Other HyMet Projects

• Climate Changes Tracking Project is an informal study of temperature changes worldwide using data provided by individual participants.

• Simulating runoff of the Amargosa River in California as part of a hydrologic study of the groundwater connection to the atomic waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

• Determining the connectivity between flowing springs and groundwater aquifers at Montesol Ranch near Napa Valley, California for the Perrier Water Company.
   

• A hydrologic rainfall/runoff model to simulate the flow of the North Platte River, Nebraska for the State of Wyoming, Office of the Attorney General. The North Platte River in Wyoming and Nebraska was the subject of a lengthy interstate lawsuit in the 1930's and another lawsuit filed in 1986. In dispute were the impacts of water development activities on the flow of the river over the last 40-50 years with Nebraska making the charge that the reduced flow of the North Platte was due to excessive water-use in Wyoming. This report examined changes in streamflow and consumptive use for the 120-mile reach of the North Platte River between the Wyoming-Nebraska state-line and the gage at Lewellen, Nebraska over the period from 1953 to 1995.  The study determined that the decreased flow of the North Platte was caused by a significant increase in irrigation acreage and groundwater pumping in Nebraska. Shortly after this report was published on the HyMet website in 1999, the $250 million lawsuit was settled out of court.

   

• A mass-balance model for Columbia Glacier, Alaska for use in conjunction with an iceberg prediction model (see Iceberg Monitoring Project). A paper, Using low-altitude meteorological observations to calculate the mass balance of Alaska’s Columbia Glacier and relate it to calving and speed , describes this model and was presented at the Tidewater Calving Glacier Workshop on February 28 - March 2, 1997, at the Byrd Polar Research Center, Columbus, Ohio.

• Reconstruction of the flow of Del Puerto Creek, California (near San Jose) to assess its potential for water supply.

• The Iceberg Monitoring Project (IMP) was started in 1996 by Austin Post and Wendell Tangborn under contract to the Regional Citizen’s Advisory Council (RCAC) in Anchorage, Alaska. The main purpose of this project is to reduce the hazard of a possible oil tanker/iceberg collision. Columbia Glacier, after hundreds or even thousands of years of relative stability, began to break-up and retreat about 1980. There has been a 500 percent increase in the calving rate, which now reaches about 100 tons of ice per second during the summer months. The average calving rate is about 7 million tons per day or about 2.5 cubic kilometers per year. Its retreat rate is now approximately 0.7 km (nearly ½ mile) per year and will continue for another 20-25 years. The final product of IMP will be an iceberg prediction model that uses tidal observations and weather data to forecast the timing and the amount of ice that will reach the shipping traffic lanes in Valdez Arm each day. See the paper, Iceberg prediction model to reduce navigation hazards: Columbia Glacier, Alaska for further details.