Research Projects - Climate Change (Track 1)

Water Resources

water

Nevada has a need to augment existing infrastructures to provide a comprehensive understanding of how climate change will impact the water cycle resource systems. This need has been identified in a study performed by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Desert Research Institute and is identified as a priority in Nevada’s Science and Technology Plan. A need exists in Nevada and in the Southwest region to better quantify storage and fluxes associated with the water cycle. Especially important is definition of the amount of recharge (or perennial yield) that basins experience. Such recharge can be considered baseline water resources against which future environmental changes are measured.

The objective of the Water Resources component is to develop infrastructure to measure, analyze, and model changes in water balance and assess changes in supply. NSHE faculty along with the Southern Nevada Water Authority are working together to measure evapotranspiration, groundwater depths, and rainfall on a basin scale. Data from the hydrometeorological network will be used to better understand processes controlling recharge and will be used with numerical models to evaluate interactions between surface and groundwater systems and how these interactions will differ under climate change.

Annual Report Highlights

Title: Graduate Students from Idaho, Nevada and New Mexico Gain Interdisciplinary Modeling Skills Focused on Water Issues and a Changing Climate

Authors: L. Saito (University of Nevada, Reno); T. Link (University of Idaho); and A. Fernald (New Mexico State University), lsaito@cabnr.unr.edu, tlink@uidaho.edu, afernald@nmsu.edu

Graduate students working on modeling exercises in the Tri-State Interdisciplinary Modeling Course. (Photo by Laurel Saito).

Outcome: Twenty-three graduate students from six institutions within ID, NV, and NM spent an intensive three weeks in Reno, NV learning about interdisciplinary modeling options, their advantages and limitations, and their use for addressing water resource issues.

Impact: The course facilitated cross-disciplinary communications and collaboration in a manner unusual in traditional class settings. It created a forum for networking with faculty and students from a wide variety of disciplines.

Additional Information: Dr. Alexander Fernald (New Mexico State University) and Dr. Timothy Link (University of Idaho) worked with Dr. Laurel Saito as coordinating instructors. Four additional faculty served as co-instructors and twelve guest instructors participated in course instruction.

The diagram to the left shows the results of a modeling effort by students in the class to examine the impact of climate change on fish sustainability in Pyramid Lake, NV.

This work was supported by NSF Cooperative Agreement EPS-‐0814372 to the Nevada System of Higher Education.

2009 Annual Highlight