Dr. Joann Mossa
Associate Chair and Professor
she/her/hers
(352) 294-7510
OrcID: 0000-0003-4192-6056
Focus Areas
- Focus Area 1: Earth System Science
- Focus Area 3: Places, Networks, & Flows
- Focus Area 5: Catastrophes, Conservation, and Conflict
- Focus Area 6: Sustainability & Global Environmental Change
Areas of Specialization
- Fluvial Geomorphology
- Disturbed/Modified Rivers and River Restoration
- Fluvial and Coastal Hazards
- Riverine-Coastal interactions
Educational Background
- PhD in Geography, Louisiana State University, 1990
- M.S. in Geography, Louisiana State University, 1983
- B.A. in Geography, Rutgers College, 1980
Recent Courses
- GEO 3341 Extreme Floods
- GEO 3343 Extreme Droughts
- GEO 3352 Human Footprint on the Earth
- GEO 4281 Fluvial Morphology and Processes
- GEO 6348 Floods Seminar
Current Graduate Students
Doctoral
Recent Graduate Students
Doctoral
Masters
- Megan Black
- Jeremy Reynolds
- John Newman
- James Richardson
In My Own Words
My recent research focuses on modified or disturbed rivers and river restoration, but my interests include sediments, fluvial and coastal hazards, hydrology and soils. I hold affiliate appointments in Geological Sciences, Hydrologic Sciences, and the School of Natural Resources and Environment. I recently was awarded the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Advising Award (2012) and have also received two Teaching Awards (1994 & 1998). For the profession, I serve on the editorial board of Physical Geography and the Southeastern Geographer, and was Chair of the Geomorphology Specialty Group and the Coastal and Marine Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers and President of the Florida Society of Geographers. Besides being at UF, I have also been a visiting faculty scientist at the Waterways Experiment Station, US Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg, MS, and a research associate at the Louisiana Geological Survey. I have been the Chair or Co-Chair of 8 PhD. and 20 Masters Committees, and enjoy getting to know graduate students and our majors.
Recent Publications
Mossa, J., Chen, Y.-H., (2022). Geomorphic response to historic and ongoing human impacts in a large lowland river, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms.
Wu, C. Y., Mossa, J., Jaeger, J. (2022). Estimate of decadal-scale riverbed deformation and bed-load sediment transport during flood events in the lowermost Mississippi River, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms.
Mossa, J., Chen, Y.-H, (2021). Geomorphic insights from eroding dredge spoil mounds impacting channel morphology, Geomorphology, 376, 16 pp.
Mossa, J., Chen, Y.H., Kondolf, G.M., & Walls, S.P. (2020). Channel and vegetation recovery from dredging of a large river in the Gulf coastal plain, USA. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 45, 1926–1944.
Amanambu, A. C., Obarein, O. A., Mossa, J., Li, L., Ayeni, S. S., Balogun, O., … & Ochege, F. U. (2020). Groundwater System and Climate Change: Present Status and Future Considerations. Journal of Hydrology, 125163.
Chen, Y.H., Mossa, J., & Singh, K.K. (2020). Floodplain response to varied flows in a large coastal plain river. Geomorphology, 354.
Wu, C.-Y., Mossa, J., 2019. Decadal-scale variations of thalweg morphology and riffle–pool sequences in response to flow regulation in the lowermost Mississippi River. Water 11(6), 1175.
Selected Earlier Publications
Castillo, D., Kaplan, D., & Mossa, J. (2016). A Synthesis of Stream Restoration Efforts in Florida (USA). River Research and Applications. 32(7), 1555–1565,
Prado Jr., F.A., Athayde, S., Mossa, J., Leite, F., Bohlman, S., Oliver-Smith, A. 2016. How Much is Enough? How much is enough? An integrated examination of energy security, economic growth and climate change related to hydropower expansion in Brazil. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 53, 1132-1136.
Mossa, J., 2016. The changing geomorphology of the Atchafalaya River, Louisiana: A historical perspective. Geomorphology, 252, 112-127.
Brim-Box, J., and Mossa, J., 1999, Sediments, land use, and freshwater mussels: Prospects and problems, Journal of the North American Benthologists Society, v. 18(1), pp. 99-117.
Mossa, J., and McLean, M.B., 1997, Channel planform and land cover changes on a mined river floodplain: Amite River, Louisiana, USA, Applied Geography, v. 17(1), pp. 43-54.
Mossa, J., 1996, Sediment dynamics of the lowermost Mississippi River, Engineering Geology, v. 45, pp. 457-79.