A Web-based Climate Change Drought Decision Support System (C2D2S2)

In Phase I, we identified the need for a readily accessible web-based framework that integrates a credible hydrologic model with climate change and forecast products for hydrological impact studies and water supply projections. The focus in developing the Phase I Climate Change Drought Decision Support System (C2D2S2) prototype was to develop an infrastructure that addresses the critical decision needs of water managers, and supports: i) selecting a climate change emissions scenario, a particular GACMA simulation, and an associated downscaled dataset; ii) executing a hydrologic model to simulate projected basin streamflow; and iii) producing displays that enable users to assess and compare results. The Phase II proposal identifies key scientific and technical objectives that must be accomplished to make C2D2S2 operational with commercial potential. These objectives include: evaluations and meeting customer needs, upgrading the hardware/software system to be operational, including additional hydrologic models, providing tools for drought analysis, providing an interface to external river basin models, providing data and information from different downscaling methods, providing tools for display and analysis of paleohydrology data, providing tools for assessment of uncertainty in the results, and providing outreach to ensure that appropriate science is included and that user requirements are met.