Geographic Research in Water Resources:A Vibrant Research Agenda for the Next 20 Years

摘要

The objective of this issue of The Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education on a “Vibrant Research Agenda for the Next 20 Years for Water Resources Research” has been to ask the contributing authors to stretch their imaginations, eschew a mere recitation of what they have done in their notable careers, and instead deeply consider what may make for a compelling future in water resources research. In bringing together these diverse and highly respected authors, each with a distinct set of methods and theoretical orientation, this volume has spanned many subareas of investigation. The gestalt effect of these relatively brief but insightful pieces should make this volume ideal for seminar discussion. Finally, we hope that we have succeeded in our attempt to capitalize on the momentum built over the past two Annual Meetings of the Association of American Geographers, at which we have arranged four future-tense panels, and that this work is a service to the academic community.Although there is great diversity in the content offered by the contributors, at least seven major threads run through multiple authors. The areas that the authors keyed-in on across their subdisciplines are: 1) Technology, especially cyberinfrastructure; 2) Data synthesis across disciplines; 3) The role or non-role of history in future analysis; 4) Vulnerability; 5) Regional analysis; 6) Mitigation, and 7) Governance and environmental justice. Below I expand on the omnipresent issues of technology and data to synthesize some salient points from this special volume, and make an attempt to chart a potentially fruitful course forward that expands on some of the author's ideas regarding the need for regional research.