CAREER: Robust Management of Climate Uncertainty for Ecohydrological Sustainability

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The goal of this research is to develop, demonstrate and disseminate water management methods that address nonstationary climate and foster ecohydrological sustainability. The goal is to be accomplished through four specific objectives: 1) develop robustness measures of climate change risks for water resources systems, 2) evaluate risks of stationarity-based water management under climate change uncertainty, 3) explore the relative ecohydrological performance of robust water management, 4) develop a new pedagogy for water management under climate change. The research leverages data collection, ecological flow information, model development and knowledge network formation underway in projects funded by NOAA and The Nature Conservancy with US Army Corps of Engineers and USGS partners. The resulting data rich modeling environment will facilitate the testing of hypotheses through simulation experiments of robust water management strategies with calibrated integrated systems models. The modeling environment will be further enriched by established relationships with water managers and stakeholders throughout the basin for vetting of experimental design and results. A new paradigm of robust water management will be demonstrated and disseminated through the development of original educational material for low income, minority K-12 students, nonscience majors and engineering undergraduate and graduate students, outreach efforts with water managers at local, state and federal levels throughout New England which leverage the NOAA-funded UMASS Regional Integrated Science and Assessment (RISA) and internationally through professional development and outreach programs of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the UNESCO International Center for Integrated