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Science Themes

The Great Salt Lake Basin serves as a model for much of the western United States in that the hydrology is driven by snowmelt in the mountains that supplies water to the relatively arid valleys. The region is dominated by nonlinear interactions between snow deposition and loss in the mountains, streamflow, groundwater recharge at high and mid-elevations, and evaporation from the desert floor. Important societal concerns center on:

How do climate variability and human-induced landscape changes affect hydrologic processes, water quality and availability, and aquatic ecosystems over a range of scales?

What are the resource, social, and economic consequences of these changes?

These questions cut across the following themes and are the fundamental issues that provide the thematic focus of the proposed Great Salt Lake Basin Hydrologic Observatory:

1. Water Quantity and Quality Management
2. Hydrogeomorphic Influences on Aquatic Ecosystems
3. Soil, Vegetation, Atmosphere Interactions
4. Social and Economic Dynamics

Science Topics

The fundamental hydrologic science hypotheses and questions listed below are intended to illustrate the ability of a Great Salt Lake Hydrologic Observatory to address the five priority science topics and three cross cutting themes described by CUAHSI. This list is not exhaustive. Although these questions are uniquely suited to the Great Salt Lake Basin, they concern hydrologic processes of broad national and societal significance:

CUAHSI Priority Topics

• Linking hydrologic and biogeochemical cycles  |  related questions >>
• Hydrologic extremes  |  related questions >>
• Sustainability of water resources  |  related questions >>
• Transport of chemical and biological contaminants  |  related questions >>
• Hydrologic influence on ecosystem functions  |  related questions >>

CUAHSI Cross-Cutting Themes

• Scaling  |  related questions >>
• Forcing, feedbacks, and coupling  |  related questions >>
• Predictions and limits to predictions  |  related questions >>

The hydrologic science questions under each of the above links serve as the foundation for study of hydrologic processes related to water resources, water quality, biogeochemistry (including the carbon balance), riparian ecology and ecosystem state, as well as stream flow and ground water modeling, forecasting, resource management, and flood control. These questions are only a sampling of possible questions that may be addressed in the Great Salt Lake Basin Hydrologic Observatory. These questions include all five of the science topics identified by CUAHSI (Linking Hydrologic and Biogeochemical Cycles, Hydrologic Extremes, Sustainability of Water Resources, Transport of Chemical and Biological Contaminants, and Hydrologic Influence on Ecosystem Functions) as well as all three of the CUAHSI-identified cross cutting themes (Scaling, Forcing, Feedbacks, and Coupling, and Predictions and Limits-to-Prediction). The input of the national hydrologic community is sought in expanding and refining these questions in order to develop a robust set of drivers for the Great Salt Lake Basin Hydrologic Observatory proposal.