HR: 15:25h
AN: U33B-08    [Abstracts]
TI: The Sensitivity of Northern Groundwaters to Climate Change: A Case Study in Northwest Alaska
AU: * White, D M
EM: ffdmw@uaf.edu
AF: Water and Environmental Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, PO Box 755910, Fairbanks, AK 99775-5910, United States
AU: Tidwell, A C
EM: fnact@uaf.edu
AF: Water and Environmental Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, PO Box 755910, Fairbanks, AK 99775-5910, United States
AB: Many cities in Alaska and the circumpolar north derive their municipal water supply from groundwater aquifers. Much of the groundwater recharge in the northern latitudes occurs during snowmelt. The last 30 years has seen an earlier snowmelt and later freeze-up in Alaskan locations from Anchorage to Barrow. A longer summer season, even with more annual precipitation will likely mean more water lost to evaporation and evapotranspiration, resulting in a net loss in groundwater recharge. The Anvil Mountain aquifer near Nome, Alaska exists in a fractured marble formation. Data at these wells has been collected since the fall of 2004 and continues to be recorded in real time. As a first step towards understanding the impacts of climate change on groundwater supplies, new data is being used to understand the sensitivity of the aquifer to climate. Preliminary analysis includes observed changes in well water surface elevations due to the onset of spring snowmelt, the magnitude of winter snow accumulation, low intensity and high intensity rainfall events, and aquifer head recession during the winter freeze period. Against a backdrop of observed climate change and the expectation of yet greater shifts in the climate and environment, particularly at high latitudes, sensitivity studies such as this are becoming both relevant and even critical to community planning and adaptation.
DE: 1807 Climate impacts
DE: 1829 Groundwater hydrology
DE: 1884 Water supply
SC: Union [U]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting