Susceptibility of the Colorado River basin to megadroughts in a warming climate. Final Report.
- Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
During the course of the project, we completed the following: Task 1: Off-line model simulations. We proposed to extend Maurer’s data sets through at least 2005 (to include extreme drought years in the Colorado basin). Task 2: Coupled model implementation. We proposed to implement the “standard” climate version of WRF, as used by collaborator Ruby Leung in NARCCAP simulations (see Section 5.4), and perform tests to assure that model output for runs equivalent to NARCCAP Phase 1 (reanalysis boundary conditions) are consistent. We proposed do test sensitivity to higher spatial resolution. Task 3: Retrospective coupled model simulations. We proposed to compare the climatology of key land surface and atmospheric variables from the retrospective RCM and GCM runs, as well as 1/8-degree as the historical North American Land Data Assimilation System dataset (Maurer et al., 2002) to evaluate the ability of each of the RCMs and GCMs to reproduce characteristics of observed climate. Task 4: Future climate simulations. We proposed to follow the approach from Task 3 in analysis of a 21st Century simulation, which was to be performed using the coupled WRF-VIC simulations over the Colorado River basin. Task 5: Diagnostic studies, including partially coupled model runs. We proposed to perform further diagnostic studies of the nature of land hydrologic feedbacks as they are predicted to affect runoff response to climate change in the Colorado River basin. Task 6: Evaluation of conditions in post-2000 drought years.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-08ER64589
- OSTI ID:
- 1123698
- Report Number(s):
- FG-02-08ER64589DOEUW
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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