Past Perspectives of Water in the West Active
In the intermountain west, seasonal precipitation extremes, combined with population growth, are creating new challenges for the management of water resources, ecosystems, and geologic hazards. This research contributes a comprehensive long-term context for a deeper understanding of past hydrologic variability, including the magnitude and frequency of drought and flood extremes and ecosystem impacts.
Statement of Problem: Water is of particular concern in the Western U.S. with the potential for future climate change leading to increasingly adverse changes in local to regional hydrologic processes. Concerns range from a decrease in availability and poorer quality of water to an increase in negative and costly extremes in drought, flood, fire, and other geologic hazards. The primary meteorological mechanisms that control Western U.S. water and climate occur within and over the Pacific Ocean, where linked oceanic and atmospheric dynamics drive atmospheric circulation patterns and associated weather. Instrumental records for the past ~100 years provide some context for precipitation patterns, but they are too short to capture the full range of known natural hydrologic and climatic variability.
Why this Research is Important: The prosperity of the American West depends on effective and strategic use of our natural water resources. By examining natural hydrologic variations over long time scales, this research provides a comprehensive context for a deeper understanding of drought and flood magnitude and frequency. This research also develops new insights into mechanisms and processes, which better inform predictions of seasonal precipitation extremes and corresponding landscape and ecosystem change.
Objective(s): This project develops past perspectives on water in the West from geologic archives in lake and wetland sediments and tree rings. Studies test hypotheses about the causes, mechanisms and impacts of past climate on a variety of hydrologic systems, including precipitation, snowpack, lakes, wetlands, glaciers, forests, and permafrost from the present day through the last glacial period, ~30,000 years ago.
Methods: Project studies utilize water isotope tracer methods and other paleoenvironmental proxies based upon sedimentology, geochemistry and paleoecological and radiometric dating methods. Research includes the development of new paleorecords in Alaska and the Rocky Mountains. Investigations of modern water isotope-climate processes are providing a deeper understanding of the hydroclimatic information that water isotope proxy records contain.
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Below are publications associated with this project.
A North American Hydroclimate Synthesis (NAHS) of the Common Era
High sensitivity of gross primary production in the Rocky Mountains to summer rain
A synthesis of thermokarst lake water balance in high-latitude regions of North America from isotope tracers
Lake oxygen isotopes as recorders of North American Rocky Mountain hydroclimate: Holocene patterns and variability at multi-decadal to millennial time scales
Water isotope systematics: Improving our palaeoclimate interpretations
Isotopes in North American Rocky Mountain snowpack 1993–2014
A multi-proxy record of hydroclimate, vegetation, fire, and post-settlement impacts for a subalpine plateau, Central Rocky Mountains U.S.A
Ocean-atmosphere forcing of centennial hydroclimatic variability in the Pacific Northwest
Controls on recent Alaskan lake changes identified from water isotopes and remote sensing
Rocky Mountain hydroclimate: Holocene variability and the role of insolation, ENSO, and the North American Monsoon
Lake carbonate-δ18 records from the Yukon Territory, Canada: Little Ice Age moisture variability and patterns
Holocene record of precipitation seasonality from lake calcite δ18O in the central Rocky Mountains, United States
Below are news stories associated with this project.
- Overview
In the intermountain west, seasonal precipitation extremes, combined with population growth, are creating new challenges for the management of water resources, ecosystems, and geologic hazards. This research contributes a comprehensive long-term context for a deeper understanding of past hydrologic variability, including the magnitude and frequency of drought and flood extremes and ecosystem impacts.
Statement of Problem: Water is of particular concern in the Western U.S. with the potential for future climate change leading to increasingly adverse changes in local to regional hydrologic processes. Concerns range from a decrease in availability and poorer quality of water to an increase in negative and costly extremes in drought, flood, fire, and other geologic hazards. The primary meteorological mechanisms that control Western U.S. water and climate occur within and over the Pacific Ocean, where linked oceanic and atmospheric dynamics drive atmospheric circulation patterns and associated weather. Instrumental records for the past ~100 years provide some context for precipitation patterns, but they are too short to capture the full range of known natural hydrologic and climatic variability.
Why this Research is Important: The prosperity of the American West depends on effective and strategic use of our natural water resources. By examining natural hydrologic variations over long time scales, this research provides a comprehensive context for a deeper understanding of drought and flood magnitude and frequency. This research also develops new insights into mechanisms and processes, which better inform predictions of seasonal precipitation extremes and corresponding landscape and ecosystem change.
Objective(s): This project develops past perspectives on water in the West from geologic archives in lake and wetland sediments and tree rings. Studies test hypotheses about the causes, mechanisms and impacts of past climate on a variety of hydrologic systems, including precipitation, snowpack, lakes, wetlands, glaciers, forests, and permafrost from the present day through the last glacial period, ~30,000 years ago.
Methods: Project studies utilize water isotope tracer methods and other paleoenvironmental proxies based upon sedimentology, geochemistry and paleoecological and radiometric dating methods. Research includes the development of new paleorecords in Alaska and the Rocky Mountains. Investigations of modern water isotope-climate processes are providing a deeper understanding of the hydroclimatic information that water isotope proxy records contain.
- Science
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
- Data
- Publications
Below are publications associated with this project.
Filter Total Items: 25A North American Hydroclimate Synthesis (NAHS) of the Common Era
This study presents a synthesis of century-scale hydroclimate variations in North America for the Common Era (last 2000 years) using new age models of previously published multiple proxy-based paleoclimate data. This North American Hydroclimate Synthesis (NAHS) examines regional hydroclimate patterns and related environmental indicators, including vegetation, lake water elevation, stream flow andAuthorsJessica R. Rodysill, Lesleigh Anderson, Thomas M. Cronin, Miriam C. Jones, Robert S. Thompson, David B. Wahl, Debra A. Willard, Jason A. Addison, Jay R. Alder, Katherine H. Anderson, Lysanna Anderson, John A. Barron, Christopher E. Bernhardt, Steven W. Hostetler, Natalie M. Kehrwald, Nicole Khan, Julie N. Richey, Scott W. Starratt, Laura E. Strickland, Michael Toomey, Claire C. Treat, G. Lynn WingardByWater Resources Mission Area, Climate Research and Development Program, Energy Resources Program, Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program, Mineral Resources Program, National Laboratories Program, Science and Decisions Center, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science CenterHigh sensitivity of gross primary production in the Rocky Mountains to summer rain
In the catchments of the Rocky Mountains, peak snowpack is declining in response to warmer spring temperatures. To understand how this will influence terrestrial gross primary production (GPP), we compared precipitation data across the intermountain west with satellite retrievals of solar-induced fluorescence (SIF), a proxy for GPP. Annual precipitation patterns explained most of the spatial and tAuthorsM. Berkelhammer, I.C. Stefanescu, J. Joiner, Lesleigh AndersonA synthesis of thermokarst lake water balance in high-latitude regions of North America from isotope tracers
Numerous studies utilizing remote sensing imagery and other methods have documented that thermokarst lakes are undergoing varied hydrological transitions in response to recent climate changes, from surface area expansion to drainage and evaporative desiccation. Here, we provide a synthesis of hydrological conditions for 376 lakes of mainly thermokarst origin across high-latitude North America. WeAuthorsLauren A. MacDonald, Brent B. Wolfe, Kevin W. Turner, Lesleigh Anderson, Christopher D. Arp, Jean Birks, Frédéric Bouchard, Thomas W.D. Edwards, Nicole Farquharson, Roland I. Hall, Ian McDonald, Biljana Narancic, Chantal Ouimet, Reinhard Pienitz, Jana Tondu, Hilary WhiteLake oxygen isotopes as recorders of North American Rocky Mountain hydroclimate: Holocene patterns and variability at multi-decadal to millennial time scales
Lake sediment oxygen isotope records (calcium carbonate-δ18O) in the western North American Cordillera developed during the past decade provide substantial evidence of Pacific ocean–atmosphere forcing of hydroclimatic variability during the Holocene. Here we present an overview of 18 lake sediment δ18O records along with a new compilation of lake water δ18O and δ2H that are used to characterize laAuthorsLesleigh Anderson, Max Berkelhammer, John A. Barron, Byron A. Steinman, Bruce P. Finney, Mark B. AbbottWater isotope systematics: Improving our palaeoclimate interpretations
The stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen, measured in a variety of archives, are widely used proxies in Quaternary Science. Understanding the processes that control δ18O change have long been a focus of research (e.g. Shackleton and Opdyke, 1973; Talbot, 1990 ; Leng, 2006). Both the dynamics of water isotope cycling and the appropriate interpretation of geological water-isotope proxy time seriesAuthorsM. D. Jones, S. Dee, L. Anderson, A. Baker, G. Bowen, D. NooneIsotopes in North American Rocky Mountain snowpack 1993–2014
We present ∼1300 new isotopic measurements (δ18O and δ2H) from a network of snowpack sites in the Rocky Mountains that have been sampled since 1993. The network includes 177 locations where depth-integrated snow samples are collected each spring near peak accumulation. At 57 of these locations snowpack samples were obtained for 10–21 years and their isotopic measurements provide unprecedented spatAuthorsLesleigh Anderson, Max Berkelhammer, Alisa MastA multi-proxy record of hydroclimate, vegetation, fire, and post-settlement impacts for a subalpine plateau, Central Rocky Mountains U.S.A
Apparent changes in vegetation distribution, fire, and other disturbance regimes throughout western North America have prompted investigations of the relative importance of human activities and climate change as potential causal mechanisms. Assessing the effects of Euro-American settlement is difficult because climate changes occur on multi-decadal to centennial time scales and require longer timeAuthorsLesleigh Anderson, Andrea Brunelle, Robert S. ThompsonOcean-atmosphere forcing of centennial hydroclimatic variability in the Pacific Northwest
Reconstructing centennial timescale hydroclimate variability during the late Holocene is critically important for understanding large-scale patterns of drought and their relationship with climate dynamics. We present sediment oxygen isotope records spanning the last two millennia from 10 lakes, as well as climate model simulations, indicating that the Little Ice Age was dry relative to the MedievaAuthorsByron A. Steinman, Mark B. Abbott, Michael E. Mann, Joseph D. Ortiz, Song Feng, David P. Pompeani, Nathan D. Stansell, Lesleigh Anderson, Bruce P. Finney, Broxton W. BirdControls on recent Alaskan lake changes identified from water isotopes and remote sensing
High-latitude lakes are important for terrestrial carbon dynamics and waterfowl habitat driving a need to better understand controls on lake area changes. To identify the existence and cause of recent lake area changes in the Yukon Flats, a region of discontinuous permafrost in north central Alaska, we evaluate remotely sensed imagery with lake water isotope compositions and hydroclimatic parameteAuthorsLesleigh Anderson, Jean Birks, Jennifer R. Rover, Nikki GuldagerRocky Mountain hydroclimate: Holocene variability and the role of insolation, ENSO, and the North American Monsoon
Over the period of instrumental records, precipitation maximum in the headwaters of the Colorado Rocky Mountains has been dominated by winter snow, with a substantial degree of interannual variability linked to Pacific ocean–atmosphere dynamics. High-elevation snowpack is an important water storage that is carefully observed in order to meet increasing water demands in the greater semi-arid regionAuthorsLesleigh AndersonLake carbonate-δ18 records from the Yukon Territory, Canada: Little Ice Age moisture variability and patterns
A 1000-yr history of climate change in the central Yukon Territory, Canada, is inferred from sediment composition and isotope geochemistry from small, groundwater fed, Seven Mile Lake. Recent observations of lake-water δ18O, lake level, river discharge, and climate variations, suggest that changes in regional effective moisture (precipitation minus evaporation) are reflected by the lake’s hydrologAuthorsLesleigh Anderson, Bruce P. Finney, Mark D. ShapleyHolocene record of precipitation seasonality from lake calcite δ18O in the central Rocky Mountains, United States
A context for recent hydroclimatic extremes and variability is provided by a ∼10 k.y. sediment carbonate oxygen isotope (δ18O) record at 5–100 yr resolution from Bison Lake, 3255 m above sea level, in northwestern Colorado (United States). Winter precipitation is the primary water source for the alpine headwater lake in the Upper Colorado River Basin and lake water δ18O measurements reflect seasonAuthorsLesleigh Anderson - News
Below are news stories associated with this project.