a widespread audience. Fisher is in charge of writing and producing an hour-long film which will be aimed at Nova-type audiences on PBS and will document this research project, its scientific significance, and cultural impact.

Responsible for investigating the movement of water, sediment, and nutrients through the landscape, Dr Gabet has been largely focused on analyzing the hydrologic results from gauging the Marsyandi and tributaries over several monsoon season. He is also interested in how climate modulates sediment delivery and influences the shape of landforms.

Responsible for collecting, processing, and analyzing the samples used for our radionuclide analyses.  His measurements of 10Be and 26Al concentrations from bedrock and river sediments helps define erosion rates or minimum exposure ages depending on the sample application.  He recently completed work defining erosion rates, soil production functions, bedrock erosion rates, and bedrock incision rates from six different field sites using radionuclide analyses of bedrock and stream sediment samples.  He is using similar methodology for this project in his lab at Dartmouth. He is fluent in Hindi and conversant in Nepali.

Specializes in the integration of structural geology, geochronology, and metamorphic petrology to explore the processes of continental deformation.  Much of his research since 1983 has focused on the Himalayan orogen in southern Tibet, India, and Nepal.  He has directed a field geologic program in the Annapurna Range for the past nine years. Hodges roles in the Nepal CD project are: 1) to direct the 40Ar/39Ar dating studies outlined in the proposal; 2) to extend our knowledge of the bedrock geology of the Marsyandi tributary catchments; and 3) to help design thermal models that will lead to a more robust interpretation of thermochronologic data in terms of uplift rate. Hodges also brings experience with science education through popular film making, having served as a Science Advisor for the award-winning MacGillivray-Freeman IMAX film, Everest.

Responsible for estimating the amount and importance of glacial erosion.  He has also helped design and implement stream sampling strategies both for particulate sediment load and for water discharge.  He has extensive experience in glacial dynamics, in both mountain and continental ice-sheet environments, with past projects in Alaska, Greenland, Antarctica and the Rockies.  He has carried out theoretical and field studies of sub-glacial erosion, and of chemical denudation in glaciated basins, and has published one of the few data-based sub-glacial erosion laws.

Specializes in tectonic geomorphology and geodynamics. He has recently completed a detailed calibration of growing folds in the Himalayan foothills, sediment transport and erosion rates, geodynamic  models of deformation across the Himalayan orogen. He brings this expertise and skills with digital topography and satellite imagery to bear on the problems of digital terrain analysis, landsliding, bedrock incision, and reconstruction of average rates of bedrock deformation.

Taking primary responsibility for the design, creation, installation, and maintenance of the meteorological network. He has seven years of experience in developing stand-alone meteorological stations for remote Arctic environments and will apply a similar technology, adapted for deep snow conditions, to the Nepal Himalaya. He is responsible for data collection and reduction, maintenance of the meteorological network, and coordination with the Nepalese Dept. of Hydrology and Meteorology.