Science and applications

Overview

This section of the Wiki covers a broad set of topics pertaining to science that is relevant and/or applied to Colorado River management, as well as specific applications of the science, such as streamflow forecasting.

Each page contains at least the following:

• Summary description of the topic
• The topic's relevance to Colorado River water management
• Annotated links to datasets, tools, and other information resources on that topic

In the list below, the bolded items are links to active Wiki pages on that topic. The other items are planned future pages.

We welcome your help in building out the Wiki, by

• Writing up a page on a topic already identified below or a different topic
• Alerting us to new publications, datasets, tools, and other technical resources
• Reviewing existing pages and sending us feedback

Topics

Cross-cutting reports

• 2021 SECURE Water Act reports
• 2020 CRB State of the Science
• 2018 CRB Ten Tribes Partnership Tribal Water Study
• 2012 Colorado River Basin Study

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

• Water balance and basin water budget
• Snowpack
• Soil moisture
• Evapotranspiration (ET)
• Groundwater
• Streamflow
• Paleohydrology
• Hydrologic variability and trends
• Seasonal streamflow forecasts
• Droughts
• Floods
• Channel dynamics
• Hydrologic modeling
• Projected future hydrology

Water operations and planning

• Dams, reservoirs, and other infrastructure
• Operating guidelines and rules
• River system models
  • Colorado River Mid-term Modeling System (CRMMS)
  • Colorado River Simulation System (CRSS)
• Planning approaches

Water Use

• Consumptive uses and losses
  • Agricultural water use
  • Municipal water use
  • Reservoir evaporation
  • Channel and bank losses
• Instream flows
• Demand accounting and scenarios
• Future basin demand

Water quality

• Salinity
• Metals and acid mine drainage
• Other contaminants

Geomorphology and sediment

• Erosion and sediment sources
• Riverbed sediment dynamics
• Reservoir sedimentation

Ecosystems and environment

• Vegetation change
• Wildfires
• Insect infestations and disease
• Tamarisk and invasive plants
• Threatened and endangered fish species
• Invasive mussels
• Traditional Ecological Knowledge
• Salton Sea
• Colorado River Delta

Societal and economic issues

• Benefits of water
• Impacts of shortage and drought
• Social inequity and vulnerability