It’s been an unusually wet start to summer across Minnesota, with a series of thunderstorms blanketing the state in heavy rainfall. While most of us tuck away indoors wishing for brighter skies, Eva Muscatello, an earth sciences graduate student at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD), eagerly hits the trail to capture water samples from Duluth streams.
“My favorite thing about studying here at UMD is the access to places like this,” she said.
Muscatello sits next to Tischer Creek near the UMD campus. The creek is swollen after a recent storm, and the sound of rushing water—her favorite sound—fills the canyon of jagged rock that surrounds it. Illuminated by evening light, water droplets dance like fireflies at the base of a waterfall as she dips a small container into the creek. She started this work while completing her undergraduate degree in environmental science and was motivated to continue it during her graduate studies.
The water she’s collecting is brought to UMD’s Large Lakes Observatory where a spectrometer measures the water’s isotopic values. Water isotopes are atoms of hydrogen and oxygen in water that can be used to map the movement of water. They’re particularly useful in tracking weather changes over long periods of time. Think of the rainfall isotopes like a human fingerprint, with each storm having unique values. Changes in those values can signify shifts in temperature, changes in drought and rainfall, and the origin of storm paths. They can also help predict what parts of the country will get more or less rainfall in the future. Muscatello analyzes that data to determine where Duluth’s stormwater comes from and how that might change seasonally.
“There’s not much record of water isotopes in Minnesota,” Muscatello said. Filling that gap in data is something she’s proud of, knowing that her work is not just about collecting data, but about helping predict future rainfall and river runoff changes in the state. It’s impactful work set against the backdrop of Duluth’s picturesque environment.
“I really like to be able to be out here with the water, and the sunlight, and the green trees, and just really enjoy myself as I'm doing this research that is so important to me,” Muscatello said.