National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)

In spring 2018, a group of Colorado River basin water providers approached the CLIMAS and Western Water Assessment (WWA) RISAS with a request for a comprehensive, state-of-the-science synthesis of the science related to Colorado River climate and hydrology. WWA took the lead in working with 15 researchers and 14 water agencies to develop a report. The final report, over 500 pages in length, was the culmination of 2 years of work to compile and interpret the latest research on this topic. By synthesizing the state of the science in the Colorado River Basin regarding climate and hydrology, this report seeks to establish a broadly shared understanding that can guide the strategic integration of new research into practice. https://wwa.colorado.edu/publications/reports/CRBreport/.

This web page documents the process through which this report was generated. https://sway.office.com/F1DIHYaF36kgDuqK?ref=Link

Droughts are one of the major concerns for the future of the Southwest, and yet the causes of drought in the region remain only partly understood. The situation is particularly acute when it comes to the decades-long “megadroughts” observed in the paleoclimatic record of the Southwest, and in the growing awareness that global warming is making droughts of the Southwest more acute. This project looks at the observations of current and past drought, as well as the causes and impacts of these droughts. The goal of this project is to shed new light on the observations of current and past drought, as well as the causes and impacts of these droughts, including the role of ENSO versus Atlantic sea surface temperatures in modulating drought, the exact nature of medieval megadroughts in the Four Corners, the ecological impacts of drought, the evaluation of how well climate models simulate drought, and strategies for overcoming climate model deficiencies in assessing future drought.

CLIMAS is a partner with The Nature Conservancy’s Southwest Climate Change Initiative (SWCCI). SWCCI was initiated in 2008 to engage conservation practitioners and land managers in local-scale climate change adaptation planning and implementation. This project aimed to: (1) further develop and expand impacts assessment activities in each of the Southwest’s Four Corners states (AZ, CO, NM and UT), (2) apply a vulnerability assessment tool being developed by the U.S. Forest Service, and (3) apply an adaptation planning framework developed by a Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) working group to a series of case-study sites in the four states. The case studies provided opportunities to further test and refine each component of the overall framework, by building on new research, strengthening existing partnerships, and laying the foundation for future innovation, including on-the-ground application and testing of adaptation strategies. Other partners included the Wildlife Conservation Society, U.S. Forest Service, University of Washington, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the Western Water Assessment RISA.

This project led to further collaboration between The Nature Conservancy, CLIMAS, and Western Water Assessment.

See The Nature Conservancy's webpage on climate change in New Mexico for more information.