An important metric to monitor for optimizing water use in agricultural areas is the amount of cropland left fallowed, or unplanted. Fallowed croplands are difficult to model because they have many expressions; for example, they can be managed and remain free of vegetation or be abandoned and become weedy if the climate for that season permits.
Brown Bag Seminar Series
Bring your lunch and join us for a range of presentations on water-related topics of interest.
Access to the WRRC’s Brown Bag series now routinely includes offsite listeners through live webcasts via Goto-Webinar and in-house video coverage.
The slide presentations of most seminars are also available for viewing on the website.
Looking Ahead
Previous Brown Bag Seminars
April 26, 2018
Brown Bag
New Techniques for Mapping planted versus fallowed croplands using MODIS data
April 25, 2018
Brown Bag
WRRC Brown Bag - Navigating Water Policy in Uncertain Times: New vs. Old Paradigms
What does water security mean in the 21st century and how do we reconfigure water policy for a more sustainable future? Although drought and water scarcity have driven conflict throughout history, there are increasing efforts across the U.S. to bring a more collaborative and systems-based approach to water governance. This talk examines the current water policy landscape and the ways in which a clash of paradigms is playing out between the legacy systems of the past and the new paradigm solutions of the future.
April 17, 2018
Brown Bag
WRRC Brown Bag - Advances in Forecasting Summer Monsoon Precipitation, Simulation of Convective Storm Processes
In his presentation, Dr. Chris Castro will describe research on the changing occurrence and intensity of monsoon rains. This research focuses on the simulation of severe weather events caused by mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), which account for much of monsoon rainfall in the central and southwestern portions of Arizona, downwind of the Mogollon Rim. Over the past 60 years, there have tended to be a fewer strong, organized MCS-type thunderstorms during the monsoon; however, when they do occur, their associated precipitation tends to be more intense.
April 12, 2018
Brown Bag
California Water: 2018 and Beyond
For a bird’s eye view of California’s movement toward integrated water management, join us for a special seminar by Felicia Marcus, Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board for California.
April 06, 2018
Brown Bag
Rooted: public values and uses for Arizona streams and springs
Join us at the Sky Island Alliance office, 406 S 4th Avenue in Tucson, for this thought-provoking presentation. What does water mean to you?
Is water really life, as reflected in public values and principles? Fresh water in an increasingly arid region like ours is important, but seeing or having access to surface water has many different meanings and uses to different people. This presentation will explore some of those meanings using local examples.
March 19, 2018
Brown Bag
WRRC Brown Bag - WATER CASA at 20: Lessons Learned, Unlearned, or Relearned
As Water CASA reaches a milestone -- 20-years of water conservation advocacy, Val Little allows herself a look back and a look forward, through the lens of Water CASA's accomplishments, at some lessons learned from its efforts. Much has changed in the past 20 years in the field of water conservation and in overall water management as well. A candid look at some of these changes can inform decisions going forward. "If I have learned one thing over the past 20 years it is that water management is only going to get more complicated and costly in the future.
March 13, 2018
Brown Bag
Brown Bag Seminar - Hidden Water: The Fresh Water Pozos of the Gran Desierto
The Gran Desierto region of the Sonoran Desert is the largest extent of sand dunes in North America. An array of freshwater springs, or pozos, punctuate the salt flats where the dunes meet the sea. Unresolved in origin, and essential to countless species, their waters rise up inextricably out of the dunes. This transdisciplinary collaboration between a botanist, hydrologist, and artist seeks to document the origin of the pozo's water, determine how long it has resided below the dunes, and show how the pozo's and the riparian vegetation they support has changed through time.
March 02, 2018
Brown Bag
Brown Bag Seminar - Sustainable Water Management Using Analytical Tools and Dynamic Reservoir Operations
HydroLogics uses water resources modeling tools to facilitate planning, operations, and conflict resolution on the scale of single-reservoir systems all the way up to large multi-state river basins. The conjunctive management of surface and groundwater resources at SRP has historically created a very reliable and sustainable supply of water for SRP's shareholders and customers.
February 22, 2018
Brown Bag
Brown Bag Seminar - How myths and misinformation stand in the way of solving our water problems
With another dry year setting in across the West, the challenges of meeting the water supply needs of a growing population while maintaining our rural communities and a healthy environment are again being thrown in sharp relief. The continuing decline of Lake Mead has become a symbol of deepening problems, but there are also less-noticed examples of success – in conserving water and sharing in times of scarcity – which we need to understand in order to craft solutions.