Valles Caldera enviromental observatory

Vegetation is changing in much of the Southwest. While it is widely perceived that such changes have reduced water resources available for human use, research documenting the actual effects of vegetation change on the basin-scale water balance is lacking. SAHRA seeks to understand the role of vegetation type and structure in the partitioning of rain and snow into evaporation, runoff, and infiltration, and how moisture stored in the soil is distributed among transpiration, recharge, and streamflow.

To address the question of vegetation change on basin scale water balance, SAHRA has worked to establish an environmental observatory in the Jemez River Basin of Northern New Mexico. The Jemez River Basin encompasses a range of elevation, aspect, and vegetation types characteristic of much of the interior western US where high elevations serve as the primary water sources to lower elevation.

The observatory design involves a coordinated, multidisciplinary approach that integrates intensive, coordinated observations at key locations with closely coordinated with fine-resolution process modeling research. Specific activities are subdivided into efforts to:

1. understand how ecohydrological interactions control the fluxes and storage of water that constitute the basin-scale water balance,
2. determine how these ecohydrological interactions, which are the outcome of processes that occur at the meter-to-hillslope scale, can be represented at the scale of landscapes to basins; and
3. incorporate new knowledge and data into a fine-resolution, process model of the basin-scale water balance.

Coordinated by SAHRA, our efforts represent a partnership of many research groups, management interests, and funding sources.