U.S.-Australia Cooperative Research: Stable Isotope Investigation of the Murray River and Adjacent Irrigation Projects

该奖项将支持哥伦比亚大学的H. James Simpson教授和英联邦科学与工业研究阿德莱德实验室的Graham B. Allison博士之间的合作研究。研究人员将对河水和农业排水进行稳定同位素分析，以调查澳大利亚墨累河水系灌溉网络中有多少水因蒸腾而损失，又有多少因蒸发而损失。该项目结合了研究人员的专业知识，他们都是使用放射性技术进行水成分分析的专家。虽然这项研究可以在短期内改善澳大利亚重要的默里河农业区的水和盐度预算，但它也应该证明稳定同位素方法在管理大型灌溉网络方面的总体潜力。

This award will support collaborative research between Prof. H. James Simpson of Columbia University, and Dr. Graham B. Allison of the Adelaide Laboratory of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research. The investigators will employ stable isotope analysis of river water and agricultural drainage to investigate how much water is lost by transpiration, and how much by evaporation, from the irrigation network in Australia's Murray River system. The project combines the expertise of the investigators, who are both experts in water composition analysis using radioactive techniques. While this research could lead, in the short term, to the improvement of the water and salinity budgets of Australia's important Murray River agriculture zone, it should also demonstrate the general potential of stable isotope methods in management of large irrigation networks.