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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is improving knowledge about climate change impacts and adaptation by conducting targeted pilot studies to test new ideas and to develop and utilize information at the project-level scale, and to glean information needed to develop policy and guidance. Each of these pilot studies addresses a central question that will help guide USACE as we develop policy and guidance to mainstream adaptation.
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Archival Water-Level Measurements: Recovering Historical Data to Help Design for the Future
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This report discusses efforts to recover, digitize, quality assure, and analyze hundreds of station-years of lost-and-forgotten tide data and other water-level measurements that extend back to the early 19th century. Case studies are presented which show how such archival data can be used to retrospectively model historical extreme events, help validate ensemble-based models of flood hazard, or assess the effects of changing bathymetry.
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Climate Change Evaluation - Upper Missouri River Basin Mountain Snowpack - Accumulation and Runoff
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The purpose of this pilot research study was to assess the impact of climate change on mountain snowpack accumulation and runoff in the upper Missouri River Basin (Basin).
Central Question Addressed by Study
Are snowpack behaviors changing due to changes in the means and variances of the drivers as the amount of energy stored in the atmosphere increases? If this is the case, is the upper Basin, specifically the reaches above Fort Peck and Garrison reservoirs, more susceptible to changes in the amount of runoff and runoff variability during May, June, and July (MJJ), based on climate change projections?
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Cochiti Dam and Lake, New Mexico
"Climate Change Associated Sediment Yield Changes on the Rio Grande in New Mexico: Specific Sediment Evaluation for Cochiti Dam and Lake" (pdf, 3.43 MB)
Central Question Addressed by Pilot
What is the relationship between changing climate conditions and reservoir sedimentation, and could this relationship shorten the lifetime of the infrastructure project or impact its flood control pool?
Vulnerable Business Lines
Flood Risk Reduction, Navigation, Hydropower, Recreation
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Coralville Lake, Iowa
"Coralville Lake Climate Change Pilot Study" (pdf, 1.10 MB)
Central Question Addressed by Pilot
How do we incorporate climate change considerations into reservoir operating policies that will be robust and adaptive to potential climate changes in the interest of long term risk management?
Vulnerable Business Lines
Flood Risk Management, Recreation
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Climate Modeling and Stakeholder Engagement to Support Adaptation in the Iowa-Cedar Watershed
"Climate Modeling and Stakeholder Engagement to Support Adaptation in the Iowa-Cedar Watershed" (pdf, 2.34 MB)
Vulnerable Business Lines
Flood Risk Management, Recreation
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Evaluation of the Effect of Sea Level Rise on the C-111 Spreader Canal Western Project, South Florida
Evaluation of the Effect of Sea Level Rise on the C-111 Spreader Canal Western Project, South Florida (pdf, 1.65 MB)
The C-111 Spreader Canal Western Project is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) project under the Congressionally-authorized Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). The C-111 project is a critical piece in a long-term effort to restore and sustain freshwater flows through the unique south Florida sawgrass wetlands, and to sustain estuarine conditions in Florida Bay and the coastal mangrove forests.
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Garrison Dam, North Dakota
"Climate Change Associated Sediment Yield Impact Study: Garrison Dam Specific Sediment and Operation Evaluations" (pdf,1.77 MB)
Central Question Addressed by Pilot
How will climate change affect basin runoff, sedimentation rates, and operations of the Garrison Dam?
Vulnerable Business Lines
Flood Risk Management
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Historical Trends and Future Projections of Climate and Streamflow in the Willamette Valley and Rogue River Basins
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The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Portland District manages dams, reservoirs, and projects (e.g. fish facilities) in the Willamette and Rogue River Basins and must balance multiple objectives of providing reservoir storage space to minimize flood risk, refilling reservoirs for conservation storage, meeting environmental objectives, and maximizing hydropower. This balancing act may become more challenging under future climate conditions. This report examines observed changes in temperature, precipitation, snowpack, and streamflow in the Willamette and Rogue River Basins and provides projections of future changes in these variables based on global climate model simulations.
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Impacts to Hurricane Storm Surge Inundation Resulting from Sea Level Change - Norfolk SLOSH Basin
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This investigation focuses on an assessment of the impact of Sea Level Change (SLC) on the severity of hurricane storm surge inundation within the Norfolk SLOSH (Sea, Lake, and Overland Surge from Hurricanes) Basin.
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Marion Reservoir Watershed, Kansas
"Climate Change Impacts on USACE Water Supply Reservoirs: A Pilot Study of the Marion Reservoir Watershed in Kansas" (pdf, 1.65 MB)
Central Question Addressed by Pilot
How can climate modeling be incorporated as a decisionmaking
tool with respect to existing and future water
supply contracts?
Vulnerable Business Lines
Water Supply, Flood Risk Management
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Ohio River Basin - Formulating Climate Change Mitigation/Adaptation Strategies through Regional Collaboration with the ORB Alliance
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This report encapsulates the research of numerous professionals in climatology, meteorology, biology, ecology, geology, hydrology, geographic information technology, engineering, water resources planning, economics, and landscape architecture. The report provides downscaled climate modeling information for the entire basin with forecasts of future precipitation and temperature changes as well as forecasts of future streamflow at numerous gaging points throughout the basin.
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Oologah Lake Watershed Adaptation Pilot, Oklahoma
"Utilization of Regional Climate Science Programs in Reservoir and Watershed Risk-Based Assessments" (pdf, 5.67 MB)
Central Question Addressed by Pilot
How can information from regional Federal climate science programs be used in water resource model assessments and associated risk management decision making by local, tribal, state and Federal interests; and what is the value of information from a detailed assessment compared to a reconnaissance-level assessment?
Vulnerable Business Lines
Water Supply
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Red River of the North at Fargo, North Dakota, Pilot Study, Impact of Climate Change on Flood Frequency Curve
Download Report (pdf, 4.53 MB)
The purpose of this pilot study was to apply and evaluate a rigorous peer-reviewed methodology for computing the impact of climate change on flood frequency curves to the Red River of the North at Fargo, North Dakota. The methodology had been developed and applied by the Bureau of Reclamation.
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Report on Lessons Learned from USACE Climate Change Adaptation Pilot Projects Fiscal years 2010-2015
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This report outlines the adaptation pilot projects funded under the Responses to Climate Change Program during fiscal years 2010-2015. These projects spanned the continental United States and Hawaii and represented a range of future climate impacts challenges to project planning, coastal ecosystem and flood risk reduction, freshwater water supply, navigation, and flood risk management.
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Upland Sediment Production and Delivery in the Great Lakes Region Under Climate Change
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The purpose of this study was to estimate the potential effects of climate change on sediment yield and resulting dredging requirements. The study examined the St. Joseph River and Maumee River watersheds. These harbors were selected both because of their sizable dredging requirements and the existence of sediment yield models that could potentially be updated with new climate information. Nearly 350 climate change scenarios were run through sediment yield models for both watersheds, finding very different responses to climate change between the two adjacent watersheds.
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West Maui Watershed Plan, Hawaii
"Applying Risk Informed Decision-Making Framework for Climate Change to Integrated Water Resource Management Planning - West Maui Watershed Plan" (pdf, 467 KB)
Central Question Addressed by Pilot
How can a risk-informed decision-making (RIDM) framework be incorporated at the beginning of a collaborative planning process for a place-based climate change adaptation strategy, and what are the challenges in implementing an IWRM framework?
Vulnerable Business Lines
Ecosystem Restoration
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