From a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) news release:
Last week Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory began the
The Surface Atmosphere Integrated Field Laboratory (SAIL) in the Upper Colorado
River Basin.
Over the course of two falls, two winters, two springs, and
one summer, more than three dozen scientific instruments—including a variety of
radars, lidars, cameras, balloons, and other state-of-the-art equipment—will collect data on precipitation, wind,
clouds, aerosols, solar and thermal energy, temperature, humidity, ozone, and
more. Having this amount of data collected in the region over time will allow scientists to begin to
understand the physical processes that may affect mountain hydrology and answer
questions such as how dust, wildfire, hot drought, tree mortality, and other
phenomena might affect the watershed. It may also let scientists understand why less of the regional precipitation has been ending up in the Colorado River. Ultimately, the data will be fed into
Earth system models so they can finally “get the water balance right.”
Current models are not able to accurately predict what
future water is going to be available in a watershed because they do not explain what is happening now. That's why this is
exciting – scientists will be measuring the inputs and the outputs at a
fundamental level to develop a benchmark dataset for the scientific community
to improve their earth system models.
In close collaboration with DOE’s Atmospheric System
Research (ASR) program the SAIL campaign will help the scientific
community understand how mountains extract moisture from the atmosphere and
then process the water all the way down to the bedrock beneath Earth’s surface.
Ultimately, this will provide the tools for scientists to better predict the
future availability of water for this essential river.
“The Upper Colorado River powers more than $1 trillion in
economic activity and provides an immense amount of hydroelectric power, but
it’s very understudied compared to how important it is,” said Berkeley Lab
scientist Daniel Feldman, the lead SAIL investigator. “We’re starting to see
really dramatic consequences from the changing water resources, but the details
of what is actually going on in these places where the water’s coming from—those
details matter, and that’s what SAIL is focused on.”
Mountain watersheds provide 60 to 90% of water resources
worldwide, but there is still much that scientists don’t know about the
physical processes and interactions that affect hydrology in these ecosystems.
The ability to accurately predict the
timing and availability of water resources emanating from mountains could save
lives and allow the most effective use of whatever water is available.
The importance of the Upper Colorado Watershed and mountain
watersheds in general can be seen for the number of researchers from other
federal agencies are undertaking field campaigns in the area with complementary
research efforts:
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
has launched a project called SPLASH, or the Study of Precipitation, the Lower Atmosphere
and Surface for Hydrometeorology, to improve weather and water prediction in
the Colorado mountains and beyond. They will also be making detailed
atmospheric co-observations in the SAIL study area.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed an Upper
Colorado Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS) to provide real-time data on water quantity and
quality in more affordable and rapid ways than previously possible, and in more
locations.
The very scale of the challenge, and the prospect of a low-
to no-snow future, calls for nothing less of a response. “Ultimately, this work
will help us improve climate models so that they can be used to better
understand, predict, and plan for threats to water resources in the arid West
and globally” said Jeff Stehr, a DOE Program Manager for ASR
No comments:
Post a Comment