General Meeting Information

The Climate Impacts Group's (CIG's) annual climate and water meeting provides a forum for discussing the upcoming winter's climate forecast and how it may affect streamflow conditions in the Columbia and Snake River Basins in the 2011 water year. The meeting also highlights new research, decision support tools, and other information useful to managers considering the effects of climate variability and change in the Pacific Northwest.

The meeting is open to the public. In the past, the following universities and agencies have been represented at the meetings:

Meeting sponsors. The Idaho Climate and Water Meeting is jointly sponsored by the CIG, the Idaho EPSCoR Climate and Water Project, and the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR).

Agenda and Presentations

A final agenda for the meeting is available. Presentations from the meeting are posted below in PDF format.

9:00-9:10

Welcome and introductions – Rick Raymondi, IDWR

9:10-9:40

Pacific Northwest winter 2009-10 climate recap and outlook for 2010-11 – John Abatzoglou, University of Idaho

9:40-10:00

The 2010 Water Year water supply summary for Idaho - Liz Cresto, IDWR

10:00-10:20

Low Snow + Spring Rains = Runoff & Optimizing the SNOTEL Network - Ron Abramovich, USDA NRCS Snow Survey

10:20-10:40

** Break **

10:40-11:10

Seasonal volume forecasts using Ensemble Streamflow Prediction for the 2011 water year - Stephen King, NWS River Forecast Center

11:10-11:30

ENSO transition and the potential for extremely wet winters in PNW – Alan Hamlet, CIG

11:30-11:50

METRIC processing of satellite imagery to determine evapotranspiration by irrigated agriculture on the eastern Snake River Plain - Bill Krambler, IDWR

11:50-12:10

Evapotranspiration and energy balance flux sites in southern Idaho to support climate change modeling and related hydroclimate research activities - Richard Allen, University of Idaho
12:10-1:00 ** Lunch (provided) **

1:00-1:20

Update on Idaho EPSCoR's "Water Resources in a Changing Climate" Project – Von Walden, University of Idaho

1:20-1:40

System Dynamics Snake River Planning Model using VIC predicted streamflows - David Hoekema, Boise State University

1:40-2:00

Progress in Ecological Research (EPSCoR) - Colden Baxter, Idaho State

2:00-2:20

Progress in economics and policy research (EPSCoR) – Siân Mooney

2:20-2:40

Update on the Columbia Basin Climate Change Scenarios Project - Alan Hamlet, CIG

2:40-3:00

Break

3:00-3:20 Watershed to regional tree-ring reconstructions of Pacific Northwest streamflow: What can the last 500 years tell us about the nature of water availability? (pdf) - Jeremy Littell, CIG
3:20-3:40 Paleo-reconstruction of summer streamflow and seasonal uncertainties using the VIC hydrologic model – Eric Lutz, UW Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
3:40-4:00 Linking VIC-flows with the Snake River Planning Model – Venkat Sridhar, Boise State
4:00-4:20 C3: Update on Federal climate change collaboration in the Northwest – Bryan Horsburgh, US Bureau of Reclamation
4:20-4:55

New developments in regional climate decision support programs – Alan Hamlet (CIG) and Von Walden (University of Idaho)

4:55-5:00 Meeting wrap-up and adjournment – Rick Raymondi, IDWR
Other Climate Meetings of Interest

Tree reconstructions of streamflows in the Pacific Northwest II: Reconstructions and applications to hydrologic modeling - November 1, 2010 (Boise, ID)

Over the last three years, the CIG has developed a network of tree ring chronologies that has demonstrated skill in reconstructing PNW streamflow. There is now potential to refine the use of these chronologies to answer other questions of interest to water managers about the nature of PNW climate over the last 500 to 1000 years.

This half-day workshop (1:00-4:00 pm) provides an opportunity to share our initial findings and solicit input from water managers on how these streamflow reconstructions and tree ring chronologies might be used to answer water management-related questions at regional to watershed scales.

More information, including the workshop agenda, is available in the workshop flyer. To register for the workshop, please email cig@uw.edu with your name and contact information. There is no fee for this workshop.

Washington/Oregon Climate and Water Meeting: 2011 Water Year - October 20, 2010 (Vancouver, WA)

The WA/OR Climate and Water Meeting for the 2001 Water Year provides the opportunity to hear how forecasted climate conditions for the winter 2010-2011 may affect regional climate and streamflow conditions in the Columbia Basin and coastal drainages in 2011. The meeting also highlights new research, decision support tools, and other information useful to managing for PNW climate variability and climate change.

American Meteorological Society 91st Annual Meeting - January 23-27, 2011 (Seattle, WA)

The theme for the AMS 2011 Annual Meeting is "Communicating Weather and Climate". Effective communication is a key component in the intersection of scientific research and public interest. An interdisciplinary approach to science and creating channels for public access to key findings contributes to the scientific literacy of society. This meeting will provide and opportunity for researchers to discuss effective means of communicating weather and climate forecasts that is useful for public sectors.

 

The Climate Impacts Group, University of Washington
Questions? Contact Ingrid M Tohver, 206-685-4068