A Synthesis of Community Data and Modeling for Advancing River Basin Science: The Evolving Susquehanna River Basin Experiment

0609791

Duffy

Hydrologic Observatory: The Susquehanna River Basin (SRB) is the largest tributary

to the Chesapeake Bay. Without this flow the estuary could not sustain its extraordinary

diversity and productivity of aquatic life. The dilemma of our water-resource legacy is to balance

the competing societal and environmental needs placed on the Susquehanna's freshwater

resources. In 2002, Penn State took the leadership role in forming a consortium of scientists,

policy makers, and stakeholders drawn from 30 universities as well as from federal and state

agencies to design and implement the Susquehanna River Basin Hydrologic Observing System

(SRBHOS) (www.srbhos.psu.edu). SRBHOS has been initiated to address 'How do humans

and climate impact the sustainability of the water resources within large river basins? What role

do large rivers play in the global climate system?'.

Overview of Research: This proposed research plan will advance the SRBHOS

science agenda by investigating the three research themes: (1) Assessment of the significance

of the regional water table, its role as a lower boundary condition to soil moisture, and the

impact of water table status on hydrologic extremes (floods, droughts). We propose to develop

the concept of a subsurface boundary layer (SBL), which we define as the depth beneath the

land surface for which the local atmosphere and land-surface processes will affect the local flow

of groundwater to streams. An algorithm will be developed to map the SBL using the SRBHOS

digital data. (2) Integrated models that include vegetation water and energy dynamics will

improve hydrologic forecasts at the basin-scale and are critical to resolving the relative

importance of recharge to the shallow groundwater table and transpiration of soil moisture (3)

Macropores have a significant affect on the hydroclimatic performance of watersheds during

wet and dry cycles. We intend to develop new parameterization strategies to correct the

regional soils database for macropore flow based on the Shale Hills testbed. Currently soil

classification only considers 'matrix' properties (conductivity and water holding capacity).

Finally, this research will attempt to demonstrate how a unification of modeling, existing digital

data, and new data collection strategies will advance our understanding of river basin water

resources and support the design of hydrologic observatories.

Intellectual Merit: The present proposal will unify early SRBHOS science efforts and

address how a physical model and a-priori data can be used to promote scientific collaborations

that: (1) will aid the SRBHOS community in formulating hypotheses and potential scenarios for

hydrologic change within the basin; (2) will promote the development of new data-driven

algorithms that enhance our ability to represent and predict water cycle dynamics; and (3) that

will support a scientifically-based design for the future observatory's sensor network. Addressing

these issues will aid SRBHOS scientists in assessing climate and human feedbacks across

multiple scales as well as physiographical and ecological conditions. The tools developed in

this research will contribute to improving our understanding of the roles of terrain, ecology, and

geology in partitioning water and energy across the complex environmental systems that make

up the SRB.

Broader Impacts: This proposed research will be disseminated broadly to the

academic, state, and federal SRBHOS partners through a Susquehanna Data and Modeling

Symposium, which will be organized by the PIs in conjunction with the Chesapeake Research

Consortium. Funds requested in this proposal for the symposium will be leveraged with others

sources of funding to maximize our ability to invite national leaders in river basin modeling and

data systems to review the proposed tools developed in this research as well as contribute their

own expertise and tools to the SRBHOS community modeling effort. All software and data

resources developed in this project are dedicated to the 'open source' framework and shared

through the Chesapeake Community Modeling Program. Additionally, this research effort will

exploit basin-wide collaborations such as the currently pending Susquehanna REU to promote

undergraduate education and to recruit demographically and geographically diverse students

currently underrepresented in hydrologic science.