Project Title: Impacts of Agricultural Irrigation on Regional Climate, Hydrology Variability

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Project Title Impacts of Agricultural Irrigation
on Regional Climate, Hydrology Variability
Project team S. Sorooshian (soroosh_at_uci.edu),
X. Gao (gaox_at_uci.edu), and J. Li (jialunl_at_uci.edu)
Project status Year 1 (1) collect and
evaluate hourly to monthly scale data for model
comparison (2) preliminary model sensitivity
test Comparing the impacts of Northern China
irrigation and Central California irrigation on
regional/local climate at intraseasonal scale.
Year 2 (current) (1) Investigate model
uncertainty with specific focus on Central
California (2) Modify offline NOAH land surface
model, i.e. incorporate irrigation processes into
the MM5 Noah land surface model and (3)
investigate the effect of irrigation on the
regional/local weather and climate using modified
LSM. Year 3 (1) Assimilate satellite
vegetation parameters and atmospheric vertical
profiles into the modified land-atmospheric
model with focus on Central California and
Mexico (2) Investigate the reliability of the
model results (3) write paper (s) for
publication.

• Science issues
• (1) How does large-area (gt1,000 km2) irrigation
  (separate from other natural causes) affect
  regional climate, atmosphere-land water cycle,
  and the ecosystem, in terms of temperature,
  evapotranspiration, boundary layer,
  precipitation, vegetation growth, soil water
  content, and recharge?
• (2) Can (high-resolution) satellite remote
  sensing techniques be used to detect and monitor
  atmospheric and land surface changes induced by
  irrigation? How can we make satellite remote
  sensing data quantitatively comparable to model
  results?
• (3) How can we estimate the availability and
  sustainability of regional water resources in
  relation to the long-term impacts of irrigation?
• Approach
• Assimilating satellite data into a
  land-atmospheric model system
• Improving the model physical process
• Satellite-based data MODIS Vegetation index,
  atmospheric vertical profile.
• Other data station surface and sounding
  meteorological data, Ameriflux data, and CIMIS
  irrigation data.
• Models MM5-NOAH 4km12km spatial resolution.
• Study Particulars 2001-2003, hourly, daily, and
  monthly.

NEWS linkages (pull, push, collaborate,
external) Discussion with Blaine Hanson and Allen
Fulton at UC Davis and CIMIS for California
irrigation issues. Discussion with Michael Ek in
NOAA for NOAH LSM. Discussion with Michael
Bosilovich for collaboration with GMAO
group. Discussion with Valentine Anantharaj who
is working on the Mississippi river basin
irrigation project at Mississippi State U., to
exchange knowledge. Contribute to the NOAA GAPP
programs.