Predictive Tools
Changes in precipitation and projected sea-level rise resulting from climate change threaten future water availability and quality in the Bay-Delta, as well as the operations of State and Federal water-delivery projects.
Precipitation changes that result in reduced snowpack in the Sierra Nevada and the Klamath-Trinity Mountains will affect the amount, seasonal availability, and temperature of California’s freshwater resources available for communities, agriculture, and wildlife alike. USGS’s CASCaDE project is studying how climate change, together with planned water-conveyance structures, may affect fish and wildlife habitat, water flow, drinking-water quantity and quality, and agriculture. USGS science on these issues is informing decisions being made now to preserve species and resources threatened by a changing climate. Precipitation from climate-change induced severe storms can overwhelm infrastructure and communities. To assist the State of California with natural disaster planning, USGS and partners created “ARkStorm,” a scenario-based predictive tool that provides information on the potential physical, social, and economic impacts from severe storms and atmospheric rivers that could be followed by natural hazards such as landslides and flooding. This modeling tool is serving as the basis for Northern California’s Catastrophic Flood Plan. USGS is at the forefront of understanding the processes that govern the complex interaction of climate and environment and translating computer models into predictive tools to help manage water and wildlife resources in the light of climate-related threats.
For more information see:
CASCaDE—Computational Assessments of Scenarios of Change for the Delta Ecosystem
Overview of the ARkStorm scenario
Back to San Francisco Bay-Delta Science
Changes in precipitation and projected sea-level rise resulting from climate change threaten future water availability and quality in the Bay-Delta, as well as the operations of State and Federal water-delivery projects.
Precipitation changes that result in reduced snowpack in the Sierra Nevada and the Klamath-Trinity Mountains will affect the amount, seasonal availability, and temperature of California’s freshwater resources available for communities, agriculture, and wildlife alike. USGS’s CASCaDE project is studying how climate change, together with planned water-conveyance structures, may affect fish and wildlife habitat, water flow, drinking-water quantity and quality, and agriculture. USGS science on these issues is informing decisions being made now to preserve species and resources threatened by a changing climate. Precipitation from climate-change induced severe storms can overwhelm infrastructure and communities. To assist the State of California with natural disaster planning, USGS and partners created “ARkStorm,” a scenario-based predictive tool that provides information on the potential physical, social, and economic impacts from severe storms and atmospheric rivers that could be followed by natural hazards such as landslides and flooding. This modeling tool is serving as the basis for Northern California’s Catastrophic Flood Plan. USGS is at the forefront of understanding the processes that govern the complex interaction of climate and environment and translating computer models into predictive tools to help manage water and wildlife resources in the light of climate-related threats.
For more information see:
CASCaDE—Computational Assessments of Scenarios of Change for the Delta Ecosystem
Overview of the ARkStorm scenario
Back to San Francisco Bay-Delta Science