Bridging river basin scales and processes to assess human-climate impacts and the terrestrial hydrologic system

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Read Full Article (file size: 4608851 bytes) Cited by WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, VOL. 42, W07418, doi:10.1029/2005WR004153, 2006 Bridging river basin scales and processes to assess human-climate impacts and the terrestrial hydrologic system Patrick M. Reed Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA Robert P. Brooks Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA Kenneth J. Davis Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA David R. DeWalle Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA Kevin A. Dressler Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA Chistopher J. Duffy Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA Hangsheng Lin Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA Douglas A. Miller Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA Raymond G. Najjar Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA Karen M. Salvage Department of Geological Science, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, New York, USA Thorsten Wagener Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA Brent Yarnal Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA Abstract The increasing expression of human activity, climate variability, and climate change on humid, terrestrial hydrologic systems has made the integrated nature of large river basins more apparent. However, to date, there is no instrument platform sufficient to characterize river basins' hydrologic couplings and feedbacks, with many processes and impacts left almost entirely unobserved (e.g., snowmelt floods). Characterization at the river basin scale will require a more holistic vision and a far greater commitment from the environmental science community. It will require new designs and implementation of integrated instrumentation, a new generation of models, and a management framework that clearly addresses the human-climate-terrestrial interactions impacting our watersheds and river basins. Initially, we propose that existing “similarity classifications” (e.g., regional soil, geologic, ecologic, hydrographic digital products) can provide a starting point for organizing historical data and initiating a long-term adaptive, multiscale observing strategy. This vision paper outlines instrumentation platforms for point, plot, reach, and hillslope scales that could be located within the “characteristic” landscapes of river basins. The network of observing platforms then forms the basis of a “Hydro-Mesonet” that can potentially support multiscale, multiprocess scientific studies necessary to understand and improve forecasts of our water resources at the river basin scale. This paper concludes with a discussion of how a network of such sites can support research at the level of the individual researcher and scale to the level of community-wide initiatives. Received 30 March 2005; accepted 31 March 2006; published 22 July 2006. Keywords: hydrologic observatories; integrated assessment; modeling; climate change; land use; CUAHSI. Index Terms: 1803 Hydrology: Anthropogenic effects (4802, 4902); 1836 Hydrology: Hydrological cycles and budgets (1218, 1655); 1839 Hydrology: Hydrologic scaling; 1895 Hydrology: Instruments and techniques: monitoring; 1616 Global Change: Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513). Read Full Article (file size: 4608851 bytes) Cited by Citation: Reed, P. M., et al. (2006), Bridging river basin scales and processes to assess human-climate impacts and the terrestrial hydrologic system, Water Resour. Res., 42, W07418, doi:10.1029/2005WR004153. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.

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