Forrest Melton

Forrest Melton is a Senior Professor at California State University–Monterey Bay, specializing in environmental science, remote sensing, and agricultural water management. His research integrates satellite-based Earth observations with hydrologic modeling to assess field-scale water use, evapotranspiration, and precision agriculture across the United States. Recent work includes evaluating OpenET ensemble performance, correcting bias in gridded reference evapotranspiration, and developing benchmark agricultural weather station datasets for the Contiguous United States. His 2026 publications address irrigation consumptive use in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Plain and national-scale hydrologic coupling. Melton’s contributions support climate change adaptation and sustainable water resource management through advanced geospatial and agricultural economics applications.