Consideration of Climate Variability in Water Resources Planning and Operations — South Florida's Experience

Abstract

Climate in any region is the r esult of both short - and long -term phenomena interacting at local, regional and global scales. In South Florida where major changes to the water resources infrastructure are being contemplated for facilitating the restoration of large -scale ecosystems suc h as the Kissimmee River Basin and the Everglades, consideration of climate variability on scales ranging from intra -seasonal to multi -decadal is extremely important in both water resources planning and regional operations. Correlations of hydro -climatolo gy of South Florida to such global phenomena as El Nino -Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Atlantic Multi -Decadal Oscillation (AMO) have been investigated extensively. This paper provides an overview of the climatic indicators and the teleconnections that ar e significant for south Florida. In particular, the application of the research to develop regulation schedule s for the operation of Lake Okeechobee as well as the real -time implementation of rules b ased on climate outlook are discussed. The use of compu ter modeling as a tool for the design of operating rules as w ell as real -time operations is also included.