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

Post Date

July 29th 2015

Application Due Date

August 11th 2015

Funding Opportunity Number

USGS-15-FA-0417

CFDA Number(s)

15.808

Funding Instrument Type(s)

Cooperative Agreement

Funding Activity Categories

Other

Drought related influences on stream drying - Notice of Intent to award noncompetitively to Oregon State University.

Eligibility Categories

Other

Oregon State University - Notice of Intent to award noncompetitively to Oregon State University

Funding

• Award Range:

  $48000 - $96000

Grant Description

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 weмve 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.

Contact Information

• Agency

  Department of the Interior

• Office:

  Geological Survey

• Agency Contact:

  Janet Janes
  Supervisory Contract Specialist
  Phone 916-278-9343

• Agency Mailing Address:

  jjanes@usgs.gov

• Agency Email Address:

  jjanes@usgs.gov