P2C2: Mechanisms of Regional Climate Change and Impacts on Water Availability in Texas from the Last Glacial Maximum to Present-Day

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

Funding is provided to support three key areas of scientific inquiry: 1) developing a framework for evaluating speleothem proxy applicability that can be used in multiple geographic regions; 2) understanding climate and hydrology mechanistic links in semi-arid environments; and 3) integrating high-resolution climate records with climate models for the central Texas region over a period of significant environmental change so as to ground-truth climate models that forecast future change for the region. The broader impacts involve supporting a graduate student and enhanced educational linkages with another project awarded to the researcher and funded by the NSF for GK-12 Program that partners science graduate students with K-12 classes and a lecture series with integrated webcasts that brings university science to K-12 educators and the public. The science results from the project will aid further understanding of climate and will specifically aid Texas water resource managers.