Noah Knowles
Science and Products
CASCaDE: Computational Assessments of Scenarios of Change for the Delta Ecosystem
The Delta of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers provides drinking water supplies to two-thirds of Californians, and is a fragile ecosystem home to threatened and endangered species. The CASCaDE project builds on several decades of USGS science to address the goals of achieving water supply reliability and restoring the ecosystems in the Bay-Delta system.
Data and Associated Code for Projections of Unimpaired Flows, Storage, and Managed Flows for Climate Change Scenarios in the San Francisco Bay-Delta Watershed, California
This data release includes data containing projections of unimpaired hydrology, reservoir storage, and downstream managed flows in the Sacramento River/San Joaquin River watershed, California for scenarios of future climate change generated for the CASCaDE2 project (Computational Assessments of Scenarios of Change for the Delta Ecosystem, phase 2). Code used to produce the data is a
The future of sediment transport and streamflow under a changing climate and the implications for long-term resilience of the San Francisco Bay-Delta
Sedimentation and turbidity have effects on habitat suitability in the San Francisco Bay‐Delta (Bay‐Delta), concerning key species in the bay as well as the ability of the delta marshes to keep pace with sea level rise. A daily rainfall runoff and transport model of the Sacramento River Basin of northern California was developed to simulate...
Stern, Michelle A.; Flint, Lorraine E.; Flint, Alan L; Knowles, Noah; Wright, Scott A. Responses of unimpaired flows, storage, and managed flows to scenarios of climate change in the San Francisco Bay-Delta watershed
Projections of meteorology downscaled from global climate model runs were used to drive a model of unimpaired hydrology of the Sacramento/San Joaquin watershed, which in turn drove models of operational responses and managed flows. Twenty daily climate change scenarios for water years 1980–2099 were evaluated with the goal of producing inflow...
Knowles, Noah; Cronkite-Ratcliff, Collin; Pierce, David W; Cayan, Daniel R.
Modeling managed flows in the Sacramento/San Joaquin watershed, California, under scenarios of future change for CASCaDE2
Projections of managed flows from the Sacramento River/San Joaquin River watershed, California, into the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta under scenarios of future climate change are needed for evaluations of potential impacts on water supply and estuarine ecosystems. A new, multiple-model approach for achieving this is described...
Knowles, Noah; Cronkite-Ratcliff, Collin Application of an unstructured 3D finite volume numerical model to flows and salinity dynamics in the San Francisco Bay-Delta
A linked modeling approach has been undertaken to understand the impacts of climate and infrastructure on aquatic ecology and water quality in the San Francisco Bay-Delta region. The Delft3D Flexible Mesh modeling suite is used in this effort for its 3D hydrodynamics, salinity, temperature and sediment dynamics, phytoplankton and water-quality...
Martyr-Koller, R.C.; Kernkamp, H.W.J.; Van Dam, Anne A.; Mick van der Wegen; Lucas, Lisa; Knowles, N.; Jaffe, B.; Fregoso, T.A. Estuaries: Life on the edge: Chapter 19
No abstract available.
Cloern, James E.; Barnard, Patrick L.; Beller, Erin; Callaway, John C.; Grenier, Letitia; Grosholz, Edwin D.; Grossinger, Robin; Hieb, Kathryn; Holligaugh, James T.; Knowles, Noah; Sutula, Martha; Veloz, Samuel; Wasson, Kerstin; Whipple, Alison Trends in Snow Cover in the Continental United States (1950-2010)
Knowles, Noah Implications for future survival of delta smelt from four climate change scenarios for the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, California
Changes in the position of the low salinity zone, a habitat suitability index, turbidity, and water temperature modeled from four 100-year scenarios of climate change were evaluated for possible effects on delta smelt Hypomesus transpacificus, which is endemic to the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. The persistence of delta smelt in much of its...
Brown, Larry R.; Bennett, William A.; Wagner, R. Wayne; Morgan-King, Tara; Knowles, Noah; Feyrer, Frederick; Schoellhamer, David H.; Stacey, Mark T.; Dettinger, Mike Projected evolution of California's San Francisco Bay-Delta-River System in a century of continuing climate change
Background Accumulating evidence shows that the planet is warming as a response to human emissions of greenhouse gases. Strategies of adaptation to climate change will require quantitative projections of how altered regional patterns of temperature, precipitation and sea level could cascade to provoke local impacts such as modified water supplies...
Cloern, James E.; Knowles, Noah; Brown, Larry R.; Cayan, Daniel; Dettinger, Michael D.; Morgan, Tara L.; Schoellhamer, David H.; Stacey, Mark T.; van der Wegen, Mick; Wagner, R. Wayne; Jassby, Alan D. Projected evolution of California's San Francisco bay-delta-river system in a century of climate change
Background: Accumulating evidence shows that the planet is warming as a response to human emissions of greenhouse gases. Strategies of adaptation to climate change will require quantitative projections of how altered regional patterns of temperature, precipitation and sea level could cascade to provoke local impacts such as modified water supplies...
Cloern, James E.; Knowles, Noah; Brown, Larry R.; Cayan, Daniel R.; Dettinger, Michael D.; Morgan, Tara L.; Schoellhamer, David H.; Stacey, Mark T.; Van der Wegen, Mick; Wagner, R.W.; Jassby, Alan D. Potential Inundation due to Rising Sea Levels in the San Francisco Bay Region
An increase in the rate of sea level rise is one of the primary impacts of projected global climate change. To assess potential inundation associated with a continued acceleration of sea level rise, the highest resolution elevation data available were assembled from various sources and mosaicked to cover the land surfaces of the San Francisco Bay...
Knowles, Noah
High-Resolution Digital Terrain Models of the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta Region, California
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Western Region Geographic Science Center, in conjunction with the USGS Water Resources Western Branch of Regional Research, has developed a high-resolution elevation dataset covering the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta region of California. The elevation data were compiled photogrammically from aerial photography (...
Coons, Tom; Soulard, Christopher E.; Knowles, Noah Temporal downscaling of decadal sediment load estimates to a daily interval for use in hindcast simulations
In this study we used hydrologic proxies to develop a daily sediment load time-series, which agrees with decadal sediment load estimates, when integrated. Hindcast simulations of bathymetric change in estuaries require daily sediment loads from major tributary rivers, to capture the episodic delivery of sediment during multi-day freshwater flow...
Ganju, N.K.; Knowles, N.; Schoellhamer, D.H.