NSF Science and Technology Center for Sustainability of semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas

www.sahra.arizona.edu520-626-6974

Ephemeral FlowA NEWSLETTER ABOUT SAHRA

W elcome to the first 2008 issue of Ephemeral Flow, a newsletter for sharing information within the SAHRA community. Ephemeral Flow is sent to

SAHRA researchers, staff, and students at all participating institutions every few months. Your contributions and suggestions are always welcome. Please send items to Mary Black at mblack@sahra.arizona.edu.

FEATURE

UPCOMING EVENTS

2008, no. 1

March 13-14: SAHRA Executive Committee Retreat — Marshall Building, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

May 29-30: External Advisory Board Meeting — Marriott University Park Hotel, Tucson, AZ

Oct. 16-17: SAHRA Annual Meeting — Biosphere 2, Oracle Junction, AZ

Jumpsuits OptionalIn late 2007, the University of Arizona took over the storied Biosphere 2 complex, rapidly transitioning it into a UA facility for water and energy science, and an effective outreach mechanism for the university as a whole. Travis Huxman, director of Biosphere 2 and B2 Earthscience, the new science/education/outreach component that utilizes Biosphere 2, is no stranger to SAHRA, having participated in SAHRA research projects for several years.

Please let us know when you have news to share or a reason to brag. Students, let us know for example when you have completed your oral exam, defended your thesis/dissertation, or accepted a position in the real world (or even academia). Faculty members, are you offering a new course, hosting a workshop, leading a panel, editing a new journal? Anonymous or second-party tips on newsworthy announcements are also gratefully accepted.

Send comments, information, suggestions to mblack@sahra.arizona.edu.

CONTACT US!

Top-secret research or doctored photo? And what of a rumored 5 1/2th floor at the Marshall Building? EF vows to keep on top of this breaking story.

A collaboration has been born of B2 Earthscience and SAHRA at a critical time for both. B2 has new, substantial funding that it needs to deploy quickly and effectively in areas where SAHRA faculty and staff have proven expertise, and SAHRA is transitioning to a period of post-NSF funding. The missions of B2 and SAHRA are quite complementary, with both science agendas involving eco-hydrology or hydro-ecology, with only slight differences in emphasis. For both institutions, education and outreach are crucial components.

SAHRA’s KT and education groups already have been collaborating with Biosphere 2 on a number of levels, including creating their web site (www.b2science.org), assisting with displays for site tours, participating on various advisory committees and panels, and writing joint proposals. This spring, a portion of the site will be retrofitted as a water and energy showcase. During the summer, Biosphere 2 will host nine days of High School Riparian Research Experience, a 17-day residential camp being organized by SAHRA Education personnel, with students conducting research at the site and shadowing B2 researchers. And next October, SAHRA will hold its annual meeting at Biosphere 2.

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PAGE 2 2007, no. 4

RESEARCHA Very Special IssueA special issue of Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeochemistry published in 2007 (vol. 112) was edited by SAHRA’s own Paul Brooks, James Hogan, and Tom Meixner. The issue focuses on the biogeochemical function of river and riparian ecosystems in semiarid environments. Four of the papers represent the work of some fifteen current and former SAHRA researchers and graduate students, based on studies conducted in the San Pedro Basin of Arizona. The editors summarize the issue contents as follows:

“…Baillie et al. describe variability in sources of water to the San Pedro River, thus providing a needed hydrologic framework for the next three papers which examine how hydrologic variability affects carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling. Meixner et al. … present high temporal resolution data on both water source and dissolved C and N during summer monsoon flood events, Brooks et al. … examine seasonal variability in both dissolved and particulate C and N flux associated with changing water sources, and Brooks and Lemon … describe spatial variability in dissolved C and N cycling associated with changes

in hydrology and water source. The final paper, by Hultine et al. … brings the issue back to water flux, but from the perspective of how physiological characteristics of riparian vegetation affect hydrological fluxes. Together, these papers represent a maturing, interdisciplinary understanding of riparian ecosystem structure and function in semiarid environments.”

Do check it out.

• Baillie, M.N., J.F. Hogan, B. Ekwurzel, A.K. Wahi, and C.J. Eastoe, Quantifying water sources to a semiarid riparian ecosystem, San Pedro River, Arizona, G03S02, doi:10.1029/2006JG000263.

• Brooks, P.D., P.A. Haas, and A.K. Huth, Seasonal variability in dissolved organic matter and inorganic nitrogen concentrations

in a semi-arid catchment, San Pedro River, Arizona, G03S04, doi:10.1029/2006JG000275.

• Brooks, P.D., and M.M. Lemon, Spatial variability in dissolved organic matter and inorganic nitrogen concentrations in a semi-arid catchment, San Pedro River, Arizona, G03S05, doi:10.1029/2006JG000262.

• Brooks, P.D., J.F. Hogan, T. Meixner, Water in the desert: Introduction to special section on river and riparian biogeochemistry, G03S01, doi:10.1029/2007JG000556.

• Hultine, K.R., S.E. Bush, A.G. West, and J.R. Ehleringer, The effect of gender on sap flux-scaled transpiration in a dominant riparian tree species: Box elder (Acer negundo), G03S06, doi:10.1029/2006JG000232.

• Meixner, T., A.K. Huth, P.D. Brooks, M.H. Conklin, N.B. Grimm, R.C. Bales, P.A. Haas, and J.R. Petti, Influence of shifting flowpaths on nitrogen concentrations during monsoon floods, San Pedro River, Arizona, G03S03, doi:10.1029/2006JG000266.

Biosphere 2 was originally home to research on self-sustaining space-colonization technology, underwritten by Space Biospheres Ventures. The project gained fame with two missions between 1991 and 1994 to measure survivability in which Biospherians were sealed inside the giant terrarium’s 7.2 million cubic foot interior. Behind this highly public exercise was useful research that helped further ecological understanding. From 1996 to 2003, the facility was managed by Columbia University and

reconfigured for a different mode of scientific research, including a study on the effects of carbon dioxide on plants. Classrooms and housing were added to the campus for residential programs and conferences. The enclosure now serves as a tool to support research already underway by UA scientists. As a laboratory for big-scale projects, the UA’s stewardship of Biosphere 2 will allow the UA to perform key experiments aimed at quantifying some of the consequences of global climate change.

Most of B2’s staff and facilities are at the Biosphere 2 campus 23 miles north of campus, but a small team of senior management staff, including Huxman and Pierre Meyester, the director of the B2 Institute, a think-tank that addresses scientific grand challenges, have moved into 5th floor offices in the Marshall Building, where SAHRA and the Arizona Water Institute also are located. We hope that SAHRA and B2 remain good and productive partners in science, education, and research for years to come!

The San Pedro in repose. 10-year flow event, San Pedro.

PAGE � 2007, no. 4

PEOPLEPublicity/Honors

Dr. James Hogan has been promoted to Associate Director of Science for SAHRA, continuing a meteoric rise from his humble origins as a mere postdoc.

Director Jim Shuttleworth announced the promotion in early January in recognition of “the outstanding job James has done, and still does do in support of SAHRA’s Science and Research Program, and of the fact that he has been working with a responsibility level above the assistant level for some considerable time.”

Craig Broadbent, Ph.D. candidate in economics at the University of New Mexico, won a new award from the New Mexico section of the American Water Resources Association, for a presentation given at the annual AWRA conference in November 2007. The New Mexico section used national evaluation scores from AWRA to identify Craig’s talk, “A Water Leasing Framework for the Middle Rio Grande with a Focus on the Farmers Decision Making Process” as the top student presentation (poster or talk) by a New Mexico student at the AWRA conference. Way to go, Craig!

The Board of Directors for the Consortium of Universities for Advancement of Hydrologic Science (CUAHSI) met in Washington, DC, on January 8 and 9, and demonstrated their wisdom by electing Juan Valdes, co-leader of SAHRA’s Knowledge Transfer/International macrotheme, to an at-large membership on the Executive Committee. Former SAHRA participant and UA alum Kevin Dressler, now of Penn State University, was elected secretary. ¡Felicitaciones to both!

What a Fellow! Professor Fred Phillips of New Mexico Tech, a leading figure in the SAHRA Center since its inception and recently named Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has now been awarded the distinction of Fellow of the American Geophysical Union. Please join us in congratulating him on this thoroughly well-deserved recognition of his scientific excellence.

In January, Southwest Hydrology received an award of excellence in technical publishing—for the third consecutive year—from

the Southwest Region of the Society for Technical Communication.

Departing StaffYuqiong Liu, who obtained her Ph.D. in hydrology and water resources from the UA and followed it with several years of postdoctoral work under the guidance of Hoshin Gupta, started new employment with Riverside Technology Inc. as a senior scientist in January, working on-site in the NOAA/National Weather Service’s Office of Hydrologic Development in Silver Spring, Maryland. Her major research areas include hydrologic forecasting, verification, and data assimilation. We wish Yuqiong the very best and are happy to report that since she will continue collaborating with Hoshin and other SAHRA researchers we still will get to see her during regular visits to the University of Arizona.

Jonathan Petti, staff scientist since the early days of SAHRA (A.D. 2001), has accepted a position as environmental scientist at Errol L. Montgomery and

Associates, a hydrological consulting firm headquartered in Tucson. All of us will miss his skills and expertise, his gastronomic sensibilities that permit the appreciation of a range of delights from El Guero Canelo to five-star cuisine, and also his wit and facility for bringing a sense of community to the SAHRA Center.

Students who finished degreesCongratulations to Scott Simpson, who successfully ran the graduate student gauntlet and achieved his M.S. in hydrology and water resources from the UA in December, with a thesis titled “Modeling Stream-aquifer Interactions During Floods and Baseflow: Upper San Pedro River, Southeastern Arizona.” Not only that: he’s back for more. Scott will continue in pursuit of a Ph.D. under the mentorship of Tom Meixner.

Kudos also to Sharon Desilets, who earned her Ph.D. from the UA in December in hydrology and water resources. Her dissertation work was on flooding in semi-arid streams. She has moved to Albuquerque with her husband, Darrin (also a UA HWR graduate), who works for Sandia National Laboratories. Sharon is awaiting the birth of her second child and getting in some quality time with her 3-year old daughter, Laurel, before pursuing further employment.

Jon Petti drinking from his usual cup in the good olde met-tower-installation days, Oct. 2001.

PAGE 4 2007, no. 4

Noah’s Land Surface ModelWEAP, calculate, and pray.

Within the grid boxes of your global climate model, ensembles of opportunity simulate feedback between land surface and the atmosphere.

Extra-territorial fluid dynamics, all the observations in the history of the world,

relationships, the range of possibilities— you may choose to synthesize the uncertainties

and downscale, the bottom line is put your undies on the line.

The problem is water vapor, warming intensifies the hydrologic process drawing out the days

of drought, intensifying torrential occurrences, capable of producing political heat

in the space of twenty minutes releasing the equivalent of 40,000 nuclear weapons

Which all the models agree has little effect on whether it will rain

in your own watershed.

The land has a memory. Ultimately, the issue turns on soil moisture,

will the seed we plant today attended by all the work and worry

we can muster along the dry line un-propagate repeated errors,

eliminate counter-productive gas, germinate properly-qualified judgments?

After loading up his hand-made craft, Noah placed his hope in upscale evolution

and productive cells, two-by-two go forth, bear fruit, and multiply.

— By Colorado Supreme Court Justice Greg Hobbs, in celebration of the Western Water Judges’ Climate Change Science Workshop, Boulder, May 2007

Pho

to c

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t: N

ASA

(For all you ignoramuses, NOAA is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a federal agency that employs the Water Evaluation and Planning [WEAP] model to integrate climate, watershed hydrology, water management, and financial dynamics of water utilities.)