Collaborative Research: IRES Track I: Post-hurricane recovery of island freshwater lenses: Understanding the impact of social and hydrological dynamics

The goal of this project is to provide international collaborative opportunities to six students per year to explore broader climate change challenges related to freshwater resilience of small islands through a six-week long international research experience in the island of Grand Bahama. The project will advance our current understanding of the combined role of social and hydrological dynamics on post-hurricane recovery of freshwater resources on small sub-tropical islands. A group of U.S. students from diverse backgrounds will work closely with mentors and students from the University of the Bahamas, Grand Bahama Utility Company, the Bahamian Forestry Unit, and faculty from four US Universities (California State University, Sacramento, University of Wyoming, Oberlin College, and Rutgers University), comprising a diverse, interdisciplinary team of social scientists, hydrologists, soil scientists, and plant experts. Students will learn how to study local, global, and intercultural issues, understand and appreciate different perspectives, and interact with individuals from different cultures and backgrounds. The experiences gained through this international collaboration will be key to student's future success in an increasingly global economy, and will further the development of a diverse, globally competitive workforce, able to address cross-cutting challenges in socio-hydrology. This project will also have a positive impact on students from the host Institution, gaining research experiences and training that they would otherwise not have access to. Beyond the impacts on students, local water management authorities will benefit from the generation of new data and modeling tools and the project will help inform local communities about climate and social challenges and their role on the sustainability and resilience of their water resources, which is anticipated to increase their involvement and level of adaptation to climate change mitigation strategies.Despite the recognized importance of socio-hydrology in increasing our understanding of the interactions between water and human systems, interdisciplinary student training addressing the cross-cutting nature of socio-hydrology is not common. This project will investigate the importance of socio-hydrological dynamics on post-hurricane recovery of freshwater resources of small sub-tropical islands by collecting, integrating, and analyzing unique information on the social and hydrological processes that are identified as the main drivers of post-hurricane recovery of water resources in Grand Bahama. Our research will generate new data and knowledge on the relative importance and compound role of social and hydrological factors and will ultimately contribute to increased water resources sustainability and resilience of small islands under a changing climate. Students will participate in field campaigns to collect groundwater and soil salinity, groundwater levels and soil moisture data on various locations on the island. In addition, infiltration experiments will be conducted to assess salt build-up on the soil and its impact on the infiltration capacity of the soil. The above data will be used to improve the calibration and validation of an existing island scale model groundwater flow and salt transport modeling. This model will simulate FWL recovery under various recharge scenarios based on climatic projections. Soil salinity data will also be used to assess the loss in plant/forest biodiversity and changes in forest structure post-hurricane. Sociological investigations of community member’s perceptions on water management in Grand Bahama will also be conducted through focus groups and interviews. In addition to individual projects, the international research opportunity will culminate in an annual interdisciplinary research project that provides insights into the socio-hydrological dynamics of FWL recovery after storm induced salinization events. Students will present their research findings at an annual project Virtual Symposium, communicate their research beyond the program through outreach projects and scientific publications and gain important writing and presentation skills.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.