Maina's ROSES proposal selected for funding

Fri, 12 Jul 2024 15:14:44 -0400
gestar2

The proposal titled "Development of a multidecadal land reanalysis over South America" of which Fadji Maina (617/UMBC) is PI has been selected for funding. She will be working with Dr. Sujay Kumar (NASA/GSFC). The goal of this two-year grant is to develop a hydrological land reanalysis over South America.

Dr. Maina provided the abstract for more detailed information:
"In the Southern Hemisphere, the Andes represent the most important mountain ranges, storing more than 99% of the tropical glaciers and sustaining the life of millions of people located in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, etc. South America is one of the most freshwater abundant regions on Earth contributing to around 30% of the global runoff and home to Earth’s greatest biological treasure, the Amazon River basin, which has a substantial influence on regional and global climates. The continent’s natural water towers are threatened by climate change that accelerates glaciers’ mass loss and changes the hydrological balance. In addition to climate change, population growth represents a threat to the environment and the ecosystem and may exacerbate difficulties to provide drinking water and food. Despite the observed changes in climate over the Andes, there is still a considerable lack of knowledge about the hydrology of the region, and especially its responses to climate change. Nevertheless, understanding the responses of hydrology to climate change is important for evaluating the future availability of water resources. In this work, we aim to develop a multidecadal (from 1980 to the present) high-resolution reanalysis over South America from latitude 41.2deg South to latitude 9deg North and longitude 82.6deg West to longitude 59deg West. The proposed reanalysis will provide a better understanding of the changes in terrestrial water storage over South America as well as the different components of water storage such as soil moisture, groundwater, streamflow, seasonal snow, etc."