Climate change will dramatically impact streamflow and its contributions to the Colorado River by increasing forest water use and reducing groundwater levels, new study finds. Researchers from Desert Research Institute (DRI), USGS, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory teamed up for the new study, published May 23 in Nature Water.
DRI’s Anne Heggli is partnering with the National Weather Service to understand flood risk from rain-on-snow storms in real-time, protecting communities and enabling water conservation throughout Nevada and California.
Tyler Doane, Ph.D., started in May 2024 as Assistant Research Professor in the Division of Hydrologic Sciences. He works remotely from Cleveland, Ohio, where his wife teaches bioethics at Case Western Reserve University’s medical school. Doane is a geomorphologist who received his Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University before completing a postdoctoral position at Indiana University, Bloomington. In the this Behind the Science interview, Doane talks about his interest in applying math to describe scientific phenomena, his interest in embracing noise and chaos to understand Earth systems, and his favorite method for coming up with new research questions.
DRI is advancing water management in the Colorado River basin with support from the National Science Foundation’s Southwest Sustainability Innovation Engine (SWSIE) and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. Partnering with Hydrosat, DRI uses high-resolution satellite thermal imaging to enhance evaporation estimates from key reservoirs, ensuring better resource planning amidst drought and population growth.
DRI scientists compared data from groundwater pumping meters with OpenET estimates in irrigated land to advance understanding of groundwater use. The new study demonstrated that OpenET can be used to accurately estimate the amount of groundwater used for crop irrigation at the level of individual fields.
A few miles south of Yosemite’s famed Glacier Point, ringed by striking granite domes, lies the Illilouette Basin. This small stretch of the Sierra Nevada Mountains has become a sort of fire laboratory, a place where natural wildfires have been allowed to burn since 1972. In contrast with the long-supported program of fire suppression that has dominated American forests since the late 19th century, resulting in dense and unhealthy forests, the Illilouette Basin’s story is about the benefits that natural fire can bring to the landscape.
New research identifies ecosystems around the world that could be threatened by declining groundwater levels. The research, published July 17 in Nature, is the first time that groundwater-dependent ecosystems have been mapped on a global scale. Led by scientists from The Nature Conservancy and DRI, the global effort brought researchers together from universities, non-profit organizations, and institutions from seven countries.
New research explores the microbial communities that live on plastic waste and how they impact the 2nd most biodiverse river in the world. DRI researchers Monica Arienzo and Rachel Kozloski are co-authors on this new study that examines the ecological impacts of plastic waste in Cambodia’s Mekong River.
Relying on water storage won’t be enough to make up for declines in future water availability under a changing climate, new study shows. Beatrice Gordon, lead author of the study and sociohydrologist and postdoctoral researcher at DRI, says the research is needed to inform water management at the local level, where most decisions are made.
DRI researchers Monica Arienzo and Daniel Saftner are coauthors on a new study led by the USGS that examines lithium levels in groundwater aquifers used to supply drinking water across the U.S. The new estimates can help health researchers determine potential connections between lithium exposure and human health outcomes.