Several Front Range water providers are working together to fund a study of the potential impacts of climate change on water resources in Colorado. They will use a variety of downscaled GCM projections in two different hydrology models to identify streamflow changes in 2040 and 2070. WWA is serving on an internal advisory committee to provide guidance on choosing GCMs and emissions scenarios along with climate variables and data sets to put into the hydrology models. In addition, WWA is organizing an education workshop for the water providers that will cover the fundamentals and differences of GCMs, emissions scenarios, downscaling techniques, and hydrology modeling. Once future streamflowsare obtained, WWA will provide guidance on planning for and communication of results.
Agenda
8:30 Begin-Introduction/Overview
8:45-9:45 GCMs and Emissions Scenarios (Joe Barsugli of NOAA Physical Sciences Division)
10:00-11:00 Downscaling methods (Chris Anderson of NOAA Global Systems Division)
11:15-12:00 Knn technique (Balaji Rajagopalan of WWA and CU Dept. of Engineering)
12:00-1:00 lunch
1:00-2:00 Hydrology modeling (Levi Brekke of USBR)
2:15-3:15 WWA guidance and general discussion (led by Brad Udall)
3:30-4:30 Water providers' internal discussion re: proposals, funding, etc.
Workshop Presentations
Climate Models and Emissions Scenarios, Joe Barsugli, CIRES, University of Colorado, affiliated with NOAA/ESRL/PSD
An Overview of Downscaling Techniques Used in Climate Change Science, Christopher J. Anderson, NOAA/ESRL/GSD
Hydrology Modeling for Climate Change Impacts Studies, Levi Brekke (Reclamation, Technical Service Center)
K-Nearest Neighbor Resampling Technique (Weather Generation and Water Quality Applications), Balaji Rajagopalan, Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado
References
Key Terms
For more information, please contact Jessica Lowrey at jessica.lowrey@noaa.gov
