Columbia River Basin: Linking Interdisciplinary Earth System Modeling with Collaborative Stakeholder Modeling
Location
Eccles Conference Center
Event Website
http://water.usu.edu
Start Date
4-2-2014 9:10 AM
End Date
4-2-2014 9:50 AM
Description
Improving water sustainability in the Columbia River Basin (CRB) requires both the study of climate change on CRB water availability at multiple scales and also how stakeholders will respond to water availability in an altered climate. The goal of our on going Watershed Integrated Systems Dynamics Modeling project is to construct linked models to address interactions between water use decisions and climate change-driven watershed processes, and then to explore how participant / stakeholder involvement in the modeling could both improve understanding of the systems and lay the groundwork for adaptive changes in institutional arrangements. For example, groundwater storage, recharge and discharge play important roles in land-atmosphere studies because of their impacts on surface energy and water exchange with the atmosphere. Under moisture-limited conditions or during seasons when changing climate conditions drive a transition from predominately moisture-limited conditions to predominately energy-limited conditions, the coupled water and energy balance at the land surface is strongly dependent on groundwater and land surface feedbacks. Inclusion or exclusion of groundwater in surface water models of future climate scenarios can lead to differing estimations of surface water availability and dilution capacity. For better management and decision making in the face of climate change, earth system models must explicitly account for natural resource and agricultural management activities. Stakeholder processes that openly discuss uncertainly and the range of potential futures are helpful for mitigating the paralysis of water management policy caused by both scientific and social uncertainty. For better management and decision-making in future scenarios, earth system models must explicitly account for natural resource and agricultural management activities. It essential that we have process-based knowledge of biophysical systems and the possible responses of these systems to climate change, and also decisions made by water users and regulators.
Columbia River Basin: Linking Interdisciplinary Earth System Modeling with Collaborative Stakeholder Modeling
Eccles Conference Center
Improving water sustainability in the Columbia River Basin (CRB) requires both the study of climate change on CRB water availability at multiple scales and also how stakeholders will respond to water availability in an altered climate. The goal of our on going Watershed Integrated Systems Dynamics Modeling project is to construct linked models to address interactions between water use decisions and climate change-driven watershed processes, and then to explore how participant / stakeholder involvement in the modeling could both improve understanding of the systems and lay the groundwork for adaptive changes in institutional arrangements. For example, groundwater storage, recharge and discharge play important roles in land-atmosphere studies because of their impacts on surface energy and water exchange with the atmosphere. Under moisture-limited conditions or during seasons when changing climate conditions drive a transition from predominately moisture-limited conditions to predominately energy-limited conditions, the coupled water and energy balance at the land surface is strongly dependent on groundwater and land surface feedbacks. Inclusion or exclusion of groundwater in surface water models of future climate scenarios can lead to differing estimations of surface water availability and dilution capacity. For better management and decision making in the face of climate change, earth system models must explicitly account for natural resource and agricultural management activities. Stakeholder processes that openly discuss uncertainly and the range of potential futures are helpful for mitigating the paralysis of water management policy caused by both scientific and social uncertainty. For better management and decision-making in future scenarios, earth system models must explicitly account for natural resource and agricultural management activities. It essential that we have process-based knowledge of biophysical systems and the possible responses of these systems to climate change, and also decisions made by water users and regulators.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/runoff/2014/2014Abstracts/62