Climate Variability and Impacts on Regional Surface Runoff in High Asia Mountains

亚洲高水塔(即高海拔的淡水水库)的现状和未来命运对南亚、东亚和中亚人口稠密地区的水、食物和电力供应至关重要。除夏季降雨量高外，冬季降水对季风季前积雪的融化和排雪也很重要。积雪径流在中亚和喜马拉雅西部地区尤为显著，这些地区居住着数亿人。这个项目旨在促进我们目前对区域到大陆尺度上的气候过程以及它们如何影响亚洲高山地区水平衡的理解。它侧重于印度夏季风(ISM)和冬季西部扰动(WD)的多年至年代际变化及其对亚洲高地降雨、积雪和径流变率的影响。研究人员将：1)描述和调查ISM和WD的多年至年代际变化及其对地表水收支的区域影响；2)研究地表水收支的时空变化，包括降雨和雪的变化及其在驱动亚洲高山径流变化中的相对作用；3)开展个案研究，调查ISM和WD的变化及其对亚洲高山地区雪和相关径流长期变化的影响。该项目的更广泛影响涉及科学和教育部分。这项工作将描述和分析与印度夏季风、冬季西部扰动、雨、雪和亚洲高山地表径流的多年至年代际变化有关的物理和动力过程。它将产生独特的观测和建模数据和验证结果，供气候、水文学和地貌学研究团体使用。进一步了解与亚洲高地的雨、雪、冰川和融雪水有关的物理过程将为社会带来重大利益。这个问题的性质需要不同学科的科学专门知识和教育培训：气象学、水文学和地貌学。该项目将支持和参与两名博士研究生，并扩大加州大学圣巴巴拉分校地理系的研究生班级。

The current state and future fate of the 'High Asian water towers' (i.e., freshwater reservoirs at high elevations) are of central importance for water, food, and power supply of densely populated regions in south, east, and central Asia. In addition to the highly seasonal summer rainfall, winter precipitation is important for snowmelt and discharge in the pre-monsoon season. Runoff from snow is especially significant in the central Asian and western Himalayan regions, where hundreds of millions of people reside. This project aims to advance our current understanding of climate processes on regional-to-continental scales and how they affect the water balance in the High Asia Mountains. It focuses on multiannual-to-decadal variations in the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) and winter western disturbances (WD) and their impacts on rainfall, snow and runoff variability in High Asia. The investigators will: 1) characterize and investigate multi-annual-to-decadal variations in the ISM and WD and their regional impacts on the surface water budget, 2) examine the spatiotemporal variability of the surface water budget including changes in rainfall and snow and their relative roles in driving runoff variations in High Asia, and 3) develop case studies to investigate changes in ISM and WD and their influences on the long-term variability of snow and associated runoff in the High Asia Mountains.The broader impacts of this project involve scientific and educational components. This work will characterize and analyze the physical and dynamical processes associated with multi-annual-to-decadal variations in the Indian Summer Monsoon, winter western disturbances, rain, snowfall and surface runoff in the High Asia Mountains. It will produce unique observational and modeling data and validation results that will be available to the climate, hydrology, and geomorphology research community. Further understanding of the physical processes associated with rain, snow, glacial and snowmelt waters in the High Asia will bring significant benefits for society. The nature of this problem requires scientific expertise and educational training in different disciplines: meteorology, hydrology, and geomorphology. The project will support and involve two Ph.D. graduate students and broaden graduate classes in the Department of Geography at the University of California in Santa Barbara.