Planning for climate change impacts on hydropower in the Far North

• Published in: Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
• Main Authors: J. E. Cherry, C. Knapp, S. Trainor, A. J. Ray, M. Tedesche, S. Walker
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2017
• Subjects: Technology; T; Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering; TD1-1066; Geography. Anthropology. Recreation; G; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Arctic; Climate change; permafrost
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-133-2017; https://doaj.org/article/d1aa4cedddc04b069f1fbbaef441a4e1

Unlike much of the contiguous United States, new hydropower development continues in the Far North, where climate models project precipitation will likely increase over the next century. Regional complexities in the Arctic and sub-Arctic, such as glacier recession and permafrost thaw, however, introduce uncertainties about the hydrologic responses to climate change that impact water resource management. This work reviews hydroclimate changes in the Far North and their impacts on hydropower; it provides a template for application of current techniques for prediction and estimating uncertainty, and it describes best practices for integrating science into management and decision-making. The growing number of studies on hydrologic impacts suggests that information resulting from climate change science has matured enough that it can and should be integrated into hydropower scoping, design, and management. Continuing to ignore the best available information in lieu of status quo planning is likely to prove costly to society in the long term.