A Research Network For The Resilience Of Headwater Systems And Water Availability For Downstream Communities Across The Americas

Worldwide, Human Communities Rely On Water Storage From Glaciers, Snowpack, And Groundwater In Headwater Watersheds. Water Supply Amount And Variability From Headwater Storage Systems To Downsream Communities Are Predited To Shift With Climate Change. Vulnerability Of Downstream Communities Depends Upon The Direction And Magnitude Of Hydrologic Change, As Well As Their Ability To Adapt. It Is Critical To Understand Impacts Of Warming Trends And Precipitation Variability On Headwater Storage Systems, And The Adaptation Strategies Necessary For Long-Term Water Securaty. The Proposed Project Will Create Capacity To Understand The Resilience Of Headwater Dependent Systems (Hds) To Environmental Change By Coupling Knowledge Of Watershed Hydro-Climatology And Downstream Humna Development In Multiple Test-Bed Watershedsacross A Latitudinal Transect Of The Americas. The Project Will Focus On The Three Dominant Headwater Storage Types From Canada To Southern Chile: 1) Glaciers; 2) Seasonal Snowpack; And 3) Rain-Fed, And Will Aggregateexpertise In: 1) Latitudinal Climate Change Variability Using Isotope Data And Modeling; 2) Water Mass Balance Of Glacier/Snow/Rainfallsystems; And 3) Water Resource System Resilience And Adaption. This Cross-Scale, Interdisciplinaty Project Will Allow Us To More Deeply Understand Headwater Storage Dynamics, Interdisciplinary Projectwill Allow Us To More Deeply Understand Headwater Storage Dynamics, Hds Apadtion And How They Couple To Help Communities Addres Future Chanllenges Of Changing Water Supplies. Additionally, There Is An Educational Goal To Build Future Interdisciplinary Intelectual Capacity Though Education And Training Opportunities That Invlove Current And Future Universities And Partipants