HR: 08:45h
AN: U51A-04    [Abstracts]
TI: Mountain Hydrology of the Semi-Arid Western U.S.: Research Needs, Opportunities and Challenges
AU: * Bales, R
EM: rbales@ucmerced.edu
AF: University of California, School of Engineering, Merced, 95344
AU: Dozier, J
AF: University of California, Bren School, Santa Barbara, 93106
AU: Molotch, N
AF: University of Colorado, CIRES, Boulder, 80309
AU: Painter, T
AF: University of Colorado, NSIDC, Boulder, 80309
AU: Rice, R
AF: University of California, School of Engineering, Merced, 95344
AB: In the semi-arid Western U.S., water resources are being stressed by the combination of climate warming, changing land use, and population growth. Multiple consensus planning documents point to this region as perhaps the highest priority for new hydrologic understanding. Three main hydrologic issues illustrate research needs in the snow-driven hydrology of the region. First, despite the hydrologic importance of mountainous regions, the processes controlling their energy, water and biogeochemical fluxes are not well understood. Second, there exists a need to realize, at various spatial and temporal scales, the feedback systems between hydrological fluxes and biogeochemical and ecological processes. Third, the paucity of adequate observation networks in mountainous regions hampers improvements in understanding these processes. For example, we lack an adequate description of factors controlling the partitioning of snowmelt into runoff versus infiltration and evapotranspiration, and need strategies to accurately measure the variability of precipitation, snow cover and soil moisture. The amount of mountain-block and mountain-front recharge and how recharge patterns respond to climate variability are poorly known across the mountainous West. Moreover, hydrologic modelers and those measuring important hydrologic variables from remote sensing and distributed in situ sites have failed to bridge rifts between modeling needs and available measurements. Research and operational communities will benefit from data fusion/integration, improved measurement arrays, and rapid data access. For example, the hydrologic modeling community would advance if given new access to single rather than disparate sources of bundles of cutting-edge remote sensing retrievals of snow covered area and albedo, in situ measurements of snow water equivalent and precipitation, and spatio-temporal fields of variables that drive models. In addition, opportunities exist for the deployment of new technologies, taking advantage of research in spatially distributed sensor networks that can enhance data recovery and analysis.
UR: http://ucmeng.net/snri/snho
DE: 1719 Hydrology
SC: Union [U]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting