coloradoriverscience.org - User contributions [en]

Colorado River Science Wiki

2026-08-17T14:34:50Z

JeffreyJLukas:

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Welcome to the '''Colorado River Science Wiki''', a web-based clearinghouse for scientific and technical information relevant to the Colorado River Basin and the management of its water resources and related natural resources. We welcome your feedback; please use this [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfVXdC1lZde88uk5Nld1qnDDtzXQr1XaDIjFo1KlQ1shCY20A/viewform form] to send us suggestions, or reach us at the contact information on [[About this wiki]].

<div style="column-count:2;-moz-column-count:2;-webkit-column-count:2">
==Resources==
*'''[[Data and tools]]'''
*'''[[Who's who]]'''
*'''[[Current conditions]]'''
*'''[[About the river]]'''
*'''[[Events|Events calendar]]'''

==Publications==
*'''[[New research]]''' (since 2020)
*'''[https://www.zotero.org/groups/4274378/colorado_river_science_wiki/library Searchable database (Zotero library)]'''
**'''[[2021 SECURE Water Act reports]]'''
**'''[[2020 CRB State of the Science]]'''
**'''[[2018 CRB Ten Tribes Partnership Tribal Water Study|2018 CRB Tribal Water Study]]'''
**'''[[2012 Colorado River Basin Study]]'''

</div>

==Topics==
<div style="column-count:3;-moz-column-count:3;-webkit-column-count:3">

'''Weather and climate'''
*'''[[Climate patterns and variability]]'''
*'''[[Recent climate change]]'''
*'''[[Weather and climate monitoring]]'''
*'''[[Weather and climate forecasts]]'''
*'''[[Projected future climate]]'''
*'''[[Colorado River extremes]]'''

'''Hydrology and water availability'''
*'''[[Snowpack]]'''
*'''[[Soil moisture]]'''
*'''[[Evapotranspiration (ET)]]'''
*'''[[Streamflow]]'''
*'''[[Paleohydrology]]'''
*'''[[Seasonal streamflow forecasts]]'''
*'''[[Floods]]'''
*'''[[Hydrologic modeling]]'''
*'''[[Projected future hydrology]]'''

'''Water operations and planning'''
*'''[[Dams, reservoirs, and other infrastructure]]'''
*'''[[River system models]]'''
**'''[[Colorado River Mid-term Modeling System (CRMMS)]]'''
**'''[[Colorado River Simulation System (CRSS)]]'''

'''Water Use'''
*'''[[Consumptive uses and losses]]'''
**'''[[Agricultural water use]]'''
**'''[[Municipal water use]]'''
**'''[[Reservoir evaporation]]'''

'''Water quality'''
*'''[[Salinity]]'''
*'''[[Metals and acid mine drainage]]'''

'''Ecosystems and environment'''
*'''[[Wildfire and water]]'''
*'''[[Tamarisk and invasive plants]]'''
*'''[[Threatened and endangered fish species]]'''
*'''[[Invasive mussels]]'''
*'''[[Salton Sea]]'''
*'''[[Colorado River Delta]]'''

'''Societal context'''
*'''[[Water law and policy]]'''

</div>

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Photos at top: Fieldwork in the East River watershed near Gothic, CO for the [https://www.agci.org/projects/sublimation-of-snow-sos-project Sublimation of Snow (SoS) project] (Emilio Mateo)

Water law and policy

2026-07-31T17:05:07Z

JeffreyJLukas: /* Development of new guidelines for post-2026 operations */

==Overview==

This page summarizes the laws and policies governing the allocation and management of water in the Colorado River Basin. These laws and policies bound the decision space for the basin’s water managers and thus influence how scientific research and related technical practice inform current and future management, such as with the upcoming renegotiation of the 2007 Interim Guidelines. The evolving scientific understanding of the basin (e.g., climate change impacts on streamflows) can also lead to reconsideration of assumptions underpinning existing policy.

==Prior appropriation==
Much of the water in the West is allocated and managed according to the doctrine of prior appropriation. The prior appropriation system was developed in California in response to the need for water for gold mining and is tailored to watersheds with highly variable seasonal flows and limited water resources. It differs dramatically from the Riparian Doctrine of water law that dominates in the eastern United States. The four guiding principles of the prior appropriation system are:

1. Water rights are established by diverting water for a beneficial use. These water rights are usufructuary: they grant the ability to use the water--a public resource--but not to own it.

2. Earlier (senior) water rights have priority over later (junior) water rights during times of shortage and the order of water rights is maintained by a priority list. When a water user places a call on the river, all upstream water rights junior to the water user who placed the call are restricted until the call is removed. This principle is commonly referred to as “first in time, first in right.”

3. Water can be transported away from the stream for distant use, and ownership of land in the watershed is not mandated for use of water from the watershed.

4. Established water rights can be sold without changing the priority date.

==The Law of the River==
The “Law of the River” refers to the interlocking body of compacts, treaties, laws, regulations, and court decisions that guides water allocation and use in the Colorado River Basin among the seven basin states, Mexico, and sovereign Indian nations.

While the doctrine of prior appropriation still generally applies to the administration of water rights and use within each basin state, the overall effect of the Law of the River is that prior appropriation does not fully apply between states, or between the U.S. and Mexico, or between the U.S. or the states and tribal nations. In particular, many exceptions have been made to the stipulation that water rights are established by actually diverting water; starting with the Colorado River Compact of 1922, water allocations and rights were granted well in excess of the then-existing diversions and uses.

==Colorado River Compact (1922)==
The Colorado River Compact is the keystone of the Law of the River and allocates water between the two sub-basins: the Upper Basin and the Lower Basin, which are divided at Lee Ferry, located 20 miles downstream from Lake Powell. The Upper Basin (aka Upper Division) states are Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico (a very small part of Arizona is located above Lee Ferry). The Lower Basin (aka Lower Division) states are Arizona, Nevada, and California.

The negotiators of the Colorado River Compact assumed that the annual mean flow of the Colorado River at Lee Ferry was 17 or 18 million acre-feet (maf) per year of water based on the 20-30 years of gage records to that point. However, the long-term mean natural flow at Lee Ferry (1906-2021) has been 14.7 maf/yr, and from 2000-2021, the mean flow was only 12.3 maf/yr.

The Compact allocates 7.5 maf per year to the Upper Basin states and 7.5 maf per year to the Lower Basin states. The Compact also grants the Lower Basin the right to increase its water use by one million acre-feet annually and states that the Upper Basin “will not cause the flow at Lee Ferry to be depleted below an aggregate of 75,000,000 acre-feet for any period of ten consecutive years.” The Upper Basin has so far consistently met the terms of this non-depletion clause, albeit while using far less than its full 7.5 maf/yr allocation: about 4.5 maf/yr since 2015.
While the Colorado River Compact of 1922 did not include allocations to Mexico, it stipulated that any future water obligations to Mexico would be shared by the Upper and Lower Basins equally.

==Further allocation of water==
While the Colorado River Compact of 1922 was clear in its division of water between the Upper Basin and the Lower Basin, it did not specify the allocations to each state. The allocations that were subsequently made or quantified to the states and Mexico are summarized in the table below.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Who?
! Sub-region
! Allocation
! Legal Basis
|-
| Wyoming
| Upper Basin
| 11.25% of available Upper Basin supply (1.043 maf of 7.5 maf)
| Upper Colorado River Basin Compact (1948)
|-
| Colorado
| Upper Basin
| 51.75% (3.860 maf of 7.5 maf)
| Upper Colorado River Basin Compact (1948)
|-
| Utah
| Upper Basin
| 23% (1.710 maf of 7.5 maf)
| Upper Colorado River Basin Compact (1948)
|-
| New Mexico
| Upper Basin
| 11.25% (0.838 maf of 7.5 maf)
| Upper Colorado River Basin Compact (1948)
|-
| Arizona
| Upper Basin
| 0.050 maf
| Upper Colorado River Basin Compact (1948)
|-
| Arizona
| Lower Basin
| 2.800 maf
| Boulder Canyon Project Act (1928) & Arizona v. California decree (1964)
|-
| Nevada
| Lower Basin
| 0.300 maf
| Boulder Canyon Project Act (1928) & Arizona v. California decree (1964)
|-
| California
| Lower Basin
| 4.400 maf (+ not more than 50% of surplus)
| Boulder Canyon Project Act (1928) & Arizona v. California decree (1964)
|-
| Mexico
| n/a
| 1.500 maf (+ 0.2 maf in years of surplus)
| U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty (1944)
|}

==Tribal water rights==
While the 1922 Colorado River Compact did not explicitly grant any tribal water rights, its Article VII says that the Compact should not be interpreted as affecting the federal obligations to the tribes that were established by the Winters v. U.S. (1908) Supreme Court decision. Starting in 1963, under many separate court decisions and settlement acts, a total of over 3 maf/yr of diversion rights to the Colorado River water have been quantified and allocated to 18 of the 30 Tribes with reservations in the Colorado River Basin. Over half of these diversion rights by volume are allocated to three tribal nations: the Navajo Nation, the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation (Utah), and the Colorado River Indian Tribes (Arizona).

Another three Tribes receive Colorado River water under contracts with the federal government, but without formal quantification of their rights. One dozen Tribes have outstanding claims to water rights that have not been quantified at all, and five tribes have partially quantified claims. Tribal water rights are quantified based on the “practically irrigated acreage” of tribal lands, per Winters (1908) and Arizona v. California (1963); however, tribes are able to use the water for purposes other than agriculture after it has been allocated.

Not all of these diversion rights are exercised each year; many tribes lack sufficient water infrastructure to fully utilize their rights. The water that is actually consumed under these diversions rights--which may be as little as half of what was diverted, depending on location and use--is counted as part of the overall allocation made to the state in which the reservation is located. Some of the water allocated to tribes is leased to non-tribal water users--agricultural, municipal, and industrial. This [https://www.waterandtribes.org/_files/ugd/17c3c8_1fa6790c664842249959f156b927d10d.pdf 2021 policy brief] by the [https://www.waterandtribes.org/ Water & Tribes Initiative] contains much more detail about the status and usage of tribal water rights in the basin.

==Summary of selected laws and treaties that make up the Law of the River==
Adapted from the "Summary of the Law of the Colorado River" tables, pp. 21-27, in [https://watercenter.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/91/2021/11/CoWC-CR-Papers-Final-11032021.pdf Kwon and Gimbel] (2021).

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Law
! Key provisions/effects
! Relevance
|-
| Colorado River Compact (1922) 
| 7.5 maf/yr allocated to each of the Upper Basin and the Lower Basin. Upper Basin and Lower Basin are equally responsible for any future allocation to Mexico if not met by surplus above their own 7.5 maf/yr allocations. The Upper Basin will not cause the flow at Lee Ferry to be depleted below 75 maf for any consecutive ten year period.
| The Lower Basin has fully developed its Colorado River allocation; the Upper Basin has not. A future failure of the Upper Basin to meet the “non-depletion” clause could trigger a “Compact Call” by the Lower Basin.
|-
| Boulder Canyon Project Act (1928) 
| Congressionally ratified the Colorado River Compact and agreed to limit California to 4.4 maf. Authorized the building of the Hoover Dam and the All-American Canal; authorized the Secretary of the Interior as the Water Master in the Lower Basin. Suggested Lower Basin apportionments: - CA: 4.4 maf - AZ: 2.8 maf - NV: 0.3 maf
| Serves as the foundation for the management of Lower Basin water.
|-
| U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty (1944) 
| Appropriates 1.5 maf/yr to Mexico; an additional 0.2 maf if surplus supply; Mexico must share in shortage in case of “extraordinary drought.”
| Considered the first priority that must be met on the Colorado River
|-
| U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty Minutes (1946-present) 
| Minutes are used to clarify the implementation of the terms of the 1944 Treaty. A total of 150 minutes have been signed to date, notably: 242: Salinity Control 306: Environmental considerations 319: Cooperative measures to address variable Colorado River water supplies 323: Extends and clarifies Minute 319 to 2026
| Minutes 319 and 323 are especially significant as package agreements for Mexico to accept reduced deliveries (Minute 323), participate in shortages with the Lower Basin states (Minutes 319 and 323), and establishing the mechanism for accomplishing a “pulse flow” through the Colorado River Delta (Minute 319).
|-
| Upper Colorado River Basin Compact (1948) 
| Sets forth Upper Basin apportionment: - Arizona receives 50,000 acre-feet - Colorado: 51.75% of UB total - New Mexico: 11.25% - Wyoming: 14% - Utah: 23% Establishes Upper Colorado River Commission.
| The actual water supply available to these percentages changes based on hydrology and water storage. Arizona is the only state to receive a flat water volume.
|-
| Colorado River Storage Project Act (1956) 
| Congress commits funding to develop Colorado River water in the Upper Basin. Approved Glen Canyon Dam (Lake Powell), Flaming Gorge Dam and Reservoir, Navajo Dam and Reservoir, Blue Mesa Dam and Reservoir. Authorized participating projects and hydropower revenues.
| Directive for federal assistance to develop water in the Upper Basin. Serves to authorize storage facilities and promote water use.
|-
| Arizona v. California (1963, 1964) 
| ''1963 Supreme Court Decision'' Affirms the allocation of Lower Basin water made by the 1928 Boulder Canyon Project Act. Determines the allocation of reserved waters for five Tribes in the basin. ''1964 Decree'' Affirms Secretary of the Interior’s operational authority over water in the Lower Basin. Any surplus water to be split: CA: 50% AZ: 46% NV: 4% Even under shortage conditions, CA still receives full 4.4 maf/yr.
| Established the expectation that Lower Basin states will not have reservoir evaporation or water conveyance losses (currently ~1.2 maf/yr) counted against their 7.5 maf/yr allocation. 
Also created the expectation, by some, that the use of tributaries in the Lower Basin is separate from entitlements from the Colorado River mainstem. The Upper Basin states do not subscribe to this interpretation.
|-
| Colorado River Basin Project Act (1968) 
| Congress authorizes construction of the Central Arizona Project. Establishes coordinated operations of federal storage facilities in the Boulder Canyon Project Act (e.g., Mead) and Colorado River Storage Project Act (e.g., Powell) by setting release priorities: Releases to supply half of any deficiency for the Mexico Treaty Releases to provide 7.5 maf to the Lower Basin Storage of water in the Upper Basin to assure the two first two priorities are met in the future. Releases to meet additional uses in Lower Basin so long as Powell storage is not less than Mead, to equalize storage in Powell and Mead, or to avoid fill-and-spills from Powell.
| The calculation for determining the storage in (3) is the subject of disagreement between the Upper and Lower Basins. Excess releases beyond those needed to meet priorities (1-3) are known as “equalization releases.” 
NOTE: The later 2007 Interim Guidelines further allowed for releases greater than or less than 8.23 maf as needed to better balance reservoir storage between Lakes Powell and Mead between 2008 and 2026.
|-
| Long Range Operating Criteria (1970) 
| Reclamation establishes criteria for the coordinated operation of the Colorado River Storage Project (e.g., Powell) and Lake Mead. Sets the “minimum objective release” from Lake Powell at 8.23 maf. 
| 8.23 maf determined by prorating the the Upper Basin non-depletion requirement of 75 maf over 10 years (7.5 maf/yr), subtracting tributary inflows below Glen Canyon Dam and above Lee Ferry (0.02 maf), and adding half of the U.S.-Mexico Treaty allocation (0.75 maf). Affirmed notion of “normal”, “surplus”, and “shortage” years set up by 1968 CRBPA act, but silent as to how “surplus” and “shortage” years would be identified. 
|-
| Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and Coordinated Operations of Lake Powell and Lake Mead (2007) 
| Clarifies the definition of a “shortage” condition under which less than 7.5 maf/yr would be released from Lake Mead for Lower Basin users. Sets storage tiers for Powell under which different volume releases will be made, contingent on levels of Powell and Mead. Authorizes mechanisms for the storage in Lake Mead and future delivery of water that is conserved by Lower Basin users (“Intentionally Created Surplus”).
| The Interim Guidelines came about after rapidly declining levels of Powell and Mead in the wake of severe drought from 2000-2004 showed inadequacies of the 1970 Long Range Operating Criteria. Under the Guidelines, Reclamation made several releases >8.23 maf from Powell to balance storage with Mead in the late 2000s and 2010s when both reservoirs were below full capacity. While allowable under the Guidelines, such releases have proven controversial within the Upper Basin. In 2022, deliveries to AZ and NV were reduced a combined 333 kaf in accordance with the Guidelines. 
|-
| Drought Contingency Plans (DCPs; 2019) Interstate agreements
| Separate plans for the Upper and Lower Basin provide an overlay to the 2007 Interim Guidelines. Lower Basin DCP commits to implementing conservation measures or to accepting additional delivery reductions from Lake Mead. Upper Basin DCP (i) promotes weather modification to augment supplies; (ii) protects minimum power pool elevation at Lake Powell through upstream reservoir releases; (iii) investigates ‘demand management’ program to reduce UB use and store conserved water in Powell.
| Under the Lower Basin DCP, AZ and NV had a combined delivery reduction of 200 kaf in 2020, 2021, and 2022; in this last year, the DCP-imposed 200 kaf reduction was in addition to the 333 kaf reduction imposed under the 2007 Interim Guidelines. Future DCP-imposed delivery reductions may be greater and also include California, depending on Lake Mead levels. 
Under the Upper Basin DCP (ii), Reclamation made additional releases from Flaming Gorge (2021 and 2022) and Blue Mesa (2021) to help protect critical elevations at Lake Powell. Pilot efforts to inform demand management investigations have occurred throughout the Upper Basin, consistent with the Upper Basin DCP (iii), but a broader program has not yet been developed or implemented.

|}

==Development of new guidelines for post-2026 operations==

By 2005, declining reservoirs and increasing concern about the over-allocation of Colorado River water led to ongoing discussions regarding basin shortage guidelines. In 2007, after two years of development and a formal NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process resulting in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), a set of interim guidelines was signed by the Secretary of the Interior to implement shortage guidelines regarding water in the Colorado River basin through 2026.

The [https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/#InterimGuidelines Interim Guidelines] have these four purposes (i) managing shortages in Lake Mead and Lower Basin states; (ii) optimizing Lake Powell and Lake Mead operations, (iii) creating an intentional surplus in Lake Mead; and (iv) modifying and extending the existing interim surplus guidelines.
However, the shortage measures in the Interim Guidelines have proven insufficient to cope with the impacts of continuing poor hydrology and underlying basinwide imbalances. Large drawdowns in Powell and Mead during severe drought years in 2012-13 and 2018, with no recovery in intervening near-average flow years, spurred the development of the 2019 Drought Contingency Plans (DCPs).

In preparation for developing new guidelines for post-2026 operations, in 2020 Reclamation completed a [https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/#7.D.Review review] of the implementation of the 2007 Interim Guidelines, evaluating what has worked and not worked.

In November 2022, recognizing that still-declining reservoir levels could necessitate management actions beyond those laid out in the 2007 Interim Guidelines and 2019 DCPs, Reclamation filed a [https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/11/17/2022-25004/notice-of-intent-to-prepare-a-supplemental-environmental-impact-statement-for-december-2007-record Federal Notice of Intent] to prepare a [https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/SEIS.html Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for Near-term Colorado River Operations]. This SEIS, when completed in late 2023, will supplement the 2007 Interim Guidelines EIS, and serve as a bridge until the development of the new set of guidelines for post-2026 operations.

In June 2023, Reclamation began scoping for the post-2026 NEPA/EIS process. In October 2023, Reclamation released the [https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/documents/post2026/scoping/Post2026Operations_ScopingReport_October2023_508.pdf Scoping Report for Post-2026 Colorado River Reservoir Operations] and the [https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2023-23127.pdf Proposed Federal Action] based on that scoping report. Reclamation's [https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/post2026/index.html Post-2026 Operations web page] has more information about the NEPA process and its current status. For more background on the technical tools and approaches that Reclamation will use in the process, see the archived presentations to the [https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/post2026/itew.html Integrated Technical Education Workgroup (ITEW)].

In December 2023, Reclamation released the [https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/post2026/alternatives/webtool.html Post-2026 Operations Explorations Web Tool], which provides an interactive interface to the [[Colorado River Simulation System (CRSS)]] model, allowing stakeholders to develop operational strategies (i.e., ''alternatives'') using built-in customizable options and actually test them in the agency's policy model. In March, April, and May 2024, nine [https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/post2026/alternatives/index.html alternatives] or supplemental "concepts for consideration" were submitted to Reclamation by basin states, Tribal nations, environmental NGOs, and other basin stakeholders.

In May 2024, Reclamation [https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/interimguidelines/seis/index.html released the Record of Decision (ROD) for the SEIS] for near-term Colorado River Operations, implementing the Preferred Alternative identified in the Final SEIS. It addresses the potential for low-runoff conditions in the Basin between now and 2026 through limited adjustments to the 2007 Interim Guidelines. Due to the improved runoff conditions in water years 2023 and 2024, it is now highly unlikely that the adjustments implemented by the SEIS will be needed.

In November 2024, Reclamation [https://www.doi.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2024-11/narrative-updated.pdf released five proposed alternatives] to be analyzed over the coming year for the post-2026 draft EIS. The assumptions and implications of these alternatives were further detailed in a [https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/post2026/documents/CRWUA-2024-P26-Update.pdf presentation by Reclamation's Carly Jerla] to the CRWUA Annual Conference in December.

In January 2025, Reclamation [https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/documents/post2026/alternatives/Post-2026_Alternatives_Report_20250117_508.pdf released the Alternatives Report], which more comprehensively documents and compares the five proposed alternatives and their respective operational elements. In summer 2025, the deputy secretary of Interior imposed a November 11 deadline for the basin states to signal that they will reach a deal to present a single unified alternative, whose details would need to be submitted by February 2026. A [https://www.watereducation.org/western-water/colorado-river-negotiations-near-critical-deadline-new-way-looking-risk-revealing-hard September 2025 article in ''Western Water''] both updates the status of the basin state negotiations and provides historical background on the modeling approach Reclamation is using in the post-2026 process.

In January 2026, Reclamation [https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/post2026/draft-eis/index.html released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)] for the post-2026 operational guidelines and strategies for Lake Powell and Lake Mead. The DEIS evaluated five alternatives; no alternative was developed through consensus of all seven Basin states, and the DEIS did not identify any of the five as the "preferred" alternative. In February, the seven Basin states missed a Department of Interior-imposed deadline to reach an agreement, raising the prospect that the final DEIS slated to be released later in 2026 would not include an alternative endorsed by all of the Basin states. Comments on the DEIS that were submitted by states, tribes, local governments, elected officials, NGOs, and other stakeholders are available [https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/post2026/draft-eis/Public-Review-Comment-Process.html here].

In July 2026, Reclamation [https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/post2026/final-eis/index.html released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)]. [https://www.usbr.gov/newsroom/news-release/5383 According to Reclamation], the preferred alternative establishes an adaptive decision framework that can respond to changing conditions over the 10-year period through 2036. Under this framework, Reclamation would issue new operational guidelines every two years based on the prevailing hydrologic and reservoir conditions, but within the "operational sideboards" established in the EIS.

==References and additional resources==
[https://watercenter.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/91/2021/11/CoWC-CR-Papers-Final-11032021.pdf Quenching Thirst in the Colorado River Basin] by Kwon and Gimbel (2021)

[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lawrence-Macdonnell/publication/349064355_COLORADO_RIVER_BASIN/links/601dc237a6fdcc37a8063074/COLORADO-RIVER-BASIN.pdf Colorado River Basin] by Lawrence MacDonnell (2021)

[https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45546 Congressional Research Service Report on the River] (2022)

[https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/ Reclamation homepage] for Colorado River Basin

[https://wwa.colorado.edu/sites/default/files/2021-09/IWCS_2009_Jan_feature2.pdf Summary of 2007 Interim Guidelines] by Reclamation

[https://www.usu.edu/colorado-river-research-group/files/crrg_tribal_water_rights.pdf Tribes and Water in the Colorado River basin] by the Colorado River Research Group (2016)

[https://www.getches-wilkinsoncenter.cu.law/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Policy-Brief-1-The-Status-of-Tribal-Water-Rights.pdf The Status of Tribal Water Rights in the Colorado River Basin] by the Water and Tribes Initiative (2021)

New research

2026-07-31T16:55:40Z

JeffreyJLukas: /* Weather and climate */

==Overview==
This section of the Wiki highlights new and recent (2020- ) research publications relevant to the management of water and related resources in the Colorado River Basin: peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, agency reports, and other documents.

Below, these publications are listed by year of publication and organized by topic. Some publications are listed under more than one topic. A stable link to the online publication is provided at the end of each listing; for journal articles, the link goes to the article's homepage at the publisher's website--where users may find that the article is paywalled.

==Wiki library==
All of the 600+ publications listed below, plus another 400+ pre-2020 publications that were used as references for the [[2020 CRB State of the Science]] report, can also be viewed in [https://www.zotero.org/groups/4274378/colorado_river_science_wiki/library '''this searchable online database'''] (a [https://zotero.org Zotero] library).

The library allows users to view the bibliographic information like shown below, plus the abstract for many publications, and to search by author, year, or keyword. Links are provided to the vast majority of these publications; for journal articles, the link goes to the article's homepage at the publisher's website.

==2026==
----

===Weather and climate===
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Ding, Q., Shaw, T., Wang, H., Baxter, I., and Zhu, J. (2026). Regional drying over the Western U.S. driven by enhanced atmospheric subsidence amid global moistening from 1980 to 2020. Nature Communications, 17(1), 5270. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71818-w
----
Harrold, M., Tessendorf, S. A., Xue, L., et al. (2026). Evaluating the Precipitation Impacts of Cloud Seeding in Southern Wyoming and Northern Colorado using WRF-WxMod® within an Ensemble Modeling Framework. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, e250099. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-25-0099.1
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Hogan, D., Schwat, E., Gutmann, E., Vano, J., and Lundquist, J. D. (2026). Synoptic-Scale Systems Control Total Winter Sublimation at an Alpine Site. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 27(4), 529–547. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-25-0143.1
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Huang, H., Adebiyi, A. A., Liu, Y., et al. (2026). Spring Dust in Colorado Plateau: Transport Pathways and Interannual Variability Derived From Two Decades of MERRA-2 Reanalysis. Geophysical Research Letters, 53(1), e2025GL119096. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL119096
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Marshall, A. M., Cowherd, M., Rahimi, S., Ye, Y. (2026). The 2026 western US snow drought was about four times more likely due to climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 123(30), e2612961123. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2612961123
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McQuillan, K. A., Allen, G. H., Pearson, C., et al. (2026). Improving the Spatial Representation of Reservoir Evaporation Using SAR-Based Wind Fields. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, 23, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1109/LGRS.2026.3652374
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Meyer, J. D. D., Wright, T. E., Gu, H., and Gillies, R. R. (2026). Recent trends of Utah’s changing wintertime weather and climate characteristics. Journal of Climate, e250543. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-25-0543.1
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Shelton, S., Ballav, S., Conger, L., et al. (2026). Impacts of subtropical Pacific variability on snow precipitation fraction (SPF) in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Environmental Research Letters, 21(9), 094007. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae58bb
----
Siler, N., Koszuta, M., Rahimi, S., et al. (2026). Examining the Robustness of Weakened Orographic Influence on Precipitation in Downscaled Climate Projections Over the Western US. Geophysical Research Letters, 53(1), e2025GL119251. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL119251
----
Tien, Y.-C., and Gebremichael, M. (2026). Cool-season precipitation forecast evaluation over the headwaters of Central Valley and the Colorado River basin. Climate Dynamics, 64(5), 219. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-026-08108-0
----
Touma, D., and Deser, C. (2026). Projected Changes in Both Mean Climate and Climate Variability Drive Substantial Increases in Extreme Fire Weather in the Western United States. Journal of Climate, 39(14), 3953–3970. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-25-0077.1
----
Zhou, R., Perkins, R., Juergensen, D., et al. (2026). Seasonal variability, sources, and parameterization of ice-nucleating particles in the Rocky Mountain region: Importance of soil dust and biological contributions. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 26(2), 1515–1535. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-1515-2026
----

===Hydrology and water availability===
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Becker, S. M., Davies, G. E., Franz, T. E., Lampard, T. D., and Caldwell, T. G. (2026). Network‐wide assessment of soil water content calibration and sensitivity to biomass proxies using cosmic‐ray neutron sensing in the Roaring Fork Basin, Colorado. Vadose Zone Journal, 25(3), e70112. https://doi.org/10.1002/vzj2.70112
----
Besso, H., Mower, R., Pflug, J. M., and Lundquist, J. D. (2026). Mapping 1 April SWE in the Western US Using Standardized Anomalies and Quantiles From SWE Reanalysis and In Situ Stations. Water Resources Research, 62(1), e2025WR040902. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025WR040902
----
Bonacci, O., Žaknić-Ćatović, A., and Roje-Bonacci, T. (2026). Analysis of Annual Water Level Variability in the Mead and Powell Reservoirs of the Colorado River. Water, 18(2), 224. https://doi.org/10.3390/w18020224
----
Burns, M. C., and Maxwell, R. M. (2026). Comparing Snow Water Equivalent Estimations From Long Short-Term Memory Networks and Physics-Based Models in the Western United States. Water Resources Research, 62(2), e2025WR041178. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025WR041178
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Celupica-Liu, C., Ayres, N., and Ge, S. (2026). A novel method to estimate baseflow using open-source well data. Hydrogeology Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-026-03087-2
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Currier, W. R., Abel, M. R., Smith, R., Prairie, J., Baker, S., Butler, A., and Gutmann, E. D. (2026). Scale- and Seasonal-Dependent Sensitivity of Hydrologic Projections in the Colorado River Basin to Different Downscaling Methods. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 27(5), 737–749. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-25-0155.1
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Dixit, A., Rahimi, S., Huang, L., et al. (2026). High-resolution models better simulate historical snowpack declines in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Environmental Research Letters, 21(5), 054012. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae4113
----
Dougherty, E. M., Gochis, D., Harrold, M., et al. (2026). Simulated Hydrologic Impacts of Cloud Seeding in the North Platte and Little Snake River Basins of Wyoming. Water Resources Research, 62(2), e2024WR039383. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR039383
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Fox, A. S., Frank, J. M., Massman, W. J., and Ewers, B. E. (2026). Extracting Signals of Snowmelt From the Surface Energy Budget at a Rocky Mountain Eddy Covariance Site. Water Resources Research, 62(6), e2025WR042626. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025WR042626
----
Giovando, J., and Niemann, J. D. (2026). Vulnerability of Snowpack to Wildfire and Changing Climate within Western U.S. Ecoregions. Hydrological Processes, 40(2), e70377. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70377
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Gourley, K. C., Bennett, R. A., and Harig, C. (2026). Quantifying Changes in Water Loading in the U.S. Southwest via Comparison of GNSS, GRACE, and SWE Data Sets. Water Resources Research, 62(2), e2025WR040324. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025WR040324
----
Hogan, D., Schwat, E., Gutmann, E., Vano, J., and Lundquist, J. D. (2026). Synoptic-Scale Systems Control Total Winter Sublimation at an Alpine Site. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 27(4), 529–547. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-25-0143.1
----
Jackson, R., O’Brien, J., Grover, M., et al. (2026). Surface Quantitative Precipitation Estimates (SQUIRE) of Snow Water Equivalent from the Surface Atmospheric Integrated Field Laboratory. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 43(1), 77–93. https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-25-0023.1
----
Jadallah, N., and Maxwell, R. M. (2026). Model-based disaggregation of satellite-based total water storage anomalies for the Upper Colorado River Basin. Journal of Hydrology, 677, 135839. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135839
----
McQuillan, K. A., Allen, G. H., Pearson, C., et al. (2026). Improving the Spatial Representation of Reservoir Evaporation Using SAR-Based Wind Fields. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, 23, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1109/LGRS.2026.3652374
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Miller, O., P Miller, M., Longley, P., Schmadel, N., Wise, D., McDonnell, M., and Alder, J. (2026). Baseflow and snowmelt sustained streamflow in the Upper Colorado River Basin, 1986–2020. Environmental Research: Water, 2(2), 021002. https://doi.org/10.1088/3033-4942/ae6727
----
Mohajer, B., Famiglietti, J. S., Chandanpurkar, H. A., Hung, F., and Abdelmohsen, K. (2026). Key natural influences on groundwater storage changes in Central and Southern Arizona. Scientific Reports, 16(1), 14859. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-44132-0
----
Moiz, A., and Mascaro, G. (2026). Multiscale Assessment of the Water Balance Components in Arizona Simulated by the National Water Model. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 62(1), e70080. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.70080
----
Palumbo, D., Gangopadhyay, S., and Lall, U. (2026). Precipitation, moderated by spring temperature and vegetation, drives runoff efficiency in the Upper Colorado River Basin, USA. Communications Earth & Environment, 7(1), 115. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-03136-w
----
Schultz, K., Morrison, R. R., Rathburn, S., Mertz, C., and Christensen, N. (2026). Forensic Hydraulic Analysis of Floodplain Connectivity Driven by Historical Beaver Dams in Colorado Headwater Streams. River Research and Applications, rra.70165. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.70165
----
Siirila-Woodburn, E. R., Thiros, N., Newcomer, M., et al. (2026). Warming and snow loss increase reliance on old groundwater in a Colorado River headwater. Nature Geoscience, 19(5), 549–555. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-026-01945-y
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Small, E. E., Raleigh, M. S., and Herbert, J. N. (2026). Measure Less, Map More: Using Machine Learning, Physiography, and Prior Depth Maps to Extrapolate In‐Swath Snow Depth Measurements Across Mountain Basins. Geophysical Research Letters, 53(10), e2026GL121711. https://doi.org/10.1029/2026GL121711
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Wang, Z., Ghimire, S., Whitney, K. M., Mascaro, G., Xiao, M., Yue, H., and Vivoni, E. R. (2026). Revisiting the application of variable infiltration capacity (VIC) model in the Colorado River Basin using SMAP and GRACE. Scientific Reports, 16(1), 15890. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-47430-9
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===Water management, planning, and policy===
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Alberts, Z. (2026). The Old Flows with the New: Interstate Compacts as a Modern Mechanism for Water Governance on the Colorado River. Water Law Review, 29(1), 1–19. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/wlr/vol29/iss1/5/
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Berggren, J., and Wheeler, K. (2026). The Utility of Operationally Neutral and Flexible Conservation Pools in the Colorado River Basin. Concept Paper. Western Resource Advocates. 6 p. https://westernresourceadvocates.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026-5-4-Conservation-Pools.pdf
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Broman, D., Voisin, N., Steinschneider, S., et al. (2026). How Hydropower Operations Mitigate Flow Forecast Uncertainties to Maintain Grid Services in the Western U.S. Water Resources Research, 62(2), e2025WR040943. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025WR040943
----
Clark, W. (2026). Gorsuch’s Dissent and the Current State of Navajo Water Rights Claims. Utah Law Review, 2026(1). https://doi.org/10.63140/adyzx21-8-
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Crespo, D., Nemati, M., Dinar, A., Frankel, Z., and Halberg, N. (2026). Developing a Decision Support Model to Assess the Value of Cooperation Benefits Under Climate Change: Case of the Colorado River Basin in the United States. In M. Shahbazbegian & A. Dinar (Eds.), Decision Support Models to Assist International and Transboundary Water Negotiations: Methodologies and Applications. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197802601.003.0008
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Fager, B., Myers, A., Porse, E., and Rosenberg, D. (2026). How a 3 to 5-Year Experimental Lake Powell and Lake Mead Release Program Tied to Reservoir Inflows can be a Win for Adaptive Risk Management. Utah State University. https://doi.org/10.26077/749C-2BD9
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Fager, B., Rosenberg, D., and Porse, E. (2026). Why Communicating Minimum Drawdown Elevations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead Can Mitigate Risks of Volatile Colorado River Flow. Utah State University. https://doi.org/10.15142/H11W-A657
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Gerlak, A. K., Smith, G., Loera Alonso, A. R. J., et al. (2026). Perspectives on United States–Mexico Cooperation on the Colorado River. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 68(1), 14–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2025.2575762
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Kuhn, E., Castle, A., de la Parra, C., Fleck, J., Schmidt, J., Sorensen, K., and Tara, K. (2026). Rethinking How the United States and Mexico Share the Colorado River. Getches-Wilkinson Center, University of Colorado Boulder. 27 p. https://www.colorado.edu/center/gwc/media/754
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Loera Alonso, A. R. J., Gerlak, A. K., and Smith, G. (2026). Minute 330 of the US–Mexico Water Treaty: A Testament to Transboundary Cooperation Amidst Drought in the Colorado River Basin. Water, 18(7), 775. https://doi.org/10.3390/w18070775
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Ma, X., Wang, J., Gharari, S., Mizukami, N., and Lettenmaier, D. P. (2026). Monitoring Reservoir Storage Using SWOT Satellite Observations and a Reservoir Operation Model. Water Resources Research, 62(3), e2025WR041223. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025WR041223
----
Menjivar Maldonado, A., Megdal, S. B., and Whiteman Runs Him, H. (2026). Tribal Water Rights Settlement Acts Involving Arizona and Their Impacts on Water Security. Water, 18(6), 741. https://doi.org/10.3390/w18060741
----
Reclamation. (2026). Post-2026 Operational Guidelines and Strategies for Lake Powell and Lake Mead – Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Bureau of Reclamation, Upper and Lower Colorado Basins, Interior Regions 7 and 8. January 2026. https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/post2026/draft-eis/index.html
----
Rice, J. (2026). The Glen Canyon Dam, the flood of 1983, and a normal accident on the Colorado River corridor. Water History. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12685-026-00392-1
----
Scariano, J. (2026). Charging Ahead or Drying Up? Lithium Extraction vs Colorado River Stewardship. Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, 51(1), 148–173. https://doi.org/10.52214/cjel.v51i1.14600
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Schumacher, B. L., Yost, M. A., Ulrich-Schad, J. D., Barker, B., and Null, S. E. (2026). Agricultural Water Manager Perspectives on Water Markets in Utah. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 62(1), e70085. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.70085
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Sorensen, K., Porter, S., Castle, A., et al. (2026). Considerations for Assigned Water after Expiration of the 2007 Guidelines (p. 42). Kyl Center for Water Policy at Morrison Institute. https://morrisoninstitute.asu.edu/kyl-center-water-policy/publication/considerations-assigned-water-after-expiration-2007-guidelines
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Tadych, D. E., Colby, B. G., and Condon, L. E. (2026). Impact of Groundwater Management on Drought Responses in the Southwest. Weather, Climate, and Society, 18(1), 75–89. https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-24-0156.1
----

===Water use===
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ASU Kyl Center. (2026). From Copper, Cattle and Cotton to Chips and Cloud Computing: Large Water Uses in Central Arizona (p. 23). Kyl Center for Water Policy at Morrison Institute. https://morrisoninstitute.asu.edu/copper-cattle-and-cotton-chips-and-cloud-computing-large-water-uses-central-arizona
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Crespo, D., Nemati, M., Dinar, A., Frankel, Z., and Halberg, N. (2026). Climate change impacts and adaptation in the agricultural sector of the Colorado River Basin: A hydro-economic analysis. In A. Dinar and R. O. Mendelsohn (Eds.), Handbook on Climate Change Impacts, Mitigation, and Adaptation in Agriculture (pp. 258–278). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035344970.00021
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Elsadek, E. A., Attalah, S., Williams, C., Thorp, K. R., Wang, D., and Elshikha, D. E. M. (2026). Comparing Cotton ET Data from a Satellite Platform, In Situ Sensor, and Soil Water Balance Method in Arizona. Agriculture, 16(2), 228. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16020228
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Lucas, N., and Haghdadi, M. (2026). Golf (dis)courses: A political ecology analysis of water usage in an arid area. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 25148486251411654. https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486251411654
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Qubaja, R., Vivoni, E. R., Moinester, M., and Pataki, D. E. (2026). Open canal evaporation in an arid urban environment in Arizona estimated with measurements of water isotopes. Journal of Hydrology, 677, 135765. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135765
----
Scariano, J. (2026). Charging Ahead or Drying Up? Lithium Extraction vs Colorado River Stewardship. Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, 51(1), 148–173. https://doi.org/10.52214/cjel.v51i1.14600
----

===Water quality and sediment===
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Carlson, J. (2026). Expanding the Good Samaritan Program: Cleaning Up the Colorado River, One Mine at a Time. Wyoming Law Review, 26(2), 375–398. https://doi.org/10.59643/1942-9916.1538
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Clements, E., Crank, K., Hannoun, D., and Gerrity, D. (2026). Quantitative microbial risk assessment of the impact of drought and seasonality on a de facto reuse system in Southern Nevada, USA. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, 12(2), 620–635. https://doi.org/10.1039/D5EW00514K
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Day, N. K., King, T. V., and Mosbrucker, A. R. (2026). A Comparison of Non-Contact Methods for Measuring Turbidity in the Colorado River. Remote Sensing, 18(4), 638. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs18040638
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Han, H., Park, S., Bazrkar, M. H., et al. (2026). Integrated Random Forest and APEX-MODFLOW model for predicting and mapping river salinity in the Animas Watershed, Colorado River Basin. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 64, 103302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103302
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Manning, A. H., Runkel, R. L., Morrison, J. M., et al. (2026). Distinguishing natural from mining-related metal sources by including streambank groundwater data in a stream mass loading study. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 277, 104841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconhyd.2026.104841
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Miller, M. P., Miller, O. L., Longley, P. C., et al. (2026). The Role of Groundwater in Contributing to Surface Water Salinization in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Geophysical Research Letters, 53(8), e2025GL118834. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL118834
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Sartain, S., Kaplinski, M., Kohl, K., Chapman, K., Bransky, N., Sankey, J. B., and Grams, P. (2026). Continuous and high-resolution longitudinal profiles of the water surface and riverbed elevation for 282 miles of the Colorado River from Lees Ferry to Pearce Ferry, Arizona, 2021. Scientific Investigations Report 2026–5010, 40 p. US Geological Survey. https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20265010
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Steigerwald, J., Trenholm, R., Quiñones, O., Vanderford, B. J., and Dickenson, E. (2026). Identifying sources of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in an arid environment with de facto reuse. Frontiers in Environmental Chemistry, Volume 7-2026. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/environmental-chemistry/articles/10.3389/fenvc.2026.1694851
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Stewart, B. D., Bone, S. E., Spielman-Sun, E., et al. (2026). Organic colloid composition in variable-redox porewaters within a mountainous floodplain. Water Research, 295, 125556. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2026.125556
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===Ecosystems and environment===
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Bromley, F. L., Broxton, P. D., Zhang, J., et al. (2026). Groundwater Dependency and Hydroclimatic Influences on Riparian and Upland Vegetation Productivity, Upper San Pedro, Arizona, United States. Hydrological Processes, 40(3), e70405. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70405
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Cheng, Y., McColl, K. A., Mickley, L. J., and Feng, X. (2026). Large Overestimation of Projected Western U.S. Wildfire Burned Forest Area With Warming. AGU Advances, 7(2), e2026AV002350. https://doi.org/10.1029/2026AV002350
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Clark Barkalow, S. L., Mortensen, J. G., and Platania, S. P. (2026). Using fin ray microchemistry to discriminate hatchery sources and evaluate natural recruitment of an endangered catostomid, Razorback Sucker, in the San Juan River, Colorado River basin. North American Journal of Fisheries Management, 46(3), 621–635. https://doi.org/10.1093/najfmt/vqag015
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Dzul, M. C., Van Haverbeke, D. R., Young, K., Yackulic, C. B., Rinker, P., and Yard, M. (2026). Integrating mark-recapture, catch, and expert habitat assessments to quantify recent increases in humpback chub abundance over a 200 km long river segment of the Colorado River in western Grand Canyon. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 83, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2025-0169
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Friesen, B., Pennock, C. A., and Budy, P. (2026). Invasion potential of nonnative fishes through a large western dam into an iconic and vulnerable ecosystem. Hydrobiologia. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-026-06137-8
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González-Sargas, E., Meehan, T. D., Hinojosa-Huerta, O., et al. (2026). Bird guilds exhibit varied responses to floodplain forest restoration in the Colorado River delta, Mexico. Journal of Arid Environments, 234, 105558. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2026.105558
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Kasprak, A., Bowen, B., DeHoff, M., et al. (2026). Decadal-Scale Trajectories of Land Cover Change Along the Colorado and San Juan Rivers in Response to Declining Water Storage in Lake Powell Reservoir. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 131(2), e2025JG009355. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JG009355
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Richer, E. E., Friesen, B., Brubaker, A. E., Kowalski, D. A., Kondratieff, M. C., and Barnes, T. A. (2026). Making Waves: The Effects of Whitewater Parks on Fish Passage in Colorado. River Research and Applications, 42(2), 295–310. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.70069
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Schultz, K., Morrison, R. R., Rathburn, S., Mertz, C., and Christensen, N. (2026). Forensic Hydraulic Analysis of Floodplain Connectivity Driven by Historical Beaver Dams in Colorado Headwater Streams. River Research and Applications, rra.70165. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.70165
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Soles, E., Cooper, M., and Saito, L. (2026). Anastomosis and Low Flows Sustain Resilient Groundwater Dependent Riparian Floodplains in an Agricultural River Valley, New Mexico. Hydrological Processes, 40(2), e70406. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70406
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Stevens, L. E., Holway, J. H., and Ellsworth, C. (2026). Tributary-to-Mainstream Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Discontinuities in the Colorado River, Southwestern USA. Water, 18(3), 395. https://doi.org/10.3390/w18030395
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===Societal and economic issues===
----
Lucas, N., and Haghdadi, M. (2026). Golf (dis)courses: A political ecology analysis of water usage in an arid area. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 25148486251411654. https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486251411654
----
Menjivar Maldonado, A., Megdal, S. B., and Whiteman Runs Him, H. (2026). Tribal Water Rights Settlement Acts Involving Arizona and Their Impacts on Water Security. Water, 18(6), 741. https://doi.org/10.3390/w18060741
----

==2025==
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===Cross-cutting reports===
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Anderson, P. J., Godaire, J. E., Jones, D. K., et al. (2025). Collaborative drought science planning in the Colorado River Basin. Open-File Report No. 2025–1041; 32 p. U.S. Geological Survey. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20251041
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===Weather and climate===
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Adler, B., Caicedo, V., Butterworth, B. J., et al. (2025). The Short Life of Upvalley Wind in a High‐Altitude Valley in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 130(11), e2025JD043455. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JD043455
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Alessi, M. J., Connolly, C. J., Barnes, E. A., and Rugenstein, M. (2025). Southern Hemisphere Surface Warming Drives Southwestern U.S. Precipitation according to AI-Informed Climate Model Simulations. Journal of Climate, 38(24), 7655–7667. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-25-0176.1
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Battula, S. B., Cordeira, J. M., Nash, D., Rutz, J. J., and Ralph, F. M. (2025). Leveraging the Atmospheric River Framework to Categorize Top-Decile Precipitation Regimes in Colorado. Geophysical Research Letters, 52(18), e2025GL117528. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL117528
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Cleveland, Z., Laguë, M., and Strong, C. (2025). North American Monsoon Response to Antecedent Soil Moisture and Snow in the Colorado Plateau. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 130(16), e2024JD043026. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JD043026
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Currier, W. R., McCrary, R., Abel, M. R., et al. (2025). End-of-Century Changes in Orographic Precipitation with the Intermediate Complexity Atmospheric Research Model over the Western United States. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 26, 577–595. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-24-0071.1
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Dougherty, E. M., Tessendorf, S. A., & DeCastro, A. (2025). Historical Warming and Drying in Colorado and Their Impact on Cool-Season Precipitation and Snow. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 26(9), 1261–1273. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-24-0153.1
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Jackson, R., O’Brien, J., Grover, M., et al. (2025). Surface Quantitative Precipitation Estimates (SQUIRE) of snow water equivalent from the Surface Atmospheric Integrated Laboratory. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, e250023. https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-25-0023.1
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Klavans, J. M., DiNezio, P. N., Clement, A. C., Deser, C., Shanahan, T. M., and Cane, M. A. (2025). Human emissions drive recent trends in North Pacific climate variations. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09368-2
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Kuo, Y.-N., Lehner, F., Simpson, I. R., et al. (2025). Recent southwestern US drought exacerbated by anthropogenic aerosols and tropical ocean warming. Nature Geoscience, 18(7), 578–585. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-025-01728-x
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Luna-Niño, R., Gershunov, A., Ralph, F. M., et al. (2025). Heresy in ENSO teleconnections: Atmospheric rivers as disruptors of canonical seasonal precipitation anomalies in the Southwestern US. Climate Dynamics, 63(2), 115. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-025-07583-1
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Mondal, S., and Vivoni, E. R. (2025). Hot Drought of Summer 2023 in Southwestern North America. Geophysical Research Letters, 52(18), e2025GL118308. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL118308
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Moore, B. J., Mahoney, K. M., and Abel, M. (2025). Extreme Wet Spells in the Upper Colorado River Basin during the Cool Season. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 26(7), 951–973. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-24-0125.1
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Pye, M. J., and Pu, Z. (2025). The Synoptic-Scale Circulation during the Western U.S. Drought of 2021 and 2022. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 64(8), 1001–1015. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-24-0059.1
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Rudisill, W., Feldman, D., Cox, C. J., Riihimaki, L., and Sedlar, J. (2025). Seasonality and Albedo Dependence of Cloud Radiative Forcing in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 130(6), e2024JD042366. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JD042366
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Rugg, A., McCrary, R., Rhoades, A., Yates, D., Abel, M., and Devineni, N. (2025). Climate models show Colorado drying sooner and with greater certainty east of the Continental Divide. Environmental Research Communications, 7(9), 091009. https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ae05f6
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Sengupta, A., Waliser, D. E., DeFlorio, M. J., et al. (2025). Role of evolving sea surface temperature modes of variability in improving seasonal precipitation forecasts. Communications Earth & Environment, 6(1), 256. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02235-y
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Tezcan, B., and Garcia, M. (2025). Training a hidden Markov model with PMDI and temperature to create climate informed scenarios. Frontiers in Water, 7, 1472695. https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2025.1472695
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Todd, V. L., Shanahan, T. M., DiNezio, P. N., et al. (2025). North Pacific ocean–atmosphere responses to Holocene and future warming drive Southwest US drought. Nature Geoscience, 18(7), 646–652. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-025-01726-z
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Wang, Y., Geerts, B., Liu, C., and Jing, X. (2025). A Convection-Permitting Regional Climate Simulation of Changes in Precipitation and Snowpack in a Warmer Climate over the Interior Western United States. Climate, 13(3), 46. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli13030046
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Woodhouse, C. A., Crimmins, M. A., and Meko, M. D. (2025). The Role of Seasonal Precipitation Sequences in Shaping the Climate of the United States Southwest. International Journal of Climatology, 45(15), e70138. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.70138
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Yue, H., Mascaro, G., Wang, Z., and Vivoni, E. R. (2025). Hydrometeorological Forecast Skill of the North American Multimodel Ensemble in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 26(7), 933–949. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-24-0087.1
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===Hydrology and water availability===
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Abdelmohsen, K., Famiglietti, J. S., Ao, Y. Z., Mohajer, B., and Chandanpurkar, H. A. (2025). Declining Freshwater Availability in the Colorado River Basin Threatens Sustainability of Its Critical Groundwater Supplies. Geophysical Research Letters, 52(10). https://doi.org/10.1029/2025gl115593
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Abud-Russell, Y. R., Hatch-Kuri, G., Lara, M. D. C. C., and Aguilar-Castillo, T. (2025). Environmental evidence of surface manifestations of regional groundwater flows in the lower Colorado River Basin: The case Mexicali Valley, Mexico. Groundwater for Sustainable Development, 31, 101510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsd.2025.101510
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Akkala, A., Boubrahimi, S. F., Hamdi, S. M., Hosseinzadeh, P., and Nassar, A. (2025). Spatio-Temporal Graph Neural Networks for Streamflow Prediction in the Upper Colorado Basin. Hydrology, 12(3), 60. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology12030060
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Ban, Z., Udall, B., and Lettenmaier, D. P. (2025). Decelerating Response of Western US Runoff to Shrinking Snowpacks. Geophysical Research Letters, 52(9), e2025GL114629. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL114629
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Brooks, P. D., Solomon, D. K., Kampf, S., et al. (2025). Groundwater dominates snowmelt runoff and controls streamflow efficiency in the western United States. Communications Earth & Environment, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02303-3
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Broxton, P. D., Biederman, J. A., Dwivedi, R., et al. (2025). Forest Patch Geometry and Climate Regulate the Impact of Forest Thinning on Snowpack in the Southwest United States. Ecohydrology, 18(6), e70111. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.70111
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Day, N. K., Longley, P. C., Wise, D. R., and McDonnell, M. (2025). Effects of climate on temporal variability in streamflow and salinity in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 61, 102672. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2025.102672
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Doskocil, L. G., Fassnacht, S. R., Barnard, D. M., Pfohl, A. K. D., Derry, J. E., and Sanford, W. E. (2025). Twin-Peaks Streamflow Timing: Can We Use Forest and Alpine Snow Melt-Out Response to Estimate? Water, 17(13), 2017. https://doi.org/10.3390/w17132017
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Elkouk, A., Pokhrel, Y., Luo, L., Payton, E., and Livneh, B. (2025). Modeling the Effects of Aridification on Hydrologic Fluxes and Reservoir Dynamics in the U.S. Southwest. Earth’s Future, 13(9), e2025EF006372. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EF006372
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Fassnacht, S. R., and Pfohl, A. K. D. (2025). Snowmelt Streamflow Trends over Colorado (U.S.A.) Mountain Watersheds. Climate, 13(9), 177. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli13090177
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Herbert, J. N., Raleigh, M. S., and Small, E. E. (2025). Using a Random Forest Model to Combine Airborne Lidar and Snotel Data for Daily Estimates of Snow Depth Across Mountain Drainage Basins of Colorado. Water Resources Research, 61(8), e2024WR039775. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR039775
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Johnson, K., Williams, K. H., Christensen, J. N., et al. (2025). Hidden Features: How Subsurface and Landscape Heterogeneity Govern Hydrologic Connectivity and Stream Chemistry in a Montane Watershed. Hydrological Processes, 39(3), e70085. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70085
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Khorrami, M., Werth, S., Zehsaz, S., and Shirzaei, M. (2025). Drought-induced changes in groundwater-surface water exchange at Lake Mead area. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 62, 102996. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2025.102996
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Koshkin, A., Marshall, A. M., and Rittger, K. (2025). Impact of current and warmer climate conditions on snow cover loss in burned forests. Science Advances, 11(38), eadt9866. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adt9866
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Lai, Y., Choi, B., and Roy, S. B. (2025). Bayesian inference of historical streamflow changes suggests further stress in the Colorado River Basin. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 61, 102619. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2025.102619
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Li, W., Maharjan, S., Fisher, J. B., Piechota, T., and El‐Askary, H. (2025). Escalating Hydrological Extremes and Whiplashes in the Western U.S.: Challenges for Water Management and Frontline Communities. Earth’s Future, 13(5), e2024EF005447. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EF005447
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Li, Y., Jamil, R., and VanLooy, J. (2025). Accelerated Glacier Thinning and Area Loss in the Wind River Range, Wyoming (1968–2019): Climate and Topographic Drivers. Remote Sensing, 17(5), 916. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17050916
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Li, Z., Sahotra, H., Ahmad, S., et al. (2025). A Distributed Machine Learning Model for Blue and Green Water Resources With Transferable Applications in Similar Climatic Zones. Water Resources Research, 61(5), e2024WR039169. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR039169
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Naple, P., Skiles, S. M., Lang, O. I., et al. (2025). Dust on Snow Radiative Forcing and Contribution to Melt in the Colorado River Basin. Geophysical Research Letters, 52(5), e2024GL112757. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112757
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Norris, J., Rahimi, S., Huang, L., Bass, B., Thackeray, C. W., and Hall, A. (2025). Uncertainty of 21st Century western U.S. snowfall loss derived from regional climate model large ensemble. Npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, 8(1), 134. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-01002-2
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Puente, P., Rajagopalan, B., and Condon, L. E. (2025). Understanding the temporal variability and predictability of streamflow signatures in the Colorado River Basin. Journal of Hydrology, 648, 132386. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.132386
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Raleigh, M. S., Small, E. E., Bair, E. H., Wobus, C., and Rittger, K. (2025). Snow monitoring at strategic locations improves water supply forecasting more than basin-wide mapping. Communications Earth & Environment, 6(1), 665. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02660-z
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Ratterman, C., Zhang, W., Affram, G., & Bean, B. (2025). Improving CFSv2 Snow Water Equivalent Forecasts in the Colorado River Basin with Generalized Analog Regression Downscaling. Weather and Forecasting. https://doi.org/10.1175/WAF-D-23-0196.1
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Reynolds, R. L., Goldstein, H. L., Kokaly, R., et al. (2025). Light Absorbing Particles Deposited to Snow Cover Across the Upper Colorado River Basin, Colorado, 2013–2016: Interannual Variations From Multiple Natural and Anthropogenic Sources. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 130(2), e2024JD041676. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JD041676
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Salehabadi, H., Tarboton, D. G., Wheeler, K., Prairie, J., Smith, R., and Baker, S. (2025). Developing Storylines of Plausible Future Streamflow and Generating a New Warming‐Driven Declining Streamflow Ensemble: Colorado River Case Study. Water Resources Research, 61(1), e2024WR038618. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR038618
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Scanlon, B. R., Pool, D. R., Rateb, A., Conway, B., Sorensen, K., Udall, B., and Reedy, R. C. (2025). Multidecadal drought impacts on the Lower Colorado Basin with implications for future management. Communications Earth & Environment, 6(1), 214. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02149-9
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Schwat, E., Hogan, D., Paw U, K. T., et al. (2025). Estimating snow sublimation in complex terrain: a season of intensive field measurements and the role of vertical water vapor flux divergence. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 26(10), 1455-1473. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-25-0022.1
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Tatum, J., Sankey, T. T., Belmonte, A., Dymond, S. F., and Woolley, T. (2025). Five Years of Hourly Soil Water Potential Monitoring Demonstrates Forest Thinning Benefits in the North American Southwest. Ecohydrology, 18(6), e70104. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.70104
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Thiros, N. E., Woodburn, E. R., Gardner, W. P., Dennedy-Frank, J. P., & Williams, K. H. (2025). Matrix Diffusion Controls Mountain Hillslope Groundwater Ages and Inferred Storage Dynamics. Groundwater. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwat.13475
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Tillman, F. D., Masbruch, M. D., Knight, J. E., et al. (2025). Hydrologic response of groundwater and streamflow to natural and anthropogenic drivers of change in headwaters of the upper Colorado River basin during recent wet (1982–1999) and drought (2000–2022) conditions. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 60, 102554. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2025.102554
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Wang, B., Bass, B., Hall, A., Rahimi, S., and Huang, L. (2025). Disentangling climate and policy uncertainties for the Colorado River post-2026 operations. Nature Communications, 16(1), 8625. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-63635-4 [https://wrf-cmip6-noversioning.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html#ben_temp/d02_9km/Sims_LSM_Only/0_Final_post_BC/ Link to GCM data (CMIP6-WRF) used in paper]
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Wang, L., Babey, T., Perzan, Z., Pierce, S., Briggs, M., Boye, K., and Maher, K. (2025). Quantifying Groundwater Response and Uncertainty in Beaver-Influenced Mountainous Floodplains Using Machine Learning-Based Model Calibration. Water Resources Research, 61(9), e2024WR039192. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR039192
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Wang, L., Xu, Z., Wang, C., et al. (2025). The Role of Snowmelt and Subsurface Heterogeneity in Headwater Hydrology of a Mountainous Catchment in Colorado: A Model-Data Integration Approach. Water Resources Research, 61(10), e2025WR040651. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025WR040651
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Wolf, M. A., Jamison, L., Strong, C., and Brooks, P. D. (2025). Periodic Variability in Baseflow in Headwater Streams of the Upper Colorado River: Implications for Runoff Efficiency. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 61(2), e70017. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.70017
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Yue, H., Wang, Y., Zhang, L., and Yang, T. (2025). A Machine Learning-Based Water Supply Forecasting Model to Quantify the Impact of Snow Water Equivalent on Seasonal Streamflow Variability Over the Western U.S. Journal of Hydrology, 660, 133465. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.133465
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Zanewich, K. P., and Rood, S. B. (2025). Regional Differences in High Elevation Snowpack Decline Along the North American Rocky Mountains. Hydrological Processes, 39(5), e70153. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70153
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===Water management, planning, and policy===
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Colby, B., Hansen, K., and Sorensen, K. (2025). Policy Note: Tough Tradeoffs in the Colorado River Basin. Water Economics and Policy. https://doi.org/10.1142/S2382624X24710024
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Colorado River Research Group. (2025). Colorado River Insights, 2025: Dancing with Deadpool. (64 pp.) Getches-Wilkinson Center, University of Colorado Boulder. https://www.colorado.edu/center/gwc/ColoradoRiverInsights2025DancingWithDeadpool
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Fernandes, S., Fernandes, G. W., Pereira, C. C., Raty, J., and Wheeler, K. (2025). Reimagining river governance: Insights from the Colorado river crisis. BioScience, biaf037. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaf037
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Hovis, M., Gerlak, A. K., Heikkila, T., et al. (2025). Illuminating the collective learning continuum in the Colorado River Basin Science-Policy Forums. Environmental Policy and Governance, 35(1), 26–47. https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.2125
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Kuhn, E., Tara, K. H., and Fleck, J. (2025). A Horse Named “Stream Depletion Theory”: The History and Negotiation of the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact. Natural Resources Journal, 65(1), 69–122.
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Reclamation. (2025). Alternatives Report: Post-2026 Operational Guidelines and Strategies for Lake Powell and Lake Mead (46 pp.). Bureau of Reclamation Upper and Lower Colorado Basin Regions. https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/documents/post2026/alternatives/Post-2026_Alternatives_Report_20250117_508.pdf
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Robison, J. A. (2025). Relational River: Arizona v. Navajo Nation & the Colorado. UCLA Law Review, 72, 87. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4732273
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Schmidt, J., Castle, A., Fleck, J., Kuhn, E., Sorensen, K., and Tara, K. (2025). Analysis of Colorado River Basin Storage Suggests Need For Immediate Action (13 pp.). Getches-Wilkinson Center, University of Colorado Boulder. https://www.colorado.edu/center/gwc/media/670
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Singhal, A., Szinai, J. K., Yates, D., and Jones, A. D. (2025). Evaluating How Climate Adaptation Measures Affect the Interconnected Water‐Energy Resource Systems of the Western United States. Earth’s Future, 13(7), e2025EF006072. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EF006072
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Sorensen, K., Porter, S., Kuhn, E., and Campbell, C. (2025). Enduring Solutions on the Colorado River Part II: Floating Pools and Grand Bargains (13 pp.). Kyl Center for Water Policy, Arizona State University. https://issuu.com/asuwattscollege/docs/floating_pools_grand_bargains
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Wang, B., Bass, B., Hall, A., Rahimi, S., and Huang, L. (2025). Disentangling climate and policy uncertainties for the Colorado River post-2026 operations. Nature Communications, 16(1), 8625. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-63635-4
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Womble, P., Gorelick, S. M., Thompson, B. H., and Hernandez-Suarez, J. S. (2025). A strategic environmental water rights market for Colorado River reallocation. Nature Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01585-x
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===Water use===
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Silber-Coats, N., Elias, E., Fernald, K., & Gagliardi, M. (2025). Evaluating alternative crops as a solution to water stress in the U.S. Southwest. Agricultural Water Management, 312, 109439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109439
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===Water quality and sediment===
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Arienzo, M. M., Gleason, K. E., Sexstone, G. A., et al. (2025). Latitudinal gradients of snow contamination in the Rocky Mountains associated with anthropogenic sources. Environmental Pollution, 373, 126094. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2025.126094
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Carey, C., Deemer, B., Gibney, N., et al. (2025). Assessing risk for enhanced cyanobacteria, phytoplankton, and pathogens with changes in water level regime with potential application to Lake Powell and Lake Mead: A mixed methods literature review. National Park Service. https://doi.org/10.36967/2307521
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Day, N. K., Longley, P. C., Wise, D. R., and McDonnell, M. (2025). Effects of climate on temporal variability in streamflow and salinity in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 61, 102672. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2025.102672
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Deemer, B. R., Andrews, C. M., Reibold, R. H., et al. (2025). Low water levels interact with reservoir aging to increase the severity of summertime metalimnion dissolved oxygen minima in Lake Powell, desert Southwest USA. Inland Waters, 1–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/20442041.2025.2476309
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Graves, B. P., Ralph, T. J., and Morgan, A. M. (2025). Channel breakdown and avulsion in arroyos feeding the Little Colorado River, Arizona, USA. Geomorphology, 468, 109501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2024.109501
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Holmes, R., Kroepsch, A., and Singha, K. (2025). River Communities, Disaster Science, and the Politics of Water Safety: Understanding Water Quality Debates in the Aftermath of the Gold King Mine Spill. Environmental Communication, 19(2), 294–310. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2024.2390064
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King, T. V., Bean, R. A., Walton‐Day, K., et al. (2025). Remote Sensing of Chlorophyll-a and Temperature to Support Algal Bloom Monitoring in Blue Mesa Reservoir, Colorado. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 61(4), e70038. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.70038
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Mahmoud, M. F., Arabi, M., and Pallickara, S. (2025). Harnessing ensemble Machine learning models for improved salinity prediction in large river basin scales. Journal of Hydrology, 652, 132691. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.132691
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McCleskey, R. B., Cravotta, C. A., Miller, M. P., et al. (2025). Specific conductance and water type as a proxy model for salinity and total dissolved solids measurements in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Applied Geochemistry, 184, 106358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2025.106358
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Newman, C. P., Cowie, R., Wilkin, R. T., and Navarre-Sitchler, A. (2025). Tracing metal sources and groundwater flow paths in the Upper Animas River watershed using rare earth elements and stable isotopes. Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis, 25(1), geochem2024-023. https://doi.org/10.1144/geochem2024-023
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Slosson, J. R., Larsen, I. J., Winnick, M. J., Marmolejo‐Cossío, J. M., and Williams, K. H. (2025). Linking Surface Processes, Solute Generation, and CO2 Budgets Across Lithological and Land Cover Gradients in Rocky Mountain Watersheds. Water Resources Research, 61(4), e2023WR036850. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR036850
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Van Der Nagel, C., Clements, E., Wilkerson, C., Hannoun, D., and Tietjen, T. (2025). Impact of drought on de facto reuse and water quality in Lake Mead: Insights from hydrodynamic modeling versus machine learning. Environmental Modelling & Software, 193, 106649. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2025.106649
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===Ecosystems and environment===
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Berkelhammer, M., Page, G. F. M., Zurek, F., et al. (2025). Canopy structure modulates the sensitivity of subalpine forest stands to interannual snowpack and precipitation variability. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 29(3), 701–718. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-701-2025
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Bruckerhoff, L. A., Yackulic, C. B., Eppehimer, D. E., Bestgen, K. R., Jones, M. T., and Michaud, C. (2025). Estimating drivers and identifying uncertainties in smallmouth bass population dynamics in an invaded river network. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 82, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2024-0183
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Butterfield, B. J., and Palmquist, E. C. (2025). Daily Fluctuating Flows Affect Riparian Plant Species Distributions From Local to Regional Scales. Applied Vegetation Science, 28(3), e70033. https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.70033
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Cooper, D. J., Schweiger, E. W., Shaw, J. R., et al. (2025). Rapid riparian ecosystem decline in Rocky Mountain National Park. Conservation Biology, e70053. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.70053
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Enriquez, A., Bagstad, K., Dahm, K., Torregrosa, A., and Schuster, R. (2025). Scoping decision-maker needs and science availability to support regional natural capital accounting in the U.S. Colorado River Basin. One Ecosystem, 10, e147848. https://doi.org/10.3897/oneeco.10.e147848
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Eppehimer, D. E., Yackulic, C. B., Bruckerhoff, L. A., et al. (2025). Declining reservoir elevations following a two-decade drought increase water temperatures and non-native fish passage facilitating a downstream invasion. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 82, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2024-0187
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Hedden, S. C., Albrecht, B., Rogers, R. J., et al. (2025). Do conservation actions improve native fish populations? Differences between managed and unmanaged reaches of a desert river give insight. North American Journal of Fisheries Management, vqaf002. https://doi.org/10.1093/najfmt/vqaf002
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Moorhead, L. C., Pennino, M. J., Sabo, R. D., and LeDuc, S. D. (2025). Fire Retardants Are an Overlooked Source of Phosphorus to Western US Ecosystems. ACS ES&T Water, 5(4), 1620–1627. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.4c00966
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Palmquist, E. C., Ogle, K., Butterfield, B. J., et al. (2025). Hotter temperatures alter riparian plant outcomes under regulated river conditions. Ecological Monographs, 95(1), e1645. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1645
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Parks, S. A., Coop, J. D., and Davis, K. T. (2025). Intensifying Fire Season Aridity Portends Ongoing Expansion of Severe Wildfire in Western US Forests. Global Change Biology, 31(8), e70429. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70429
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Remke, M., Schneider, K., and Korb, J. (2025). Leafing Out: Leaf Area Index as an Indicator for Mountain Forest Recovery Following Mixed-Severity Wildfire in Southwest Colorado. Forests, 16(6), 872. https://doi.org/10.3390/f16060872
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Rogowski, D. L., Fonken, D. R., Rogers, R. J., and Albrecht, B. (2025). Consequences of a drying reservoir: Positive or negative effects on riverine fish? Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 154(2), 179–191. https://doi.org/10.1093/tafafs/vnaf004
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Roos, C. I., Kaib, J. M., Laluk, N. C., et al. (2025). Tree rings reveal persistent Western Apache (Ndee) fire stewardship and niche construction in the American Southwest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(32), e2509169122. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2509169122
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Severson, J. P., Bishop, T. B. B., Knight, A. C., et al. (2025). Mapping ecological states in the upper Colorado River basin: Implications for fire management. Environmental Research: Ecology, 4(3), 035004. https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-664X/adf55f
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Van Der Nagel, C., Hannoun, D., and Tietjen, T. (2025). Stable phytoplankton community compositions in Lake Mead (Nevada-Arizona, USA) during two decades of severe drought. Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, 23, 100491. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ese.2024.100491
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===Societal and economic issues===
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Avila, P., Nemati, M., Crespo, D., Dinar, A., Frankel, Z., and Halberg, N. (2025). Public Spending and Water Scarcity: An Empirical Analysis of USBR Investments in the Colorado River Basin. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 61(5), e70042. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.70042
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Bahrami, S., Rouhi Rad, M., and Nayga Jr., R. M. (2025). Dollars for Drops: Abatement Cost of Water for Irrigation in the Colorado River Basin. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.70026
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Cohen, M., and Halama, K. (2025). Breathing Hazard: Air Pollution in the Salton Sea Region. Pacific Institute. https://pacinst.org/publication/breathing-hazard/
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Crespo, D., Nemati, M., Dinar, A., Frankel, Z., and Halberg, N. (2025). Assessing the economic value of water in the Colorado River Basin: A hydroeconomic analysis. Water Resources and Economics, 52, 100266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wre.2025.100266
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Jones, B. A., Wang, J., and Fleck, J. (2025). Sending Agricultural Water to The Salton Sea to Improve Public Health? An Integrated Agri-Hydro-Health Economic Analysis. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. https://doi.org/10.1086/737530
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Zhong, Q., Tong, D., Crosson, C., Zhang, Y., and Bhushan, R. (2025). Optimizing Investments in Alternative Water Infrastructure for Urban Food Production in Water Stressed Cities. Water Resources Research, 61(2), e2024WR039025. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR03902
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==2024==

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===Weather and climate===
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Bolinger, R. A., Lukas, J. J., Schumacher, R. S., and Goble, P. E. (2024). Climate Change in Colorado, 3rd edition. Colorado State University, https://doi.org/10.25675/10217/237323
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Cox, C. J., Intrieri, J. M., Butterworth, B., et al. (2024). Observations of surface energy fluxes and meteorology in the seasonally snow-covered high-elevation East River Watershed during SPLASH, 2021–2023. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-158
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Dhital, S., Webb, N. P., Chappell, A., et al. (2024). Synoptic Analysis and WRF-Chem Model Simulation of Dust Events in the Southwestern United States. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 129(13), e2023JD040650. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JD040650
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Heflin, S., Abel, M., Biswas, S., et al. (2024). X-Band Radar and Surface-Based Observations of Cold-Season Precipitation in Western Colorado’s Complex Terrain. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 25(10), 1501–1523. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-23-0147.1
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Hogan, D., and Lundquist, J. D. (2024). Recent Upper Colorado River Streamflow Declines Driven by Loss of Spring Precipitation. Geophysical Research Letters, 51(16), e2024GL109826. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL109826
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Horel, J. D., and Powell, J. T. (2024). Analysis and Prediction of Summer Rainfall over Southwestern Utah. Weather and Forecasting, 39(7), 1007–1021. https://doi.org/10.1175/WAF-D-24-0018.1
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Johnson, Z. F., Stuivenvolt-Allen, J., Mahan, H., and Meyer, J. D. D. (2024). Upper Colorado River Streamﬂow Dependencies on Summertime Synoptic Circulations and Hydroclimate Variability. J. Hydrometeorology, 25(2), 277–292. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-23-0053.1
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Kim, T., and Villarini, G. (2024). Projected changes in daily precipitation, temperature and wet-bulb temperature across Arizona using statistically downscaled CMIP6 climate models. International Journal of Climatology, 44(6), 1994–2010. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.8436
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King, K. E., Cook, E. R., Anchukaitis, K. J., et al. (2024). Increasing prevalence of hot drought across western North America since the 16th century. Science Advances, 10(4), eadj4289. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adj4289
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LaPlante, M. D., Deng, L., Dalanhese, L., and Wang, S.-Y. (2024). Ocean Temperatures Do Not Account for a Record-Setting Winter in the U.S. West. Atmosphere, 15(3), 284. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos15030284
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Lawrence, D., Tercek, M., Runyon, A., and Wright, J. (2024). Historical and projected climate change for Grand Canyon National Park and surrounding areas. National Park Service. https://doi.org/10.36967/2301726
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Lehner, F. (2024). Climate model large ensembles as test beds for applied compound event research. iScience, 27(11), 111113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.111113
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Salamanca-Palou, F., Svoma, B., Walter, J., et al. (2024). Modeling Salt-Verde Watershed Winter Precipitation Using Convection-Permitting WRF-Simulations With Water Vapor Tracers. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 129(12), e2024JD041029. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JD041029
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Simpson, I. R., McKinnon, K. A., Kennedy, D., et al. (2024). Observed humidity trends in dry regions contradict climate models. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(1), e2302480120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2302480120
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Wallace, B., and Minder, J. R. (2024). The North American Monsoon precipitation response to climate warming at convection-permitting scales. Climate Dynamics, 62(1), 497–524. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-023-06920-6
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Zhuang, Y., Fu, R., Lisonbee, J., et al. (2024). Anthropogenic warming has ushered in an era of temperature-dominated droughts in the western United States. Science Advances, 10(45), eadn9389, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adn9389
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===Hydrology and water availability===
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Babey, T., Perzan, Z., Pierce, S., et al. (2024). Mountainous Floodplain Connectivity in Response to Hydrological Transitions. Water Resources Research, 60(7), e2024WR037162. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR037162
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Carroll, R. W. H., Niswonger, R. G., Ulrich, C., et al. (2024). Declining groundwater storage expected to amplify mountain streamflow reductions in a warmer world. Nature Water, 2(5), 419–433. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-024-00239-0
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Cederstrom, C. J., Vivoni, E. R., Mascaro, G., and Svoma, B. (2024). Forest Treatment Effects on Watershed Responses Under Warming. Water Resources Research, 60(6), e2023WR035627. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR035627
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Dwivedi, R., Biederman, J. A., Broxton, P. D., et al. (2024). How three-dimensional forest structure regulates the amount and timing of snowmelt across a climatic gradient of snow persistence. Frontiers in Water, 6, 1374961. https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2024.1374961
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Gan, Y., Zhang, Y., Kongoli, C., and Pan, M. (2024). The Role of Forcing and Parameterization in Improving Snow Simulation in the Upper Colorado River Basin Using the National Water Model. Water Resources Research, 60(8), e2023WR035303. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR035303
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Gold, D. F., Gupta, R. S., and Reed, P. M. (2024). Exploring the Spatially Compounding Multi-Sectoral Drought Vulnerabilities in Colorado’s West Slope River Basins. Earth’s Future, 12(11), e2024EF004841. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EF004841
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Hoerling, M. P., Eischeid, J. K., Diaz, H. F., Rajagopolan, B., and Kuhn, E. (2024). Critical Effects of Precipitation on Future Colorado River Flow. Journal of Climate. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-23-0617.1
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Hogan, D., and Lundquist, J. D. (2024). Recent Upper Colorado River Streamflow Declines Driven by Loss of Spring Precipitation. Geophysical Research Letters, 51(16), e2024GL109826. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL109826
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Johnson, Z. F., Stuivenvolt-Allen, J., Mahan, H., and Meyer, J. D. D. (2024). Upper Colorado River Streamﬂow Dependencies on Summertime Synoptic Circulations and Hydroclimate Variability. J. Hydrometeorology, 25(2), 277–292. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-23-0053.1
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Lundquist, J. D., Vano, J., Gutmann, E., et al. (2024). Sublimation of Snow. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0191.1
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McCabe, G. J., Wolock, D. M., & Gangopadhyay, S. (2024). Past and Projected Future Droughts in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Geophysical Research Letters, 51(5), e2023GL107978. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL107978
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Palmquist, E. C., Deemer, B. R., Metcalfe, A. N., et al. (2024). eZ flow metrics: Using z-scores to estimate deviations from natural flow in the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam. River Research and Applications. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.4360
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Pokharel, B., Jagannathan, K. A., Wang, S. ‐Y. S., et al. (2024). Can we rely on drought‐ending “miracles” in the Colorado River Basin? JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 1752-1688.13204. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13204
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Salehabadi, H., Tarboton, D. G., Wheeler, K. G., Smith, R., and Baker, S. (2024). Quantifying and Classifying Streamflow Ensembles Using a Broad Range of Metrics for an Evidence‐Based Analysis: Colorado River Case Study. Water Resources Research, 60(7), e2024WR037225. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR037225
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Schulz, E. Y., Morrison, R. R., Bailey, R. T., et al. (2024). River corridor beads are important areas of floodplain-groundwater exchange within the Colorado River headwaters watershed. Hydrological Processes, 38(9), e15282. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.15282
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Sprenger, M., Carroll, R. W. H., Marchetti, D., et al. (2024). Stream water sourcing from high-elevation snowpack inferred from stable isotopes of water: A novel application of d-excess values. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 28(7), 1711–1723. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1711-2024
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Thiros, N. E., Siirila-Woodburn, E. R., Sprenger, M., et al. (2024). Old-aged groundwater contributes to mountain hillslope hydrologic dynamics. Journal of Hydrology, 635, 131193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.131193
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Thota, S., Nassar, A., Filali Boubrahimi, S., Hamdi, S. M., and Hosseinzadeh, P. (2024). Enhancing Monthly Streamflow Prediction Using Meteorological Factors and Machine Learning Models in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Hydrology, 11(5), 66. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology11050066
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Vano, J., Petach, T., Deems, J., et al. (2024). A Collaborative, In Situ Mountain Hydrology NASA Test Bed. Prepared for the NASA Terrestrial Hydrology Program. Aspen Global Change Institute. https://doi.org/10.69925/VCBQ9771
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Wang, Z., Vivoni, E. R., Whitney, K. M., Xiao, M., & Mascaro, G. (2024). On the Sensitivity of Future Hydrology in the Colorado River to the Selection of the Precipitation Partitioning Method. Water Resources Research, 60(6), e2023WR035801. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR035801
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Wilson, D. C. (2024). Geomorphic features of Lake Havasu with impacts on its water resource capacity. Lake and Reservoir Management, 40(1), 93–108. https://doi.org/10.1080/10402381.2023.2286659
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Woodson, D., Rajagopalan, B., and Zagona, E. (2024). Long-Lead Forecasting of Runoff Season Flows in the Colorado River Basin Using a Random Forest Approach. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 150(4), 04024005. https://doi.org/10.1061/JWRMD5.WRENG-6167
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===Water management, planning, and policy===
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Bonham, N., Kasprzyk, J., Zagona, E., and Smith, R. (2024). Interactive and Multimetric Robustness Tradeoffs in the Colorado River Basin. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 150(3), 05023025. https://doi.org/10.1061/JWRMD5.WRENG-6199
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Bonham, N., Kasprzyk, J., Zagona, E., and Rajagopalan, B. (2024). Subsampling and space-filling metrics to test ensemble size for robustness analysis with a demonstration in the Colorado River Basin. Environmental Modelling & Software, 172, 105933. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2023.105933
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Colorado River Research Group. (2024). Active and Passive Water Saving Mechanisms on the Colorado River: Challenges and Opportunities. 4 pp. https://www.colorado.edu/center/gwc/media/527
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Debaere, P., Li, T., Fox, S., et al. (2024). Closing Loopholes in Water Rights Systems to Save Water: The Colorado River Basin. Water Resources Research, 60(8), e2023WR036667. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR036667
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Hadjimichael, A., Reed, P., Quinn, J., Vernon, C., & Thurber, T. (2024). Scenario storyline discovery for planning in multi‐actor human‐natural systems confronting change. Earth's Future, 12(9). https://doi.org/10.1029/2023EF004252
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Joyce, S. (2024). Tribal water sovereignty: Authorizing Indian water marketing in the Colorado Basin. Stanford Law and Policy Review, 35, 165–181. https://law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/JOYCE-FINAL.pdf
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Kuhn, E. (2024). The Risks and Potential Impacts of a Colorado River Compact Curtailment on Colorado River In-Basin and Transmountain Water Rights Within Colorado. Colorado Environmental Law Journal, 35(2). https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/celj/vol35/iss2/4
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Lawless, K. L., Garcia, M., and White, D. D. (2024). Institutional analysis of water governance in the Colorado River Basin, 1922–2022. Frontiers in Water, 6, 1451854. https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2024.1451854
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Lisk, M. D., Grogan, D. S., Zuidema, S., et al. (2024). Harmonized Database of Western U.S. Water Rights (HarDWR) v.1. Scientific Data, 11(1), 598. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03434-6
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Lopez, S. F., Knight, J. E., Tilman, F. D., et al. (2024). Database of surface water diversion sites and daily withdrawals for the Upper Colorado River Basin, 1980–2022. Scientific Data, 11(1), 1266. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-04123-0
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Marrinan, E. (2024). One Hundred Years Past, One Hundred Years Forward: The Legacy of the Colorado River Compact. University of Dayton Law Review Vol. 49: No. 2, Article 6. https://ecommons.udayton.edu/udlr/vol49/iss2/6
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Perry, D., Swanson, R. K., and Springer, A. E. (2024). Policy deficiencies and contingency plans: Groundwater management implications for baseflow contributions to the Colorado River. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 12, 1444015. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2024.1444015
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Schmidt, J. C., and Fleck, J. (2024). It is Time to Expand the Geography of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program. White Paper No. 9; Future of the Colorado River Project, 4 pp. Utah State University. https://qcnr.usu.edu//coloradoriver/files/news/White-Paper-9.pdf
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Seay-Fleming, C., Brown, A., Gerlak, A. K., et al. (2024). Engaging farmers in water governance in the Western United States: Lessons from the Colorado River Basin. Socio-Ecological Practice Research, 6(4), 397–409. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42532-024-00203-y
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Slosson, M. (2024). Force Majeure and the Law of the Colorado River: The Confluence of Climate Change, Contracts, and the Constitution. University of Colorado Law Review, 95(3), 709–750. https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/lawreview/vol95/iss3/5
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Terando, A., Tucker, A., Runyon, A., et al. (2024). Best Practices for Incorporating Climate Change Science into Department of Interior Analyses, Consultations, and Decision Making. Climate Adaptation Science Centers. https://doi.org/10.21429/HJGJ-J073
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Universal Access to Clean Water for Tribal Communities (UACW). (2024). Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act Funding Handbook for Access to Clean Drinking Water by Native American Tribes. https://tribalcleanwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/UACW-Funding-Handbook_FINAL_July-2024-1.pdf
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Volk, J. M., Huntington, J. L., Melton, F. S., et al. (2024). Assessing the accuracy of OpenET satellite-based evapotranspiration data to support water resource and land management applications. Nature Water, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-023-00181-7
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Wahal, A., Mendenhall, E., and Giordano, M. (2024). Water in the West: Analyzing the disconnect between farmers’ and policymakers’ perceptions of Colorado River Basin shortages in Arizona. Journal of Rural Studies, 111, 103398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103398
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Yates, D., Szinai, J. K., and Jones, A. D. (2024). Modeling the Water Systems of the Western US to Support Climate‐Resilient Electricity System Planning. Earth’s Future, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF003220
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===Water use===
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Busse, M. M., McKibben, M. A., Stringfellow, W., Dobson, P., and Stokes-Draut, J. R. (2024). Impact of geothermal expansion and lithium extraction in the Salton Sea known geothermal resource area (SS-KGRA) on local water resources. Environmental Research Letters, 19(10), 104011. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad6a73
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Harris, L. (2024). Farmer response to policy induced water reductions: Evidence from the Colorado River. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 125, 102986. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102986
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Richter, B. D., Lamsal, G., Marston, L., et al. (2024). New water accounting reveals why the Colorado River no longer reaches the sea. Communications Earth & Environment, 5(1), 134. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01291-0
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Ruddell, B. L., and Rushforth, R. (2024). Water productivity is in the eye of the beholder: Benchmarking the multiple values produced by water use in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 28(4), 1089–1106. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1089-2024
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Wobus, C., Nash, C., Culp, P. W., Kelly, M., and Kennedy, K. (2024). Simplified agricultural water use accounting in the Colorado River basin using OpenET. Environmental Research Letters. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad984b
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===Water quality and sediment===
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Bouskill, N. J., Newcomer, M., Carroll, R. , et al. (2024). A Tale of Two Catchments: Causality Analysis and Isotope Systematics Reveal Mountainous Watershed Traits That Regulate the Retention and Release of Nitrogen. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 129(3), e2023JG007532. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JG007532
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Grams, P. E., Topping, D. J., Salter, G., et al. (2024). Implementation of Controlled Floods for Sediment Management on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon Under Aridification. River Research and Applications, n/a. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.4374
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Griffiths, R.E., Topping, D.J., and Unema, J.A. (2024). Changes in sand storage in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park from July 2017 through June 2020: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2023–1093, 9 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20231093.
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Kemper, J. T., Knox, R., Raffae, M., Schulz, E., Bailey, R., Morrison, R. R., and Wohl, E. (2024). Estimating catchment-scale sediment storage in a large river basin, Colorado River, USA. River Research and Applications, rra.4300. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.4300
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Manning, A. H., Petach, T. N., Runkel, R. L., and McKnight, D. M. (2024). Climate‐Driven Increases in Stream Metal Concentrations in Mineralized Watersheds Throughout the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA. Water Resources Research, 60, 19. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR036062
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Miller, O. L., Putman, A. L., Smith, R. A., et al. (2024). Temporal variability in irrigated land and climate influences on salinity loading across the Upper Colorado River Basin, 1986-2017. Environmental Research Letters, 19(2), 024008. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad18dd
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Putman, A. L., McIlwain, H. E., Rumsey, C. A., and Marston, T. M. (2024). Low flows from drought and water use reduced total dissolved solids fluxes in the Lower Colorado River Basin between 1976 to 2008. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 52, 101673. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2024.101673
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Ridgway, P., Lane, B., Canham, H., et al. (2024). Wildfire, extreme precipitation and debris flows, oh my! Channel response to compounding disturbances in a mountain stream in the Upper Colorado Basin, USA. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 49(12), 3855–3872. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5942
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Tyree, G. L., Chappell, A., Villarreal, M. L., Dhital, S., Duniway, M. C., Edwards, B. L., Faist, A. M., Nauman, T. W., & Webb, N. P. (2024). Oil and gas development influences potential for dust emission from the Upper Colorado River Basin, USA. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 49(11), 3292–3307. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5887
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===Ecosystems and environment===
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Baniya, A., Goldy, C. J., Ardpairin, J., et al. (2024). Canine Schistosomiasis in the West Coast: Heterobilharzia americana in Two Natural Intermediate Hosts Found in the Colorado River, California. Pathogens, 13(3), 245. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens13030245
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Bernard, R. F., and Minckley, T. A. (2024). Flying by the river side: Survey of bat distributions and environmental contexts along a 1000-mile river corridor, Green and Colorado Rivers, USA. Diversity and Distributions, 30(5), e13842. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13842
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Boyer, J. K., Fonken, D. R., and Rogowski, D. L. (2024). Why new scientific information is important for native fish conservation: A case study from the humpback chub (''Gila cypha'') in the Grand Canyon, U.S.A. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 34(1), e4075. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.4075
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Butterfield, B. J., and Palmquist, E. C. (2024). Divergent physiological responses of hydric and mesic riparian plant species to a Colorado River experimental flow. Plant Ecology, 225(2), 125-133. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-023-01382-6
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Cavallaro, M. C., and Schumann, D. A. (2024). Utility of artificial river reef structures to enhance fish habitat below a hydropeaking dam. River Research and Applications. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.4365
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Fairfax, E., Whipple, A., Wheaton, J. M., et al. (2024). Impacts of beaver dams on riverscape burn severity during megafires in the Rocky Mountain region, western United States. In J. L. Florsheim, A. P. O’Dowd, and A. Chin, Biogeomorphic Responses to Wildfire in Fluvial Ecosystems (pp. 131–151). Geological Society of America. https://doi.org/10.1130/2024.2562(07)
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Giardina, M., Korman, J., Yard, M. D., et al. (2024). A literature review and hypsometric analysis to support decisions on trout management flows on the Colorado River downstream from Glen Canyon Dam (Report 2024–1033; Open-File Report, 50 pp.). US Geological Survey. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20241033
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Gilbert, E. I., Diver, T. A., Mussmann, S. M., et al. (2024). Why Is It Too Cold? Towards a Mechanistic Understanding of Cold-Water Pollution Effects on Recruitment of an Imperiled Warmwater Fish. Molecular Ecology, n/a(n/a), e17588. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17588
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González-Sargas, E., Gómez-Sapiens, M., Hinojosa-Huerta, O., et al. (2024). Avian communities respond to plant and landscape composition in actively revegetated floodplains of the Colorado River delta in Mexico. Ecological Engineering, 205, 107266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2024.107266
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González-Sargas, E., Meehan, T. D., Hinojosa-Huerta, O., et al. (2024). Bird community response to one decade of riparian restoration along the Colorado River delta in Mexico. Ecological Engineering, 205, 107291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2024.107291
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Grand, J., Meehan, T. D., DeLuca, W. V., Morton, J., Pitt, J., et al., (2024). Strategic restoration planning for land birds in the Colorado River Delta, Mexico. Journal of Environmental Management, 351, 119755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.119755
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Hedden, C., Rogowski, D. L., Boyer, J., and Mason-Sarantopulos, L. (2024). Temporal Patterns of Fish Occurrence in the Colorado River, Grand Canyon in Response to Temperature, Largescale Drought, and Newly Exposed Habitat. River Research and Applications. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.4392
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Hodge, B. W., Henderson, R., and Brehme, C. E. (2024). Stream Restoration Effects on Habitat and Abundance of Native Cutthroat Trout. River Research and Applications. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.4373
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Magruder, A. C., Barrile, G. M., Siddons, S., Walrath, J., and Walters, A. W. (2024). Seasonal movements between main stem and tributaries may facilitate the persistence of Roundtail Chub and Flannelmouth Sucker within an altered stream system. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 153(5), 644–659. https://doi.org/10.1002/tafs.10489
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Marsh, P. C., Dowling, T. E., Turner, T. F., Osborne, M. J., and Kesner, B. R. (2024). Maturation of an off-channel habitat concept to conserve native fishes in the Lower Colorado River. Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist, 15. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1116andcontext=mwnan
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Mussmann, S. M. (2024). Assembly and annotation of a chromosome-level reference genome for the endangered Colorado pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus lucius). G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, 14(11), jkae217. https://doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkae217
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Nagler, P. L., Sall, I., Gomez-Sapiens, M., et al. (2024). Greenness and Actual Evapotranspiration in the Unrestored Riparian Corridor of the Colorado River Delta in Response to In-Channel Water Deliveries in 2021 and 2022. Remote Sensing, 16(10), 1801. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16101801
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Nagler, P. L., Sall, I., Gómez‐Sapiens, M. et al. (2024). Effect of water delivery and irrigation for riparian restoration in the Colorado River Delta, Mexico. Restoration Ecology, e14226. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.14226
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Perkins, D. W., Wight, A., Wondzell, M., and Friedman, J. M. (2024). Riparian Vegetated Area in Pre-Dam, Post-Dam, and Environmental Flow Periods in Canyonlands National Park From 1940 to 2022. River Research and Applications. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.4395
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Riepe, T. B., Hooley-Underwood, Z. E., and Johnson, M. (2024). Thermal Tolerance of Larval Flannelmouth Sucker Catostomus latipinnis Acclimated to Three Temperatures. Fishes, 9(5), 181. https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes9050181
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Smith, D. M., and Friggens, M. M. (2024). Co-production of a vulnerability assessment for aquatic and riparian ecosystems in the southwestern United States. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 60(6), 1293–1312. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13240
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Srinivasan, J., Holway, J., and Sabo, J. L. (2024). A framework for river recovery in Anthropocene rivers undergoing regime shift: Application to the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program. In Resilience and Riverine Landscapes (pp. 519–544). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-91716-2.00018-2
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Thaxton, R., Scott, M. L., Kemper, J. T., Rathburn, S. L., Butzke, S., & Friedman, J. M. (2024). Downstream decreases in water availability, tree height, canopy volume and growth rate in cottonwood forests along the Green River, southwestern USA. Ecohydrology, 17(7), e2693. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.2693
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===Societal and economic issues===
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Blevins, S., Hansen, K. M., Paige, G. B., MacKinnon, A., & Bastian, C. T. (2024). Economic Evaluation of Water Management Alternatives in the Upper Green River Basin of Wyoming. Water, 16(12), 1685. https://doi.org/10.3390/w16121685
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Frisvold, G. B., and Atla, J. (2024). Agricultural Economic Water Productivity Differences across Counties in the Colorado River Basin. Hydrology, 11(8), 125. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology11080125
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Huizar, L., Díaz, S., Lansey, K., and Arnold, R. (2024). Economic Impacts of the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan in the Lower Colorado River Basin: Water, Energy, and Recreation. Journal of Environmental Engineering, 150(4), 04024004. https://doi.org/10.1061/JOEEDU.EEENG-7505
----
Kaczmarski, J. I., & Jones, B. A. (2024). The marginal generation and emissions impacts of purchased hydropower: Evidence from the Colorado River Storage Project. Energy Economics, 138, 107816. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2024.107816
----
Srinivasan, J., Holway, J., and Sabo, J. L. (2024). A framework for river recovery in Anthropocene rivers undergoing regime shift: Application to the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program. In Resilience and Riverine Landscapes (pp. 519–544). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-91716-2.00018-2
----

==2023==

----
===Weather and climate===
----
Bass, B., Goldenson, N., Rahimi, S., Hall, A. (2023). Aridification of Colorado River Basin’s Snowpack Regions Has Driven Water Losses Despite Ameliorating Effects of Vegetation. Water Resources Research, 59, e2022WR033454. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022WR033454
----
Hammond, J. C., Sexstone, G. A., Putman, A. L., et al. (2023). High Resolution SnowModel Simulations Reveal Future Elevation‐Dependent Snow Loss and Earlier, Flashier Surface Water Input for the Upper Colorado River Basin. Earth's Future, 11(2), e2022EF003092. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF003092
----
Kuo, Y., Kim, H., & Lehner, F. (2023). Anthropogenic Aerosols Contribute to the Recent Decline in Precipitation Over the U.S. Southwest. Geophysical Research Letters, 50(23), e2023GL105389. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL105389
----
McEvoy, D., and Hatchett, B. (2023). Spring Heat Waves Drive Record Western United States Snow Melt in 2021. Environmental Research Letters, 18(1):014007. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aca8bd
----
Rudisill, W., Flores, A., and Carroll, R. (2023). Evaluating Three Decades of Precipitation in the Upper Colorado River Basin from a High-Resolution Regional Climate Model. Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, 2023, 1-31. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6531-2023
----
Stone, L., Strong, C., Bai, H., Reichler, T., McCabe, G., and Brooks, P. D. (2023). Atlantic-Pacific influence on western U.S. hydroclimate and water resources. Npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, 6(1), 139. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-023-00471-7
----
Whitney, K., Vivoni, E., Bohn, T. et al. (2023). Spatial Attribution of Declining Colorado River Streamflow under Future Warming. Journal of Hydrology, 129125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.129125
----
Xu, Z., Siirila-Woodburn, E. R., Rhoades, A. M., and Feldman, D. (2023). Sensitivities of subgrid-scale physics schemes, meteorological forcing, and topographic radiation in atmosphere-through-bedrock integrated process models: a case study in the Upper Colorado River basin. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 27(9), 1771-1789. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1771-2023
----

===Hydrology and water availability===
----
de Boer, G., White, A., Cifelli, R., et al. (2023). Supporting advancement in weather and water prediction in the upper Colorado River Basin: The SPLASH campaign. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 104(10), E1853-E1874. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-22-0147.1
----
Currier, W., Wood, A., Mizukami, N., et al. (2023). Vegetation representation influences projected streamflow changes in the Colorado River Basin. Journal of Hydrometeorology. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-22-0143.1
----
Gianniny, G., and Schmidt, J. C. (2023). Dewatered Rivers of the Upper Colorado River Basin. Center for Colorado River Studies. https://www.scribd.com/document/653051819/gianniny-factsheet#
----
Goble, P. E., and Schumacher, R. S. (2023). On the Sources of Water Supply Forecast Error in Western Colorado. Journal of Hydrometeorology 24(12):2321–32. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-23-0004.1.
----
Hadjimichael, A., Yoon, J., Reed, P., et al. (2023). Exploring the Consistency of Water Scarcity Inferences between Large-Scale Hydrologic and Node-Based Water System Model Representations of the Upper Colorado River Basin. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management 149(2):04022081. https://doi.org/10.1061/JWRMD5.WRENG-5522
----
Heldmyer, A. J., Bjarke, N. R., and Livneh, B. (2023). A 21st‐Century perspective on snow drought in the Upper Colorado River Basin. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 59(2), 396-415. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13095
----
Hosseinzadeh, P., Ayman N., Soukaina F., and Shah M.. (2023). ML-Based Streamflow Prediction in the Upper Colorado River Basin Using Climate Variables Time Series Data. Hydrology 10(2):29. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology10020029
----
Lachniet, M. S., Du, X., Dee, S., et al. (2023). Elevated Grand Canyon groundwater recharge during the warm Early Holocene. Nature Geoscience, 16(10), 915–921. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01272-6
----
Lynker. (2023). Colorado Airborne Snow Measurement Program: Water Year 2022 Streamflow Forecast Review. Report to Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, June 2023, 63 pp. https://coloradoriverscience.org/images/6/6e/CASM_WY22_Streamflow_Forecasting_Review_%28Lynker%29.pdf
----
Whitney, K., Vivoni, E., Bohn, T. et al. (2023). Spatial Attribution of Declining Colorado River Streamflow under Future Warming. Journal of Hydrology, 129125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.129125
----
Whitney, K. M., Vivoni, E. R., Wang, Z., et al. (2023). A Stakeholder-Engaged Approach to Anticipating Forest Disturbance Impacts in the Colorado River Basin under Climate Change. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 149(7), 04023020. https://doi.org/10.1061/JWRMD5.WRENG-5905
----
Zhao, S., Fu, R., Anderson, M., et al. (2023). Extended Seasonal Prediction of Spring Precipitation over the Upper Colorado River Basin. Climate Dynamics 60(5):1815–29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06422-x
----

===Water management, planning, and policy===
----
Craig, R. K. (2023). California Exceptionalism in the Colorado River: A Brief History and Implications for the Future. University of Southern California, USC Law Legal Studies Paper No. 23-8. https://doi:10.2139/ssrn.4420426.
----
Dahm, K., Hawbaker, T., Frus, R et al. (2023). Colorado River Basin Actionable and Strategic Integrated Science and Technology Project—Science strategy: U.S. Geological Survey (Circular 1502). U.S. Geological Survey. https://doi.org/10.3133/cir1502
----
Deemer, B. R., Andrews, C. M., Strock, et al. (2023). Over half a century record of limnology data from Lake Powell, desert southwest United States: From reservoir filling to present day (1964–2021). Limnology and Oceanography Letters. https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10310
----
East, A. E., and Grant, G. E. (2023). A watershed moment for western US dams. Water Resources Research, 59(10), e2023WR035646. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR035646
----
Grigg, N. S. (2023). Colorado River Basin: Conflict management under hydrologic stress and institutional gridlock. International Journal of River Basin Management. 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/15715124.2023.2229802
----
Hannoun, D., and Tietjen, T. (2023). Lake management under severe drought: Lake Mead, Nevada/Arizona. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 59(2), 416–428. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13090
----
Herman-Mercer, N., Bair, L., Hines, et al. (2023). Human factors used to estimate and forecast water supply and demand in the Upper Colorado River Basin (No. 2023-5015). US Geological Survey. https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20235015
----
MacDonnell, Lawrence J. (2023). The 1922 Colorado River Compact at 100. Western Legal History, 33(1). https://ssrn.com/abstract=4526135
----
Pflugfelder, E. H., Amidon, T. R., Sackey, D. J., and Richards, D. P. (2023). Expanding the Scope and Scale of Risk in TPC: Water Access and the Colorado River Basin. Technical Communication Quarterly, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2023.2210194
----
Schmidt, J. C., Yackulic, C. B., and Kuhn, E. (2023). The Colorado River water crisis: Its origin and the future. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, e1672. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1672
----
Srinivasan, J., and Schoon, M. (2023). Recovery or continued resuscitation? A clinical diagnosis of Colorado River sub-basin recovery programs. Ecology and Society, 28(1):5. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-13749-280105
----
Whitney, K. M., Vivoni, E. R., Wang, Z., et al. (2023). A Stakeholder-Engaged Approach to Anticipating Forest Disturbance Impacts in the Colorado River Basin under Climate Change. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 149(7), 04023020. https://doi.org/10.1061/JWRMD5.WRENG-5905
----
Whitney, K. M., Vivoni, E. R., and White, D. D. (2023). Enhancing the accessibility and interactions of regional hydrologic projections for water managers. Environmental Modelling & Software, 167, 105763. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2023.105763
----

===Water use===
----
Hernández-Cruz, A., Sandoval-Solís, S., Mendoza-Espinosa, L. G., et al. (2023). Assessing Water Management Strategies under Water Scarcity in the Mexican Portion of the Colorado River Basin. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 149(9), https://doi.org/10.1061/JWRMD5.WRENG-5985
----
McCoy, A., Pitt, J., Keaton Wilson, J. et al. (2023). A Survey of the Bureau of Reclamation’s Decree Accounting Reports in the Lower Colorado River Basin. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management 149(3). https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0001626
----
Richter, B. (2023). Decoupling Urban Water Use from Population Growth in the Colorado River Basin. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 149(2), 04022082. https://doi.org/10.1061/JWRMD5.WRENG-5887 [see the [https://coloradoriverscience.org/Municipal_water_use#Data_and_tools Municipal water use] page for a link to the study data]
----
Rubio-Velázquez, J., Loaiciga, H. A., and Lopez-Carr, D. (2023). Human-induced resource scarcity in the Colorado River Basin and Its implications for water supply and the environment in the Mexicali Valley Transboundary Aquifer. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 113(5), 1172-1189. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2022.2162477
----

===Water quality and sediment===
----
Day, N. (2023). Characterization of streamflow and nutrient occurrence in the upper White River Basin, Colorado, 1980–2020 (No. 2022-5112). U.S. Geological Survey. https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2022/5112/sir20225112.pdf
----
Adjovu, G. E., Stephen, H., and Ahmad, S. (2023). Spatiotemporal Variability in Total Dissolved Solids and Total Suspended Solids along the Colorado River. Hydrology, 10(6), 125. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology10060125
----
Krolczyk, E., and J. C. Schmidt. 2023. Sediment Delivery to Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Center for Colorado River Studies, Utah State University. http://www.riversimulator.org/Resources/Sediment/SedimentDeliveryToLakePowellAndLakeMead2023Krolczyk.pdf
----

===Ecosystems and environment===
----
Healy, B. D., and Omana Smith, E. (2023). Quantifying the contributions of tributaries to large‐river fish populations through mark‐recapture modeling. North American Journal of Fisheries Management, nafm.10971. https://doi.org/10.1002/nafm.10971
----
Hendrick, M., Zajchowski, C., Rose, J. et al. (2023). Do Rising Flows Lift All Boats? Ecosystem Services Elasticity in the Dolores River Watershed. Human Ecology 51(1):173–83. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-022-00387-5
----
Kluender, E., and Bestgen, K. (2023). A Small Warm Tributary Provides Prespawning Resources for Colorado Pikeminnow in a Cold Dam-Regulated River. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management. https://doi.org/10.3996/JFWM-22-025
----
Nagler, P., Barreto-Muñoz, A., Sall, I. et al. (2023). Riparian Plant Evapotranspiration and Consumptive Use for Selected Areas of the Little Colorado River Watershed on the Navajo Nation. Remote Sensing 15(1):52. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15010052
----
Srinivasan, J., and Schoon, M. (2023). Recovery or continued resuscitation? A clinical diagnosis of Colorado River sub-basin recovery programs. Ecology and Society, 28(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/15715124.2023.2229802
----
Jackson, S. K. V., Pilkington, L. H., Berghel, K. M., Chiquoine, L. P., and Abella, S. R. (2023). Seed banks and seed survival of submersion for an emerging plant invader in the Colorado River system, USA. River Research and Applications. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.4141
----
St. Andre, N., Roeder, B., and Belk, M. C. (2023). Effects of quagga mussel invasion on trophic niche of fishes in a western USA reservoir: a test for a trophic cascade and corresponding niche shift. Hydrobiologia, 850(1), 109-121. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10750-022-05046-w
----

===Societal and economic issues===
----
Hendrick, M., Zajchowski, C., Rose, J. et al. (2023). Do Rising Flows Lift All Boats? Ecosystem Services Elasticity in the Dolores River Watershed. Human Ecology 51(1):173–83. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-022-00387-5
----
Richter, B. (2023). Decoupling Urban Water Use from Population Growth in the Colorado River Basin. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 149(2), 04022082. https://doi.org/10.1061/JWRMD5.WRENG-5887 [see the [https://coloradoriverscience.org/Municipal_water_use#Data_and_tools Municipal water use] page for a link to the study data]
----
Rubio-Velázquez, J., Loaiciga, H., and Lopez-Carr, D. (2023). Human-Induced Resource Scarcity in the Colorado River Basin and Its Implications for Water Supply and the Environment in the Mexicali Valley Transboundary Aquifer. Annals of the American Association of Geographers 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2022.2162477
----
Wescoat Jr., J. L. (2023). Institutional levels of water management in the Colorado River basin region: A macro-historical geographic review. Frontiers in Water, 4, 1024055. https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2022.1024055
----

==2022 ==
----

===Weather and climate===
----
Biederman, J. A., Robles, M. D., Scott, R. L., and Knowles, J. F. (2022). Streamflow Response to Wildfire Differs with Season and Elevation in Adjacent Headwaters of the Lower Colorado River Basin. Water Resources Research, 58(3). https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR030687
----
Booker, J. F. (2022). Colorado River Water Use and Climate: Model and Application. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association 1752-1688.13035. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13035.
----
Feldman, D. R., Worden, M., Falco, N., et al. (2022). Three‐Dimensional Surface Downwelling Longwave Radiation Clear‐Sky Effects in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(4). https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL094605
----
Gangopadhyay, S., Woodhouse, C. A., McCabe, G. J., Routson, C. C., and Meko, D. M. (2022). Tree Rings Reveal Unmatched 2nd Century Drought in the Colorado River Basin. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(11). https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098781
----
Hoell, A., Quan, X.-W., Hoerling, M., et al. (2022). Record Low North American Monsoon Rainfall in 2020 Reignites Drought over the American Southwest. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 103(3), S26–S32. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-21-0129.1
----
McCoy, A. L., Jacobs, K. L., Vano, J. A., et al. (2022). The Press and Pulse of Climate Change: Extreme Events in the Colorado River Basin. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 1752-1688.13021. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13021
----
Pokharel, B., Jagannathan, K. A., Wang, S.-Y. (Simon), et al. [Preprint: Submitted in April 2022, not yet published]. Drought-busting “miracles” in the Colorado River Basin may become less frequent and less powerful under climate warming. Submitted to Water Resources Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/essoar.10511012.1
----
Salehabadi, H., Tarboton, D. G., Udall, B., Wheeler, K. G., and Schmidt, J. C. (2022). An Assessment of Potential Severe Droughts in the Colorado River Basin. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 1752-1688.13061. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13061
----
Talsma, C. J., Bennett, K. E., and Vesselinov, V. V. (2022). Characterizing Drought Behavior in the Colorado River Basin Using Unsupervised Machine Learning. Earth and Space Science, 9(5). https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EA002086
----
Towler, E., Woodson, D., Baker, S., et al. (2022). Incorporating Mid-Term Temperature Predictions into Streamflow Forecasts and Operational Reservoir Projections in the Colorado River Basin. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 148(4), 04022007. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0001534
----
Wahl, E. R., Zorita, E., Diaz, H. F., and Hoell, A. (2022). Southwestern United States drought of the 21st century presages drier conditions into the future. Communications Earth & Environment, 3(1), 202. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00532-4
----
Williams, A. P., Cook, B. I., and Smerdon, J. E. (2022). Rapid intensification of the emerging southwestern North American megadrought in 2020–2021. Nature Climate Change, 12(3), 232–234. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01290-z
----
Zhang, W., Hari, V., S-Y Wang, S., et al. (2022). Fewer Troughs, Not More Ridges, Have Led to a Drying Trend in the Western United States. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(1), e2021GL097089. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL097089
----

===Hydrology and water availability===
----
Bedri, R., and Piechota, T. (2022). Future Colorado River Basin Drought and Surplus. Hydrology, 9(12):227. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology9120227
----
Biederman, J. A., Robles, M. D., Scott, R. L., and Knowles, J. F. (2022). Streamflow Response to Wildfire Differs with Season and Elevation in Adjacent Headwaters of the Lower Colorado River Basin. Water Resources Research, 58(3). https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR030687
----
Gan, Y., Zhang, Y., Liu, Y., Kongoli, C., and Grassotti, C. (2022). Assimilation of blended in situ-satellite snow water equivalent into the National Water Model for improving hydrologic simulation in two US river basins. Science of The Total Environment, 838, 156567. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156567
----
Gangopadhyay, S., Woodhouse, C. A., McCabe, G. J., Routson, C. C., and Meko, D. M. (2022). Tree Rings Reveal Unmatched 2nd Century Drought in the Colorado River Basin. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(11). https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098781
----
Hull, R., Leonarduzzi, E., De La Fuente, L., Tran, H. V., Bennett, A., Melchior, P., Maxwell, R. M., and Condon, L. E. (2022). Using simulation-based inference to determine the parameters of an integrated hydrologic model: A case study from the upper Colorado River basin. Groundwater hydrology/Modelling approaches. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2022-345
----
Kampf, S. K., McGrath, D., Sears, M. G., et al. (2022). Increasing wildfire impacts on snowpack in the western U.S. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(39), e2200333119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2200333119
----
Lin, Y., Takano, Y., Gu, Y., et al. (2022). Investigation of Springtime Cloud Influence on Regional Climate and Its Implication in Runoff Decline in Upper Colorado River Basin. Earth and Space Science, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EA002059
----
McCoy, A. L., Jacobs, K. L., Vano, J. A., et al. (2022). The Press and Pulse of Climate Change: Extreme Events in the Colorado River Basin. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 1752-1688.13021. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13021
----
Meko, D. M., Woodhouse, C. A., and Winitsky, A. G. (2022). Tree‐Ring Perspectives on the Colorado River: Looking Back and Moving Forward. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 1752-1688.12989. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12989
----
Root, J. C., and Jones, D. (2022). Elevation-Area-Capacity Relationships of Lake Powell in 2018 and Estimated Loss of Storage Capacity Since 1963 (Scientific Investigations Report No. 2022–5017; Scientific Investigations Report). https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20225017
----
Schmidt, J. C., Bruckerhoff, L., Salehabadi, H., & Wang, J. (2022). The Colorado River. Large Rivers: Geomorphology and Management, Second Edition, 253-319. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119412632.ch10
----
Tillman, F. D., Day, N. K., Miller, M. P., et al. (2022). A Review of Current Capabilities and Science Gaps in Water Supply Data, Modeling, and Trends for Water Availability Assessments in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Water, 14(23), 3813. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14233813
----
Tran, H., Zhang, J., O’Neill, M. M., et al. (2022). A hydrological simulation dataset of the Upper Colorado River Basin from 1983 to 2019. Scientific Data, 9(1), 16. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01123-w
----
Wang, Z., and Vivoni, E. R. (2022). Individualized and Combined Effects of Future Urban Growth and Climate Change on Irrigation Water Use in Central Arizona. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association 58(3):370–87. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13005.
----
Williams, A. P., Livneh, B., McKinnon, K. A., et al. (2022). Growing impact of wildfire on western US water supply. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(10), e2114069119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2114069119
----
Yu, G., Wright, D. B., and Davenport, F. V. (2022). Diverse Physical Processes Drive Upper-Tail Flood Quantiles in the US Mountain West. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(10), e2022GL098855. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098855
----
Zhang, W., Hari, V., S-Y Wang, S., et al. (2022). Fewer Troughs, Not More Ridges, Have Led to a Drying Trend in the Western United States. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(1), e2021GL097089. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL097089
----

===Water management, planning, and policy===
----
Baker, S. A., Wood, A. W., Rajagopalan, B., Prairie, J., Jerla, C., Zagona, E., Butler, R. A., amd Smith, R. (2022). The Colorado River Basin Operational Prediction Testbed: A Framework for Evaluating Streamflow Forecasts and Reservoir Operations. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 58(5), 690–708. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13038
----
Bruckerhoff, L. A., Wheeler, K., Dibble, K. L., et al. (2022). Water Storage Decisions and Consumptive Use May Constrain Ecosystem Management under Severe Sustained Drought. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association 58(5):654–72. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13020.
----
Kuhn, E., and Fleck, J. (2022). “The Consequences of the Compact Remains with Us”: Challenges and Opportunities for the Colorado River Upper Basin. Available at SSRN: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4094375
----
Quay, R., Sternlieb, F., Rauh, E., et al. (2022). Evaluating the effectiveness of land and water integrative practices for achieving water sustainability within the Colorado River Basin: Perceptions and indicators. Water International, 47(2), 257–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2022.2041281
----
Schmidt, J. C., Bruckerhoff, L., Salehabadi, H., and Wang, J. (2022). The Colorado River. In A. Gupta (Ed.), Large Rivers: Geomorphology and Management (2nd ed., pp. 253–319). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119412632.ch10
----
Smith, R., Zagona, E., Kasprzyk, J., et al. (2022). Decision Science Can Help Address the Challenges of Long‐Term Planning in the Colorado River Basin. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 1752-1688.12985. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12985
----
Stewart, C. J. (2022). Understanding Utah’s Transbasin Diversions. Colorado River Fundamentals (fact sheet), Center for Colorado River Studies, Utah State University, 9 pp. https://qcnr.usu.edu/coloradoriver/files/news/Tranbasin-Fact-Sheet.pdf
----
Xiao, Mu, Mascaro G., Wang Z., Whitney, K. M., and Vivoni, E. R. (2022). On the Value of Satellite Remote Sensing to Reduce Uncertainties of Regional Simulations of the Colorado River. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 26(21), 5627–5646. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5627-2022.
----
Wheeler, K. G., Udall, B., Wang, J., Kuhn, E., Salehabadi, H., & Schmidt, J. C. (2022). What will it take to stabilize the Colorado River?. Science, 377(6604), 373-375. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abo4452

===Water use===
----
Quay, R., Sternlieb, F., Rauh, E., et al. (2022). Evaluating the effectiveness of land and water integrative practices for achieving water sustainability within the Colorado River Basin: Perceptions and indicators. Water International, 47(2), 257–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2022.2041281
----
Stewart, C. J. (2022). Understanding Utah’s Transbasin Diversions. Colorado River Fundamentals (fact sheet), Center for Colorado River Studies, Utah State University, 9 pp. https://qcnr.usu.edu/coloradoriver/files/news/Tranbasin-Fact-Sheet.pdf
----
Wheeler, K. G., Udall, B., Wang, J., Kuhn, E., Salehabadi, H., & Schmidt, J. C. (2022). What will it take to stabilize the Colorado River?. Science, 377(6604), 373-375. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abo4452

===Water quality and sediment===
----
DeHoff, M. (2022). Who is in Charge of the Mud? Natural Resources Journal, 62(2), 325–339.
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Kim, S., Kim S., Green, C. H. M., and Jeong, J. (2022). Multivariate Polynomial Regression Modeling of Total Dissolved-Solids in Rangeland Stormwater Runoff in the Colorado River Basin. Environmental Modelling & Software 157:105523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2022.105523.
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Reynolds, R. L., Goldstein, H. L., Kokaly, R. F., and Derry, J. (2022). Microplastic Particles in Dust-on-Snow, Upper Colorado River Basin, Colorado Rocky Mountains, 2013–16. Report. 2022–1061. Reston, VA. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20221061.
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Johnson, C., Root, J. C., Hynek, S. A., and Schmidt, J. C. (2022). Sedimentary record of annual-decadal timescale reservoir dynamics: Anthropogenic stratigraphy of Lake Powell, Utah, U.S.A. The Sedimentary Record, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.2110/sedred.2022.1.3
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García‐Hernández, J., Leyva‐García, G., Aguilera‐Márquez, D., Díaz‐Argumedo, R. E., Santiago‐Serrano, E., and Zamora‐Arroyo, F. (2022). Select Water Quality Parameters during Wet and Dry Conditions in the Colorado River Delta. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 1752-1688.13047. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13047

===Ecosystems and environment===
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Comte, L., Olden, J. D., Lischka, S., and Dickson, B. G. (2022). Multi-scale threat assessment of riverine ecosystems in the Colorado River Basin. Ecological Indicators, 138, 108840. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.108840

===Societal and economic issues===
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Colby, B. G., and Hansen, H. (2022). Colorado Basin Incentive-Based Urban Water Policies: Review and Evaluation. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association 58(6):1098–1115. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13041.
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Drugova, T., Kynda R. C., and Kim, M. (2022). The Impacts of Drought on Southwest Tribal Economies. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association 58(5):639–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13018.
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Duval, D., Bickel, A. K., and Frisvold, G. B. (2022). Effects of Reservoir Levels on Arizona National Recreation Area Visitation, Visitor Spending, and Local Economies. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association 58(5):622–38. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12962.
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Hung, F., Son, K., and Yang, Y. C. E. (2022). Investigating uncertainties in human adaptation and their impacts on water scarcity in the Colorado river Basin, United States. Journal of Hydrology, 612, 128015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.128015
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Rushforth, R. R., Zegre, N. P., and Ruddell, B. L. (2022). The Three Colorado Rivers: Hydrologic, Infrastructural, and Economic Flows of Water in a Shared River Basin. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 58(2), 269–281. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12997

==2021==

===Cross-cutting reports===
[[File:SECURE_cover_thumb.png|thumb|150px|]]
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'''[[2021 SECURE Water Act reports]]:'''

* Gangopadhyay, S., and McGuire, M. (2021). West-Wide Climate and Hydrology Assessment. Technical Memorandum ENV-2021-001, Bureau of Reclamation. 423 pp. https://www.usbr.gov/climate/secure/docs/2021secure/westwidesecurereport1-2.pdf [v1.2 - June 2021]

* Reclamation. (2021a). Water Reliability in the West—2021 SECURE Water Act Report. Bureau of Reclamation. 60 pp. https://www.usbr.gov/climate/secure/docs/2021secure/2021SECUREReport.pdf

* Reclamation. (2021b). Colorado River Basin—SECURE Water Act Section 9503(c)—Report to Congress. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Department of Interior. 34 pp. https://www.usbr.gov/climate/secure/docs/2021secure/basinreports/ColoradoBasin.pdf
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Eppehimer, D., Fard, E., Kemper, J., et al. (2021). Climate adaptation planning to support ecosystems and people in the Gila River Watershed, Arizona (p. 49). Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center.
https://www.swcasc.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2022-03/NRWD_Final%20Report2021.pdf

===Weather and climate===
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Bennett, K. E., Talsma, C., and Boero, R. (2021). Concurrent Changes in Extreme Hydroclimate Events in the Colorado River Basin. Water, 13(7), 978. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13070978
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Brunner, M. I., Swain, D. L., Gilleland, E., and Wood, A. W. (2021). Increasing importance of temperature as a contributor to the spatial extent of streamflow drought. Environmental Research Letters, 16(2), 024038. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd2f0
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Cook, B. I., Mankin, J. S., Williams, A. P., et al. (2021). Uncertainties, Limits, and Benefits of Climate Change Mitigation for Soil Moisture Drought in Southwestern North America. Earth’s Future, 9(9). https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EF002014
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Fowler, H. J., Lenderink, G., Prein, A. F., et al. (2021). Anthropogenic intensification of short-duration rainfall extremes. Nature Reviews Earth and Environment, 2(2), 107–122. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-020-00128-6
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Huang, H., Patricola, C. M., Bercos‐Hickey, E., et al. (2021). Sources of Subseasonal‐To‐Seasonal Predictability of Atmospheric Rivers and Precipitation in the Western United States. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 126(6). https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD034053
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Mahoney, K., Scott, J. D., Alexander, M., et al. (2021). '''[[Cool season precipitation projections for California and the Western United States in NA-CORDEX models]]'''. Climate Dynamics, 56(9–10), 3081–3102. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-021-05632-z
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Meyer, J. D. D., Wang, S. ‐Y. S., Gillies, R. R., and Yoon, J. (2021). Evaluating NA‐CORDEX historical performance and future change of western U.S. precipitation patterns and modes of variability. International Journal of Climatology, 41(9), 4509–4532. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7083
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Mohsin, M., and Pilz, J. (2021). Stochastic model for drought analysis of the Colorado River Basin. Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-021-01989-z
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Osenga, E. C., Vano, J. A., and Arnott, J. C. (2021). A community‐supported weather and soil moisture monitoring database of the Roaring Fork catchment of the Colorado River Headwaters. Hydrological Processes, 35(3). https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14081
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Pierce, D. W., Cayan, D. R., Goodrich, J., Das, T., and Munévar, A. (2021). Evaluating Global Climate Models for Hydrological Studies of the Upper Colorado River Basin. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, n/a(n/a). https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12974
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Simpson, I. R., McKinnon, K. A., Davenport, F. V., et al. (2021). Emergent constraints on the large scale atmospheric circulation and regional hydroclimate: Do they still work in CMIP6 and how much can they actually constrain the future? Journal of Climate, 1–62. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-21-0055.1
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Stevens, A., Willett, R., Mamalakis, A., et al. (2021). Graph-Guided Regularized Regression of Pacific Ocean Climate Variables to Increase Predictive Skill of Southwestern U.S. Winter Precipitation. Journal of Climate, 34(2), 737–754. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-20-0079.1
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Szejner, P., Belmecheri, S., Babst, F., et al. (2021). Stable isotopes of tree rings reveal seasonal-to-decadal patterns during the emergence of a megadrought in the Southwestern US. Oecologia. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04916-9
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Towler, E., and Yates, D. (2021). '''[[Incorporating multiyear temperature predictions for water resources planning]]'''. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 60(2), 171–183. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-20-0134.1
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Williams, A. P., Anchukaitis, K. J., Woodhouse, C. A., et al. (2021). Tree Rings and Observations Suggest No Stable Cycles in Sierra Nevada Cool‐Season Precipitation. Water Resources Research, 57(3). https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR028599
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Xiao, M., and Lettenmaier, D. P. (2021). Atmospheric Rivers and Snow Accumulation in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Geophysical Research Letters, 48(16), e2021GL094265. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL094265
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Zhang, F., Biederman, J. A., Dannenberg, M. P., et al. (2021). Five Decades of Observed Daily Precipitation Reveal Longer and More Variable Drought Events Across Much of the Western United States. Geophysical Research Letters, 48(7). https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL092293
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Zhao, S., and Zhang, J. (2021). Causal effect of the tropical Pacific sea surface temperature on the Upper Colorado River Basin spring precipitation. Climate Dynamics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-021-05944-0

===Hydrology and water availability===
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Baker, S. A., Rajagopalan, B., and Wood, A. W. (2021). Enhancing Ensemble Seasonal Streamflow Forecasts in the Upper Colorado River Basin Using Multi‐Model Climate Forecasts. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 57(6), 906–922. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12960
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Brice, B., Guiterman, C. H., Woodhouse, C., et al. (2021). Comparing tree-ring based reconstructions of snowpack variability at different scales for the Navajo Nation. Climate Services, 22, 100213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cliser.2021.100213
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Darvishi, M., Destouni, G., Aminjafari, S., and Jaramillo, F. (2021). Multi-Sensor InSAR Assessment of Ground Deformations around Lake Mead and Its Relation to Water Level Changes. Remote Sensing, 13(3), 406. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13030406
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Day, N. K. (2021). Assessment of streamflow and water quality in the Upper Yampa River Basin, Colorado, 1992–2018 (Report No. 2021–5016; Scientific Investigations Report). USGS Publications Warehouse. https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20215016
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Elias, E., James, D., Heimel, S., et al. (2021). Implications of observed changes in high mountain snow water storage, snowmelt timing and melt window. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 35, 100799. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2021.100799
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Fleming, S. W., Garen, D. C., Goodbody, A. G., McCarthy, C. S., and Landers, L. C. (2021). Assessing the new Natural Resources Conservation Service water supply forecast model for the American West: A challenging test of explainable, automated, ensemble artificial intelligence. Journal of Hydrology, 602, 126782. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126782
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Fleming, S. W., Vesselinov, V. V., and Goodbody, A. G. (2021). Augmenting geophysical interpretation of data-driven operational water supply forecast modeling for a western US river using a hybrid machine learning approach. Journal of Hydrology, 597, 126327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126327
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Heldmyer, A., Livneh, B., Molotch, N., and Rajagopalan, B. (2021). Investigating the Relationship Between Peak Snow‐Water Equivalent and Snow Timing Indices in the Western United States and Alaska. Water Resources Research, 57(5). https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR029395
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Hwang, J., Kumar, H., Ruhi, A., Sankarasubramanian, A., and Devineni, N. (2021). Quantifying Dam-Induced Fluctuations in Streamflow Frequencies Across the Colorado River Basin. Water Resources Research, 57(10), e2021WR029753. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR029753
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Lackner, C. P., Geerts, B., and Wang, Y. (2021). Impact of global warming on snow in ski areas: A case study using a regional climate simulation over the interior western United States. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-20-0155.1
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Li, Y., Gao, H., Allen, G. H., and Zhang, Z. (2021). Constructing Reservoir Area–Volume–Elevation Curve from TanDEM-X DEM Data. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 14, 2249–2257. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2021.3051103
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Mankin, J. S., Simpson, I., Hoell, A., et al. (2021). NOAA Drought Task Force Report on the 2020-2021 Southwestern U.S. Drought. NOAA Drought Task Force, MAPP, and NIDIS. 20 pp. https://www.drought.gov/sites/default/files/2021-09/NOAA-Drought-Task-Force-IV-Southwest-Drought-Report-9-23-21.pdf
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McCabe, G. J., and Wolock, D. M. (2021). Water balance of the turn-of-the-century drought in the Southwestern United States. Environmental Research Letters, 16(4), 044015. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abbfc1
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McKinnon, K. A., Poppick, A., and Simpson, I. R. (2021). Hot extremes have become drier in the United States Southwest. Nature Climate Change, 11(7), 598–604. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01076-9
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Miller, O. L., Miller, M. P., Longley, P. C., et al. (2021). How Will Baseflow Respond to Climate Change in the Upper Colorado River Basin? Geophysical Research Letters, 48(22). https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095085
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Miller, O. L., Putman, A. L., Alder, J., et al. (2021). Changing climate drives future streamflow declines and challenges in meeting water demand across the southwestern United States. Journal of Hydrology X, 11, 100074. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hydroa.2021.100074
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Musselman, K. N., Addor, N., Vano, J. A., and Molotch, N. P. (2021). Winter melt trends portend widespread declines in snow water resources. Nature Climate Change, 11(5), 418–424. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01014-9
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Peters-Lidard, C. D., Rose, K. C., Kiang, J. E., et al. (2021). Indicators of climate change impacts on the water cycle and water management. Climatic Change, 165(1–2), 36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03057-5
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Sabol, T. A., Griffiths, R. E., Topping, D. J., et al. (2021). Strandlines from large floods on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona (Report No. 2021–5048; Scientific Investigations Report, p. 41). USGS Publications Warehouse. https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20215048
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Scanlon, B. R., Rateb, A., Pool, D. R., et al. (2021). Effects of climate and irrigation on GRACE-based estimates of water storage changes in major US aquifers. Environmental Research Letters, 16(9), 094009. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac16ff
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Schrock, I. J. Y., Fassnacht, S. R., Collados-Lara, A.-J., et al. (2021). Snow Water Equivalent Accumulation Patterns from a Trajectory Approach over the U.S. Southern Rocky Mountains. Hydrology, 8(3), 124. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology8030124
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Siirila-Woodburn, E. R., Rhoades, A. M., Hatchett, B. J., et al. (2021). A low-to-no snow future and its impacts on water resources in the western United States. Nature Reviews Earth and Environment, 2(11), 800–819. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-021-00219-y
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Swanson, R. K., Springer, A. E., Kreamer, D. K., et al. (2021). Quantifying the base flow of the Colorado River: Its importance in sustaining perennial flow in northern Arizona and southern Utah (USA). Hydrogeology Journal, 29(2), 723–736. ($) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-020-02260-5
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Unema, J. A., Topping, D. J., Kohl, K. A., Pillow, M. J., and Caster, J. J. (2021). Historical floods and geomorphic change in the lower Little Colorado River during the late 19th to early 21st centuries (Report No. 2021–5049; Scientific Investigations Report, p. 34). USGS Publications Warehouse. https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20215049
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Woodhouse, C. A., Smith, R. M., McAfee, S. A., et al. (2021). Upper Colorado River Basin 20th century droughts under 21st century warming: Plausible scenarios for the future. Climate Services, 21, 100206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cliser.2020.100206
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Woodson, D., Rajagopalan, B., Baker, S., et al. (2021). Stochastic Decadal Projections of Colorado River Streamflow and Reservoir Pool Elevations Conditioned on Temperature Projections. Water Resources Research, 57(12), e2021WR030936. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR030936
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Yin, G., Forman, B. A., and Wang, J. (2021). Assimilation of Ground-Based GPS Observations of Vertical Displacement into a Land Surface Model to Improve Terrestrial Water Storage Estimates. Water Resources Research, 57(2), e2020WR028763. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR028763
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Zhao, S., Fu, R., Zhuang, Y., and Wang, G. (2021). Long-Lead Seasonal Prediction of Streamflow over the Upper Colorado River Basin: The Role of the Pacific Sea Surface Temperature and Beyond. Journal of Climate, 34(16), 6855–6873. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-20-0824.1

===Water management, planning, and policy===
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Butler, A., Fulp, T., Prairie, J., and Witherall, A. (2021). Water Resources Management in the Colorado River Basin. In Handbook of Catchment Management 2e (pp. 441–463). John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119531241.ch18
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Fleck, J., and Castle, A. (2021). Green Light for Adaptive Policies on the Colorado River. Water, 14(1), 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14010002
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Fleck, J., and Udall, B. (2021). Managing Colorado River risk. Science, 372(6545), 885–885. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abj5498
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Garcia, M., and Islam, S. (2021). Water stress and water salience: Implications for water supply planning. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 66(6), 919–934. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2021.1903474
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Gerlak, A. K., Jacobs, K. L., McCoy, A. L., et al. (2021). Scenario Planning: Embracing the Potential for Extreme Events in the Colorado River Basin. Climatic Change, 165(1–2), 27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03013-3
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Gerlak, A. K., Karambelkar, S., and Ferguson, D. B. (2021). Knowledge governance and learning: Examining challenges and opportunities in the Colorado River basin. Environmental Science and Policy, 125, 219–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2021.08.026
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Gilson, G., and Garrick, D. (2021). Can Philanthropy Enable Collective Action to Conserve Rivers? Insights from a Decade of Collaboration in the Colorado River Basin. Conservation and Society, 19(3), 190. https://doi.org/10.4103/cs.cs_225_20
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Hung, F., and Yang, Y. C. E. (2021). Assessing Adaptive Irrigation Impacts on Water Scarcity in Nonstationary Environments—A Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Approach. Water Resources Research, 57(9), e2020WR029262. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR029262
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Kwon, K., and Gimbel, J. (2021). Quenching Thirst in the Colorado River Basin. Colorado Water Center, Colorado State University, July 2021. 68 p. https://watercenter.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2021/11/CoWC-CR-Papers-Final-11032021.pdf
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MacDonnell, L. J. (2021). Colorado River Basin. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3780342
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MacDonnell, L. J. (2021). The Law of the Colorado River: Coping with Severe Sustained Drought, Part II. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3811024
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MacDonnell, L. (2021). Sources of Controversy in the Law of the Colorado River: An Upper Basin View. https://www.ssrn.com/abstract=3874212
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Milman, A., Bonnell, C., Maguire, R., Sorensen, K., and Blomquist, W. (2021). Groundwater Recharge for Water Security. Case Studies in the Environment, 5(1), 1113999. https://doi.org/10.1525/cse.2020.1113999
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Rivera-Torres, M., and Gerlak, A. K. (2021). Evolving together: Transboundary water governance in the Colorado River Basin. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 21(4), 553–574. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-021-09538-3
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Rivera-Torres, M., Gerlak, A. K., and Jacobs, K. L. (2021). Lesson learning in the Colorado River Basin. Water International, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2021.1913782
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Rosenberg, D. E. (2021). Adapt Lake Mead Releases to Inflow to Give Managers More Flexibility to Slow Reservoir Draw Down. Paper 170, Utah Water Research Laboratory, Utah State University, September 2021. 10 p. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/water_pubs/170/
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Spivak, D. S. (2021). The Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan. Natural Resources Journal, 61, 33. https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nrj/vol61/iss2/4/
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Tanana, H., Garcia, J., Olaya, A., et al. (2021). Universal Access to Clean Water for Tribes in the Colorado River Basin. Water and Tribes Initiative, Colorado River Basin. http://www.naturalresourcespolicy.org/docs/water-tribes/wti-full-report-4.21.pdf
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Wang, J., and Rosenberg, D. E. (2021). Living Within Our Means: Adapting Colorado River Basin Depletions to Available Water. Paper 171, Utah Water Research Laboratory, Utah State University, 2021. 25 p. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/water_pubs/171/
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Wheeler, K., Kuhn, E., Bruckerhoff, L., et al. (2021). Alternative Management Paradigms for the Future of the Colorado and Green Rivers. White Paper 6, Future of the Colorado River Project, Center for Colorado River Studies, Utah State University. 91 pp. https://qcnr.usu.edu/coloradoriver/files/WhitePaper6.pdf

===Water use===
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Cabot, P., Derwingson, A., and Torres-Rua, A. (2021). Evaluating Conserved-Consumptive Use in the Upper Colorado Basin. Colorado Water Conservation Board, November 2021. https://www.coloradobasinroundtable.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Evaluating-Conserved-Consumptive-Use-in-the-Upper-Colorado_2022-Project-Report_FINAL_no-Appendix.pdf
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Earp, K. J., and Moreo, M. T. (2021). Evaporation from Lake Mead and Lake Mohave, Nevada and Arizona, 2010–2019 (Open-File Report No. 2021–1022; 48 p.). U.S. Geological Survey. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20211022
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Melton, F. S., Huntington, J., Grimm, R., et al. (2021). OpenET: Filling a Critical Data Gap in Water Management for the Western United States. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 1752-1688.12956. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12956
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Norton, C. L., Dannenberg, M. P., Yan, D., et al. (2021). Climate and Socioeconomic Factors Drive Irrigated Agriculture Dynamics in the Lower Colorado River Basin. Remote Sensing, 13(9), 1659. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13091659

===Water quality and sediment===
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Cavallin, J. E., Battaglin, W. A., Beihoffer, J., et al. (2021). Effects-Based Monitoring of Bioactive Chemicals Discharged to the Colorado River before and after a Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant Replacement. Environmental Science and Technology, 55(2), 974–984. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c05269
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Cederberg, J. R., Paretti, N. V., Coes, A. L., Hermosillo, E., and Andrade, L. (2021). Estimation of dissolved-solids concentrations using continuous water-quality monitoring and regression models at four sites in the Yuma area, Arizona and California, January 2017 through March 2019 (Report No. 2021–5080; Scientific Investigations Report, p. 26). USGS Publications Warehouse. https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20215080
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Day, N. K. (2021). Assessment of streamflow and water quality in the Upper Yampa River Basin, Colorado, 1992–2018 (Report No. 2021–5016; Scientific Investigations Report). USGS Publications Warehouse. https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20215016
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Hannoun, D., Tietjen, T., & Brooks, K. (2021). The potential effects of climate change and drawdown on a newly constructed drinking water intake: Study case in Las Vegas, NV, USA. Water Utility Journal, 27, 1–13. http://www.ewra.net/wuj/pdf/WUJ_2021_27_01.pdf
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Kasprak, A., Sankey, J. B., and Butterfield, B. J. (2021). Future regulated flows of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon foretell decreased areal extent of sediment and increases in riparian vegetation. Environmental Research Letters, 16(1), 014029. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abc9e4
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Mueller, E. R., and Grams, P. E. (2021). A Morphodynamic Model to Evaluate Long‐Term Sandbar Rebuilding Using Controlled Floods in the Grand Canyon. Geophysical Research Letters, 48(9). https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL093007
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Rumsey, C. A., Miller, O., Hirsch, R. M., et al. (2021). Substantial Declines in Salinity Observed Across the Upper Colorado River Basin During the 20th Century, 1929–2019. Water Resources Research, 57(5). https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR028581

===Ecosystems and environment===
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Abernethy, E. F., Muehlbauer, J. D., Kennedy, T. A., et al. (2021). Hydropeaking intensity and dam proximity limit aquatic invertebrate diversity in the Colorado River Basin. Ecosphere, 12(6). https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3559
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Alizadeh, M. R., Abatzoglou, J. T., Luce, C. H., et al. (2021). Warming enabled upslope advance in western US forest fires. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(22), e2009717118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2009717118
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Bransky, N., Sankey, T., B. Sankey, J., et al. (2021). Monitoring Tamarix Changes Using WorldView-2 Satellite Imagery in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Remote Sensing, 13(5), 958. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13050958
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DeLuca, W. V., Meehan, T., Seavy, et al. (2021). The Colorado River Delta and California’s Central Valley are critical regions for many migrating North American landbirds. Ornithological Applications, 123(1). https://doi.org/10.1093/ornithapp/duaa064
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Dibble, K. L., Yackulic, C. B., Kennedy, T. A., et al. (2021). Water storage decisions will determine the distribution and persistence of imperiled river fishes. Ecological Applications, 31(2). https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2279
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Durning, L. E., Sankey, J. B., Yackulic, C. B., et al. (2021). Hydrologic and geomorphic effects on riparian plant species occurrence and encroachment: Remote sensing of 360 km of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. Ecohydrology, 14(8). https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.2344
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Heidari, H., Warziniack, T., Brown, T. C., and Arabi, M. (2021). Impacts of Climate Change on Hydroclimatic Conditions of U.S. National Forests and Grasslands. Forests, 12(2), 139. https://doi.org/10.3390/f12020139
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Hooley‐Underwood, Z. E., Thompson, K. G., and Bestgen, K. R. (2021). Razorback Sucker Spawning in an Intermittent Colorado Tributary. North American Journal of Fisheries Management, 41(4), 1151–1158. https://doi.org/10.1002/nafm.10623
----
Kasprak, A., Sankey, J. B., and Butterfield, B. J. (2021). Future regulated flows of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon foretell decreased areal extent of sediment and increases in riparian vegetation. Environmental Research Letters, 16(1), 014029. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abc9e4
----
Koehn, C. R., Petrie, M. D., Bradford, J. B., et al. (2021). Seasonal Precipitation and Soil Moisture Relationships Across Forests and Woodlands in the Southwestern United States. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 126(4). https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JG005986
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Lomeli-Banda, M. A., Ramírez-Hernández, J., Rodríguez-Burgueño, J. E., and Salazar-Briones, C. (2021). The role of hydrological processes in ecosystem conservation: Comprehensive water management for a wetland in an arid climate. Hydrological Processes, 35(2), e14013. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14013
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Nagler, P. L., Barreto-Muñoz, A., Chavoshi Borujeni, S., et al. (2021). Riparian Area Changes in Greenness and Water Use on the Lower Colorado River in the USA from 2000 to 2020. Remote Sensing, 13(7), 1332. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13071332
----
Palmquist, E. C., Allan, G. J., Ogle, K., et al. (2021). Riverine complexity and life history inform restoration in riparian environments in the southwestern U.S. Restoration Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13418
----
Pennock, C. A., Ahrens, Z. T., McKinstry, M. C., Budy, P., and Gido, K. B. (2021). Trophic niches of native and nonnative fishes along a river-reservoir continuum. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 12140. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91730-1
---
Pennock, C. A., and Gido, K. B. (2021). Spatial and temporal dynamics of fish assemblages in a desert reservoir over 38 years. Hydrobiologia, 848(6), 1231–1248. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-021-04514-z
----
Tonkin, J. D., Olden, J. D., Merritt, D. M., et al. (2021). Designing flow regimes to support entire river ecosystems. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 19(6), 326–333. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2348
----
Waldo, S., Deemer, B. R., Bair, L. S., and Beaulieu, J. J. (2021). Greenhouse gas emissions from an arid-zone reservoir and their environmental policy significance: Results from existing global models and an exploratory dataset. Environmental Science and Policy, 120, 53–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2021.02.006
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Zamora, H. A., Eastoe, C. J., McIntosh, J. C., and Flessa, K. W. (2021). Groundwater Origin and Dynamics on the Eastern Flank of the Colorado River Delta, Mexico. Hydrology, 8(2), 80. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology8020080

===Societal and economic issues===
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Tanana, H., Garcia, J., Olaya, A., et al. (2021). Universal Access to Clean Water for Tribes in the Colorado River Basin. Water and Tribes Initiative, Colorado River Basin. http://www.naturalresourcespolicy.org/docs/water-tribes/wti-full-report-4.21.pdf

==2020==

===Cross-cutting reports===
[[File:SoS_cover_thumb.png|thumb|150px|]]
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Lukas, J., and Payton, E. (2020). Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology: State of the Science (p. 531). Western Water Assessment, University of Colorado Boulder. https://doi.org/10.25810/3hcv-w477
*Individual report chapters (2-11) are separately listed in their respective categories below

===Weather and climate===
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AghaKouchak, A., Chiang, F., Huning, L. S., et al. (2020). Climate Extremes and Compound Hazards in a Warming World. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 48(1), 519–548. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-071719-055228
----
Ault, T. R. (2020). On the essentials of drought in a changing climate. Science, 368(6488), 256–260. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz5492
----
Baker, S. A., Wood, A. W., and Rajagopalan, B. (2020). Application of Postprocessing to Watershed-Scale Subseasonal Climate Forecasts over the Contiguous United States. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 21(5), 971–987. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-19-0155.1
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Chikamoto, Y., Wang, S.-Y. S., Yost, M., Yocom, L., and Gillies, R. R. (2020). Colorado River water supply is predictable on multi-year timescales owing to long-term ocean memory. Nature Communications Earth and Environment, 1(1), 26. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00027-0
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Foster, L. M., Williams, K. H., and Maxwell, R. M. (2020). Resolution matters when modeling climate change in headwaters of the Colorado River. Environmental Research Letters, 15(10), 104031. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aba77f
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Gibson, P. B., Waliser, D. E., Guan, B., et al. (2020). Ridging Associated with Drought across the Western and Southwestern United States: Characteristics, Trends, and Predictability Sources. Journal of Climate, 33(7), 2485–2508. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0439.1
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Hausfather, Z., and Peters, G. P. (2020). Emissions – the ‘business as usual’ story is misleading. Nature, 577(7792), 618–620. ($) https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00177-3
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Kirchmeier-Young, M. C., and Zhang, X. (2020). Human influence has intensified extreme precipitation in North America. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(24), 13308–13313. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1921628117
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Kunkel, K. E., Karl, T. R., Squires, M. F., et al. (2020). Precipitation Extremes: Trends and Relationships with Average Precipitation and Precipitable Water in the Contiguous United States. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 59(1), 125–142. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-19-0185.1
----
Lukas, J., and Harding, B. (2020). Current Understanding of Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology (Chapter 2). In Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology: State of the Science (pp. 42–81). Western Water Assessment, University of Colorado. https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/reports/8w32r663z
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Lukas, J., Wolter, K., and Barsugli, J. (2020). Weather and Climate Forecasting (Chapter 7). In Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology: State of the Science (pp. 254–286). Western Water Assessment, University of Colorado. https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/reports/8w32r663z
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Mariotti, A., Baggett, C., Barnes, E. A., et al. (2020). Windows of Opportunity for Skillful Forecasts Subseasonal to Seasonal and Beyond. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, BAMS-D-18-0326.1. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0326.1
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McAfee, S. (2020). Observations—Weather and Climate (Chapter 4). In Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology: State of the Science (pp. 114–152). Western Water Assessment, University of Colorado. https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/reports/8w32r663z
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Overpeck, J. T., and Udall, B. (2020). Climate change and the aridification of North America. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(22), 11856–11858. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2006323117
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Patricola, C. M., O’Brien, J. P., Risser, M. D., et al. (2020). Maximizing ENSO as a source of western US hydroclimate predictability. Climate Dynamics, 54(1–2), 351–372. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-019-05004-8
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Sierks, M. D., Kalansky, J., Cannon, F., and Ralph, F. M. (2020). Characteristics, Origins, and Impacts of Summertime Extreme Precipitation in the Lake Mead Watershed. Journal of Climate, 33(7), 2663–2680. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0387.1
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Stahle, D. W., Cook, E. R., Burnette, D. J., et al. (2020). Dynamics, Variability, and Change in Seasonal Precipitation Reconstructions for North America. Journal of Climate, 33(8), 3173–3195. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0270.1
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Thakur, B., Kalra, A., Lakshmi, V., et al. (2020). Linkage between ENSO phases and western US snow water equivalent. Atmospheric Research, 236, 104827. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2019.104827
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Tokarska, K. B., Stolpe, M. B., Sippel, S., et al. (2020). Past warming trend constrains future warming in CMIP6 models. Science Advances, 6(12), eaaz9549. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz9549
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Williams, A. P., Cook, E. R., Smerdon, J. E., et al. (2020). Large contribution from anthropogenic warming to an emerging North American megadrought. Science, 368(6488), 314–318. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz9600
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Wood, A., Woelders, L., and Lukas, J. (2020a). Hydrologic Models (Chapter 6). In Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology: State of the Science (pp. 221–252). Western Water Assessment, University of Colorado. https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/reports/8w32r663z
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Wood, A., Woelders, L., and Lukas, J. (2020b). Streamflow Forecasting (Chapter 8). In Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology: State of the Science (pp. 287–333). Western Water Assessment, University of Colorado. https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/reports/8w32r663z
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Woodhouse, C., and Lukas, J. J. (2020). Paleohydrology (Chapter 10). In Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology: State of the Science (pp. 361–383). Western Water Assessment, University of Colorado. https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/reports/8w32r663z

===Hydrology and water availability===
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Broxton, P. D., Van Leeuwen, W. J. D., and Biederman, J. A. (2020). Forest cover and topography regulate the thin, ephemeral snowpacks of the semiarid Southwest United States. Ecohydrology, 13(4), e2202. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.2202
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Carroll, R. W. H., Gochis, D., and Williams, K. H. (2020). Efficiency of the Summer Monsoon in Generating Streamflow Within a Snow‐Dominated Headwater Basin of the Colorado River. Geophysical Research Letters, 47(23). https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090856
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Condon, L. E., Atchley, A. L., and Maxwell, R. M. (2020). Evapotranspiration depletes groundwater under warming over the contiguous United States. Nature Communications, 11(1), 873. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14688-0
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Davenport, F. V., Herrera‐Estrada, J. E., Burke, M., and Diffenbaugh, N. S. (2020). Flood Size Increases Nonlinearly Across the Western United States in Response to Lower Snow‐Precipitation Ratios. Water Resources Research, 56(1). https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR025571
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Dethier, E. N., Sartain, S. L., Renshaw, C. E., and Magilligan, F. J. (2020). Spatially coherent regional changes in seasonal extreme streamflow events in the United States and Canada since 1950. Science Advances, 6(49), eaba5939. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aba5939
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Hammond, J. C., and Kampf, S. K. (2020). Subannual Streamflow Responses to Rainfall and Snowmelt Inputs in Snow‐Dominated Watersheds of the Western United States. Water Resources Research, 56(4). https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR026132
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Kohn, M. S., Marineu, M. D., Hempel, L. A., and McDonald, R. R. (2020). Incipient Bed-Movement and Flood-Frequency Analysis using Hydrophones to Estimate Flushing Flows on the Upper Colorado River, Colorado, 2019 (Scientific Investigations Report No. 2020–5069; Scientific Investigations Report, p. 50). U.S. Geological Survey. https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20205069
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Liu, T., Greenbaum, N., Baker, V. R., et al. (2020). Paleoflood hydrology on the lower Green River, upper Colorado River Basin, USA: An example of a naturalist approach to flood-risk analysis. Journal of Hydrology, 580, 124337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2019.124337 [select "View Open Manuscript" if no institutional access]
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Liu, T., Ji, L., Baker, V. R., Harden, T. M., and Cline, M. L. (2020). Holocene extreme paleofloods and their climatological context, Upper Colorado River Basin, USA. Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment, 44(5), 727–745. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133320904038
----
Livneh, B., and Badger, A. M. (2020). Drought less predictable under declining future snowpack. Nature Climate Change, 10(5), 452–458. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0754-8
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Lopez‐Cantu, T., Prein, A. F., and Samaras, C. (2020). Uncertainties in Future U.S. Extreme Precipitation From Downscaled Climate Projections. Geophysical Research Letters, 47(9). https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086797
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Lukas, J., Gutmann, E., Harding, B., and Lehner, F. (2020). Climate Change-Informed Hydrology (Chapter 11). In Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology: State of the Science (pp. 384–449). Western Water Assessment, University of Colorado. https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/reports/8w32r663z
----
Lukas, J., and Harding, B. (2020). Current Understanding of Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology (Chapter 2). In Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology: State of the Science (pp. 42–81). Western Water Assessment, University of Colorado. https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/reports/8w32r663z
----
Lukas, J., Payton, E., Deems, J., Rangwala, I., and Duncan, B. (2020). Observations—Hydrology (Chapter 5). In Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology: State of the Science (pp. 154–219). Western Water Assessment, University of Colorado. https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/reports/8w32r663z
----
Martin, J. T., Pederson, G. T., Woodhouse, C. A., et al. (2020). Increased drought severity tracks warming in the United States’ largest river basin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(21), 11328–11336. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1916208117
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McCabe, G. J., and Wolock, D. M. (2020). The Water‐Year Water Balance of the Colorado River Basin. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 56(4), 724–737. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12848
----
McCabe, G. J., Wolock, D. M., Woodhouse, C. A., et al. (2020). Basinwide Hydroclimatic Drought in the Colorado River Basin. Earth Interactions, 24(2), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1175/EI-D-20-0001.1
----
Milly, P. C. D., and Dunne, K. A. (2020). Colorado River flow dwindles as warming-driven loss of reflective snow energizes evaporation. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay9187
----
Nelson, S. M., Kendy, E., Flessa, K. W., et al. (2020). Channel incision by headcut migration: Reconnection of the Colorado River to its estuary and the Gulf of California during the floods of 1979–1988. Hydrological Processes, 34(22), 4156–4174. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13858
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O’Leary, D. S., Hall, D. K., DiGirolamo, N. E., and Riggs, G. A. (2020). Regional trends in snowmelt timing for the western United States throughout the MODIS era. Physical Geography, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723646.2020.1854418
----
Overpeck, J. T., and Udall, B. (2020). Climate change and the aridification of North America. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(22), 11856–11858. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2006323117
----
Payton, E. (2020). Historical Hydrology (Chapter 9). In Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology: State of the Science (pp. 337–360). Western Water Assessment, University of Colorado. https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/reports/8w32r663z
----
Penn, C. A., Clow, D. W., Sexstone, G. A., and Murphy, S. F. (2020). Changes in Climate and Land Cover Affect Seasonal Streamflow Forecasts in the Rio Grande Headwaters. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 56(5), 882–902. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12863
----
Rateb, A., Scanlon, B. R., Pool, D. R., et al. (2020). Comparison of Groundwater Storage Changes From GRACE Satellites With Monitoring and Modeling of Major U.S. Aquifers. Water Resources Research, 56(12). https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR027556
----
Reclamation. (2020). Exploring Climate and Hydrology Projections from the CMIP5 Archive. (Draft report.) US Bureau of Reclamation. [unreleased as of June 2021]
----
Robeson, S. M., Maxwell, J. T., and Ficklin, D. L. (2020). Bias Correction of Paleoclimatic Reconstructions: A New Look at 1,200+ Years of Upper Colorado River Flow. Geophysical Research Letters, 47(1). https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086689
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Robles, M. D., Hammond, J. C., Kampf, S. K., Biederman, J. A., and Demaria, E. M. C. (2020). Winter Inputs Buffer Streamflow Sensitivity to Snowpack Losses in the Salt River Watershed in the Lower Colorado River Basin. Water, 13(1), 3. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13010003
----
Salehabadi, H., Tarboton, D., Kuhn, E., et al. (2020). The future hydrology of the Colorado River Basin. Future of the Colorado River Project, White Paper No. 4. Center for Colorado River Studies, Utah State University. 71 pp. https://www.fs.usda.gov/rm/pubs_journals/2020/rmrs_2020_salehabadi_h001.pdf
----
Solder, J. E., Beisner, K. R., Anderson, J., and Bills, D. J. (2020). Rethinking groundwater flow on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, USA: Characterizing recharge sources and flow paths with environmental tracers. Hydrogeology Journal, 28(5), 1593–1613. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-020-02193-z
----
Swain, D. L., Wing, O. E. J., Bates, P. D., et al. (2020). Increased Flood Exposure Due to Climate Change and Population Growth in the United States. Earth’s Future, 8(11). https://doi.org/10.1029/2020EF001778
----
Tillman, F. D., Gangopadhyay, S., and Pruitt, T. (2020b). Recent and projected precipitation and temperature changes in the Grand Canyon area with implications for groundwater resources. Nature Scientific Reports, 10(1), 19740. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-76743-6
----
Tran, H., Zhang, J., Cohard, J., Condon, L. E., and Maxwell, R. M. (2020). Simulating Groundwater‐Streamflow Connections in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Groundwater, 58(3), 392–405. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwat.13000
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Wang, J., and Schmidt, J. C. (2020). Stream flow and Losses of the Colorado River in the Southern Colorado Plateau. White Paper 5, Future of the Colorado River Project, Center for Colorado River Studies, Utah State University. https://qcnr.usu.edu/coloradoriver/files/WhitePaper5.pdf
----
Webb, R. W., Raleigh, M. S., McGrath, D., et al. (2020). Within‐Stand Boundary Effects on Snow Water Equivalent Distribution in Forested Areas. Water Resources Research, 56(10). https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR024905

===Water management, planning, and policy===
----
Escriva-Bou, A., McCann, H., Hanak, E., et al. (2020). Water Accounting in Western US, Australia, and Spain: Comparative Analysis. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 146(3), 04020004. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0001157
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Garcia, M., Ridolfi, E., and Di Baldassarre, G. (2020). The interplay between reservoir storage and operating rules under evolving conditions. Journal of Hydrology, 590, 125270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.125270
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Hadjimichael, A., Quinn, J., Wilson, et al. (2020). Defining Robustness, Vulnerabilities, and Consequential Scenarios for Diverse Stakeholder Interests in Institutionally Complex River Basins. Earth’s Future, 8(7). https://doi.org/10.1029/2020EF001503
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Hobbins, M., and Barsugli, J. (2020). Threatening the vigor of the Colorado River. Science, 367(6483), 1192–1193. ($) https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb3624
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Joshi, N., Tamaddun, K., Parajuli, R., et al. (2020). Future Changes in Water Supply and Demand for Las Vegas Valley: A System Dynamic Approach based on CMIP3 and CMIP5 Climate Projections. Hydrology, 7(1), 16. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology7010016
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Juricich, R. (2020). Colorado River Basin Governance, Decision Making, and Alternative Approaches. World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2020, 121–130. https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784482957.013
----
Karambelkar, S., and Gerlak, A. K. (2020). Collaborative Governance and Stakeholder Participation in the Colorado River Basin: An Examination of Patterns of Inclusion and Exclusion. Natural Resources Journal, 60(1), 47. https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nrj/vol60/iss1/3/
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Khatri, K. B., and Strong, C. (2020). Climate Change, Water Resources, and Potential Adaptation Strategies in Utah. Utah Division of Water Resources. https://water.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Final-Report_ClimateChangeUtah_May_2020.pdf
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Mumme, S. P. (2020). The 1944 Water Treaty and the Incorporation of Environmental Values in U.S.-Mexico Transboundary Water Governance. Environmental Science and Policy, 112, 126–133. ($) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2020.05.001
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Nelson, D. R., Bledsoe, B. P., and Marshall Shepherd, J. (2020). From hubris to humility: Transcending original sin in managing hydroclimatic risk. Anthropocene, 30, 100239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2020.100239
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Nielsen‐Gammon, J. W., Banner, J. L., Cook, B. I., et al. (2020). Unprecedented Drought Challenges for Texas Water Resources in a Changing Climate: What Do Researchers and Stakeholders Need to Know? Earth’s Future, 8(8). https://doi.org/10.1029/2020EF001552
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Page, R., and Dilling, L. (2020). How experiences of climate extremes motivate adaptation among water managers. Climatic Change, 161(3), 499–516. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02712-7
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Payton, E., Smith, R., Jerla, C., and Prairie, J. (2020). Primary Planning Tools (Chapter 3). In Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology: State of the Science (pp. 82–111). Western Water Assessment, University of Colorado. https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/reports/8w32r663z
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Reclamation. (2020). Draft 7D Report—Review of the Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, Upper and Lower Colorado Basin Regions. US Bureau of Reclamation. https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/documents/7.D.Review_DraftReport_10-23-2020.pdf
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Richter, B. D., Andrews, S., Dahlinghaus, R., et al. (2020). Buy Me a River: Purchasing Water Rights to Restore River Flows in the Western USA. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 56(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12808
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Rightnar, J., and Dinar, A. (2020). The Welfare Implications of Bankruptcy Allocation of the Colorado River Water: The Case of the Salton Sea Region. Water Resources Management, 34(8), 2353–2370. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-020-02552-1
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Sterle, K., Jose, L., Coors, S., et al. (2020). Collaboratively Modeling Reservoir Reoperation to Adapt to Earlier Snowmelt Runoff. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 146(1), 05019021. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0001136
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Wang, J., Rosenberg, D. E., Wheeler, K. G., and Schmidt, J. C. (2020). Managing the Colorado River for an Uncertain Future. White Paper 3, Future of the Colorado River Project, Center for Colorado River Studies, Utah State University. https://qcnr.usu.edu/coloradoriver/files/CCRS_White_Paper_3.pdf
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Yang, Y. C. E., Son, K., Hung, F., and Tidwell, V. (2020). Impact of climate change on adaptive management decisions in the face of water scarcity. Journal of Hydrology, 588, 125015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.125015 [select "View Open Manuscript" if no institutional access]

===Water use===
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Joshi, N., Tamaddun, K., Parajuli, R., et al. (2020). Future Changes in Water Supply and Demand for Las Vegas Valley: A System Dynamic Approach based on CMIP3 and CMIP5 Climate Projections. Hydrology, 7(1), 16. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology7010016
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Richter, B. D., Benoit, K., Dugan, J., et al. (2020). Decoupling Urban Water Use and Growth in Response to Water Scarcity. Water, 12(10), 2868. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12102868
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Richter, B. D., Bartak, D., Caldwell, P., et al. (2020). Water scarcity and fish imperilment driven by beef production. Nature Sustainability, 3(4), 319–328. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0483-z
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Zhang, B., Xia, Y., Long, B., et al. (2020). Evaluation and comparison of multiple evapotranspiration data models over the contiguous United States: Implications for the next phase of NLDAS (NLDAS-Testbed) development. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 280, 107810. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2019.107810 [select "View Open Manuscript" if no institutional access]

===Water quality and sediment===
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Carbajal, N., Ley, Y. M.-, Soto-Jiménez, M., Páez-Osuna, F., and Tuxpan, J. (2020). Finger-like plumes of suspended sediment in the Colorado River Delta, Gulf of California. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 245, 106996. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2020.106996
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Dean, D. J., Topping, D. J., Grams, P. E., Walker, A. E., and Schmidt, J. C. (2020). Does Channel Narrowing by Floodplain Growth Necessarily Indicate Sediment Surplus? Lessons From Sediment Transport Analyses in the Green and Colorado Rivers, Canyonlands, Utah. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 125(11). https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JF005414
----
Deemer, B. R., Stets, E. G., and Yackulic, C. B. (2020). Calcite precipitation in Lake Powell reduces alkalinity and total salt loading to the Lower Colorado River Basin. Limnology and Oceanography, 65(7), 1439–1455. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.11399
----
East, A. E., and Sankey, J. B. (2020). Geomorphic and Sedimentary Effects of Modern Climate Change: Current and Anticipated Future Conditions in the Western United States. Reviews of Geophysics, 58(4). https://doi.org/10.1029/2019RG000692
----
Grams, P. E., Dean, D. J., Walker, A. E., Kasprak, A., and Schmidt, J. C. (2020). The roles of flood magnitude and duration in controlling channel width and complexity on the Green River in Canyonlands, Utah, USA. Geomorphology, 371, 107438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.107438
----
Hensley, R. T., Spangler, M. J., DeVito, L. F., et al. (2020). Evaluating spatiotemporal variation in water chemistry of the upper Colorado River using longitudinal profiling. Hydrological Processes, 34(8), 1782–1793. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13690
----
Mihalevich, B. A., Neilson, B. T., Buahin, C. A., Yackulic, C. B., and Schmidt, J. C. (2020). Water Temperature Controls for Regulated Canyon‐Bound Rivers. Water Resources Research, 56(12). https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR027566
----
Rubin, D. M., Buscombe, D., Wright, S. A., et al. (2020). Causes of Variability in Suspended‐Sand Concentration Evaluated Using Measurements in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 125(9). https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JF005226
----
Saber, A., James, D. E., and Hayes, D. F. (2020). Long‐term forecast of water temperature and dissolved oxygen profiles in deep lakes using artificial neural networks conjugated with wavelet transform. Limnology and Oceanography, 65(6), 1297–1317. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.11390
----
Walker, A. E., Moore, J. N., Grams, P. E., Dean, D. J., and Schmidt, J. C. (2020). Channel narrowing by inset floodplain formation of the lower Green River in the Canyonlands region, Utah. GSA Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1130/B35233.1

===Ecosystems and environment===
----
Arcusa, S. H., McKay, N. P., Routson, C. C., and Munoz, S. E. (2020). Dust-drought interactions over the last 15,000 years: A network of lake sediment records from the San Juan Mountains, Colorado. The Holocene, 30(4), 559–574. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683619875192
----
Baldwin, A. K., Spanjer, A. R., Rosen, M. R., and Thom, T. (2020). Microplastics in Lake Mead National Recreation Area, USA: Occurrence and biological uptake. PLOS ONE, 15(5), e0228896. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228896
----
Butterfield, B. J., Grams, P. E., Durning, L. E., et al. (2020). Associations between riparian plant morphological guilds and fluvial sediment dynamics along the regulated Colorado River in Grand Canyon. River Research and Applications, 36(3), 410–421. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3589
----
Day, N. K., Schmidt, T. S., Roberts, J. J., et al. (2020). Mercury and selenium concentrations in fishes of the Upper Colorado River Basin, southwestern United States: A retrospective assessment. PLOS ONE, 15(1), e0226824. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226824
----
Diehl, R. M., Wilcox, A. C., and Stella, J. C. (2020). Evaluation of the integrated riparian ecosystem response to future flow regimes on semiarid rivers in Colorado, USA. Journal of Environmental Management, 271, 111037. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111037
----
Goeking, S. A., and Tarboton, D. G. (2020). Forests and Water Yield: A Synthesis of Disturbance Effects on Streamflow and Snowpack in Western Coniferous Forests. Journal of Forestry, 118(2), 172–192. https://doi.org/10.1093/jofore/fvz069
----
Gómez‐Sapiens, M. M., Jarchow, C. J., Flessa, K. W., et al. (2020). Effect of an environmental flow on vegetation growth and health using ground and remote sensing metrics. Hydrological Processes, 34(8), 1682–1696. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13689
----
Healy, B. D., Omana Smith, E. C., Schelly, R. C., Trammell, M. A., and Nelson, C. B. (2020). Establishment of a Reproducing Population of Endangered Humpback Chub through Translocations to a Colorado River Tributary in Grand Canyon, Arizona. North American Journal of Fisheries Management, 40(1), 278–292. https://doi.org/10.1002/nafm.10408
----
Kegerries, R. B., Albrecht, B., McKinstry, M. C., et al. (2020). Small-Bodied Fish Surveys Demonstrate Native Fish Dominance Over 300 Kilometers of the Colorado River Through Grand Canyon, Arizona. Western North American Naturalist, 80(2), 146. https://doi.org/10.3398/064.080.0202
----
Mayes, M., Caylor, K. K., Singer, M. B., et al. (2020). Climate sensitivity of water use by riparian woodlands at landscape scales. Hydrological Processes, 34(25), 4884–4903. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13942
----
Nagler, P. L., Barreto‐Muñoz, A., Chavoshi Borujeni, S., et al. (2020). Ecohydrological responses to surface flow across borders: Two decades of changes in vegetation greenness and water use in the riparian corridor of the Colorado River delta. Hydrological Processes, 34(25), 4851–4883. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13911
----
Pennock, C. A., McKinstry, M. C., Cathcart, C. N., et al. (2020). Movement ecology of imperilled fish in a novel ecosystem: River‐reservoir movements by razorback sucker and translocations to aid conservation. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 30(8), 1540–1551. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3399
----
Scamardo, J., and Wohl, E. (2020). Sediment storage and shallow groundwater response to beaver dam analogues in the Colorado Front Range, USA. River Research and Applications, 36(3), 398–409. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3592
----
Stevens, L. E., Jenness, J., and Ledbetter, J. D. (2020). Springs and Springs-Dependent Taxa of the Colorado River Basin, Southwestern North America: Geography, Ecology and Human Impacts. Water, 12(5), 1501. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12051501
----
Szejner, P., Belmecheri, S., Ehleringer, J. R., and Monson, R. K. (2020). Recent increases in drought frequency cause observed multi-year drought legacies in the tree rings of semi-arid forests. Oecologia, 192(1), 241–259. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-019-04550-6
----
Walters, D. M., Cross, W. F., Kennedy, T. A., et al. (2020). Food web controls on mercury fluxes and fate in the Colorado River, Grand Canyon. Science Advances, 6(20), eaaz4880. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz4880

===Societal and economic issues===
----
Wutich, A., DeMyers, C., Bausch, J. C., White, D. D., and Sullivan, A. (2020). Stakeholders and social influence in a shadow network: Implications for transitions toward urban water sustainability in the Colorado River basin. Ecology and Society, 25(1), art28. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11451-250128
----

''A note on paywalls:'' While open access research has become much more prevalent in recent years, many of the journal articles listed and linked here sit behind paywalls. If you don't have personal or institutional access to that journal/article, you will only be able to view the abstract; viewing or downloading the full text requires a payment. If that happens, first, enter the title of the article in [https://scholar.google.com Google Scholar] and see if a PDF has been posted elsewhere on the web by an author or other person. If one hasn't been posted, then look on the article's homepage for the ''corresponding author'' (not always the first author), and email that person to obtain a copy.

Data and tools

2026-07-30T18:25:41Z

JeffreyJLukas:

==Overview==

This section of the Colorado River Science Wiki collates all of the ''Data and tools'' items from the pages listed in the [[Colorado_River_Science_Wiki#Topics|Topics]] section of the home page.

==[[Climate patterns and variability]]==
{{:Climate patterns and variability}}

==[[Recent climate change]]==
{{:Recent climate change}}

==[[Weather and climate monitoring]]==
{{:Weather and climate monitoring}}

==[[Weather and climate forecasts]]==
{{:Weather and climate forecasts}}

==[[Projected future climate]]==
{{:Projected future climate}}

==[[Snowpack]]==
{{:Snowpack}}

==[[Soil moisture]]==
{{:Soil moisture}}

==[[Evapotranspiration (ET)]]==
{{:Evapotranspiration (ET)}}

==[[Streamflow]]==
{{:Streamflow}}

==[[Paleohydrology]]==
{{:Paleohydrology}}

==[[Seasonal streamflow forecasts]]==
{{:Seasonal streamflow forecasts}}

==[[Floods]]==
{{:Floods}}

==[[Hydrologic modeling]]==
{{:Hydrologic modeling}}

==[[Projected future hydrology]]==
{{:Projected future hydrology}}

==[[Dams, reservoirs, and other infrastructure]]==
{{:Dams, reservoirs, and other infrastructure}}

==[[Colorado River Mid-term Modeling System (CRMMS)]]==
{{:Colorado River Mid-term Modeling System (CRMMS)}}

==[[Colorado River Simulation System (CRSS)]]==
{{:Colorado River Simulation System (CRSS)}}

==[[Consumptive uses and losses]]==
{{:Consumptive uses and losses}}

==[[Agricultural water use]]==
{{:Agricultural water use}}

==[[Municipal water use]]==
{{:Municipal water use}}

==[[Reservoir evaporation]]==
{{:Reservoir evaporation}}

==[[Salinity]]==
{{:Salinity}}

==[[Metals and acid mine drainage]]==
{{:Metals and acid mine drainage}}

==[[Wildfire and water]]==
{{:Wildfire and water}}

==[[Tamarisk and invasive plants]]==
{{:Tamarisk and invasive plants}}

==[[Threatened and endangered fish species]]==
{{:Threatened and endangered fish species}}

==[[Invasive mussels]]==
{{:Invasive mussels}}

==[[Salton Sea]]==
{{:Salton Sea}}

==[[Colorado River Delta]]==
{{:Colorado River Delta}}

<!--
Weather and climate

Past and current climate
Mechanisms & spatial patterns
Variability & trends over time
Paleoclimate
Recent trends & climate change
Climate monitoring
Weather station networks
Errors and adjustments
Gridded climate products
Drought monitoring
Weather and climate forecasts
Weather forecasts
Subseasonal forecasts
Seasonal forecasts
Decadal climate forecasts
Future climate
Fundamentals of climate change
Climate models
Downscaling
Projected future climate

Hydrology and water availability
Water balance and basin water budget
Snowpack
Snowpack processes & patterns
Snowpack monitoring
Dust-on-snow
Cloud seeding
Soil moisture
Soil moisture monitoring
Evaporation and evaporative demand
Groundwater
Streamflow

Historical (gaged) records
Adjusted streamflow
BoR Natural Flows
Other naturalized
Variability & trends over time
Recent trends & climate change
Real-time streamflows

Droughts
Dynamics/causes
Impacts
Historic droughts
Paleodroughts
Megadrought
Floods
Historic
Paleofloods
Channel dynamics
Hydrologic modeling
Water operations and planning
Reservoirs and infrastructure
Operating rules
[[River system models]]

Other models used in the basin
Planning approaches
Future hydrology and water availability
Methods
Future streamflow changes
Other hydrology changes
Synthesis: Future basin water availability

'''Water Use'''
*Agricultural water use
**ET measurement
**Conservation strategies
*Municipal water use
**Conservation strategies
*Environmental/instream water use
*Other depletions
**Reservoir evaporation
**Channel/bank losses
**Phreatophytic vegetation
*Demand accounting and scenarios
**State/basin reports
**Demand schedules
**Other demand scenarios
*Synthesis: Future basin demand

'''Water quality and sediment'''
*Salinity
**Salinity monitoring
**Salinity control measures
*Other contaminants
**Uranium mining/tailings
*Sediment
**Erosion/sediment sources
**Reservoir sedimentation
**Riverbed sediment dynamics

'''Ecosystems and environment'''
*Overview
*Forests
**Disturbances
***Wildfires
***Insect infestations/disease
*Riparian
**Tamarisk and invasive plants
*Aquatic
**T&E fish species
***Upper Basin
***Lower Basin
**Invasive mussels
*Specific hot spots
**Salton Sea
**Colorado River Delta

'''Societal and economic issues'''
*Benefits of water
*Impacts of shortage and drought
*Social inequity and vulnerability
*Other
--!>

Colorado River Science Wiki

2026-07-30T18:23:35Z

JeffreyJLukas: /* Topics */

Colorado River Science Wiki

2026-07-30T18:23:17Z

JeffreyJLukas: /* Topics */

2026-07-09T15:26:18Z

JeffreyJLukas: Redirected page to Colorado River Science Wiki

#REDIRECT [[Colorado_River_Science_Wiki]]

[[File:Basin_science_map.png|thumb|400px|'''Figure 1.''' Representation of the different models and data, and their underlying science, applied to decision-making in the Colorado River Basin. (Design: J. Lukas, adapted from L. Payton; basin map by Western Water Assessment (L. Woelders); thumbnail images from University of Washington VIC group, NOAA Colorado Basin River Forecast Center, and Reclamation)]]

[[File:2025 4 panel Plot Udall.jpg|thumb|400px|link=Current_conditions#The_Colorado_River_.274-panel_plot.27|'''Figure 2.''' The "4-panel plot" showing trends in Colorado River Basin reservoir storage, natural streamflow, precipitation, and temperature, through Water Year 2025. Click on the figure for a larger version. (Figure: Brad Udall; Data: Reclamation - reservoir storage and streamflow; NOAA NCEI - precipitation and temperature)]]

The '''Colorado River Science Wiki''' is a web-based clearinghouse for scientific and technical information relevant to the Colorado River Basin and the management of its water resources and related natural resources. This clearinghouse is intended to be useful to managers and other decision-makers, to researchers, to the media, and to the broader public.

We welcome your feedback; please use this [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfVXdC1lZde88uk5Nld1qnDDtzXQr1XaDIjFo1KlQ1shCY20A/viewform form] to send us suggestions, or reach us at the contact information below.

[[File:reclamation_logo_blue.webp|300px]]
[[File:logo_spacer.png|30px]]
[[File:AGCI_logo.png|200px]]
[[File:logo_spacer.png|30px]]
[[File:CSU-CWC_logo.png|250px]]
[[File:SWCASC_logo.png|200px]]
[[File:logo_spacer.png|50px]]
[[File:USGS_logo.png|100px]]

<!-- BEGIN Comment

[[File:Basin_science_map.png|thumb|400px|'''Figure 1.''' Representation of the different models and data, and their underlying science, applied to decision-making in the Colorado River Basin. (Design: J. Lukas, adapted from L. Payton; basin map by Western Water Assessment (L. Woelders); thumbnail images from University of Washington VIC group, NOAA Colorado Basin River Forecast Center, and Reclamation)]]

<[[File:Basin_science_map.png|frame|400px|'''Figure 1.''' Representation of different science applications in the Colorado River Basin. (Basemap source: Western Water Assessment)]]>

ColoradoRiverScience.Org is being created to provide a clearinghouse about science and data about the Colorado River.

It is intended for use by Decision Makers, Scientists, Students, the Press, and the Public.

To obtain a login to allow editing, please contact the site administrator below.

Edits are subject to review and will not be made public until approved.

This site is under construction as of 1/21/2020. Currently, a skeleton is in place to allow prototyping and initial design.

You might find this page to be of use as we build the site. It is a live ongoing compilation of relevant publications.

Contact Brad Udall Bradley.udall @ colostate.edu for information.

Page purpose: Here we show recent scientific, news and policy articles. An archive of older articles will also be accessible as older articles are displaced by newer articles over time.

{{Toclimit|limit=3}}

=== Recent Scientific Papers ===
----
==== [https://ametsoc.net/eee/2018/3_Williams0187.pdf Quantifying Human-Induced Temperature Impacts On The 2018 United States Four Corners Hydrologic And Agro-Pastoral Drought ] ====

Emily Williams 
Chris Funk 
Shraddhanand Shukla 
Daniel McEvoy 

January 23, 2020

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

===== Summary =====
Human-induced (HI) warming increased Four Corners’ vapor pressure deficits and reduced the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index by ~18%–30%. Without HI warming, March snow water equivalent would have been ~20% higher.

-----
==== [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1752-1688.12822?campaign=wolearlyview A Long View of Southern California Water Supply: Perfect Droughts Revisited ]====
[[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1752-1688.12822?campaign=wolearlyview]]

C.A. Woodhouse
D.M. Meko
E.R. Bigio
First published: 08 January 2020 
Journal of the American Water Resources Association
===== Abstract =====
The impact of drought on water resources in arid and semiarid regions can be buffered by water supplies from different source regions. Simultaneous drought in all major source regions — or perfect drought — poses the most serious challenge to water management. We examine perfect droughts relevant to Southern California (SoCal) water resources with instrumental records and tree‐ring reconstructions for the Sacramento and Colorado Rivers, and SoCal. Perfect droughts have occurred five times since 1906, lasting two to three years, except for the most recent event, 2012–2015. This number and duration of perfect droughts is not unusual in the context of the past six centuries. The modern period stands out for the relatively even distribution of perfect droughts and lacks the clusters of perfect drought documented in prior centuries. In comparison, perfect droughts of the 12th Century were both longer (up to nine years) and more widespread. Perfect droughts of the 20th and 21st Centuries have occurred under different oceanic/atmospheric patterns, zonal and meridional flow, and ENSO or non‐ENSO conditions. Multidecadal coherence across the three regions exists, but it has varied over the past six centuries, resulting in irregular intervals of perfect drought. Although the causes of perfect droughts are not clear, given the long‐term natural variability along with projected changes in climate, it is reasonable to expect more frequent and longer perfect droughts in the future.

----
==== [https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2019GL086689 Bias correction of paleoclimatic reconstructions: A new look at 1200+ years of Upper Colorado River flow] ====

Scott M. Robeson,
Justin T. Maxwell,
Darren L. Ficklin 

January 3, 2020 

Geophysical Research Letters
===== Key points =====
# Bias correction makes paleoclimatic models more comparable to observations
# After bias correction, the 1100s Colorado River megadrought became more extreme
# The early 1600s Colorado River pluvial rivals that of the early 20th century after bias correction

===== Plain Language Summary =====
To study past climates, scientists use indicators such as tree‐ring widths that are related to temperature, precipitation, or streamflow. While these indicators usually are very reliable, they sometimes do not perform as well with extreme events such as intense droughts and wet periods. Here, we adopt a method that can correct for these limitations and apply it to a 1,200+year record of streamflow for the Upper Colorado River, a critical source of water for much of the southwestern United States. After using our method, we find that several extreme events from the tree‐ring record of streamflow were even more intense than formerly thought. In particular, the largest drought in the record that occurred during the 1100s was drier and longer lasting after our correction. During the 56‐year duration of the 1100s drought, our correction makes the flow in the river lower by nearly 52 × 109 m3 of water, which is the equivalent of 1.45 times the capacity of Lake Mead (the largest reservoir in the United States). And, while it was known that the early 1900s was among the wettest periods in the last 1,200+ years, we identify a period in the early 1600s that matches it.

=== Recent News Articles ===

----

====[https://phys.org/news/2020-01-climate-hazard-scientists-corners-drought.html Climate hazard scientists connect 2018's Four Corners drought directly to human-caused climate change]====

January 23, 2020

----

[https://coloradosun.com/2020/01/22/climate-change-water-west-computer-model/ We know the earth is warming. We know that will stress water in the West. But we don’t know how.]

January 22, 2020 
Mark Jaffe 
Colorado Sun

===== Short Summary =====
Two critical, big-picture questions loom: How much snow will fall in the mountains and how much water will there be for the region’s forests, farms and cities.

------

====[https://blog.google/products/search/discovering-millions-datasets-web/ Discovering millions of datasets on the web]====

Natasha Noy
Research Scientist, Google Research
Published Jan 23, 2020

===== From the First Paragraph =====

Across the web, there are millions of datasets about nearly any subject that interests you. If you’re looking to buy a puppy, you could find datasets compiling complaints of puppy buyers or studies on puppy cognition. Or if you like skiing, you could find data on revenue of ski resorts or injury rates and participation numbers. Dataset Search has indexed almost 25 million of these datasets, giving you a single place to search for datasets and find links to where the data is. Over the past year, people have tried it out and provided feedback, and now Dataset Search is officially out of beta.

===== Website =====
[https://datasetsearch.research.google.com Google Dataset Search]

=== Recent Policy Articles ===
------

==== Strategies for Managing the Colorado River in an Uncertain Future ====

[https://qcnr.usu.edu/coloradoriver/files/CCRS_White_Paper_3.pdf Complete White Paper]
[https://qcnr.usu.edu/coloradoriver/files/FS_whitepaper3.pdf Two Page Brief]

Jian Wang, David E. Rosenberg, Kevin G. Wheeler, John C. Schmidt
February 12, 2020

'''Understanding What We Don't Know'''

Colorado River stakeholders face many uncertainties—issues like climate change, future water demand, and evolving ecological priorities—and are looking for new tools to help cope. Managers and stakeholders need ways to help classify uncertain conditions, manage for them, and create models in the face of a slew of oncoming unknowns.

To help Colorado River stakeholders think about, talk about, and better manage the future river, the Center for Colorado River Studies offers a new white paper that distinguishes four levels of decision-making uncertainty. We illustrate each level of uncertainty with examples and show that there is greater uncertainty associated with planning for long time horizons, such as in developing policies that anticipate the increasing possibility of drought, extreme climate events, and unknown patterns of future human use of water. We argue that better public policies will emerge if stakeholders recognize the different levels of uncertainty for future events.

Using defined levels of uncertainty can guide stakeholders to appropriate management and modeling tools and lead to more precise and effective conversation and negotiation.

'''From the paper: Suggested Practices for an Uncertain Future'''

#Classify uncertainties by level.
#Include and track more information as it becomes available.
#Define more signposts to signal when future water supply and river ecosystem outcomes deteriorate and trigger an alternative policy.
#Identify more alternative policies for when circumstances trigger a signpost.
#Construct potential pathways that connect signposts and alternative policies over time.
#Match the planning horizon to the uncertainty level.
#Retain more reservoir storage at the end of the model planning horizon to save water for future managers and generations to use.
#Seek better policies that improve water supply and river ecosystem outcomes across more future scenarios, rather than best policies.
#Allow users more flexibility to respond to changing conditions.
#Visualize adaptive policies to show system adaptations over time, identify gaps in policies, and adapt policies to include more information and signposts.

-----

==== The Risk of Curtailment under the Colorado River Compact ====
[[https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3483654&download=yes]]

Anne Castle 
John Fleck

[[https://qcnr.usu.edu/coloradoriver/news/castle_research Summary via Utah State University]]

=== Other ===

END COMMENT--!>

Data and tools

2026-07-08T21:14:54Z

JeffreyJLukas:

==Overview==

This section of the Colorado River Science Wiki collates all of the ''Data and tools'' items from the pages listed in the [[Colorado_River_Science_Wiki#Topics|Topics]] section of the home page.

==[[Climate patterns and variability]]==
{{:Climate patterns and variability}}

==[[Recent climate change]]==
{{:Recent climate change}}

==[[Weather and climate monitoring]]==
{{:Weather and climate monitoring}}

==[[Weather and climate forecasts]]==
{{:Weather and climate forecasts}}

==[[Projected future climate]]==
{{:Projected future climate}}

==[[Snowpack]]==
{{:Snowpack}}

==[[Soil moisture]]==
{{:Soil moisture}}

==[[Evapotranspiration (ET)]]==
{{:Evapotranspiration (ET)}}

==[[Streamflow]]==
{{:Streamflow}}

==[[Paleohydrology]]==
{{:Paleohydrology}}

==[[Seasonal streamflow forecasts]]==
{{:Seasonal streamflow forecasts}}

==[[Floods]]==
{{:Floods}}

==[[Hydrologic modeling]]==
{{:Hydrologic modeling}}

==[[Projected future hydrology]]==
{{:Projected future hydrology}}

==[[Dams, reservoirs, and other infrastructure]]==
{{:Dams, reservoirs, and other infrastructure}}

==[[Colorado River Mid-term Modeling System (CRMMS)]]==
{{:Colorado River Mid-term Modeling System (CRMMS)}}

==[[Colorado River Simulation System (CRSS)]]==
{{:Colorado River Simulation System (CRSS)}}

==[[Consumptive uses and losses]]==
{{:Consumptive uses and losses}}

==[[Agricultural water use]]==
{{:Agricultural water use}}

==[[Municipal water use]]==
{{:Municipal water use}}

==[[Reservoir evaporation]]==
{{:Reservoir evaporation}}

==[[Salinity]]==
{{:Salinity}}

==[[Metals and acid mine drainage]]==
{{:Metals and acid mine drainage}}

==[[Tamarisk and invasive plants]]==
{{:Tamarisk and invasive plants}}

==[[Threatened and endangered fish species]]==
{{:Threatened and endangered fish species}}

==[[Invasive mussels]]==
{{:Invasive mussels}}

==[[Salton Sea]]==
{{:Salton Sea}}

==[[Colorado River Delta]]==
{{:Colorado River Delta}}

<!--
Weather and climate

Past and current climate
Mechanisms & spatial patterns
Variability & trends over time
Paleoclimate
Recent trends & climate change
Climate monitoring
Weather station networks
Errors and adjustments
Gridded climate products
Drought monitoring
Weather and climate forecasts
Weather forecasts
Subseasonal forecasts
Seasonal forecasts
Decadal climate forecasts
Future climate
Fundamentals of climate change
Climate models
Downscaling
Projected future climate

Hydrology and water availability
Water balance and basin water budget
Snowpack
Snowpack processes & patterns
Snowpack monitoring
Dust-on-snow
Cloud seeding
Soil moisture
Soil moisture monitoring
Evaporation and evaporative demand
Groundwater
Streamflow

Historical (gaged) records
Adjusted streamflow
BoR Natural Flows
Other naturalized
Variability & trends over time
Recent trends & climate change
Real-time streamflows

Droughts
Dynamics/causes
Impacts
Historic droughts
Paleodroughts
Megadrought
Floods
Historic
Paleofloods
Channel dynamics
Hydrologic modeling
Water operations and planning
Reservoirs and infrastructure
Operating rules
[[River system models]]

Other models used in the basin
Planning approaches
Future hydrology and water availability
Methods
Future streamflow changes
Other hydrology changes
Synthesis: Future basin water availability

'''Water Use'''
*Agricultural water use
**ET measurement
**Conservation strategies
*Municipal water use
**Conservation strategies
*Environmental/instream water use
*Other depletions
**Reservoir evaporation
**Channel/bank losses
**Phreatophytic vegetation
*Demand accounting and scenarios
**State/basin reports
**Demand schedules
**Other demand scenarios
*Synthesis: Future basin demand

'''Water quality and sediment'''
*Salinity
**Salinity monitoring
**Salinity control measures
*Other contaminants
**Uranium mining/tailings
*Sediment
**Erosion/sediment sources
**Reservoir sedimentation
**Riverbed sediment dynamics

'''Ecosystems and environment'''
*Overview
*Forests
**Disturbances
***Wildfires
***Insect infestations/disease
*Riparian
**Tamarisk and invasive plants
*Aquatic
**T&E fish species
***Upper Basin
***Lower Basin
**Invasive mussels
*Specific hot spots
**Salton Sea
**Colorado River Delta

'''Societal and economic issues'''
*Benefits of water
*Impacts of shortage and drought
*Social inequity and vulnerability
*Other
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