#uswest — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

💧🌏 Greg Cocks @[email protected] · 2026-07-31 · 05:27 UTC

Unraveling The Drivers Of Water Shortage Across Spatial Scales And Sectors In Colorado's West Slope River Basins
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https://doi.org/10.1029/2026EF008137 <-- shared paper
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['sorry' about your Kentucky Bluegrass, almonds, etc... /s]
H/T Sai Veena Sunkara | Postdoctoral Associate
“…Colorado’s West Slope basins provide nearly 70% of the inflows to Lake Powell and are also essential to communities, agriculture, industry, hydropower, and downstream Colorado River users.
To examine the wide range of possible futures, [they] simulated 2.1 million years, defining 20,000 plausible scenarios applying changes to streamflow, snowmelt timing, drought persistence, and agricultural, municipal, and industrial water demand.
A key finding is that there is 𝗻𝗼 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀. The most influential drivers vary by basin, sector, and water user. In some areas, shortages are driven primarily by persistent low-flow conditions or changing snowmelt timing. In others, increasing municipal, industrial, or irrigation demand plays a larger role. This suggests that adaptation strategies must be tailored to specific basins and users rather than relying on a single, system-wide solution. Other major findings are
• West Slope deliveries to Lake Powell could fall more than 50% below the current median baseline
• Storage in major West Slope reservoirs could decline 40–55% below historical medians
These results underscore the need for water-planning approaches that account for deep uncertainty, persistent drought, shifting snowmelt patterns, and sector-specific demand…”
#Colorado #waterallocation #StateMod #USWest #USA #WesternSlope #waterresources #watersecurity #watershortage #drought #snowmelt #rainfall #precipitation #riverbasin #water #hydrography #hydrology #reasons #agriculture #industry #hydropower #streamflow #surfacewater #municipal #irrigation #adaptationstrategies #planning #policy #mitigation #ColoradoRiver #basins #climatechange #extremeweather #populationpressure #waterdemand #waterrights #model #modeling #HiddenMarkovModel #stochastic #projecteddemand #ColoradoRiverBasin #wateruse #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #strategy

#colorado #waterallocation #statemod #uswest #usa #westernslope

💧🌏 Greg Cocks @[email protected] · 2026-04-03 · 06:26 UTC

‘On A Whole Other Level’ - Rapid Snow Melt-Off In American West Stuns Scientists
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Experts say brutal March heat has left critical snowpack at record-low levels – and key basins in uncharted territory
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/01/snowmelt-american-west <-- shared media/technical article
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https://www.nifc.gov/nicc-files/predictive/outlooks/monthly_seasonal_outlook.pdf <-- shared National Significant Wildland Fire Potential @ 04/01/26 (for the next four months)
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[ extreme lack of snowfall already in the ‘25/’26 US West winter to begin with, and now this… ☹ ]
#GIS #spatial #mapping #remotesensing #weather #metrology #climatechange #extremeweather #snowpack #USWest #USA #winter #heat #melting #snowmelt #risk #hazard #water #hydrology #waterresources #watersecurity #agriculture #wildfire #risk #hazard #firerisk #watersupply #watershed #management #planning #Colorado #Utah #California #earthobservation
@the Guardian | @nasa | @California Department of Water Resources

#gis #spatial #mapping #remotesensing #weather #metrology

💧🌏 Greg Cocks @[email protected] · 2026-02-19 · 23:56 UTC

Battle Over Colorado River Water Ends In A Draw
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https://cleantechnica.com/2026/02/18/battle-over-colorado-river-water-ends-in-a-draw/ <-- shared technical/media article
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https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/08/us/colorado-river-water-shortage/ <-- shared 2021 media article, with infographics and visualisations
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https://youtu.be/gBqgIkdwlIw?si=rY9ZOOXqLNwaXQku <-- shared media/news video
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#water #hydrology #stalled #negotiations #ColoradoRiverCompact #1922Compact #waterresrources #ColoradoRiver #USWest #watersecurity #watermanagement #irrigation #agriculture #overpumping #groundwater #states #agreements #magicwater #acrefoot #acrefeet #Colorado #Wyoming #Utah #NewMexico #Nevada #Arizona #California #Mexico #dams #LakePowell #LakeMead #natural #naturalresources #federaldeadline #noresolution

#water #hydrology #stalled #negotiations #coloradorivercompact #1922compact

💧🌏 Greg Cocks @[email protected] · 2025-05-20 · 22:08 UTC

Groundwater Dominates Snowmelt Runoff And Controls Streamflow Efficiency In The Western United States
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02303-3 <-- shared paper
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #water #hydrology #fedscience #climatechange #snowmelt #waterresources #watersupply #management #planning #watersecurity #USWest #Rockies #snow #winter #mountain #catchment #dating #tritium #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #runoff #streamflow #infiltration #model #modeling #geology #geomorphology #groundwater #storage #surfacewater #streamwater #precipitation #bedrock #soils #sediments #permability #porosity #watershed #subsurfaceflow #storage #climate #future #landscape

#gis #spatial #mapping #water #hydrology #fedscience

💧🌏 Greg Cocks @[email protected] · 2025-05-06 · 03:06 UTC

U.S. Geological Survey Colorado River Basin Science and Technology Collaboration Meetings on Drought (2021) - Synthesis of Findings
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https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/cir1551 <-- shared publication
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USGS recent publication about the challenges and barriers land managers and scientists are working on to address the wicked problems of drought in the Colorado River Basin.
#water #hydrology #drought #extremeweather #fedscience #Colorado #ColoradoRiver #ColoradoRiverBasin #watershed #waterresources #watersupply #climatechange ##landmanagers #management #planning #overuse #magicwater #humanimpacts #ecosystems #agriculture #farming #USWest #strategy #GIS #spatial #mapping #waterscience #interdisciplinary #research #adapation #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #stakeholder #engagement #cost #economics #coordination #future @USFS @USFS

#water #hydrology #drought #extremeweather #fedscience #colorado

💧🌏 Greg Cocks @[email protected] · 2025-04-28 · 20:02 UTC

NASA Flights Map Critical Minerals From Skies Above Western US - Technology Used To Chart Other Worlds Is Revealing Minerals In The American West That Are Critical To The Country’s Renewable Energy Future.
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https://science.nasa.gov/earth/nasa-flights-map-critical-minerals-from-skies-above-western-us/ <-- shared technical article
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https://popo.jpl.nasa.gov/mmgis-aviris/?mission=GEMx <-- shared GEMx data collection portal
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #remotesensing #earthobservation #mineral #mineralogy #mining #criticalminerals #USWest #renewableenergy #lithium #GEMx #fedscience #cost #economics #USGS #NASA #GeologicalEarthMappingExperiment #lithium #aluminum #rareearthelements #neodymium #cerium #nationalsecurity #cleanenergy #batteries #smartphones #cellphones #naturalresources #steel #steelmill #dependency #localsources #importing #survey #geology #geologicmapping #exploration #spectrometers #hyperspectral #EMIT #mine #extraction #EarthMRI #opendata
@USGS @nasa

#gis #spatial #mapping #remotesensing #earthobservation #mineral

💧🌏 Greg Cocks @[email protected] · 2024-04-02 · 00:39 UTC

New Water Accounting Reveals Why The Colorado River No Longer Reaches The Sea
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01291-0 <-- shared paper
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #ColoradoRiver #ColoradoRiverBasin #CRB #USA #waterresources #USWest #irrigation #crops #feed #grass #hay #alfalfa #SaudiArabia #watersecurity #wateruse #water #hydrology #waterrights #overuse #magicwater #extraction #rationing #cropland #watercrisis #accounting #volumetric #model #river #watersupply #modeling #riparian #wetland #ET #evapotranspiration #waterbudget #regional #municipal #agriculture #commercial #industrial #cattle #cattlefeed #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal

#gis #spatial #mapping #coloradoriver #coloradoriverbasin #crb

💧🌏 Greg Cocks @[email protected] · 2023-12-27 · 22:11 UTC

Land Matters Podcast - Water in the West
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https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/articles/2023-10-land-matters-podcast-water-in-the-west <-- link to technical article / podcast
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#water #hydrology #water #watermanagement #waterconservation #waterresources #climatechange #USA #USWest #urban #farming #agriculture #podcast #BabbittCenter #policy #planning #history #watersecurity #extremeweather #drought #overuse #waterislife #LandMatters #waterstorage #coloradoriver #ColoradoRiverCompact #magicwater #appliedscience #politics #allocation #sustainability
#LincolnInstituteOfLandPolicy

#water #hydrology #watermanagement #waterconservation #waterresources #climatechange

💧🌏 Greg Cocks @[email protected] · 2023-12-07 · 06:02 UTC

Colorado River Basin Dynamic Wetland Mapper
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https://tinyurl.com/py7sd3dw <-- link to web map
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H/T Lynker Analytics
“The Colorado River Basin Dynamic Wetland Mapper is intended to assist watershed managers, planners, and restoration practitioners explore modeled wetland and open water areas, along with recent beaver activity and potential beaver habitat suitability across the basin for riverscape restoration.
The mapper displays several modeled datasets depicting wetlands, open water, beaver activity areas (complexes), and summary information by HUC10 watershed across the entire Colorado River basin within the United States...”
#GIS #spatial #mapping #webmap #spatialanalysis #water #hydrology #Colorado #coloradoriver ##coloradoriverbasin #watersheds #wetlands #USWest #NWI #management #planning #ecosystems #restoration #ecosystems #wildlife #beavers #beaver #habitat #riverscape #model #modeling