Transcript The Western Water Assessment

The Western Water Assessment
Using Climate and Water Expertise to
Support Stakeholders in the Upper
Colorado River Basin
Eric Gordon, Program Manager
Upper Colorado River Basin Water Forum
October 31, 2001
Outline
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About WWA
About NOAA’s RISA Program
Recent Successes in the UCRB
Current Research Efforts in the UCRB
Intermountain West Climate Summary
Contact Information
About WWA
Mission:
To identify and characterize
regional vulnerabilities to
climate variability and
change and to develop
information, products,
and processes to assist
decisionmakers
throughout the
Intermountain West.
About WWA
• Founded in 1999
• Part of Cooperative Institute for Research in
Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at CU-Boulder
• Core funding from NOAA; additional funds from a
variety of sources
• Co-production of knowledge from researcherstakeholder interactions
• Covering Colorado, Wyoming & Utah
Who is the Western Water Assessment?
• Core office staff
• Research team @ CU, USU, UWyo
• Affiliated collaborators
What is the RISA Program?
Research Themes
Decision Support for the
Colorado River Basin &
Headwaters
Ecological Vulnerabilities,
Impacts, & Adaptation
Emerging Initiatives & Adaptation
Strategies to Inform Climate Services
WWA Core Competencies
• Incorporating climate variability and change into
water resource planning
• Coupled climate and hydrologic modeling
• Evaluation of downscaled climate model output
• Impacts of forest disturbance on water resources
• Analysis of policy and governance issues in the
CRB
• Assessing stakeholder needs for climate
information
• Evaluating the effectiveness of decision support
tools for water managers
Recent Successes in the UCRB
• Dust-on-Snow Impacts
to CO River Supplies
• Appendices N and U,
Shortage Sharing EIS
• Bark Beetle Impacts on
Water Quality
Recent Successes in the UCRB
• Climate Change in Colorado
• Paleohydrology
http://treeflow.info
• Reconciling Projections of CO
River Flows
Ongoing and Upcoming Research
• Drivers of Snowmelt and
Runoff Patterns
• Coupled Climate ChangeHydrology Modeling
• Beetles, Water, and
Change
Ongoing and Upcoming Research
• Evaluating CBRFC Flow
Forecasts
• Lessons Learned from
Australia’s Drought
Experiences
• Tribal Climate
Preparedness
Intermountain West Climate Summary
To subscribe:
Email [email protected]
Contact Information
For more information:
http://wwa.colorado.edu
Eric Gordon, Program Manager
[email protected]
303-497-4947