Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

Innovative Research Program Projects, 2002

proposals submitted: 19
amount allocated: $151,000

THE SEARCH FOR OPTIMAL PERTURBATIONS. Chris Aiken, Andy Moore and John Hart are exploring a proof of concept for optimal perturbations within Generalized Stability Analysis (GSA) theory.

A POST-GENOMICS APPROACH TO EVOLUTION OF MICROBIAL FITNESS IN COMPLEX MIXED-WASTE ENVIRONMENTS. Shelley Copley (MCDB) and Ryan Gill (CEAE) are testing microbe fitness to pollutant environments with the hope of developing bioremediation strains.

DIRECT MEASUREMENTS OF EVAPOTRANSPIRATION: A NOVEL APPROACH. Bruce Kindel and Carol Wessman (CSES) are developing a spectrographic remote sensing method for measuring evapotranspiration at the surface.

AN INTEGRATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR WATER QUANTITY AND QUALITY DECISION MAKING IN THE FACE OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY. Balaji Rajagopalan (CDC), Martyn Clark (NSIDC) and Edie Zagona (CADSWES) are combining NOAA climate forecasts, a USGS watershed model, and the RIVERWARE decision support system to aid decision makers dealing with a real world polluted river.

MAPPING ECOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSES TO 20TH CENTURY WARMING IN A TROPICAL ANDEAN CORDILLERA. Anton Seimon and Todd Albert (Geography) are using ground, aircraft and satellite data to historically determine the evolution and impacts of El Nino by capitalizing on newly discovered historic photography and recent deglaciation in the Andes.

WATER COMPLEXES AS UNCONVENTIONAL ABSORBERS OF SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL RADIATION. Veronica Vaida (Chemistry), Erik Richard, Adrian Tuck, John Daniel and Susan Solomon (NOAA/AL) are developing instrumentation to explore relatively unknown radiative properties of hydrates and complexes that could help resolve differences between radiation models and measurements.

URBAN ECOLOGY IN THE COLORADO FRONT RANGE: ASSESSING INTERDISCIPLINARY COMPONENTS AND FUNCTIONAL STRUCTURE. Carol Wessman (CSES) and Nancy Golubiewski (INSTAAR) are quantifing ecosystem change due to urban growth.