High Mountain Asia hydropower systems threatened by climate-driven landscape instability
Global warming-induced melting and thawing of the cryosphere are severely altering the volume and timing of water supplied from High Mountain Asia, adversely affecting downstream food and energy systems that are relied on by billions of people. The construction of more reservoirs designed to regulat...
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ftanucanberra:oai:openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au:1885/316295 2024-04-21T08:04:35+00:00 High Mountain Asia hydropower systems threatened by climate-driven landscape instability Li, Dongfeng Lu, Xixi Walling, Desmond E. Zhang, Ting Steiner, Jakob F. Wasson, Robert Harrison, Stephan Nepal, Santosh Nie, Yong Immerzeel, Walter W. Shugar, Dan H. application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1885/316295 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00953-y https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/316295/3/s41561-022-00953-y.pdf.jpg en_AU eng Nature Publishing Group 1752-0894 http://hdl.handle.net/1885/316295 doi:10.1038/s41561-022-00953-y https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/316295/3/s41561-022-00953-y.pdf.jpg © Springer Nature Limited 2022 Nature Geoscience Journal article ftanucanberra https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00953-y 2024-03-27T00:30:48Z Global warming-induced melting and thawing of the cryosphere are severely altering the volume and timing of water supplied from High Mountain Asia, adversely affecting downstream food and energy systems that are relied on by billions of people. The construction of more reservoirs designed to regulate streamflow and produce hydropower is a critical part of strategies for adapting to these changes. However, these projects are vulnerable to a complex set of interacting processes that are destabilizing landscapes throughout the region. Ranging in severity and the pace of change, these processes include glacial retreat and detachments, permafrost thaw and associated landslides, rock–ice avalanches, debris flows and outburst floods from glacial lakes and landslide-dammed lakes. The result is large amounts of sediment being mobilized that can fill up reservoirs, cause dam failure and degrade power turbines. Here we recommend forward-looking design and maintenance measures and sustainable sediment management solutions that can help transition towards climate change-resilient dams and reservoirs in High Mountain Asia, in large part based on improved monitoring and prediction of compound and cascading hazards. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice permafrost Australian National University: ANU Digital Collections Nature Geoscience 15 7 520 530 |
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Australian National University: ANU Digital Collections |
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ftanucanberra |
language |
English |
description |
Global warming-induced melting and thawing of the cryosphere are severely altering the volume and timing of water supplied from High Mountain Asia, adversely affecting downstream food and energy systems that are relied on by billions of people. The construction of more reservoirs designed to regulate streamflow and produce hydropower is a critical part of strategies for adapting to these changes. However, these projects are vulnerable to a complex set of interacting processes that are destabilizing landscapes throughout the region. Ranging in severity and the pace of change, these processes include glacial retreat and detachments, permafrost thaw and associated landslides, rock–ice avalanches, debris flows and outburst floods from glacial lakes and landslide-dammed lakes. The result is large amounts of sediment being mobilized that can fill up reservoirs, cause dam failure and degrade power turbines. Here we recommend forward-looking design and maintenance measures and sustainable sediment management solutions that can help transition towards climate change-resilient dams and reservoirs in High Mountain Asia, in large part based on improved monitoring and prediction of compound and cascading hazards. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Li, Dongfeng Lu, Xixi Walling, Desmond E. Zhang, Ting Steiner, Jakob F. Wasson, Robert Harrison, Stephan Nepal, Santosh Nie, Yong Immerzeel, Walter W. Shugar, Dan H. |
spellingShingle |
Li, Dongfeng Lu, Xixi Walling, Desmond E. Zhang, Ting Steiner, Jakob F. Wasson, Robert Harrison, Stephan Nepal, Santosh Nie, Yong Immerzeel, Walter W. Shugar, Dan H. High Mountain Asia hydropower systems threatened by climate-driven landscape instability |
author_facet |
Li, Dongfeng Lu, Xixi Walling, Desmond E. Zhang, Ting Steiner, Jakob F. Wasson, Robert Harrison, Stephan Nepal, Santosh Nie, Yong Immerzeel, Walter W. Shugar, Dan H. |
author_sort |
Li, Dongfeng |
title |
High Mountain Asia hydropower systems threatened by climate-driven landscape instability |
title_short |
High Mountain Asia hydropower systems threatened by climate-driven landscape instability |
title_full |
High Mountain Asia hydropower systems threatened by climate-driven landscape instability |
title_fullStr |
High Mountain Asia hydropower systems threatened by climate-driven landscape instability |
title_full_unstemmed |
High Mountain Asia hydropower systems threatened by climate-driven landscape instability |
title_sort |
high mountain asia hydropower systems threatened by climate-driven landscape instability |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1885/316295 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00953-y https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/316295/3/s41561-022-00953-y.pdf.jpg |
genre |
Ice permafrost |
genre_facet |
Ice permafrost |
op_source |
Nature Geoscience |
op_relation |
1752-0894 http://hdl.handle.net/1885/316295 doi:10.1038/s41561-022-00953-y https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/316295/3/s41561-022-00953-y.pdf.jpg |
op_rights |
© Springer Nature Limited 2022 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00953-y |
container_title |
Nature Geoscience |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
520 |
op_container_end_page |
530 |
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1796944141896122368 |