June 13, 2018
Feature

Tethys Tackles Downscaling Challenge for Regional Water Withdrawals

An open-source tool helps connect high-resolution sectoral models and broader integrated human-Earth system models

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Example inputs (regional and annual scale) and outputs (gridded and monthly scale) of Tethys are shown for the irrigation, livestock, and manufacturing sectors.

The Science

Downscaling of water withdrawals is a fundamental step when integrating large-scale complex human-Earth models with detailed sectoral models. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Maryland, College Park, developed Tethys, an open-access software package that applies statistical algorithms to spatially and temporally downscale water withdrawal data.

The Impact

Tethys bridges the gap between coarser integrated human-Earth system model projections and detailed sectoral models that require high-resolution water withdrawal projections in space and time. The ability to exchange water withdrawal information when coupling models of different scales is especially important to inform local and regional water resource projections and planning.

 

Reference: X. Li, C.R. Vernon, M.I. Hejazi, R.P. Link, Z. Huang, L. Liu, L. Feng, "Tethys - A Python Package for Spatial and Temporal Downscaling of Global Water Withdrawals." Journal of Open Research Software 6(1), 9 (2018). [DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/jors.197]

Key Capabilities

Earth Systems Science & Engineering
Climate Change Science & Atmospheric Science
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Published: June 13, 2018

Research Team

Xinya Li and Chris R. Vernon, PNNL
Mohamad I. Hejazi, Robert P. Link, Zhongwei Huang, and Leyang Feng, PNNL (Joint Global Change Research Institute)
Lu Liu, PNNL (JGCRI) and University of Maryland, College Park

Research topics

Earth & Coastal Sciences