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At least 343 records · Page 19
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

pyflowline: a mesh-independent river network generator for hydrologic models

River networks are crucial in hydrologic and Earth system models. Accurately representing river networks in spatially distributed hydrologic models requires considering the model's spatial discretization and computational mesh. However, current methods of generating river networks for hydrologic models do not typically support unstructured meshes. Unstructured meshes offer numerous advantages over traditional, structured meshes. To overcome this limitation, we developed PyFlowline, a Python package that generates mesh-independent river networks. With PyFlowline, hydrologic modelers can generate conceptual river networks and their topological relationships for both structured and unstructured meshes.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2019

Exploratory Research: Transport and Transformation of Particulate Organic Matter in Permeable River Sediments

The hyporheic zone (HZ) is the volume of streambed sediments where surface water and groundwater mix. The mixing of ground and surface water geochemical constituents including organic matter and the presence of large microbial populations create an important location for biogeochemical activity. Large and periodic fluctuations in river stage such as those associated with operation of hydroelectric dams, may enhance downstream hyporheic exchange by reversing the direction of flow to/from the stream on a regular basis. Solute transport in hyporheic zones is affected by river regulation; however, little is known about the transport of particulate organic matter (POM) under these conditions. We performed a laboratory experiment to simulate the transport and retention of POM under conditions simulating flow reversal in the hyporheic zone. Here, POM is created by inoculating artificial river water with algae obtained from the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. POM transport experiments are then conducted in columns packed with sandy sediments; these data are then used to calibrate a model describing fundamental processes controlling its transport in saturated sediments. Models results reveal that filtration, sorption to sediment, and sorption to previously retained POM are important mechanisms of POM retention in sandy, saturated sediments. Additionally, upon flow direction reversal, POM is readily mobilized leading to effluents concentrations above the initial input concentrations. These findings indicate that river stage changes may change POM storage in the hyporheic zone depending on the type and magnitude of flow variation.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Using Community Science to Reveal the Global Chemogeography of River Metabolomes

River corridor metabolomes reflect organic matter (OM) processing that drives aquatic biogeochemical cycles. Recent work highlights the power of ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry for understanding metabolome composition and river corridor metabolism. However, there have been no studies on the global chemogeography of surface water and sediment metabolomes using ultrahigh-resolution techniques. Here, we describe a community science effort from the Worldwide Hydrobiogeochemistry Observation Network for Dynamic River Systems (WHONDRS) consortium to characterize global metabolomes in surface water and sediment that span multiple stream orders and biomes. We describe the distribution of key aspects of metabolomes including elemental groups, chemical classes, indices, and inferred biochemical transformations. We show that metabolomes significantly differ across surface water and sediment and that surface water metabolomes are more rich and variable. We also use inferred biochemical transformations to identify core metabolic processes shared among surface water and sediment. Finally, we observe significant spatial variation in sediment metabolites between rivers in the eastern and western portions of the contiguous United States. Our work not only provides a basis for understanding global patterns in river corridor biogeochemical cycles but also demonstrates that community science endeavors can enable global research projects that are unfeasible with traditional research models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

The Straightening of a River Meander Leads to Extensive Losses in Flow Complexity and Ecosystem Services

To assist river restoration efforts we need to slow the rate of river degradation. This study provides a detailed explanation of the hydraulic complexity loss when a meandering river is straightened in order to motivate the protection of river channel curvature. We used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling to document the difference in flow dynamics in nine simulations with channel curvature (C) degrading from a well-established tight meander bend (C = 0.77) to a straight channel without curvature (C = 0). To control for covariates and slow the rate of loss to hydraulic complexity, each of the nine-channel realizations had equivalent bedform topography. The analyzed hydraulic variables included the flow surface elevation, streamwise and transverse unit discharge, flow velocity at streamwise, transverse, and vertical directions, bed shear stress, stream function, and the vertical hyporheic flux rates at the channel bed. The loss of hydraulic complexity occurred gradually when initially straightening the channel from C = 0.77 to C = 0.33 (i.e., the radius of the channel is three-times the channel width), and additional straightening incurred rapid losses to hydraulic complexity. Other studies have shown hydraulic complexity provides important riverine habitat and is positively correlated with biodiversity. This study demonstrates how hydraulic complexity can be gradually and then rapidly lost when unwinding a river, and hopefully will serve as a cautionary tale.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Sensitivity of Circulation in the Skagit River Estuary to Sea Level Rise and Future Flows

Future climate simulations based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emissions scenario (A1B) have shown that the Skagit River flow will be affected, which may lead to modification of the estuarine hydrodynamics. There is considerable uncertainty, however, about the extent and magnitude of resulting change, given accompanying sea level rise and site-specific complexities with multiple interconnected basins. To help quantify the future hydrodynamic response, we developed a three dimensional model of the Skagit River estuary using the Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM). The model was set up with localized high-resolution grids in Skagit and Padilla Bay sub-basins within the intermediate-scale FVCOM based model of the Salish Sea (greater Puget Sound and Georgia Basin). Future changes to salinity and annual transport through the basin were examined. The results confirmed the existence of a residual estuarine flow that enters Skagit Bay from Saratoga Passage to the south and exits through Deception Pass. Freshwater from the Skagit River is transported out in the surface layers primarily through Deception Pass and Saratoga Passage, and only a small fraction (≈4%) is transported to Padilla Bay. The moderate future perturbations of A1B emissions, corresponding river flow, and sea level rise of 0.48 m examined here result only in small incremental changes to salinity structure and inter-basin freshwater distribution and transport. An increase in salinity of ~1 ppt in the near-shore environment and a salinity intrusion of approximately 3 km further upstream is predicted in Skagit River, well downstream of the drinking water intakes.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2016

Water Stress in Global Transboundary River Basins: Significance of Upstream Water Use on Downstream Stress

Growing population and water demand have increased pressure on water resources in various parts of the globe, including many transboundary river basins. While the impacts of upstream water use on downstream water availability have been analyzed in many of these international river basins, this has not been systematically done at the global scale using coherent and comparable datasets. In this study, we aim to assess the change in downstream water stress due to upstream water use in the world's transboundary river basins. Water stress was first calculated considering only local water use of each sub-basin based on country-basin mesh, then compared with the situation when upstream water use was subtracted from downstream water availability. Wefound that water stress was generally already high when considering only local water use, affecting 0.95-1.44 billion people or 33%-51% of the population in transboundary river basins. After accounting for upstream water use, stress level increased by at least 1 percentage-point for 30-65 sub-basins, affecting 0.29-1.13 billion people. Altogether 288 out of 298 middle-stream and downstream sub-basin areas experienced some change in stress level. Further, we assessed whether there is a link between increased water stress due to upstream water use and the number of conflictive and cooperative events in the transboundary river basins, as captured by two prominent databases. No direct relationship was found. This supports the argument that conflicts and cooperation events originate from a combination of different drivers, among which upstream-induced water stress may play a role. Our findings contribute to better understanding of upstream-downstream dynamics in water stress to help address water allocation problems.

Water↗
NASA NTRS2019

Reviewing Benefits and Costs of Hydropower Development Evidence From the Lower Mekong River Basin

In this paper, we examine the benefits and costs of hydropower development in the Mekong River Basin. We compare four major reports—the Mekong River Commission's (MRC's) Basin Development Plan Programme, Phase 2 (BDP2), the Strategic Environmental Assessment of Hydropower on the Mekong Mainstream (SEA), the Study on the Impacts of Mainstream Hydropower on the Mekong River (MDS), and the MRC's recent council study (CS)—in order to provide the basis for a comparative analysis of the major impact evaluation literature on mainstream dam construction in the Mekong River Basin for the period of 2010–2018. The primary objective of the review is to identify points of agreement, disagreement, inconsistency, and knowledge gaps. Both Mekong River Commission reports (BDP2 and CS) suggest extensive economic benefits for proposed hydropower development, whereas the SEA and MDS indicate that the net impact would be negative. The projected impacts of hydropower development on fisheries, sediment flows, and ecosystems vary widely both in economic and biophysical terms. However, all four reports point to decreased food security and loss of local livelihoods for millions of people as major concerns related to dam development. While considerable resources have been devoted to producing these important studies, the lack of standardization across reports, especially assumptions and methodologies for economic impacts, frustrates efforts at meaningful comparison of their findings and precludes the prospect of clear analytical outcomes or policy impacts.

Cumulative impact assessment↗
NASA NTRS2023

Investigating Hydroclimatic Impacts of the 168–158 BCE Volcanic Quartet and Their Relevance to the Nile River Basin and Egyptian History

The Ptolemaic era (305–30 BCE) is an important period of Ancient Egyptian history known for its material and scientific advances, but also intermittent political and social unrest in the form of (sometimes widespread) revolts against the Ptolemaic elites. While the role of environmental pressures has long been overlooked in this period of Egyptian history, ice-core-based volcanic histories have identified the period as experiencing multiple notable eruptions, and a repeated temporal association between explosive volcanism and revolt has recently been noted. Here we analyze the global and regional (Nile River basin) hydroclimatic response to a unique historical sequence of four large and closely timed volcanic eruptions (first a tropical one, followed by three extratropical northern hemispheric events) between 168 and 158 BCE, a particularly troubled period in Ptolemaic history for which we now provide a more detailed hydroclimatic context. The NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) GISS (Goddard Institute for Space Studies) ModelE2.1 Earth system model simulates a strong radiative response with a radiative forcing (top of atmosphere) of −7.5 W m−2 (following the first eruption) and −2.5 W m−2 (after each of the three remaining eruptions) at a global scale. Associated with this, we observe a global surface cooling of the order of 1.5 ∘C following the first (tropical) eruption, with the following three extratropical eruptions extending the cooling period for more than 15 years. Consequently, this series of eruptions is observed to constrain the northward migration of the inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) during the Northern Hemisphere summer monsoon season, and major monsoon zones (African, South Asian, and East Asian) were seen to experience a suppression of rainfall of >1 mm d−1 during the monsoon (JJAS) season averaged for 2 years after each eruption. A substantial suppression of the Indian and North African summer monsoon (over the Nile River headwater region) was seen to strongly affect the modeled river flow in the catchment and discharge at river mouth. River mass flow over the basin was observed to decrease by 29 % and 38 % relative to an unperturbed (non-volcanic) annual mean flow in the first and second year, respectively, after the first (i.e., tropical) eruption. A moderate decrease ranging between 5 % and 18 % was observed after the third and fourth (extratropical) eruptions. These results indicate, in sum, that the first eruption likely produced a strong hydroclimate response, with the following extratropical eruptions prolonging this. These results also support the recently hypothesized association between ice-core-based signals of explosive volcanism and hydroclimatic variability during the Ptolemaic era, including the suppression of the agriculturally critical Nile summer flooding.

hydroclimate impacts↗
DOE OSTI2016

Protecting the Columbia River through Removal and Packaging of Radioactive Sludge in Hanford's K Area - 16572

The Columbia River once provided power and cooling water to operations on the Hanford Site; today, more than a million people downstream from Hanford rely on the river for agriculture, fishing and recreation. The Department of Energy and contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CH2M) is making significant progress in protecting that vital resource. Eight of nine reactors along the river have been cocooned and soil and groundwater remediation is successfully reducing the concentration of contaminants in groundwater. The 100-K area is the last area where significant work remains to protect the river. CH2M has accomplished much in the past ten years, including demolishing the K East reactor fuel storage basin in 2009. Prior to demolition of the basin, highly radioactive sludge from that basin was transferred into containers located in the nearby K West reactor fuel storage basin. Today, the K East reactor is in interim surveillance mode, and work is underway in the K West basin to remove the sludge, which is a mixture of tiny fuel corrosion particles, fuel rod and metal fragments and soil and sand less than 1/4-inch in diameter. CH2M has designed a sludge removal system that will safely and efficiently remove the sludge from the K West basin and deposit it into specially designed containers which will be relocated to a storage facility on Hanford's Central Plateau. Procurement, fabrication and delivery of the sludge removal system is underway, with extensive testing and training planned for 2016 and 2017 ahead of the goal of removing sludge from the river by September 30, 2018. This project must account for many technical and safety considerations that render the project very challenging. Several safety measures have been incorporated as a result of safety evaluations. This paper will describe the issues facing the project team in developing the safety basis requirements and incorporating them into the design of the process equipment and construction of the facility to house the repackaging operations. This paper will allow CH2M and DOE-RL to share lessons learned and progress to date with other complex and hazardous projects across the DOE complex. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Population Dynamics and Temporal Trends of Bull Trout in the East Fork Salmon River, Idaho

Abstract Because of their long-term listing under the Endangered Species Act, much interest has been placed on estimating population vital rates for Bull Trout Salvelinus confluentus, but the biotic and abiotic factors that influence the interannual variability in those vital rates have rarely been evaluated. We used mark–recapture data to estimate fish growth, survival, and trends in abundance for fluvial adult Bull Trout in the East Fork Salmon River, Idaho. Over an 8-year period, a total of 1,205 individual Bull Trout were collected at a weir on the East Fork Salmon River (29 km upstream of its confluence with the Salmon River) during June–September, of which 420 were recaptures from prior years. Bull Trout varied in length from 215 to 756 mm and achieved a slightly larger asymptotic length and a slightly lower rate of growth relative to other fluvial and adfluvial Bull Trout populations. Apparent survival averaged 0.42 across all years, which was similar to previous studies estimating apparent survival for Bull Trout. The number of emigrating anadromous salmonid smolts in the upper Salmon River basin positively influenced East Fork Salmon River Bull Trout growth and survival, and survival was higher in years with lower annual discharge. Assessment of population growth via linear regression analysis indicated that the Bull Trout population was increasing during the study period (λ = 1.08; 95% confidence interval = 1.03–1.14). Our findings highlight the ecological link between the abundance of wild and hatchery Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, Sockeye Salmon O. nerka, and steelhead O. mykiss smolts and growth and survival of adult Bull Trout in systems where these species occur in sympatry.

Roth, Curtis J.↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Fish Out of Basin: Increased Stress Physiology and Reduced Performance of Salmon River Hatchery Chinook Salmon

Abstract Variation in rearing conditions across hatcheries and basins can affect the performance of hatchery salmonids in the wild. In 2008, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes began planning an out-of-basin hatchery facility on the eastern Snake River Plain for rearing threatened Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha for release in tributaries of the upper Salmon River, Idaho, USA. To help determine the viability of the planned out-of-basin hatchery, we reared 100,000 juvenile Chinook Salmon from the same genetic stock at one in-basin (Sawtooth Fish Hatchery on the Salmon River) and one out-of-basin (Springfield Fish Hatchery on the Snake River Plain) site in Idaho that are characterized by significant differences in water hardness and temperature regime. In October 2018 and April 2019, we tested whether fish condition, stress physiology, acute mortality, and downstream survival differed between the two groups at the parr and smolt life stages upon release in the Yankee Fork Salmon River, which is characterized by low water hardness. For both release groups, parr experienced low acute mortality during the 48 h after release; however, the out-of-basin group had a downstream survival rate through an unimpounded portion of the migration corridor that was an order of magnitude lower than that for the in-basin group. During the smolt release, the out-of-basin group showed signs of extreme physiological stress, acute mortality rates of 40–80%, and low survival in the unimpounded portion of the migratory corridor. The in-basin group recovered from the stress of transport and release, had no acute mortality, and survived through the unimpounded migratory corridor at a rate comparable to that of previous years’ releases. Based on the results of this comparative study, comanagers are evaluating alternatives to the proposed out-of-basin hatchery program. This case study highlights the effects of differences between rearing and release conditions on salmon physiology and survival as well as the value of conducting preliminary evaluations prior to implementing large-scale hatchery supplementation programs.

Ebel, Jonathan D.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Improving Abundance Estimates of Spring–Summer Snake River Chinook Salmon for Fisheries Management

Abstract The Columbia River basin is home to a run of spring–summer Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha that returns to the Snake River drainage of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington in the Pacific Northwest. Historically, the run was one of the more productive throughout the Columbia River basin. However, Snake River spring–summer Chinook Salmon have experienced declines in abundance due to overfishing, habitat degradation, and dams. Several stocks are listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and are supported by mitigation hatcheries funded by Idaho Power Company, the Lower Snake River Compensation Plan, and the Bonneville Power Administration. To maximize tribal and state harvest of returning hatchery adults, minimize impacts on wild fish, and ensure that enough hatchery fish return to meet broodstock needs, careful fisheries management is required. Since 2008, managers have used hatchery adults, PIT-tagged as juveniles and detected at Lower Granite Dam, to generate adult abundance estimates. In season, these estimates inform state and tribal harvest shares and ensure that broodstock needs are met. Postseason, they provide smolt-to-adult survival and return rates. Since 2012, parentage-based tagging (PBT) has provided an alternative method to estimate stock- and age-specific returns at Lower Granite Dam, since returning hatchery adults sampled at Lower Granite Dam can be assigned to their parents. We compared stock-specific abundance estimates between PIT- and PBT-derived methodologies for return years 2016–2019. Across all years, PIT tag estimates accounted for 65% of the PBT-based estimates at Lower Granite Dam across all age-groups and release sites combined. This underrepresentation across all groups equated to 49,833 fish that were not accounted for in PIT tag abundance estimates. It is clear that PBT-based estimates should aide in-season harvest management and postseason run reconstruction to avoid the known bias of estimates from PIT tags, especially during years of low returns when increased accuracy is critical.

Coykendall, D. Katharine (ORCID:0000000211482397)↗
DOE OSTI2023

Spatial and temporal overlap between hatchery- and natural-origin steelhead and Chinook Salmon during spawning in the Klickitat River, Washington, USA

Abstract Objective A goal of many segregated salmonid hatchery programs is to minimize potential interbreeding between hatchery- and natural-origin fish. Our objective was to assess this on the Klickitat River, Washington, USA. Methods We used radiotelemetry to evaluate spatiotemporal spawning overlap between hatchery- and natural-origin steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss and spring Chinook Salmon O. tshawytscha. We estimated percentages of tagged fish that spawned naturally in the Klickitat River subbasin, emigrated from the Klickitat River, or died before spawning. A kernel density analysis was used to estimate probability of spatiotemporal overlap between hatchery- and natural-origin spawners. Result For steelhead, 12% of hatchery-origin and 50% of natural-origin fish spawned naturally. For spring Chinook Salmon, 18% of hatchery-origin and 44% of natural-origin fish spawned naturally. Tag loss may result in underestimates in these percentages. Most hatchery-origin steelhead (90%) spawned downstream of river kilometer (rkm) 32, and 75% spawned from November to mid-March. The majority of natural-origin steelhead (64%) spawned upstream of rkm 32, and 75% spawned from mid-March to late May. Spawn timing of hatchery-origin Chinook Salmon (early August to mid-September) overlapped with that of natural-origin Chinook Salmon (late July to late September), and fish of both origins spawned in the same 30-km reach of the river. We estimated the percentage of hatchery-origin spawners (pHOS) on the natural spawning grounds to be 12% for steelhead and 40% for spring Chinook Salmon across all study years. For steelhead, we estimated the overlap probability to be 25% (95% CI = 22.5–28%). For spring Chinook Salmon, tight spatial clustering of hatchery-origin fish resulted in a lower overlap estimate of 21% (13–31%). Conclusion We suggest adjusting pHOS estimates using these overlap estimates or similar spatiotemporal data on actual spawner proximity and possible interactions, and that these types of analyses be used in conjunction with gene flow analysis to accurately evaluate effects of individual hatchery programs.

Zendt, Joseph S.↗
DOE OSTI2019

An analytical phytoplankton model and its application in the tidal freshwater James River

Here, this study constructs an analytical model to understand the phytoplankton dynamics in a one-dimensional system by integrating physical and biological processes. We present an analytical solution of phytoplankton distribution along the longitudinal direction of a tidal river. The solution has two components: water age and accumulative growth. The water age represents the overall effect of physical transport due to advection, while the accumulative growth represents the accumulation of phytoplankton biomass due to biological processes during the transport. In addition, an alternative solution with nonlinear reaction term is given to account for the feedback mechanism of nonlinear processes that affect phytoplankton growth rate. The nonlinear reaction term can be also used to approximate the effect of physical mixing on phytoplankton distribution. The analytical solutions can be further used to predict the temporal variation and spatial distribution of phytoplankton along the tidal river. They also serve as a mathematical tool to unite different field phytoplankton observations. We applied the model in the Tidal Freshwater Region (TFR) of James River under different dynamic conditions and the model results match well with the observations, which validates the theory on different time scales. Furthermore, an analysis is conducted for the Local Chlorophyll-a Maximum (LCM) in the TFR. It shows that the condition for LCM is biologically controlled, but its location is regulated by river flow and river geomorphology.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Effective Half-Life of Caesium-137 in Various Environmental Media at the Savannah River Site

During the operational history of the Savannah River Site (SRS), many different radionuclides have been released from site facilities into the SRS environment. However, only a relatively small number of pathways, most importantly 137 Cs in fish and deer, have contributed significantly to doses and risks to the public. The “effective” half-lives (T e ) of 137 Cs (which include both physical decay and environmental dispersion) in Savannah River floodplain soil and vegetation and in fish and white-tailed deer from the SRS were estimated using long-term monitoring data. For 1974–2011, the T e s of 137 Cs in Savannah River floodplain soil and vegetation were 17.0 years (95% CI = 14.2–19.9) and 13.4 years (95% CI = 10.8–16.0), respectively. These T e s were greater than in a previous study that used data collected only through 2005 as a likely result of changes in the flood regime of the Savannah River. Field analyses of 137 Cs concentrations in deer collected during yearly controlled hunts at the SRS indicated an overall T e of 15.9 years (95% CI = 12.3–19.6) for 1965–2011; however, the T e for 1990–2011 was significantly shorter (11.8 years, 95% CI = 4.8–18.8) due to an increase in the rate of 137 Cs removal. The shortest T e s were for fish in SRS streams and the Savannah River (3.5–9.0 years), where dilution and dispersal resulted in rapid 137 Cs removal. Long-term data show that T e s are significantly shorter than the physical half-life of 137 Cs in the SRS environment but that they can change over time. Therefore, it is desirable have a long period of record for calculating Tes and risky to extrapolate T e s beyond this period unless the processes governing 137 Cs removal are clearly understood.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

High resolution identification and quantification of diffuse deep groundwater discharge in mountain rivers using continuous boat-mounted helium measurements

Discharge of deeply sourced groundwater to streams is difficult to locate and quantify, particularly where both discrete and diffuse discharge points exist, but diffuse discharge is one of the primary controls on solute budgets in mountainous watersheds. The noble gas helium is a unique identifier of deep groundwater discharge because groundwater with long residence times is commonly enriched in helium. In this study, a portable mass spectrometer was used to measure longitudinal variation in dissolved helium concentrations in two mountainous rivers at high spatial resolution not feasible with traditional sampling techniques. Helium profiles were then simulated using a mass-balance model to quantify longitudinal variation in groundwater discharge to the receiving rivers. Results indicate helium concentrations were enriched by multiple orders of magnitude above atmospheric equilibrium in both rivers and that this persisted for up to 18 km below observed pulse inputs in the Colorado River. Helium mass-balance models match observed longitudinal patterns with the exception of sharp initial increases in helium observed in the rivers. Increased longitudinal groundwater discharge rates correspond to mapped geologic structures in both watersheds that likely transport deep geothermal water. Models show variable sensitivity to spatial assignment of input variables representing the groundwater source, illustrating the importance of collecting data from discrete groundwater discharges where possible. The methodology shows promise for field experiments designed to assess air–water exchange rates and to quantify total groundwater discharge from a combination of discrete and diffuse sources.

Deep groundwater↗
DOE OSTI2024

Latest Pleistocene glacial chronology and paleoclimate reconstruction for the East River watershed, Colorado, USA

Reconstructing Pleistocene glaciation timing and extent is vital for understanding paleoclimate. Whereas late Pleistocene glaciation has been studied extensively in western North American mountain ranges, the glacial history of the western Elk Range in Colorado remains understudied, particularly in the East River watershed, a site of intense scientific focus. Here we use cosmogenic nuclide exposure and depth–profile dating methods to determine the timing of glaciation in the East River watershed. We use glacier modeling to reconstruct paleoglacier extents and quantify past climate conditions. Our findings indicate that the East River glacier retreated from its maximum position approximately 17–18 ka, moving to recessional positions between 13 and 15 ka, before experiencing more substantial retreat to high-elevation cirques around 13 ka. Glacier modeling suggests that the maximum ice extents at 17–18 ka could have been sustained by temperature depressions of approximately −6.5°C compared to modern conditions, assuming consistent precipitation. Additionally, the ice position at 13–15 ka could have been supported by temperature depressions of around −4.0°C. These results offer insights into the deglaciation timeline in the East River watershed and broader western Elk Range as well as paleoclimate conditions during the late Pleistocene, which may aid future research on critical zone evolution in the East River watershed.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Quantifying Dam-Induced Fluctuations in Streamflow Frequencies Across the Colorado River Basin

Periodic fluctuations in natural streamflow are a major driver of river ecosystem dynamics and water resource management. However, most U.S. rivers are impacted both by long-term hydroclimatic trends and dams that alter flow variability. Despite these impacts, it remains largely unexplored how dams affect the dominant frequencies of natural streamflow over a highly regulated river network. We investigated the entire Colorado River Basin (CRB) to understand how the annual (10–14 months) and multi-annual (24–60 months) frequencies in natural flow regimes have been progressively altered by dams. Given the significant alteration over the CRB, we captured changes in streamflow frequencies between naturalized and observed monthly flows via wavelet analysis. Based on the similarity of changes in streamflow frequencies (annual and multi-annual) over the last 30 years, sections of the riverine network were classified into four groups. The annual frequency was relatively well preserved downstream of Hoover Dam, while showing a systematic trend of alteration downstream of Glen Canyon Dam until Hoover Dam. Meanwhile, the multi-annual frequency component was highly altered for the entire Lower Colorado main stem (i.e., downstream of Glen Canyon). We also identified dams with significant impacts on streamflow frequency by comparing wavelet coherence estimates. This study advances the notion that dams fundamentally alter river flow regimes across multiple frequencies and with varying amplitudes over time and space, with alteration propagating – or being dampened – by both hydroclimatic fluctuations and water resource management.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗