Qualitative Indicators - Partnerships

CEA-CREST

SAHRA is in its fourth year of a collaboration with the NSF-funded CEA-CREST center based at CaliforniaStateUniversity, Los Angeles (Center for Environmental Analysis, Centers for Research Excellence in Science and Technology). The centers are jointlystudying the surface water and groundwater systems along the City of El Paso/Ciudad Juárez international metroplex. To date, a total of 358 groundwater samples have been collected, along with dozens of surface water samples collected from the Rio Grande and from agricultural drainwaters. These data have been used to establish constraints on groundwater flow paths, recharge rates, and residence times and have provided a new conceptual understanding of the binational aquifers. Another component study between SAHRA and CEA-CREST investigates the role of fire on the hydrology and nutrient loading at the urban-wildlands interface.

Los Alamos National Laboratory

The partnership between SAHRA and Los Alamos National Laboratory brings strengths of both organizations to bear on solving problems of predicting water resources availability in the southwestern United States. Predictions will be required to assess sustainability and determine the impact of various natural and anthropogenic events on sustainability. LANL brings unique capabilities in modeling and simulation along with high performance computing to address the water resources prediction problem. SAHRA provides the domain expertise to complete needed modules, provide data and parameterize the model, and evaluate the model both quantitatively and qualitatively. Los Alamos National Laboratory has been working on the interface between water resources and energy production throughout the nation with particular emphasis on the southwestern United States. The partnership with SAHRA provides LANL with additional capabilities and a more rapid development of tools addressing this emerging issue as the requirements for energy production increase and more power plants are being located in the southwestern U. S. The partnership also offers the potential for LANL to recruit graduate students and postdoctoral associates into science and engineering positions.

USDA-Agricultural Research Service – SouthwestResearchCenter

SAHRA has strengthened and accelerated a close on-going partnershipwith the USDA-ARS-SWRC. The mission of the SWRC ( is closely aligned with SAHRA's mission and the knowledge, experimental, and physical resources of the SWRC enhance SAHRA's ability to address its mission.A variety of SWRC resources are being used to enhance the collaborative SAHRA research effort. The Walnut Gulch facility serves as an important outdoor laboratory of SAHRA research. Research knowledge, observation, and understanding from the watershed are being used in a variety of SAHRA activities, ranging from rainfall characterization, infiltration, ephemeral channel recharge, nutrient loading from ephemeral runoff events, to erosion. SWRC instrumentation (rain gauges), facilities (shops, labs, housing for visiting scientists and students) and vehicles are utilized by SAHRA collaborators.

Sandia National Laboratories

The partnership between Sandia National Laboratories and SAHRA has focused primarily on research and development of systems level models to support water resource planning. There is a strong sense of synergy in the partnership between Sandia and SAHRA. Sandia gains direct access to a wide range of leading scientist and students spanning the broad range of disciplines contributing to water resource management. Such contacts are invaluable in creating the next generation of resource management and planning models. In turn, the developed models provide a unique opportunity for SAHRA to communicate and educate the public, stakeholders, and decision makers on the complexity of water resources management in semi-arid regions.

Sevilleta Long-Term Ecological Research Site

The Long Term Ecological Research site (LTER) in New Mexico is used for watershed-scale and riparian research. Given its history of biological and other research, the Sevilleta has been an excellent resource for SAHRA. Major advantages to conducting research on the LTER include: a) existing instrumentation networks for measuring rainfall, solar radiation, soil temperature and moisture, wind speed and direction, and other climate variables; b) ongoing hydrologic studies; available satellite data; and c) security, since it is fenced and patrolled. The sites and facilities located at the Sevilleta, when combined with partnerships with the Valles Caldera National Preserve and Los Alamos National Laboratory (described below), represent all major biomes found within the Rio Grande Catchment. Consistent data acquisition, experimentation, and measurement protocols across all sites is being used to develop, parameterize, and refine a fine-scale hydrologic model for the Rio Grande developed under a collaboration between SAHRA and LANL.

Valles Caldera National Preserve

SAHRA researchers are partnering with the VCNP, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the NationalCenter for Atmospheric Research to establish a series of research sites in major ecosystems types of the upper Rio Grande. Data and process knowledge from these sites will be used to evaluate the effects of vegetation, and vegetation change on water balance in semi-arid systems.The partnership with VCNP and LANL has provided us with secure field sites for long-term water balance research in the Rio GrandeBasin. In the last year we have begun instrumenting two new sites in the VCNP including towers for Eddy Correlation measurements of surface –atmosphere water, energy and carbon exchange, soil moisture, snow depth and snow water content, and stream discharge and chemistry.

CUAHSI

SAHRA has become involved in several efforts related to the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc.

  • Hydrologic Observatories - In 2005, CUAHSI will fund the establishment and maintenance of one or two hydrologic observatories in the United States. Nine SAHRA investigators have been involved in proposal development for an observatory in the Rio GrandeBasin, along with researchers from other universities, national laboratories, and government agencies. The RIO observatory would a) draw on facilities and equipment in the transect studies being initiated by SAHRA in the Valles Caldera; b) augment and maintain the SAHRA Hydro Database being developed by Mat Durcik; and c) incorporate aspects of the water banking modeling initiative led by David Brookshire at the University of New Mexico.
  • Knowledge Transfer and Education–Associate Director Gary Woodard has met with CUAHSI Executive Director Richard Hooper and Project Manager Jon Duncan to investigate opportunities to work with CUAHSI to aid development of their education and outreach program and examine the potential for expanding existing knowledge transfer products such as the WaterWeb to CUAHSI institutions.
  • CUAHSI Science Plan - SAHRA Staff Scientist James Hogan is editing the CUAHSI science plan document.