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Tuesday, November 25, 2003 Scripps Graduate Student Wins Desert Research Institute's Wagner Memorial Award Winning paper asks: Will watershed managers be ready when spring comes to the Sierra Nevada? Scripps Institution of Oceanography / University of California, San Diego A Scripps Institution of Oceanography graduate student has won the Desert Research Institute's Peter B. Wagner Memorial Award for Women in Atmospheric Sciences for her study of factors that determine when, and how fast, the Sierra Nevada snowpack begins to melt in the spring. Jessica Lundquist will receive the Wagner Award's $1,250 prize at the Desert Research Institute (DRI) in Reno, Nev., on Dec. 16 following a presentation of her winning paper, "Spring Onset in the Sierra Nevada: Is snowmelt independent of elevation?" The annual award was established in 1998 by Nevada Gaming Commissioner and former Nevada Lt. Gov. Sue Wagner in memory of her husband, Peter, a DRI scientist who died in the 1980 crash of a DRI research aircraft. The purpose of the national award is to encourage women graduate students in the atmospheric sciences. Lundquist's paper notes that in an "average" year, the onset of Sierra Nevada spring melt is delayed roughly four days for each additional 100 meters in elevation. But in spring of 2002, she says, a phenomenon known as "synchronous spring" occurred in which spring melt from very high elevation glacial cirques commenced simultaneously with that of much lower elevations.  If a synchronous onset occurs late in the spring, when melt-rates are high, flooding can occur, Lundquist says, and the implications for accurate management of Sierra Nevada runoff could be very serious. "What is needed is a much better high elevation monitoring network in Sierra Nevada watersheds to detect these conditions," Lundquist says. "A realistic description of elevational distribution and timing of snow accumulation, melt, and runoff is crucial to successfully model basin-scale snowmelt and spring streamflow. "Understanding elevational effects becomes increasingly important with the prospect of global warming," she adds. "Over the next 50 years, it is estimated that, in response to projected climate warming of three degrees centigrade, late spring snow accumulation in California would be diminished by one third to one half." A Ph.D. candidate who hopes to graduate next spring, Lundquist works with a group of leading climatologists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography who have been focusing on the likely responses of West Coast and Sierra Nevada weather patterns if climatic warming trends continue. Applicants for the Wagner Award must be pursuing an advanced degree in a program of atmospheric sciences or a related field and must submit a paper based on original research directly related to the identification, clarification, and/or resolution of an atmospheric or climatic problem. A nonprofit, statewide division of the University and Community College System of Nevada, DRI pursues a full-time program of basic and applied environmental research on a local, national, and international scale. Nearly 500 full- and part-time scientists, technicians, and support staff conduct some 150 research projects at DRI annually. More than 85 percent of DRI's annual $37 million operating budget consists of research grants and contracts obtained by its scientists. The balance is received from the state of Nevada for administrative costs. # # # # # # Note to broadcast and cable producers: University of California, San Diego provides an on-campus satellite uplink facility for live or pre-recorded television interviews. Please phone or e-mail the media contact listed above to arrange an interview. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, at University of California, San Diego, is one of the oldest, largest and most important centers for global science research and education in the world. The National Research Council has ranked Scripps first in faculty quality among oceanography programs nationwide Now in its second century of discovery, the scientific scope of the institution has grown to include biological, physical, chemical, geological, geophysical and atmospheric studies of the earth as a system. Hundreds of research programs covering a wide range of scientific areas are under way today in 65 countries. The institution has a staff of about 1,300, and annual expenditures of approximately $155 million from federal, state and private sources. Scripps operates one of the largest U.S. academic fleets with four oceanographic research ships and one research platform for worldwide exploration. |
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