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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
• 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 researcher-stakeholder 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?
Decision Support for the Colorado River Basin & Headwaters
Ecological Vulnerabilities, Impacts, & Adaptation
Emerging Initiatives & Adaptation Strategies to Inform Climate Services
Research Themes
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 Change-Hydrology Modeling
• Beetles, Water, and Change
Ongoing and Upcoming Research
• Evaluating CBRFC Flow Forecasts
• Lessons Learned from Australia’s Drought Experiences
• Tribal Climate Preparedness
Contact Information
For more information:http://wwa.colorado.edu
Eric Gordon, Program [email protected]
