Water in a Changing West: The Wyoming Center for Environmental Hydrology and Geophysics

研究基础设施改善(RII)Track-1奖设立了怀俄明环境水文和地球物理中心(WyCEHG)，该中心设在怀俄明大学，涉及怀俄明州的社区学院、风河部落学院、阿拉帕霍牧场、杰克逊州立大学(密西西比州)以及几个联邦、州和私人商业合作伙伴。具体的重点是提高对水从降水(雪和雨)转化为河流流动、地下水补给或土壤水分的机制的理解，以及这些机制如何对自然和人为变化做出反应。智力价值该项目专注于发展一个多学科中心，以实现一个将地表和地下流域水文学、地球物理、遥感和计算建模联系起来的综合研究计划。科学目标包括提高对山前水文学、扰动影响水通量的机制的了解，以及对水的命运和运输的综合模拟。正在生成现实的水文系统计算机模型，这些模型由在分水岭尺度上获得的地下地球物理数据提供信息，并通过化探、水文和生态监测数据进行验证。该项目团队正在开发一个开放访问的国家水文地球物理设施，其中包括最先进的仪器设备，将在奖项结束后由行业捐赠基金维持。Broader ImpactsWyCEHG旨在解决怀俄明州与水相关的紧迫问题。它支持对国家具有关键重要性的领域的水研究，为负责分配稀缺资源和预测水资源输送的水资源管理者提供产品和工具，以应对深刻的水文变化。与决策支持相关的方法、模型、观察平台和信息由决策者形成并传达给决策者。该项目的一个主要重点是通过一个完全与科学议程相结合的综合计划来满足怀俄明州的教育和外展需求。该项目包括教育倡议、多元化计划、劳动力发展、公共论坛和利益相关者参与。研究生培训包括怀俄明大学新的水文学博士项目。还包括积极的辅导和招聘工作，以吸引土著美国人、西班牙裔、非裔美国人和女性学生以及残疾人加入STEM劳动力大军。

This Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) Track-1 award establishes the Wyoming Center for Environmental Hydrology and Geophysics (WyCEHG), a center based at the University of Wyoming and involving Wyoming's community colleges, the Wind River Tribal College, the Arapaho Ranch, Jackson State University (Mississippi), and several federal, state and private business partners. The specific focus is to improve the understanding of the mechanisms by which water is transformed from precipitation (snow and rain) into river flow, groundwater recharge, or soil moisture, and how these mechanisms respond to natural and anthropogenic changes. Intellectual MeritThis project focuses on developing a multidisciplinary center to enable a comprehensive research program linking surface and subsurface watershed hydrology, geophysics, remote sensing, and computational modeling. Scientific goals include improving the understanding of mountain front hydrology, the mechanisms by which disturbances affect water flux, and the integrated modeling of the fate and transport of water. Realistic computer models of hydrological systems are being generated, informed by geophysical data of the subsurface acquired at the watershed scale, and validated by geochemical, hydrological, and ecological monitoring data. The project team is developing an open-access, national facility for hydrogeophysics that includes state-of-the-art instrumentation, to be sustained after the award ends by an industry endowment.Broader ImpactsWyCEHG is designed to address pressing water-related issues in WY. It supports water research in areas of key importance to the state, generating products and tools of use to water resource managers charged with allocating scarce resources and forecasting water deliveries in an environment of profound hydrological change. Methods, models, observational platforms, and information relevant to decision support are shaped by, and communicated to, decision makers. A major focus of the project is to meet educational and outreach needs in WY through an integrated program fully coupled to the scientific agenda. The project encompasses education initiatives, diversity programs, workforce development, public forums, and stakeholder engagement. Graduate student training includes the new Ph.D. Program in Hydrologic Sciences at the University of Wyoming. Also included is a vigorous mentoring and recruitment effort to attract Native American, Hispanic, African-American, and female students, along with persons with disabilities, to the STEM workforce.