HR: 17:00h
AN: U44A-04    [Abstracts]
TI: Hydrological Responses to a Warming Climate on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska
AU: * Hinzman, L D
EM: ffldh@uaf.edu
AF: Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering P.O. Box 755860 437 Duckering Building University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AU: Yoshikawa, K
EM: ffky@uaf.edu
AF: Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering P.O. Box 755860 437 Duckering Building University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AU: Busey, R
EM: fnrcb1@uaf.edu
AF: Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering P.O. Box 755860 437 Duckering Building University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AU: Prokein, P
EM: peter.prokein@uaf.edu
AF: Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering P.O. Box 755860 437 Duckering Building University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AB: In the last 50 years a wide range of changes in the Arctic related to hydrology have been detected. Many of these changes were documented since the mid-1970s; however it is quite likely change initiated early in the 20^th century prior to extensive observational records in arctic regions. Some of the changes, like later freeze-up and earlier break-up of arctic rivers and lakes, mirror arctic-wide and even global increases in air temperature. Others document more subtle or complex responses of the hydrologic system as it adapts to current and longer-term trends in climate. Since the arctic hydrologic system is particularly sensitive to changes in rain- and snowfall, timing of freeze-up and break-up, and the intensity of storm activity, it is likely that much of what has been documented to date, and will be observed in the future, arises from changes in these forcing fields. Unfortunately, compared to temperature, they are poorly known. The Seward Peninsula is underlain by discontinuous permafrost, however it appears that in the recent past the study area was predominantly underlain by continuous permafrost. Ice-rich permafrost maintains a relatively low permeability, greatly restricting infiltration of surface water to the subsurface groundwater. Changes in the hydrological regime due to degradation of permafrost will be simulated with a distributed hydrological model to characterize how the region will change in response to a warming climate.
UR: http://www.uaf.edu/water/projects/ICWHA/ICWHA.htm
DE: 0702 Permafrost (0475)
DE: 0798 Modeling
DE: 1621 Cryospheric change (0776)
DE: 1807 Climate impacts
DE: 1836 Hydrological cycles and budgets (1218, 1655)
SC: Union [U]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005