Environmental Modelling

RJLC’ ecological and environmental modelling service is to develop and apply practical and reliable tools that will help scientists and engineers better understand and predict the ecological and human exposures of the chemicals we use, to explain and anticipate the transport, partitioning, and reactions of chemicals and complex mixtures in ecosystems. We believe that a combination of physical, chemical, and biological processes determine the behaviors and fates of chemicals in the ecosystem. Our approach is to draw upon fundamental chemical and physical concepts to construct quantitative descriptions of chemical behavior in the environment. Then we test these approximations against independent experimental measurements and high quality theoretical calculations. We collaborate with experts at research institutions around the world (e.g. University of New Hampshire, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France, University of Quebec at Montreal, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and University of Tennessee, etc.) to address some of the most challenging problems in our field.

Typical project experience

• Groundwater arsenic, nickel and zinc transport modeling, Vancouver, BC
• Identification of potential ecologic effects from exposure to chemicals or microorganisms, USGS Program
• Development of a Soil Carbon/Nitrogen Model for Wetland and Upland Forests, USDA Southern Global Change Program
• Use of a GIS Based Distributed Model to Assess the Effect of Agricultural Management on the Nitrate Leaching at the Catchments Scale, funded by the Commission of the European Communities under the framework IV program (Climate and Environment-DGXII)
• Effect of Changes of Spatial and Temporal Scale within Input Data on Process-based Models, funded by French CNRS-Wong Foundation
• Development of a hydrologic model for evaluating evapotraspiration landfill covers - A model incorporate soil, plant and climate variables and include their interactions and the resultant affect on hydrology and water balance
• Quantification of chemical transport in soil under steady and transient flow conditions, Funded by USDA
• Solute Transport in Porous Media: Laboratory Experiments and Numerical Simulations, Chinese EPA