Skip to Content
Report an accessibility problem
Thomas Volo

Thomas Volo

thomas.volo@asu.edu

School of Earth and Space Exploration
Arizona State University
781 E. Terrace Rd, Rm 741
Tempe, AZ 85287
USA

Biography

A Ph.D. student working with Dr. Enrique Vivoni, Tom is interested in urban water use and policy. His master’s thesis utilized data from the Central Arizona–Phoenix Long-term Ecological Research project's North Desert Village landscape experiment to investigate the effects of different residential irrigation schedules on plant water stress and water fluxes in the active rooting zone. His doctoral research will continue from his master’s work, including data from an eddy-covariance tower in the west Phoenix neighborhood of Maryvale. The meteorological, hydrological, and energy flux data from the tower will be incorporated into a modeling experiment designed to enhance knowledge of evapotranspiration and other processes in desert areas with substantial residential outdoor water use. Such knowledge can be utilized to improve urban climate modeling, and to assist homeowners and water managers in designing and maintaining urban landscapes.

Education

  • BBA, College of William and Mary
  • BA, College of William and Mary
  • MS, Arizona State University

Journal Articles

2015

Volo, T. J., E. R. Vivoni and B. L. Ruddell. 2015. An ecohydrological approach to conserving urban water through optimized landscape irrigation schedules. Landscape and Urban Planning 133:127-132. DOI: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.09.012. (link )

2014

Chow, W. T., T. J. Volo, E. R. Vivoni, G. D. Jenerette and B. L. Ruddell. 2014. Seasonal dynamics of a suburban energy balance in Phoenix, Arizona. International Journal of Climatology 34(15):3863-3880. DOI: 10.1002/joc.3947. (link )

Volo, T. J., E. R. Vivoni, C. A. Martin, S. Earl and B. L. Ruddell. 2014. Modelling soil moisture, water partitioning, and plant water stress under irrigated conditions in desert urban areas. Ecohydrology 7:1297-1313. DOI: 10.1002/eco.1457. (link )

Posters

2012

Chow, W. T., T. J. Volo, E. R. Vivoni, D. Jenerette and B. L. Ruddell. 2012. Observations of the urban land surface energy balance in a Phoenix, AZ, residential suburb. Poster presented at the 3-7 December 2012 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, CA.

Ruddell, B. L., D. Jenerette, M. Moustaoui, E. R. Vivoni, W. T. Chow, S. Shaffer, T. J. Volo, C. A. Martin, A. Mahalov and S. L. Harlan. 2012. Modeling the urban climate at the human scale in hot/dry regions. Poster presented at the 3-7 December 2012 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, CA.

Volo, T. J., E. R. Vivoni, C. A. Martin and S. R. Earl. 2012. Modeling soil moisture and plant stress under irrigated conditions in semiarid urban areas. Poster presented at XIX Computational Methods in Water Resources, Urbana, IL.

Volo, T. J., E. R. Vivoni, C. A. Martin and S. R. Earl. 2012. Modeling soil moisture and plant stress under irrigated conditions in semiarid urban areas. Poster presented at 13 January 2012 CAP LTER 14th Annual Poster Symposium and All Scientist Meeting, Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. (link )

Presentations

2012

Volo, T. J., E. R. Vivoni, C. A. Martin, Z. Wang and B. L. Ruddell. 2012. A comparison of one-dimensional soil moisture models under urban irrigation in a desert city. Presentation at the 2012 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, CA.

Thesis (Masters)

2013

Volo, T. J. 2013. Modeling soil moisture dynamics of landscape irrigation in desert cities. MS thesis. Arizona State University. (link )