Changing Climate of Idaho: Future Prediction Maps
Title | Changing Climate of Idaho: Future Prediction Maps |
Publication Type | Conference Proceedings |
Year of Conference | 2008 |
Authors | Moore, B. C., Walden V. P., and Humes K. S. |
Conference Name | 76th Annual Western Snow Conference |
Series Title | Proceedings of the 76th Annual Western Snow Conference |
Date Published | April 2008 |
Publisher | Western Snow Conference |
Conference Location | Hood River, OR |
Keywords | Climate change, Idaho, water supply, water management, downscaling |
Abstract | Scientific evidence of decreasing snow packs (Mote et. al., 2005; Mote, 2006) and changing streamflows (Gahn et. al., 2006; Gahn and Shippert, 2006) in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) have prompted water managers around the West to begin planning for the potential effects of climate change on water resources. Idaho is particularly sensitive to potential changes in both water supply and demand, because the state's economy depends heavily upon agriculture, forestry, and tourism, as well as hydroelectric power generation; all of which are at risk due to rapid shifts in climate. Because of this, numerous scenarios of possible meteorological and hydrological conditions are needed to allow for planning of the state's future. We outline a method to improve the downscaling of climate scenarios from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as well as how to combine the downscaled climate scenarios with historic snow cover images to produce future snow related products. |
URL | sites/westernsnowconference.org/PDFs/2008Moore.pdf |