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Victoria Kelly

Environmental Monitoring Program Manager | BS, MA

Certified Senior Ecologist, Ecological Society of America

845 677-7600 x174

Vicky Kelly manages Cary Institute's Environmental Monitoring Program, which includes monitoring climate as well as air, precipitation and streamwater quality, solar radiation, phenology, and the behavior of water in the landscape. Data from the program have been used to understand the dynamics of road salt and the effects of climate change on precipitation chemistry.

Current projects include the effectiveness of road salt reduction practices, the impact of climate change on plant and animal life cycle events (phenology), and monitoring of water at the landscape scale.

Recent publications include Road Salt: The Problem, The Solution, and How to Get There and The State of the Environment, Dutchess County.

Abdelkader, Mohamed, Marouane Temimi, Andreas Colliander, Michael H. Cosh, Victoria R. Kelly, Tarendra Lakhankar, and Ali Fares. 2022. “Assessing the Spatiotemporal Variability of SMAP Soil Moisture Accuracy in a Deciduous Forest Region”. Remote Sensing 14 (14). MDPI AG: 3329. doi:10.3390/rs14143329.
Colliander, A., M. H. Cosh, Victoria R. Kelly, S. Kraatz, L. Bourgeau-Chavez, P. Siqueira, A. Roy, et al. (2024) 2020. “SMAP Detects Soil Moisture Under Temperate Forest Canopies”. Geophysical Research Letters 47 (19).
Kelly, Victoria R., Stuart E. G. Findlay, Stephen K. Hamilton, Gary M. Lovett, and Kathleen C. Weathers. 2019. “Seasonal and Long-Term Dynamics in Stream Water Sodium Chloride Concentrations and the Effectiveness of Road Salt Best Management Practices”. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution 230 (1). doi:10.1007/s11270-018-4060-2.
Kelly, Victoria R., Stuart E. G. Findlay, and Cornelia Harris. 2018. “Chemical Composition of Rock Salt Brine Compared With Brine from Oil and Gas Wells”. Journal of Environmental Engineering 144 (9). ASCE.
Kelly, Victoria R., Mary Ann Cunningham, Neil Curri, Stuart E. G. Findlay, and Sean M. Carroll. 2018. “The Distribution of Road Salt in Private Drinking Water Wells in a Southeastern New York Suburban Township”. Journal of Environment Quality 47 (3): 445. doi:10.2134/jeq2017.03.0124.
Coopersmith, Evan J., Michael H. Cosh, Jesse E. Bell, Victoria R. Kelly, Mark Hall, Michael A. Palecki, and Marouane Temimi. 2016. “Deploying Temporary Networks for Upscaling of Sparse Network Stations”. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 52: 433-44. doi:10.1016/j.jag.2016.07.013.
Hong, B. G., K. E. Limburg, M.H. Hall, G. Mountrakis, Peter M. Groffman, K.D. Hyde, L. Luo, Victoria R. Kelly, and S.J. Myers. 2012. “An Integrated Monitoring Modeling Framework for Assessing Human-Nature Interactions in Urbanizing Watersheds: Wappinger and Onondaga Creek Watersheds, New York, USA”. Environmental Modelling and Software 32: 1-15. doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2011.08.006.
Kelly, Victoria R., Kathleen C. Weathers, Gary M. Lovett, and Gene E. Likens. 2012. “A Comparison of Two Collectors for Monitoring Precipitation Chemistry”. Water Air Soil Pollut. 223: 951-54. doi:10.1007/s11270-011-0912-8.
Findlay, Stuart E. G., and Victoria R. Kelly. 2011. “Emerging Indirect and Long-Term Road Salt Effects on Ecosystems”. In Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences – The Year in Ecology and Conservation Biology, 1223:58-68.
Kelly, Victoria R., Stuart E. G. Findlay, William H. Schlesinger, K. Menking, and Allison Chatrchyan. 2010. “Road Salt, Moving Toward the Solution”. Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. http://www.caryinstitute.org/reprints/report_road_salt_2010.pdf.
Kelly, Victoria R., Kathleen C. Weathers, Gary M. Lovett, and Gene E. Likens. 2009. “Effect of Climate Change Between 1984 and 2007 on Precipitation Chemistry at a Site in Northeastern USA”. Environ. Sci. Technol. 43: 3461-66. doi:10.1021/es8033473.
Kelly, Victoria R., Gary M. Lovett, Kathleen C. Weathers, Stuart E. G. Findlay, David L. Strayer, D.J. Burns, and Gene E. Likens. 2008. “Long-Term Sodium Chloride Retention in a Rural Watershed: Legacy Effects of Road Salt on Stream Water Concentrations”. Environ. Sci. Technol. 42: 410-15. http://www.caryinstitute.org/reprints/Kelly_et_al_EST_2008.pdf.
Bernhardt, J., Victoria R. Kelly, Allison Chatrchyan, and A. Degaetano. 2008. “The Climate and Air Quality of Dutchess County New York”. In Dutchess County Natural Resources Inventory. Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County, in cooperation with Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies….
Kaushal, Sujay S., Peter M. Groffman, Gene E. Likens, Kenneth T Belt, William Stack, Victoria R. Kelly, Lawrence E. Band, and G.T. Fisher. 2005. “Increased Salinization of Fresh Water in the Northeastern United States”. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 102: 13517-20.
Kelly, Victoria R., Gary M. Lovett, Kathleen C. Weathers, and Gene E. Likens. 2005. “Trends in Atmospheric Ammonium Concentrations in Relation to Atmospheric Sulfate and Local Agriculture”. Environ. Pollut. 135: 363-69.
Kelly, Victoria R., Gary M. Lovett, Kathleen C. Weathers, and Gene E. Likens. 2002. “Trends in Atmospheric Concentration and Deposition Compared to Regional and Local Pollutant Emissions at a Rural Site in Southeastern New York, USA”. Atmospheric Environment 36: 1569-75.
Kelly, Victoria R. 1999. “Environmental Monitoring Program: 1984-1998 Summary Report Part II: Precipitation Chemistry (1984-1998); Stream Water Chemistry (1985-1998); Aerosol Chemistry, Total Suspended Particulates, SO2, HNO3 (1988-1998)”. Occasional Publication of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Millbrook, NY: Institute of Ecosystem Studies.
Kelly, Victoria R. 1999. “Environmental Monitoring Program: 1988-1998 Summary Report Part I: Meteorology”. Occasional Publication of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Millbrook, NY: Institute of Ecosystem Studies.
Canham, Charles D., Alan R. Berkowitz, Victoria R. Kelly, Gary M. Lovett, S. V. Ollinger, and Jaclyn L. Schnurr. 1996. “Biomass Allocation and Multiple Resource Limitation in Tree Seedlings”. Can. J. For. Res. 26: 1521-30. http://www.caryinstitute.org/reprints/Canham_et_al_1996_Can_J_For_Res_26_1521-1530.pdf.
Berkowitz, Alan R., Charles D. Canham, and Victoria R. Kelly. 1995. “Competition Vs. Facilitation of Tree Seedling Growth and Survival in Early Successional Communities”. Ecology 76: 1156-68. http://www.caryinstitute.org/reprints/Berkowitz_et_al_1995_Ecology_76_1156-1168.pdf.

Projects