AccelNet Implementation Phase 1: Andean Climate Change Observations Research and Discovery ACCORD

The Andes mountains provide critical freshwater resources to downstream communities, yet they are also particularly vulnerable to climate change and deemed a ‘high risk’ region for people living in this region due to the projected future water scarcity. The lack of a high-quality observational climate database or useful projections of future climate scenarios, in particular, are major roadblocks that prevent implementing proper adaptation measures in the region. Therefore, the overarching goal of the ACCORD project is to build the first multidisciplinary network of networks focused on climate change across the Andes, by taking advantage of the multidisciplinary expertise of the 10 largest international networks to produce scientific breakthroughs that have so far been elusive due to the lack of interdisciplinary and international cooperation. This project will provide a new Andean climate database shared on an accessible platform, improve understanding of Andean mountain circulation, analyze how the intensity and frequency of extreme events (droughts, storms) will change, and document how climate change will affect glaciers, snow cover and water availability going forward. The results will be displayed using advanced visualization tools, making them easy to understand for policy-makers and the public at large. In addition, this project will contribute to training the next generation of US-based scientists that are capable of addressing scientific grand challenges, by involving students and early career scientists in all aspects of the project. While the focus of these activities is on the Andes, many of the processes affecting glaciers, snow cover and extreme events also play out in other mountain regions, including in the United States. The AccelNet-ACCORD network of networks will develop a new and improved Andean hydroclimate observational database, advanced understanding of mountain circulation and dynamics such as orographic precipitation and atmospheric rivers, thoroughly constrained future extreme event characteristics (megadroughts, convective storms), and narrowed projections of future changes in the Andean cryosphere and water resources. To achieve these aims, AccelNet-ACCORD will also take advantage of new high-resolution and convection permitting model simulations. The AccelNet-ACCORD project will also prepare a globally competent scientific workforce in an international and interdisciplinary setting by: 1) Immersing them in interdisciplinary research activities in an international setting; 2) Strengthening cultural literacy of students through a joint international online seminar series; 3) Providing experiential learning opportunities for US graduate students and postdocs through two international summer schools and one WRF modeling workshop with hands-on training; and 4) Broadening participation of diverse groups in STEM by hosting Annual Climate Change Days reaching 300 undergraduate students. The many existing productive working-relationships across individual networks will facilitate the synergistic interaction and implementation of the proposed activities. AccelNet-ACCORD is poised to become a fully collaborative, interdisciplinary, international, virtual research hub that is sustainable beyond the project lifetime. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.