Cristina Grosso's picture

Cristina Grosso, MA

Program Managing Director
Environmental Informatics Program
Data Services
Geographic Information Systems
Software Engineering
Carbon, Ecosystems & Climate
510-746-7371

Cristina Grosso is the Managing Director for SFEI’s Environmental Informatics Program. She earned a B.S. in Mathematics from Vanderbilt University and a M.A. in Geography with an emphasis in Resource Management and Environmental Planning from San Francisco State University. Cristina manages the development of tools for uploading and visualizing data in EcoAtlas, the California Rapid Assessment Method for Wetlands, and the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality. She manages the San Francisco Bay-Delta Regional Data Center and works with the State’s other data centers to ensure monitoring data are comparable with the Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP) and the California Environmental Data Exchange Network (CEDEN).

Related Projects, News, and Events

Statewide Wetland Tracking, Science, and Policy Development Support (Project)

SFEI’s Wetland Science Focus Area’s Director, Josh Collins, is a leader in the coordination of statewide science advisory teams and acquiring funding to develop monitoring and assessment tools that support the State’s Wetland and Riparian Area Protection Policy.

California Rapid Assessment Method for Wetlands (CRAM) Updates (News)

CRAM Training sessions for 2020 have been posted on the CRAM website.

Assessing Five Watersheds in Santa Clara County (News)

A new synthesis report characterizing the amount, distribution, and diversity of streams and wetlands within the County employing CARI, and an ambient survey of the overall ecological condition of streams employing CRAM.

SFEI GIS Internship Opportunity - Delta Aquatic Resource Inventory Mapping (News)

The San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) is one of California’s premier aquatic and ecosystem science institutes. Our mission: provide scientific support and tools for decision- making and communication through collaborative efforts. We provide independent science to assess and improve the health of the waters, wetlands, wildlife and landscapes of San Francisco Bay, the California Delta and beyond. 

EcoAtlas: New CARI Editor and Modern Delta Habitat Types (News)

An accurate basemap is fundamental to watershed planning and assessments. The California Aquatic Resources Inventory, or CARI, offers such a basemap for aquatic resource identification and classification. But to keep it current and enhance its details, SFEI-ASC must leverage local knowledge. The new CARI Editor promotes regional stewardship and allows users to submit updates, deletions or new features for streams and wetlands.

SF Bay Nutrients Visualization Tool (Project)

This visualization tool facilitates intuitive comparison of continuous data from around the Bay, and across a variety of analytes, to demonstrate the potential for collaborative monitoring across programs.

Safe to Eat Portal (Project)

Fish and shellfish are nutritious and good for you to eat. But some fish and shellfish may take in toxic chemicals from the water they live in and the food they eat. Some of these chemicals build up in the fish and shellfish - and in the humans that eat fish and shellfish - over time. Although the chemical levels are usually low, it is a good idea to learn about advisories and monitoring in water bodies where you fish, and for fish or shellfish you eat.

Project Tracker assists with regional reporting (News)

More and more groups rely on Project Tracker to assist with their reporting. Why? Because Project Tracker standardizes project data across programs so it is easier to summarize information for reporting purposes. Especially in the Bay Area, it is the most comprehensive regional dataset for project information.

California Rapid Assessment Method (CRAM) (Project)

CRAM is a standardized, scientifically defensible rapid assessment method for monitoring the ecological conditions of wetlands throughout California. Because it is standardized, one can compare ecological conditions of wetlands locally, regionally and statewide.

SFEI is working with the Santa Clara Valley Water District to develop multi-benefit management tools (News)

In 2014, SFEI and the Santa Valley Water District launched a collaborative partnership aimed at sharing experience, knowledge and resources, and working toward a shared vision of watershed management. Through this partnership, the District has asked SFEI to develop a set of online tools to: 1) identify opportunities for multi-benefit management actions in and along the channels managed by the District; and 2) track the impacts of those actions towards meeting established management targets.

Developing a Sustainable Business Model for the EcoAtlas Toolset (Project)

This project is funded by a USEPA wetland development grant (2015-2017) to develop a recommended funding and business model for the EcoAtlas toolset.   EcoAtlas is a framework and toolset recommended in the State's Wetland and Riparian Area Monitoring Plan (WRAMP) of the California Wetland Monitoring Workgroup (CWMW). The tools enable users to visualize and assess the distribution, abundance, diversity, and condition of surface waters in a landscape or watershed context.  The Business Plan project is developing several overview and planning memos and a final, compiled recommendation for an EcoAtlas business plan. Those documents are made available here as they are completed.

Dashboards track cumulative benefits on the landscape (News)

EcoAtlas dashboards are comprehensive views of qualified information provided by Project Tracker and the California Aquatic Resource Inventory (CARI). These dynamic visualizations help measure the cumulative benefits of public policies and programs for California's aquatic resources. 

DEDUCE: Delta Environmental Data for the Understanding of a California Estuary (Project)

The purpose of this project is to expand the existing San Francisco Bay Regional Data Center (RDC) to include the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Marsh (Delta). The anticipated outcome of this project is an estuary-wide data repository where one currently does not exist. 

Flood Control 2.0 Wins an Outstanding Environmental Project Award! (News)

The Flood Control 2.0 project team was presented with an Outstanding Environmental Project Award at the 13th Biennial State of the Estuary Conference in Oakland, CA. The award is given by the Friends of the San Francisco Estuary to projects that benefit the San Francisco-Bay Delta Estuary and its watersheds.

Completed! Legacy datasets saved from the shelves and uploaded to estuary-wide data repository (News)

SFEI worked in partnership with the Delta Conservancy to complete a two year project funded by a USEPA National Environmental Information Exchange Network (NEIN) grant to expand the existing San Francisco Bay Regional Data Center (RDC) to include the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Marsh (Delta) for an estuary-wide data repository. SFEI received Delta data from public and private sector sources ranging from scientists, environmental program staff, managers, the public and other stakeholders.

Russian River Watershed Atlas helps track and coordinate post-fire activities (News)

Fire recovery in the Russian River Watershed will benefit from a common online platform for compiling, visualizing, and interpreting many kinds of environmental data available from diverse federal, state, regional, and local sources. Providing such a platform is one objective of the Russian River Regional Monitoring Program (R3MP).

New Project Tracker online forms (News)

New Project Tracker online forms enhance EcoAtlas' regional capacity for habitat restoration project tracking, assessment and reporting. Partners can now upload and edit project information and approve projects for display on EcoAtlas. Project Tracker meets the important need of providing tools for partners to manage their projects and display information on EcoAtlas, a tool for visualizing the condition and extent of California's aquatic resources.

The key benefits of Project Tracker include:

New Manuscript on Pollutants in the Guadalupe River Addresses Key Questions (News)

Guadalupe River is contaminated with mercury mining wastes from runoff associated with the historic New Almaden Mining District in the upper watershed that produced 40 million kilograms during its working life (1850-1975) and with PCB and other urban pollutants from a long history of urbanization and industrial land uses.

SFEI has been monitoring pollutant concentrations in the Guadalupe River during winter storms since October 2002. The result is one of the world’s most extensive data sets on mercury, PCBs, and other pollutant concentrations and loads in an urban river.  In a recent manuscript, SFEI staff used the dataset to answer three major questions.

New data layers and Landscape Profile mode added to EcoAtlas (News)

New data layers and Landscape Profile mode have been added to EcoAtlas (ecoatlas.org), an online tool for visualizing the abundance, diversity, and condition of wetlands, along with the project activities that are affecting the landscape. Enhancements include: