Summer Synthesis Institute

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Summer Synthesis Institute
Overview of Synthesis Project M.
Sivapalan University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign

• Vancouver, British Columbia
• June 22 August 5, 2009

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Unprecedented Types, Rates, Scales, and
Magnitudes of Change
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There is a human foot print on 83 of the land.


The Human Footprint and the Last of the WildEric
Sanderson et al. 2002 BioScience
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(No Transcript)
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NON-STATIONARITY
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Change propagation

• At a fixed point in space, change in time
• Changes down-slope
• Changes down-stream
• Changes down-wind
• Changes down the human gradient

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Water Cycle Dynamics in a Changing
EnvironmentAdvancing Hydrologic Science through
Synthesis
Objective
to organize and employ synthesis activities to
produce transformational outcomes that will be
utilized to improve the predictability of water
cycle dynamics in a changing Earth environment.
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Water Cycle Dynamics in a Changing
EnvironmentAdvancing Hydrologic Science through
Synthesis
Objective
to organize and employ synthesis activities to
produce transformational outcomes that will be
utilized to improve the predictability of water
cycle dynamics in a changing Earth environment.
Current Research Priorities

• 1. Continue to define the goals and processes of
  hydrologic synthesis science and its relevance to
  global change research.
• 2. Leverage team member expertise and student
  work ethic to improve fundamental understanding
  of
• a.) interactions at the hydrosphere-biosphere
  interface and
• b.) the significance of intensive land
  management on catchment hydrology.
• 3. Expand the interdisciplinary reach of
  hydrologic synthesis through targeted activities
  built upon recent progress.
• 4. Communicate improvements in predictability and
  the significance of synthesis science through
  formal and informal channels.

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Session 1
Quantifying Vegetation Adaptation and Response
to Variability in the Environment
Ben RuddellArizona State University
Siva SivapalanUniversity of Illinois
Ciaran Harman University of Illinois
Gavan McGrath University of Western Australia
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Goal

• Can we quantify the relationship between
  vegetation (NPP) and the precipitation water
  balance (Horton Index)?
• Data-based analysis is happening at the
  University of Arizona.
• Can we produce a simple process-based model to
  test hypotheses on how the adaptation and
  activity of vegetation controls the water balance
  (and vice versa)?

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Session 4
Comparing catchment-based estimates of vegetation
water use (Horton Index) with remote sensing
measures of vegetation structure, water use,
productivity
Peter Troch University of Arizona
Paul Brooks University of Arizona
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Background
Hydrological research has demonstrated the strong
control that ecosystems have on the partitioning
of precipitation into runoff and ET.
Ecological research has focused on the strong
control that water availability has on
productivity.
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Session 2
Contaminant Dynamics across Scales Temporal and
Spatial Patterns
Nandita Basu University of Iowa
Suresh Rao Purdue University
Aaron Packman Northwestern University
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Single Tile (1 km2)
Cedar Creek(700 km2)
Mississippi Basin (3 million square km)
Tile Network(10 km2)

• Contaminants
• Nutrients (C, N, P)
• Pesticides
• Hormones

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Linking Scale and Process
Continental to Global
Regional/Watershed
Channel/Water-body
Benthic/Interfacial
Cellular
Need to link Structure, Transport,
Transformation, and Microbial Activity across
many spatial and temporal scales.
Aaron Packman
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Session 3
Temporal and spatial patterns of basin scale
sediment yield
Marwan Hassan University of British Columbia
Aaron Packman Northwestern University
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Data Based Study Investigation of Emergent
Patterns

• Top-down questions pattern description,
  measurement and identification. What can we learn
  from existing datasets?
• Theoretical questions deep, why type
  questions Why does this pattern emerge? Under
  what circumstances do we expect it to occur? What
  are the underlying rules?
• Bottom-up questions what are the consequences of
  these patterns (what are their effects on
  processes of interest)? How do they scale up? How
  does the understanding (e.g., their ecological
  function, organizing principles etc.) improve our
  capacity to make predictions?
• Human interactions how do human activities
  interact with these patterns in time and space?
  How are the patterns affected by human
  activities?
• Study of patterns needs a multitude of
  perspectives (concepts, data, methods etc. from
  different disciplines)
• Synthesis means people with different backgrounds
  and experiences coming together to study a common
  question or pattern or prediction problem and to
  help each other to generate increased
  understanding