NOAA Regional Climate Centers

In response to prolonged drought conditions and declining storage capacity in Lake Mead, the Bureau of Reclamation called upon Colorado Basin States to develop new drought contingency plans to limit the draw-down of Lake Mead. Arizona’s Drought Contingency Plan calls for significant reductions in surface water supplies delivered to irrigated agriculture in Pinal County. This project considers the effects of these reduced water supplies on: crop production in Pinal county; Arizona dairy production and non-agricultural sectors in the Pinal County economy; and recreational demand around Lakes Mead and Powell. These surface water reductions may reduce the sustainability of agricultural production in Central Arizona.

Adapting to climate change requires that decision makers have information that is salient, credible, and legitimate. The research efforts in this project represent a first attempt to reduce the gap between the supply of and demand for climate information by creating a comprehensive database of climate service providers in the western United States.

Importance: This project was initiated at the request of the NOAA Western Region Climate Services director, who was looking for guidance about ongoing climate service activities in the region. The project evolved into a searchable public database that allows those seeking climate services to easily access information about regional providers.

Climate Service Provider Database: https://wrcc.dri.edu/ClimSvcProviders/

This project examines the impacts of drought and climate change on climate sensitive sectors in the Southwest, focusing on agriculture, outdoor recreation, and tourism. Drafted a funded grant proposal on Economic Impacts on Drought on Agriculture, Recreational Tourism, and Rural Communities to a combination of NIDIS and the Arizona Department of Water Resources.