iNAIADS
Investigating the impacts of climate and hydrological disturbances on river water quality using a data-driven framework
About the project
Floods, droughts, and heat waves are projected to increase over the next few decades due to climate change. These disturbances can cause declining stream flows and worsen water quality by increasing salt, nutrient, and contaminant concentrations, which will have direct consequences for human and ecosystem health. There is a pressing need to understand how the flows and water quality in rivers will respond and be resilient to new disturbance regimes. This project uses a novel, data synthesis and analysis framework to investigate the impacts to stream flows and water quality caused by climate-driven disturbances. The goal is to determine how the intensity, duration, and frequency of disturbance events will affect rivers over time at impacted locations and further downstream, across watersheds with different characteristics of geomorphology, soil properties, climate, land use, and land cover. This will be achieved using a data-driven framework comprising statistical analyses and machine learning methods to identify patterns and explanatory variables for changes following a disturbance event. This will result in better predictions of river flows and water quality, characterize watershed resistance and resilience to disturbance, and lay the foundation for capability to generate and analyze integrated watershed data.
Project Objectives
Disturbance Impacts and River Resilience
Impacts of heat waves, floods, and droughts on river water quality and river resilience to disturbance
Multi-scale Machine Learning Models for Water Quality Predictions
Machine learning models for predicting stream temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen at multiple scales in space and time
iNAIADS Capability Development
iNtegration, Artificial Intelligence and Analytical Data Services (iNAIADS) framework for water quality predictions
Collaborative Activities and Open Science
Building and engaging collaborations across federal agencies, academia, and industry using an Open Science by Design philosophy
In the news
Recent paper featured in 200+ news outlets
Our Nature paper on amplfied rainfall extremes in a warming climate has received significant media attention.
Image credit: Jenny Nuss, LBNL
DOE AI4ESP report released
Members of ths project contributed to the DOE AI4ESP report that laid the roadmap for using big data and AI/ML to accelerate Earth system predictability. To learn more, read the DOE blog post and news article.
Image credit: Diana Swantek, LBNL
Nagamoto wins AGU Award
Emily Nagamoto, a former student assistant won an outstanding student paper award for her presentation on drought impacts in the Upper Colorado River Basin at the 2022 American Geophysical Union Fall meeting
Questions?
Contact [cvaradharajan@lbl.gov] to get more information on the project
This project is funded by a U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research Early Career Award.