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

to incorporate future climate projections.
Product: Painter, TH, JS Deems, J Belnap, AF Hamlet, CC
Landry, B Udall (2010), Response of Colorado River runoff
to dust radiative forcing in snow, Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, 107(40), 17125-17130.
Milestone 3. WWA proposes to increase availability and use
of paleohydrologic data in Utah during the next three to
five years by coordinating methods proven successful elsewhere,
beginning with scoping of Utah stakeholder needs
for new paleohydrologies (gauge reconstructions) with
one or two workshops in 2010, followed by an assessment
of existing tree-ring data network for reconstructing those
gauges, and development of new gauge reconstructions.
In summer 2010, WWA began engaging with a newly
established group of researchers at Utah State University
(USU), Brigham Young University and the Bureau of Reclamation,
whose interest in using tree rings to reconstruct
streamflow in the Wasatch Front and elsewhere in Utah
coincided with the objectives of this milestone. Because
of the emergence of this USU/BYU/Reclamation group,
WWA’s role shifted to one of technical advisor, helping
that group establish an effective stakeholder-oriented research
program modeled along the paleohydrology work
conducted by WWA in Colorado between 2003 and 2009.
WWA Team member Jeff Lukas assisted the USU group
with grant applications to Reclamation research funding
programs, participated in two project workshops held at
USU in September 2010 and March 2011 and provided input
on strategies for study design, fieldwork, analysis and
stakeholder outreach. The USU-led group is conducting
fieldwork and analyses in summer 2011, and should be
developing new gauge reconstructions for northern Utah
in fall and winter, with continued guidance from WWA.
Also, WWA has advanced two related paleohydrology
efforts during the past year. First, a WWA-led project to reconstruct
paleo-flows for the Lower Colorado River Basin
commenced in September 2010. The scope of the project
includes a portion of southwestern Utah within the Virgin
River and Kanab Creek basins. Second, WWA continued
to lead the updating and maintenance of the TreeFlow
web resource for tree-ring paleohydrology (http://treeflow.info),
which will ultimately archive the Utah data
produced by the USU group and by the Lower Colorado
River Basin paleohydrology project.
WWA-02ClimateProducts
FEDERAL LEAD: ROBIN WEBB
CIRES LEADS: KRISTEN AVERYT, ERIC GORDON
AND BRADLEY UDALL
NOAA Goal 2: Climate
Project Goal: Develop information, products and processes
to assist water-resource decision makers throughout the
Intermountain West.
Milestone 1. WWA will continue to publish the Intermountain
West Climate Summary (IWCS), a compact Web-based
package that includes the latest climate observations and
forecasts for Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. This package
will be produced seven to eight times each year.
In the past year, Western Water Assessment (WWA)
continued on its schedule of producing six web-based
issues of the IWCS, whose release is announced to a list
of 400 stakeholders. All of the Feature and Focus articles
in the past year were written expressly for the IWCS,
with the Feature articles highlighting WWA research on
hydrologic impacts of dust-on-snow and El Niño/Southern
Oscillation-based streamflow forecasts; the WWA-led
Colorado Climate Preparedness Project; WWA workshops
on the water impacts of bark beetle infestation; and the
National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS)
Upper Colorado River Pilot. The release of each issue of
the IWCS continues to be announced on the homepages of
NOAA National Weather Service forecast offices throughout
the region and other partner organizations.
Product: Wolter, K, and J Lukas (2010), ENSO and
intermountain west water supply: A review of WY
2010 and outlook for WY 2011, Intermountain West
Climate Summary, 6 (User input status: Published ).
WWA-03 Climate and Water Affairs
FEDERAL LEAD: ROBIN WEBB
CIRES LEADS: KRISTEN AVERYT, ERIC GORDON
AND BRADLEY UDALL
NOAA Goal 2: Climate
Project Goal: Increase decision makers’ level of knowledge
about climate science so they can become better consumers
and demanders of climate products and assessments,
which will assist WWA in setting its research agenda.
Milestone 1. WWA research is positioned to inform
decision-making. WWA will continue facilitating conversations,
discussions and interactions within the
WWA stakeholder network of 100 organizations and
250 individuals, while assessing the impacts of such
outreach activities.
Western Water Assessment (WWA) continued
to bolster its longstanding reputation with
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