River's End: Drought-Related Influences on Stream Drying in the Western United States

 

Streams of the western United States are disappearing before our eyes as we are currently in the grip of a regional drought. Long-term records of stream flows in the west also show that we are in the midst of a longer-term problem: climate change. Recent studies have linked changing climates to lower low flows that last longer than weâ₏™ve ever seen before. All of this translates into increasing scarcity of our most precious resource: water. Water sustains a host of species and natural ecosystems, as well as human needs ranging from farming and drinking water to recreation. To better understand where our water is and how availability is changing across the western landscape, we will develop new methods for identifying when and where streams go dry. This involves applying new methods to extract information on drying of streams from existing records intended to just record water temperature. By translating these temperature data into patterns of stream drying, we will gain important new information on water availability. Results of this work will unquestionably prove valuable for a multitude of management decisions that depend on anticipating future patterns of drought as the influences of climate change are realized across the western United States.

Deleted 09/10/2015 (Archived.) USGS-15-FA-0417 Agency: Department of the Interior
Office: Geological Survey Cooperative Agreement Drought related influences on stream drying - Notice of Intent to award noncompetitively to Oregon State University. Oregon State University - Notice of Intent to award noncompetitively to Oregon State University 08/11/2015 This program does not have cost sharing or matching requirements. Janet Janes
Supervisory Contract Specialist
Phone 916-278-9343 jjanes@usgs.gov $0.00 Awards range from $48,000.00 to $96,000.00