Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID CT-2025-Tao

Projecting Streamflow Variations in Response to Climate Change in the Connecticut River Basin

Institute: Connecticut
Year Established: 2025 Start Date: 2026-01-01 End Date: 2026-12-31
Total Federal Funds: $30,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $30,000

Principal Investigators: Bo Tao

Project Summary: Streamflow, a vital part of the hydrological cycle, is a key indicator of watershed sustainability. It influences water resources, nutrient exports, phytoplankton growth, and water quality. However, climate change, extreme events, intensified human activities, and rising CO2 levels have significantly altered streamflow patterns, impacting water-related ecosystem services. This study focuses on the Connecticut River Basin, the largest in New England, which provides 70% of the freshwater to Long Island Sound and supports over 2 million people. Climate change, including increased precipitation, and human activities like land-use changes have disrupted hydrological processes, but their combined effects on streamflow remain uncertain. Using a process-based ecosystem model and spatially explicit datasets, this project aims to: Collect USGS streamflow data for model calibration and validation. Develop high-resolution environmental datasets (1 km) to drive the model for predicting long-term streamflow variations. Assess historical impacts of climate, CO2, and land-use changes on streamflow. Predict future streamflow under climate scenarios. Expected outcomes include environmental datasets, hydrological simulations, improved understanding of watershed processes, and 1-2 peer-reviewed publications. The results will offer quantitative insights into streamflow variations, aiding sustainable watershed management and informing policymakers on resilience-building strategies in the face of climate change. All outputs, including high-resolution maps, will be shared online for interactive access.