Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2019CO003S

Measuring hydraulic and thermal conditions of high elevation headwater streams in regions of North-Central Colorado

Institute: Colorado
USGS Grant Number: G19AP00124
Year Established: 2019 Start Date: 2019-09-26 End Date: 2020-09-25
Total Federal Funds: $39,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: Not available

Principal Investigators: Reagan M. Waskom

Project Summary: This research will involve collecting new water temperature, stream discharge, and channel morphometry characteristics to better understand the current hydrothermal (i.e., water temperature and streamflow regime) conditions of headwater streams and lakes in the Southern Rocky Mountains. These systems are remote and therefore relatively understudied, and this work will involve capitalizing on existing data and collecting new data to fill knowledge gaps. We will also use existing streamflow and water temperature data and these newly collected data to create predictive models. These models will be used to predict conditions in unsampled streams and lakes while also being combined with downscaled climate models to evaluate future hydrothermal conditions of these systems. Study streams and lakes are located in headwater regions of the South Platte and Fountain Creek river basins along Colorado’s Front Range and also both sides of the continental divide in Rocky Mountain National Park.