CSUB CREST Phase II: Climate Science and Natural Resource Solutions for Water-Limited, Paired Mountain/Valley Systems

Csub Auxiliary For Sponsored Programs Administration, Bakersfield CA

Investigators

Abstract

Center for Climate Science and Natural Resource Solutions for Water-Limited, Paired Mountain/Valley Systems With National Science Foundation support, California State University at Bakersfield, will continue development of the Center for Climate Science and Natural Resource Solutions for Water-Limited, Paired Mountain/Valley Systems. Center research is aimed at better understanding the role of drought, evaluating potential responses, and assisting with adaptive planning in response to these changes. The similarity of the Center's focus system to other mountain-valley systems worldwide broadens the impact of this research as a model for similar systems. The Center's approach articulates three research subprojects addressing the effects of climate variability on landscape processes, ecology, and human response. Subproject 1 will evaluate the landscape response and predicted time intervals for preferential occurrence of mass wasting events, floods, and wildfires. This subproject will also characterize the response of the Sierra snowpack to historical climate variability to inform forecasts of amount and seasonality of water resources. Subproject 2 investigates the ecological response of plant communities and focuses on the sensitivity, adaptive capacity, and resilience of vegetation to drought along a transect from the San Joaquin Valley floor to the Sierra Nevada crest. Results will identify the vulnerability of key woody species to climate variability including the mechanisms behind differential vulnerabilities. Subproject 3 focuses on the human response to climate variability through the sequestration of CO2 into mature oil fields and saline aquifers and the predictive mapping of treatable groundwater from the same saline aquifers. This work addresses the feasibility of carbon storage to replace the region's reliance on petroleum extraction. Center research will also quantify potential underground water resources and allow for the development of predictive models for the occurrence of treatable groundwater in similar water-stressed areas. This Center will continue to involve local students from backgrounds underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields and will support these students through a series of activities designed to optimize their inclusion into the STEM research community.