A Synthesis of Community Data and Modeling for Advancing River Basin Science: The Evolving Susquehanna River Basin Experiment

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0609791DuffyHydrologic Observatory: The Susquehanna River Basin (SRB) is the largest tributaryto the Chesapeake Bay. Without this flow the estuary could not sustain its extraordinarydiversity and productivity of aquatic life. The dilemma of our water-resource legacy is to balancethe competing societal and environmental needs placed on the Susquehanna's freshwaterresources. In 2002, Penn State took the leadership role in forming a consortium of scientists,policy makers, and stakeholders drawn from 30 universities as well as from federal and stateagencies to design and implement the Susquehanna River Basin Hydrologic Observing System(SRBHOS) (www.srbhos.psu.edu). SRBHOS has been initiated to address "How do humansand climate impact the sustainability of the water resources within large river basins? What roledo large rivers play in the global climate system?".Overview of Research: This proposed research plan will advance the SRBHOSscience agenda by investigating the three research themes: (1) Assessment of the significanceof the regional water table, its role as a lower boundary condition to soil moisture, and theimpact of water table status on hydrologic extremes (floods, droughts). We propose to developthe concept of a subsurface boundary layer (SBL), which we define as the depth beneath theland surface for which the local atmosphere and land-surface processes will affect the local flowof groundwater to streams. An algorithm will be developed to map the SBL using the SRBHOSdigital data. (2) Integrated models that include vegetation water and energy dynamics willimprove hydrologic forecasts at the basin-scale and are critical to resolving the relativeimportance of recharge to the shallow groundwater table and transpiration of soil moisture (3)Macropores have a significant affect on the hydroclimatic performance of watersheds duringwet and dry cycles. We intend to develop new parameterization strategies to correct theregional soils database for macropore flow based on the Shale Hills testbed. Currently soilclassification only considers "matrix" properties (conductivity and water holding capacity).Finally, this research will attempt to demonstrate how a unification of modeling, existing digitaldata, and new data collection strategies will advance our understanding of river basin waterresources and support the design of hydrologic observatories.Intellectual Merit: The present proposal will unify early SRBHOS science efforts andaddress how a physical model and a-priori data can be used to promote scientific collaborationsthat: (1) will aid the SRBHOS community in formulating hypotheses and potential scenarios forhydrologic change within the basin; (2) will promote the development of new data-drivenalgorithms that enhance our ability to represent and predict water cycle dynamics; and (3) thatwill support a scientifically-based design for the future observatory's sensor network. Addressingthese issues will aid SRBHOS scientists in assessing climate and human feedbacks acrossmultiple scales as well as physiographical and ecological conditions. The tools developed inthis research will contribute to improving our understanding of the roles of terrain, ecology, andgeology in partitioning water and energy across the complex environmental systems that makeup the SRB.Broader Impacts: This proposed research will be disseminated broadly to theacademic, state, and federal SRBHOS partners through a Susquehanna Data and ModelingSymposium, which will be organized by the PIs in conjunction with the Chesapeake ResearchConsortium. Funds requested in this proposal for the symposium will be leveraged with otherssources of funding to maximize our ability to invite national leaders in river basin modeling anddata systems to review the proposed tools developed in this research as well as contribute theirown expertise and tools to the SRBHOS community modeling effort. All software and dataresources developed in this project are dedicated to the "open source" framework and sharedthrough the Chesapeake Community Modeling Program. Additionally, this research effort willexploit basin-wide collaborations such as the currently pending Susquehanna REU to promoteundergraduate education and to recruit demographically and geographically diverse studentscurrently underrepresented in hydrologic science.