Geographic Focus
While proposals may consider areas outside the CRB, for example, the Colorado Front Range, we expect most of our work to focus on this critical system. There are four RISAs in the West and each covers a broad range of geography. The WWA considers itself the ‘headwaters’ RISA because of its base in Colorado, where the headwaters for the Platte, Arkansas, Rio Grande, and Colorado Rivers are all located. In addition to these hydrologic boundaries, the political (i.e. state) boundaries for our efforts include Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico. The first three are solely the domain of the WWA RISA, while New Mexico is considered part of the University of Arizona RISA, CLIMAS. In this round of proposals, we have elected to focus on the Colorado River Basin (CRB) for many reasons: it affects all four states, it is by far the largest river in our area, there is widespread consensus among decision makers and scientists alike that is uniquely vulnerable to a number of stresses including growth and climate change, and it is a very high profile river system with broad-based stakeholder interest.
Timescale Focus
The RISAs were created to take advantage of underutilized seasonal “El Niño” climate signals in the late 1990s. Over the years WWA has focused on three major time scales: paleoclimate, in the form of streamflow reconstructions; seasonal forecasting and observations, in the form of experimental climate predictions for water managers and our Intermountain West Climate Summary (IWCS); and climate change, in the form of our Colorado Climate Report and ongoing research focusing on climate change and Colorado River flows. In this round of proposals, we will deemphasize our service-oriented work (including paleoclimate reconstructions and workshops, and seasonal forecasting). We instead will focus more on research projects. This will likely mean that our timescale focus shifts more to climate change. Intense stakeholder interest in climate change/variability, and a desire to move beyond the provision of services is the driving force behind this shift in timescale focus.
Despite this fresh focus on climate change, new and innovative paleoclimate and seasonal research projects are encouraged. One technique may be a creative blending of paleoclimate or seasonal timescales. For example, Rajagopalan et al. generated synthetic streamflow sequences by using the wet/dry state information in paleo sequences to conditionally sample from the historical record for a recent study. Streamflow reconstructions and workshops can still be provided on a contract basis with interested parties and in limited cases they may make sense as an input into a greater effort. We consider this is one way of moving a highly specialized form of research to ‘operations.’ We expect to continue at a reduced level our service-oriented IWCS and experimental forecasts.
Climate Variability vs. Climate Change Focus
Another timescale factor includes the distinction between climate variability and climate change. Climate variability for our purposes is usually considered to operate during very short time periods such as weeks, months, or seasons, up to much longer periods including decades; climate change operates on decades and longer scales. In the rush to understand climate change, climate variability is being underplayed despite its importance at the short and medium timescales critical to many decision makers. For example, currently, natural climate variability on the Colorado River is likely a greater threat to reservoir levels than climate change. Proposals focusing on climate variability, on climate change, or the combination of the two, are encouraged.
Stakeholder Focus
In the past, WWA has focused almost exclusively on water managers. In this round we would like to expand our horizons to include other decision makers. This would include environmental NGOs, federal agencies with land and water management responsibilities, and potentially others such as land and energy planners with an interest in water. The WWA is increasingly being approached by federal entities including Reclamation, USFWS, USFS, and EPA looking for guidance on climate change including (1) what scientific information is available, (2) how it might be used, and (3) the degree to which it should be trusted for decision making. Proposals supporting new stakeholders and new types of stakeholders are encouraged.
While we expect most of our work to have strong stakeholder interest and support, there may be some critical but politically sensitive social, economic, or policy vulnerability assessments that need independent, unbiased academic analysis. There is also one other important WWA stakeholder: NOAA. The leadership at NOAA wants to understand the lessons the RISAs are learning yet the RISAs have not fulfilled this need. The WWA’s position within the largest federal NOAA lab is unique within the RISA community, and provides an unusual opportunity to enhance communication with NOAA. In addition, NOAA’s recent announcement of the creation of a National Climate Service (NCS) makes attention to this stakeholder all the more important. Communicating to the NCS critical needs of regional users is an important RISA goal. Transferring products to an operational entity-- a longtime but rarely executed RISA goal-- is a new, albeit uncertain, possibility with the NCS. A sub-effort to advise NOAA can be attached to most proposals and is strongly encouraged. Standalone projects that bundle past lessons for NOAA are also encouraged.
Academic Discipline
The WWA encourages interdisciplinary work. While all of our work needs an underlying climate component, this does not limit our efforts to climate science. In the past, the WWA has funded work by sociologists, economists, geographers, hydrologists, and others. We encourage proposals from all disciplines, and particularly those that integrate among sectors.
Cross-RISA Activities
Some efforts may qualify as ‘Cross-RISA’ efforts where expertise at another RISA is utilized. For example, University of Washington’s D. Lettenmaier has significant expertise with hydrologic modeling in the CRB. Both CLIMAS and CAP have worked on fire issues. Cross-RISA efforts that build upon existing knowledge are encouraged when appropriate. The NOAA CPO has provided limited funding for standalone efforts in the past but in most cases the WWA has not expressly supported these efforts with funding. In exceptional circumstances the WWA may be able to provide limited support for researchers at other RISAs to effect important work benefiting the WWA.
Assessments, Climate Products and Outreach
The WWA has sometimes characterized its efforts as falling into one of three categories: Assessments, Decision Support, and Outreach. Assessments can be climate assessments (e.g. Colorado Climate Report), or vulnerability assessments based on economics or infrastructure or policy (e.g. past work on Aurora water demand, when Lake Mead will dry or impacts of climate change on water rights.) Decision Support can include forecasts, documents such as the Intermountain West Climate Summary, web portals, or any other product designed to aid decision-making. Some research efforts either fall between these categories, or combine from more than one category (the Colorado Climate Report and the IWCS are potentially both Decision Support and Outreach.) The WWA is interested in a mix of efforts among these categories for our collective work portfolio.
Outreach (and education) deserves special mention. Over the years, the WWA has gained substantial credibility with decision makers by providing written and verbal syntheses of research, both our own and others’, by maintaining a website, and by holding a variety of workshops on climate change, global climate models, forecast verification, and other topics. In most cases, projects should have some outreach component, even if minor. The WWA Core Office has substantial capabilities to provide outreach and may be able to assist with this function.
