U.S.-Chile Program: Integrated Water Resource Analysis of the Secano Interior and Secano Costero of Chile

Oregon State University, Corvallis OR

Investigators

Abstract

0203787 Selker This US-Chile award will fund a collaborative project between Drs. John S. Selker and Richard H. Cuenca of Oregon State University, Mr. David E. Rupp, Oregon State, and Dr. Mark B. Parlange of Johns Hopkins University, in collaboration with Drs. Oscar Reckmann, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Samuel Ortega, Universidad de Talca, and Eduardo Varas, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. Their project will be to model and characterize the water budget in a region with a Mediterranean climate and high-slope, low permeability soils, the Chilean Secano Interior and Secano Costero. The investigation of this system will involve the integration of field measurement and modeling, taking advantage of important advances in methods of data analysis, computation, and the upcoming availability of high resolution global digital elevation models. This international collaboration will advance our scientific knowledge in determining the spatial and temporal distribution of the water budget in semi-arid regions. The Chileans will gain technical expertise in new methods and instrumentation for water resource analysis and increase their understanding of the hydrologic fluxes in an impoverished region of their country.