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Gregory McCabe

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Improving Characterizations of Future Wildfire Risk in Alaska
In Alaska, recent research has identified particular areas of the state where both a lack of soil moisture and warming temperatures increase the likelihood of wildfire. While this is an important finding, this previous research did not take into account the important role that melting snow, ice, and frozen ground (permafrost) play in replenshing soil moisture in the spring and summer months. This project will address this gap in the characterization of fire risk using the newly developed monthly water balance model (MWBM). The MWBM takes into account rain, snow, snowmelt, glacier ice melt, and the permafrost layer to better calculate soil moisture replenishment and the amount of moisture that is lost to the atmosphere...
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This metadata record describes a raster of unique PRISM (Parameter-elevation Relationships on Independent Slopes Model) identifier (PRISMID) values. The data are in ESRI's ArcInfo ASCII raster format, a non-proprietary text interchange format. PRISM climate data produced by the PRISM group at Oregon State University, such as time series of monthly precipitation and temperature, can be linked to the raster via the unique PRISMID values. In addition, model-estimated water budget components--including runoff (streamflow per unit area), evapotranspiration, snowfall and soil moisture storage--can be linked to the PRISM raster.
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This metadata record provides the latitude, longitude, and a unique ID value (PRISMID) for all raster cells used by the PRISM group at Oregon State University to characterize climate throughout the conterminous United States. The three column format of comma-separated data can be readily joined to the comma-separated climate and water-balance variables described in the associated metadata file "Water Balance Model Inputs and Outputs for the Conterminous United States".
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Anticipating Future Impacts of Temperature on Streamflow in the Colorado River Basin
The Colorado River is a crucial water source for millions of people in the Southwest. Warming temperatures, clearly documented in climate records for the Colorado River basin, are having an impact on the amount of annual streamflow yielded from rain and snow. Recent work has revealed that warming temperatures have played an increasingly important role over the past decades, both exacerbating droughts and dampening the effects of wet winters on high stream flows. Understanding and anticipating how warming temperatures will influence future water supply in the Colorado River basin is increasingly important for resource management, particularly in light of recent drought conditions. The overarching goals of this...
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