RAPID: Understanding Sudden Hydro-Climatic Changes and Exploring Sustainable Solutions in the Enriquillo Closed Water Basin (Southwest Hispaniola)

1264466 (Gonzalez)。海地和多米尼加共和国最大的两个湖泊分别是索马特雷湖和恩里克略湖，这两个湖都是咸水湖。恩里基洛湖位于加勒比海的最低点，距离索马特雷湖只有几英里。在过去的几年里，这两个湖的规模都在急剧扩大。湖泊的增长对社会经济的影响非常显著。自从这些湖泊最近开始快速增长以来，湖泊周围超过1.5万公顷的农田和草地被淹没，对16个社区的2500个农场产生了强烈的负面影响，估计总共有1万人受到影响。过去几个月，由于水位达到前所未有的水平，解决这一增长问题的紧迫性急剧上升。此外，加勒比地区正处于热带低气压/飓风季节，这是开展研究工作的独特时机，因为该地区正以独特的方式应对这些极端事件。这个窗口期相对较短，如果错过，将需要等待整整一年才能再次出现类似的天气模式。与此同时，洪水造成的紧急情况将会恶化。该研究计划整合了观测、综合地球系统建模和社区参与，旨在加速记录气候变化的原因，并支持制定应对气候变化后果的政策。迫切需要解答的问题是：通过快速监测和建模，气候变暖正在影响湖泊的整体水平衡这一假设能否得到支持？这种水平衡如何反映在湖泊的体积和表面积上？对于不断扩大的洪水土地所带来的紧急情况，知情社区的反应可能是什么？

1264466 (Gonzalez). The two largest lakes in Haiti and the Dominican Republic are, respectively, the Saumatre and Enriquillo lakes, both of which are salt water lakes. Lake Enriquillo is at the lowest point in the Caribbean, and is within several miles of Lake Saumatre. Both lakes have been growing drastically in size over the past several years. The socio-economic impact of this growth of the lakes has been very dramatic. Since the lakes began their recent rapid growth, more than 15,000 hectares of agricultural and grass land around the lakes have been flooded, having a strong negative impact on 2,500 farms in 16 communities with total estimates of 10,000 individuals affected. Urgency to address this growth problem has risen sharply over the past few months due to the unprecedented water levels reached. Further, the Caribbean is in the midst of its tropical depression/hurricane season, a unique time for embarking on a research effort as the Lakes are responding to these extreme events in a unique fashion. The window is relatively short and if missed would require waiting an entire year to possibly get a similar weather pattern passing through the lakes region again. Meanwhile, the emergency resulting from floods will have worsened. The research plan integrates observations, integrated earth-system modeling and community engagement and is designed to lead to accelerated documentation of the causes of the growth and to support policy formulation for handling the consequences. The urgent questions in need of answers are: Through rapid monitoring and modeling, can the hypothesis be supported that a warming climate is impacting the overall hydro-balance of the lakes? How is this hydro-balance reflected in terms of lake volume and surface area? What may be the response of informed communities to the emergency presented by continuously expanding flood lands?