HR: 0800h
AN: H31C-0387 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Overview of the Proposed Mississippi Headwaters - Red River Hydrologic Observatory
AU: * Schwartz, F W
EM: schwartz.11@osu.edu
AF: Deptartment of Geological Sciences, The Ohio State University 125 S. Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43065 United States
AU: Gerla, P J
EM: phil\_gerla@mail.und.NoDak.edu
AF: Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, University of North Dakota P.O. Box 8358, Grand Forks, ND 58202 United States
AU: Kucera, P A
EM: pkucera@aero.und.edu
AF: Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of North Dakota P.O. Box 9006, Grand Forks, ND 58202 United States
AB: A consortium of universities, led by The Ohio State University and the University of North Dakota, in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy - Minnesota and the Dakotas Chapter, are proposing to develop the Mississippi Headwaters - Red River (MHRR) Hydrologic Observatory (HO). The region encompassed by the observatory includes the Red River watershed, the Upper Crow Wing River, the headwaters of the Mississippi River above Leech Lake, the closed Devils Lake basin and the central portion of the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR). The MHRR HO covers about 101,000 km2 and straddles the continental divide. The large size will permit the study of unique science problems and will provide a large contiguous region suitable for coupled large-scale climatic/hydrologic/ecological investigations. Although not part of this proposal, we are also organizing a consortium of primarily Canadian universities interested in carrying out complementary studies on the large Assiniboine basin in Manitoba and Saskatchewan with funding from Canadian sources. The combined study areas will facilitate climate/hydrologic/ecological studies on a broad scale, together with much more focused local scale studies. The research plan focuses on (i) climate variability and future climate change, (ii) wetland dynamics, restoration, and policy considerations associated with global climate change, (iii) carbon, nutrient, and contaminant cycling in complex systems, (iv) assessment and modeling of large, coupled climate/water systems, and (v) new and emerging technologies for near real-time monitoring and assessment. The science themes focus explicitly on exploring the interfaces among traditional science disciplines (hydrology, ecology, climatology) and implicitly on the atmosphere/land surface/subsurface interfaces that are part of the hydrologic cycle. The location of the MHRR HO was purposely selected as one of the most promising areas to pursue these science and technology themes. The region is distinguished by broad climate variability, which has been manifested by extreme swings from drought to deluge. Lake and river systems are considered to be extremely vulnerable to effects related to global climate change. This HO is a place where wetlands and small lakes still remain as an important component of hydrologic/ecological settings and have important implications for carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas production, and recycling of water between terrestrial and atmospheric systems.
DE: 1800 HYDROLOGY
DE: 1829 Groundwater hydrology
DE: 1833 Hydroclimatology
DE: 1860 Runoff and streamflow
DE: 1871 Surface water quality
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting