FutureWater staff Sergio Contreras has just started a Short Term Scientific Mission in Argentina taking place from the 16th to the 31st of October 2013. The mission aims to provide insight on the water balance in the middle section of the Colorado River Basin. An intense conversion of native ecosystems into irrigated agriculture is expected to occur in the following years in this region. Therefore, decision makers need information on the spatial patterns of water use by vegetation and agriculture in order to minimize the risks and the negative impacts of abrupt land use cover changes.

In collaboration with researchers and technical staff of the Water and Climate Institute – INTA (Instituto Clima y Agua ‐ Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, Buenos Aires), Sergio Contreras will use a satellite‐based approach to characterize the greenness anomalies in the region and the water balance patterns. This work will be backed up with biophysical data collected during a field campaign which has been organized in the area. The mission has been partially funded by an European grant in the framework of EUROSPEC – COST action ES0903 project.