Hydrologic simulations using projected climate data as input to the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) in the Upper Rio Grande Basin

The Rio Grande Basin Study (Basin Study) is a stakeholder-led project funded by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to develop climate adaptation strategies to address the growing gap between water supply and demand in the Upper Rio Grande Basin in Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. The role of the USGS in the Basin Study is to simulate historic and future streamflow using projected climate data from 27 climate scenarios as input to the Upper Rio Grande Basin Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) watershed model (Chavarria and others, 2020) for the years 1981-2099. Simulated native streamflow at 61 sites along the mainstem Rio Grande and its tributaries is used as the baseline hydrologic response to the 27 climate scenarios. Streamflow is then simulated for different adaptation strategies using the same set of climate scenarios as input to PRMS. This data release contains: (1) projected climate data (precipitation, maximum temperature, minimum temperature) from 27 climate scenarios used as input to PRMS, and baseline PRMS simulated streamflow at 61 sites in the Upper Rio Grande Basin under each of the 27 scenarios; and (2) the PRMS parameter file before and after implementation of each adaptation strategy and resulting PRMS simulated streamflow at the 61 sites, under each of the 27 climate scenarios.