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| UNIVERSITY EDUCATION : Faculty | Courses | Fellowships | Students | Graduates | Partners |
Water Resources and Climate |
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One of the leading questions in water resource management is whether hydroclimate statistics are sufficiently stationary such that water system management and development strategies are adequately informed by past hydroclimate variations. Decision makers are seeking scientific guidance on the probable impacts of climate change at regional and local scales, and are asking whether the past will be a reasonable guide for the future. In the western U.S. in particular, however, the complexity of terrain and physical processes that drive the region’s hydrological cycle are neither well observed nor adequately understood. Further, considerable modeling uncertainty exists regarding how climate change may impact the water cycle and hydrology in the West and the Colorado River basin in particular. This opportunity is directed at applicants who are interested in learning and participating in a dynamic research enterprise that is steeped in the practical decision making context of improving understanding of regional hydroclimate variability and change in the western U.S. The applicant would engage with a multi-disciplinary team of scientists involved in observational analysis and field campaigns of the region’s water cycle, new high resolution climate model simulations to improve understanding of sensitivities via better representation of physical processes, and hydrological assessments of the impact of climate variability and future change on streamflow and major water systems that are essential for the area’s sustainability. |
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