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Abstract: Closed basin playas are among the most sensitive hydrologic systems globally and are excellent indicators of current and past climatic variability. This variability can significantly impact hydrologic regimes and biotic communities, and is often expressed in lake-bed deposits and shoreline features. We analyzed two playa basins in western North America that lie to either side of the current divide between monsoon and westerly precipitation regimes. Using a 23-year sequence of Landsat images at a 16-day time step, we determined the playa inundation response to varying precipitation inputs. Our results show that a strongly contrasting lake-inundation response occurs in lake basins separated by only 200 km. The Animas/Lordsburg Basin shows a marked lake-area increase in response to winter precipitation events, while the more southerly Palomas Basin shows a stronger response to monsoonal and El Niño-type events. This sensitivity to different input sources over short distances may explain some of the apparent asynchronous behavior of playa response found in lake records. Comprehensive regional-scale inundation records could be used to understand the dynamics of playa inundation events and how these events are linked to atmospheric circulation, and possibly to understand the observed asynchronous behavior of lake basins during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Discusses the significance of a Geographic Information System (GIS) approach to the spatial and temporal interconnections of the hydrologic system in the United States. Reasons for the need for an integrated approach; Factors to consider in solving barriers to water reallocation; Impact of the change in water right; Details of an approach to water reallocation using the GIS system.

Presents a study in which tree ring data have been used to reconstruct the mean late-season (June through January) temperature at a timberline site in the Sierra Nevada, California, for each of the past 2000 years. Long-term trends in the temperature reconstruction; Warm intervals during the Medieval Warm Epoch and the cold intervals during the Little Ice Age; Indications of chaotic solar behavior; More.

Pinyon–juniper woodlands of the western United States frequently exist within topographically complex landscapes where varied slope aspect yields substantial, local microclimate variation. Vegetation composition and cover typically change markedly along the gradient of relatively mesic northern aspects to more xeric southern aspects. Ecohydrological processes including precipitation runoff, soil moisture storage, and erosion are strongly influenced by vegetation. In certain cases, reduction of plant cover may set self-enhancing feedbacks in motion that lead to further declines of both vegetation and soils, and in some cases, replacement of woodlands with more xerophytic vegetation. The first place such change is likely to occur is in the ecotone between the drier southern aspects and moister north aspects. We studied vegetation, soils, and soil erosion in two small (1–2 ha) drainage basins in northeastern Arizona where pinyon–juniper woodlands occupy northern aspects, grading to shrub-dominated vegetation on more xeric southern aspects. Mapping of soil thickness, use of tree-root exposure to measure long-term soil erosion rates, and data on tree mortality and establishment indicate that the ecotone between woodland and more xerophytic vegetation has apparently been shifting for centuries, with a reduction in woodland vegetation. Erosion rates on xeric aspects ranged from 14 to 23 cm per century in one basin and as much as 60 cm per century in the other basin. In contrast, mesic aspects showed either no net soil losses over the last several centuries or rates significantly less than on the xeric aspects. Exposure of small roots (< 5 mm diameter) of cliff rose ( Purshia stansburiana ) directly overlying bare bedrock surfaces indicates that the process of denudation is ongoing and probably expanding in ecotonal areas. Mesic and xeric aspects exemplify “conserving” vs. “non-conserving” ecohydrologic systems in terms of their capacities to retain water and soils. The contrasting sets of self-enhancing feedback dynamics on xeric vs. mesic aspects not only produce different states in vegetation and soils, they also set in motion the production of pronounced geomorphic contrasts that probably require centuries to millennia to develop. The ongoing ecohydrological transitions in the more xeric aspects are in the process of transforming those hillslopes from smooth, curvilinear, soil-mantled, sediment transport-limited slopes to detachment-limited slopes characterized by an expanding area of bare bedrock steps and cliffs, and this transition is probably irreversible. Predicted temperature increases over the next century for the region are comparable to the present-day soil temperature differential on xeric vs. mesic aspects at the site. Soil temperature is the principal driver of soil water evapotranspirative losses, and because of the interdependent linkages between soil temperature, soil moisture, weathering, production and retention of soil, vegetation, and hydrological response, relatively small temperature increases will likely accelerate the ongoing environmental changes in this and similar areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]