CNH-RCN: A Research Network for the Resilience of Headwater Systems and Water Availability for Downstream Communities Across the Americas

在世界范围内，人类社区依赖于高海拔流域（称为源头流域）的冰川、积雪和地下水的蓄水。从上游流域到下游社区的供水量和变异性预计将随着环境变化而变化。这些变化威胁到与家庭用水、农业和能源生产有关的长期水安全。需要基础科学来了解水源的储水量将如何变化，以及下游社区将如何适应这些变化。该奖项将研究如何通过耦合流域水文学，气候学和下游人类发展的知识，在多个流域横跨南北美洲的纬度样带的源头依赖系统储水量的变化。该研究协调网络将重点关注从加拿大到智利南部的三种主要水源储存类型：1）冰川; 2）季节性积雪; 3）雨水灌溉。该网络包括协调研究人员和从业人员，他们可以将新知识转化为实际战略。该项目将为大学生和参与者提供教育和培训机会。该研究协调网络奖将促进创新研究，以促进对以下问题的理解：1）影响水源储存的水文气候过程; 2）适应不断变化的水源供应的社会经济背景和过程; 3）从水源流域到下游人类系统的生态系统服务交付和价值; 4）从水源流域到下游人类系统的生态系统服务交付和价值。4）人为和自然变化驱动因素对下游社区的影响; 5）评估适应情景的综合建模能力。美国和国际参与者具有不同的研究专业知识，区域知识，并访问数据和现场将探索内部和系统之间的连接沿着样带和机会，通过教育活动建立研究合作和智力能力。该项目将结合大气和陆地淡水中稳定同位素研究的进展，以及对下游社区社会经济发展的更深入理解的源头水平衡过程建模，并对社会和生态系统过程进行综合评估，以科学为基础的干预措施适应气候变化。该项目将发起一项广泛的努力，综合大学与跨学科社会环境项目的经验教训，并邀请参与者加入我们的网络。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为值得通过评估使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

Worldwide, human communities rely on water storage from glaciers, snowpack, and groundwater in watersheds at high elevations, called headwater stream watersheds. Water supply amount and variability from headwater watersheds to downstream communities are predicted to shift with environmental change. These shifts threaten long-term water security related to domestic water use, agriculture, and energy production. Foundational science is needed to understand how water storage in headwaters will change and how downstream communities will adapt to those changes. This award will study how headwater dependent systems water storage changes by coupling knowledge of watershed hydrology, climatology and downstream human development in multiple watersheds across a latitudinal transect across North and South America. This research coordination network will focus on three dominant headwater storage types from Canada to southern Chile: 1) glaciers; 2) seasonal snowpack; and 3) rain-fed. This network includes coordination of researchers and practitioners who can translate the new knowledge into practical strategies. The project will provide education and training opportunities for university students and participants.This research coordination network award will catalyze innovative research to advance the understanding of: 1) hydro-climatic processes that influence headwater storage; 2) the socio-economic context and processes for adaptation to changing headwater supplies; 3) ecosystem service delivery and value from headwater watersheds to downstream human systems; 4) effects of human and natural drivers of change on downstream communities; and 5) integrative modeling capacity for evaluating adaptation scenarios. US and international participants with diverse research expertise, regional knowledge, and access to data and field sites will explore connections within and between systems along the transect and opportunities for building research collaboration and intellectual capacity through education activities. This project will couple advances in the study of stable isotopes in atmospheric and terrestrial freshwater and modeling of water balance processes across headwater types with a deeper understanding of socio-economic development in downstream communities, and create an integrated evaluation of social and ecological system processes for science-based interventions toward climate adaptation. The project will launch a broad effort to synthesize lessons learned by universities with interdisciplinary social-environmental programs and invite participants to join our network.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.