Watersheds describe the organization of water moving across land. They can be as small as a footprint or large enough to encompass all the land that covers water draining from streams, into rivers, into the Chesapeake Bay, which ultimately connects with the Atlantic Ocean. Scientists from across universities and federal agencies (e.g. United States Geological Society, National Sciences Foundation, Department of Energy) are working to understand the fundamentals of watershed science, knowledge required to manage and keep water resources safe. Support from NSF requested here will enable the first workshop to address current knowledge gaps in the management of watershed systems, and specifically develop a cross-agency and institution community that can leverage existing research efforts, and develop new ones, to advance watershed science. This support will contribute to enhance the participant representation at this workshop, as funds will be used to increase gender, racial, and early-career stage participant representation. Moreover, since a key outcome is developing lines of communication between federal agencies working in watershed science, this support will also ensure active NSF researchers from Critical Zone Observatories and others are in attendance to engage with these efforts. This workshop is a necessary first step to ensure the protection of water quality, research necessary for preserving drinking, agriculture, recreation, and sustaining wildlife uses. As cities, states, regions, and countries try to find new sources of uncontaminated water, preserving and enchaining clean water is a vital global mission in the 21st century.
A particular focus of the workshop is to reveal how physical, biological, and chemical processes integrate to govern hydrologic and biogeochemical function relevant to ecosystem services provided by watersheds. In particular this workshop will address applications of distributed science approaches to watershed science- with the goal to develop more coordinated, consistent, and open research networks. Key outcomes include (1) identifying the components of watersheds amendable to or as models for distributed science approaches, (2) analysis of the current watershed modeling efforts and discussion of what data is needed to implement these models across larger spatial scales (multi-watershed to continental), (3) development of field sampling and sensor development strategies, and (4) the social and research challenges and opportunities associated with the implementation of systematic distribute science plan. The key outcomes of this workshop and other engagement activities will be collated in a publicly available Workshop report, which can be publicly available.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
