Impacts of Land Use/Land Cover Change on the Water Cycle

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), University of Texas, Austin, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and U.S. Agricultural Research Service cosponsored a special session on “Impacts of Land Use/Land Cover Change on the Water Cycle” at the American Geophysical Union Annual Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, December 5-9, 2005. The session featured presentations on the impact of land use change on ground water recharge, the transport of contaminants and salts in the subsurface, and other topics. The information presented at this session could benefit anyone involved with land use planning and evaluation.

Session Description

Understanding the impacts of land use/land cover (LU/LC) changes, including intensification of agriculture, forestry, and urbanization, on the water cycle is essential in assessing sustainability of water resources and evaluating alternative water management strategies. For this session we solicit contributions that evaluate relationships between LU/LC and the independently measurable but interlinked components of the water cycle, including precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff, groundwater recharge, and related erosional processes. Studies using remote sensing, ground-based measurements, and numerical modeling are welcome.

USGS Presentations

• Impact of 300 Years of Land Cover Change on Climate, by Shevliakova, E., Princeton University, Findell, K.L., Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab/NOAA, Stouffer, R.J., Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab/NOAA, Milly, P., USGS
• Land-Use Change in Arid Regions Can Mobilize Millennial Accumulations of Unsaturated-Zone Salts, by Stonestrom, D.A., USGS, Prudic, D.E., USGS, Walvoord, M.A., USGS, Jackson, W, Texas Tech University
• Consequences of Urban Streamflow Patterns for Channel Form and Streambed Disturbance, by Konrad, C.P., USGS

Conveners

• B. Scanlon, University of Texas at Austin
• David Stonestrom, USGS
• Matt Larsen, USGS
• Jan Hendrickx, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
• Martha Anderson, U.S. Agricultural Research Service

Session Information

• Agenda Part I
• Agenda Part II
• Agenda Part III
• Session Description
• General Meeting Information

More Information

• Waste Disposal and Contaminant Migration in the Arid Southwest, Amargosa Desert Research Site, Nevada
• Nonpoint-Source Ground-Water Contamination in Relation to Land Use Completed
• USGS Science Topics -- Land Use and Land Cover
• Environmental Tracers of Surface-Water /Ground-Water Interactions

Related Headlines

• Land-Use Activities Release Naturally Occurring Arsenic

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