CSUB CREST Phase II: Climate Science and Natural Resource Solutions for Water-Limited, Paired Mountain/Valley Systems

在国家科学基金会的支持下，位于贝克斯菲尔德的加州州立大学将继续发展气候科学和自然资源解决方案中心，用于水资源有限的山地/山谷系统。中心的研究旨在更好地了解干旱的作用，评估潜在的应对措施，并协助制定适应性规划以应对这些变化。该中心的聚焦系统与全球其他山谷系统的相似之处，扩大了该研究作为类似系统模型的影响。该中心的方法阐明了三个研究子项目，以解决气候变化对景观过程、生态和人类反应的影响。子项目1将评估景观响应并预测大规模浪费事件、洪水和野火优先发生的时间间隔。该子项目还将描述塞拉利昂积雪对历史气候变化的反应，以便为水资源数量和季节性的预测提供信息。子项目2研究了植物群落的生态响应，重点研究了从圣华金河谷到内华达山脉峰顶的植被对干旱的敏感性、适应能力和恢复能力。结果将确定关键木本物种对气候变率的脆弱性，包括差异脆弱性背后的机制。子项目3侧重于通过将二氧化碳封存到成熟油田和含盐含水层以及对来自同一含盐含水层的可处理地下水进行预测测绘来研究人类对气候变化的反应。这项工作解决了碳储存取代该地区对石油开采的依赖的可行性。中心的研究还将量化潜在的地下水资源，并允许在类似的缺水地区开发可处理地下水的预测模型。该中心将继续吸引来自科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域代表性不足的本地学生，并将通过一系列旨在优化他们融入STEM研究社区的活动来支持这些学生。

Center for Climate Science and Natural Resource Solutions for Water-Limited, Paired Mountain/Valley SystemsWith National Science Foundation support, California State University at Bakersfield, will continue development of the Center for Climate Science and Natural Resource Solutions for Water-Limited, Paired Mountain/Valley Systems. Center research is aimed at better understanding the role of drought, evaluating potential responses, and assisting with adaptive planning in response to these changes. The similarity of the Center's focus system to other mountain-valley systems worldwide broadens the impact of this research as a model for similar systems. The Center's approach articulates three research subprojects addressing the effects of climate variability on landscape processes, ecology, and human response. Subproject 1 will evaluate the landscape response and predicted time intervals for preferential occurrence of mass wasting events, floods, and wildfires. This subproject will also characterize the response of the Sierra snowpack to historical climate variability to inform forecasts of amount and seasonality of water resources. Subproject 2 investigates the ecological response of plant communities and focuses on the sensitivity, adaptive capacity, and resilience of vegetation to drought along a transect from the San Joaquin Valley floor to the Sierra Nevada crest. Results will identify the vulnerability of key woody species to climate variability including the mechanisms behind differential vulnerabilities. Subproject 3 focuses on the human response to climate variability through the sequestration of CO2 into mature oil fields and saline aquifers and the predictive mapping of treatable groundwater from the same saline aquifers. This work addresses the feasibility of carbon storage to replace the region's reliance on petroleum extraction. Center research will also quantify potential underground water resources and allow for the development of predictive models for the occurrence of treatable groundwater in similar water-stressed areas.This Center will continue to involve local students from backgrounds underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields and will support these students through a series of activities designed to optimize their inclusion into the STEM research community.