2011 - Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences ...

Milestone 3. Maintain a constituent database for the Earth
System Research Laboratory, to be used for distributing
newsletters, print publications, invitations to events and
seminars, and for other purposes.
This database was updated regularly through Constant
Contact. Staff assigned to this task not only updated
several distribution lists monthly (all-NOAA, ESRL, ESRL
Quarterly and local constituents), but trained colleagues
to use the application. Constant Contact is now widely
used to distribute internal NOAA announcements, from
seminars and retirements to major workshops and conferences,
and to organize and communicate with external
constituents as well.
IA-02 Western Water Assessment
n WWA-01 Scientific Assessments
n WWA-02 Climate Products
n WWA-03 Climate and Water Affairs
n WWA-04 Management
WWA-01ScientificAssessments
FEDERAL LEAD: ROBIN WEBB
CIRES LEADS: KRISTEN AVERYT, ERIC GORDON AND BRADLEY
UDALL
NOAA Goal 2: Climate
Project Goal: Identify and characterize regional vulnerabilities
to climate variability and change for use by Intermountain
water-resource decision makers.
Milestone 1: The WWA education goal for coming years is
134 CIRES Annual Report 2011
to develop a suite of process-oriented frameworks for improving
the climate literacy of different users with distinct
informational needs.
Western Water Assessment (WWA) work over the past
year included presenting the NOAA Colorado Basin
River Forecast Center (CBRFC) Water Resources Outlook
tool at a user workshop to help identify differences in
the user populations and determine changes in the Water
Resources Outlook product that might be necessary for
a different suite of users. In 2010, WWA and the CBRFC
hosted a workshop in Grand Junction, Colo., where we
tested the usability of the new RFC Water Resources
Outlook online tool. During the workshop, researchers
evaluated the climate literacy of participants and assessed
the utility of the tool using decision gaming. The
information gathered fed directly back to the developers
who intend to use the information to improve the online
product. WWA also held a workshop in January 2011 at
the AMS Meeting in Seattle, Wash., in conjunction with a
short course on water resources (http://www.cbrfc.noaa.
gov/shortcourse/agenda.htm). This workshop introduced
a gaming exercise that involved forecasted flows and
reservoir schedules. A planned workshop in Salt Lake City
has been postponed until late summer 2011 due to flooding
events in the area, which required significant attention
from potential workshop attendees.
Milestone 2. WWA will continue to partner with the Center
for Snow and Avalanche Studies in Silverton, Colo., to
investigate the impacts of dust deposition on snow on
Colorado River runoff.
Hydrologic modeling was used to understand the influence
of dust deposition and climate change on snowmelt
and runoff in the Colorado River Basin. In September
2010, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
published “Response of Colorado River Runoff to Dust
Radiative Forcing in Snow,” a summary of WWA work on
the impacts of dust on snowpack in the Colorado River
Basin. WWA team members Tom Painter, Jeff Deems and
Brad Udall collaborated with Chris Landry of the Center
for Snow and Avalanche Studies and two other coauthors
on the paper. This research used the Variable Infiltration
Capacity (VIC) model to show that dust deposition is not
only causing early spring runoff, but also may be responsible
for evaporative losses equivalent to 800,000 acre-feet,
or nearly 5 percent of the total river flow. The study is being
updated to incorporate data from 2009 and 2010, and