Information and Resources
Climate Change Impacts on the United States: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change, 2003
National Assessment Synthesis Team, US Climate Change Science Program: (www.climatescience.gov), US Global Change Research Program: (www.usgcrp.gov)
Chapter 14: Potential Consequences of Climate Variability & Change for the Water Resources of the United States
Water Sector research
Western Region research
Testimony for U.S. Senate Subcomittee on Water and Power hearing on impacts of climate change on water resources and availability in the United States
June 6, 2007, Washington D.C.
Western water resources in a changing climate, Testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources, Subcommittee on Water and Power, Philip W. Mote, Ph.D. Climate Impacts Group, University of Washington,
Effects of Climate Change on the Hydrology and Water Resources of the Colorado River Basin. (2004). Niklas S. Christensen, Andrew W. Wood, Nathalie Voisin, et al. Climatic Change, vol 62, pp. 337 - 363.
A Multimodel Ensemble Approach to Assessment of Climate Change Impacts on the Hydrology and Water Resources of the Colorado River basin, (2006). Niklas S. Christensen and Daniel P Lettenmaier, Hydrology Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss.: 9 July 2006
Past Peak Water in the West, Martin Hoerling (NOAA) and Jon Eischeid (CIRES), Southwest Hydrology, January/February 2007
Global pattern of trends in streamflow and water availability in a changing climate, (2005) P.C.D. Milly, K.A. Dunne, and A.V. Vecchia, Nature 438, 347-350 (17 November 2005)
Model Projections of an Imminent Transition to a More Arid Climate in Southwestern North America, Richard Seager, Mingang Ting, Yochanan Kushnir, Jian Lu, Gabriel Vecchi, Huei-Ping Huang, Nili Harnik, Ants Leetmaa, Ngar-Cheung Lau, Cuihua Li, Jennifer Velez, Naomi Naik, Sciencexpress, 5 April 2007
Colorado River Basin Climate: What Lies Ahead?, Brad Udall, 2007 Regional Water Symposium, Tucson, Arizona, August 31, 2007
Recent Research on the Effects of Climate Change on the Colorado River, Brad Udall, May 2007 Intermountain West Climate Summary
Appendix U: Climate Technical Work Group Report, Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and Coordinated Operations for Lakes Powell and Mead
IPCC AR4 Report
Chapter 11: Regional Climate Projections
Stochastic Nonparametric Framework for Basin wide Streamflow and Salinity Modeling: Application for the Colorado River Basin, James R. Prairie, PhD disertation, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado, 2006
The Impacts of Climatic Changes for Water Resources of the Colorado and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Basins.
Peter H. Gleick and Elizabeth L. Chalecki
Journal of the American Water Resources Association, OL. 35, NO. 6, December 1999.
WWA Research and Projects
Intermountain West Climate Summary Climate information is widely scattered on the web and other locations and consequently water managers and other climate sensitive sectors have requested a single monthly summary of climate information. The Intermountain West Climate Summary releases updated climate and water resource information including precipitation, temperature, snow water equivalent, long-lead temperature and precipitation outlooks, reservoir levels and streamflow forecasts. Researchers Ray, Lowrey, Alvord, Udall.
Colorado (and Interior Southwest) forecasts (experimental guidance)
This website consists of six parts: Status and Outlook for ENSO (El Niño/Southern Oscillation), the most important global climate variability factor on year-to-year time scales; background information on regional climate variability of the interior western U.S., and pertinent ENSO associations; “official" CPC (Climate Prediction Center) forecasts; experimental seasonal forecasts for precipitation in the interior western U.S.; discussion of rainfall forecasts, and useful links to shorter-term forecasts; and executive summary of this webpage. Klaus Wolter, ESRL, NOAA.
Colorado River Climate Primer. This publication summarizes Paleo-climate, current climate patterns and future climatology projections for the Colorado River Basin Researchers Kenney, Udall, Pulwarty, Wolter.
Grand Canyon Adaptive Management. This study develops forecasts of late-summer storms and associated sediment input into the Grand Canyon to support multi-stakeholder adaptive management experiments aimed at sustaining ecological, cultural and recreational activities. This work is in collaboration with the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center. Researchers Jain, Pulwarty, Eischeid.
Current and Anticipated Precipitation Anomalies over the U.S.
The purpose of this website is to monitor current and anticipated precipitation anomalies over the contiguous United States. Anticipated precipitation anomalies are those which might be expected over approximately the next 2 weeks to 6 months, based on operational or experimental forecasts. Gary Bates, ESRL, NOAA
Climate Workshops for Front Range Water Managers
Climate workshops geared towards municipal, state, and federal water managers, extension specialists, other policy makers interested in climate and water resources management. Topics include long-term climate trends and projections and potential impacts to water resources in the West, as well as seasonal forecasts and outlooks. WWA has an ongoing effort to host or co-sponsor workshops with water managers to develop and maintain two-way communication on needs for climate information by this sector and climate research and products.
WWA and NOAA comment on EIS for Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and Coordinated Operations for Lakes Powell and Mead. For more information on the EIS see: http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/strategies.html
Appendix U: Climate Technical Work Group Report, Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and Coordinated Operations for Lakes Powell and Mead
Climate Change Clearinghouse
Websites
Colorado River Climate, Management, Law and Policy website. Enhance and update existing site on matters of interest to Colorado River water managers. Add discussion of useful existing climate products and new climate product needs by water managers. Researchers Pulwarty, Kenney, Ray, Udall, Lowrey
Colorado River Streamflow - A Paleo Perspective website. This site will provide information about long-term variations in streamflow for the Colorado River basin, including the 2006 Woodhouse, Gray, Meko tree-ring reconstruction of flow at the Lees Ferry gage. Researchers Woodhouse, Lukas, Meko (UA-CLIMAS).
TreeFlow: Streamflow Reconstructions for the West website. This redesigned website will be an expansion of an existing website on tree-ring streamflow reconstructions for Colorado, and encompasses reconstructions across the western U.S. The website allows water managers to access and utilize streamflow sequences much longer than the historical gage record to better plan for climate variability and change. Jointly funded by the NCDC Paleoclimatology Branch. Researchers Woodhouse, Lukas.
Front Range large water providers’ vulnerabilities and climate products needs. This on-going task seeks to identify water user needs for climate products (information and forecasts) in order to better match these needs to WWA and NOAA research, and to develop a dialogue between the water policy community and the research community. Researchers Ray and Lowrey.
Current and Future Water Demand at a Major Front Range City. This task investigates the many forces that impact water demand for a major Denver suburb, Aurora Areas of study include how recent drought, climate variables, demographics, pricing, irrigation technology, in-home water meters and other variables affect water demand. A literature review on water demand is also included. Researchers Kenney, Klein, Goemans, Lowrey, Reidy (Aurora Water).
Colorado Meteorological Station Data long-term trends. In conjunction with the Colorado State Climatologist’s office, this study evaluates to what stations are suitable in Colorado for long-term precipitation and temperature trends. Researchers Wolter, Doesken (State Climatologist).
Reconciling Projections of Future Colorado River Streamflow: The goal of this project is to reconcile future Colorado River streamflow projections by evaluating the various methodologies and models being used in projections and to understand why different modeling approaches produce varying flow reduction amounts. The second component of this project entails identifying a common subset of appropriate climate scenarios and models in development of future projections of streamflow; and using these scenarios and models to generate a consistent suite of Colorado River streamflow projections by the mid to late 21st century. Results will directly apply to the needs of water planners across the western U.S., and similar mid-latitude continental regions where water resources are heavily dependent on snowmelt runoff from mountainous headwater areas. Nick Graham (HRC), Dan Cayan (CAP), Dennis Lettenmaier, Andy Wood (CIG), Robert Webb, Brad Udall, (WWA) Martin Hoerling (NOAA-WWA), Jonathan Overpeck, Holly Hartman (CLIMAS).
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