Monitoring Streamflow Response to Effects of Climate Change in the Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound Region of Southcentral Alaska

• Main Author: Anderson, Dean J.
• Other Authors: Flitcroft, Rebecca L., Santelmann, Mary V., Vache, Kellie B.
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Oregon State University
• Subjects: ahtna; alutiiq; eyak; glacier; sugpiaq; Alaska
• Online Access: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/x059ch00p

This thesis explores the challenges of monitoring stream hydrology in a warmer and wetter climate in the Kenai Peninsula (KP) and Prince William Sound (PWS) region of Southcentral Alaska, located on the traditional territories of the Dena’ina, Ahtna, Alutiiq/Sugpiaq, and Eyak People. The physical and climatological extremes of this region produce diverse hydroclimatic conditions and streamflow regimes that support aquatic habitat, economically important fisheries, and provide hydropower. Projected climate change is expected to alter temperature and precipitation patterns, affecting snowpack accumulation and melt processes which may change streamflow dynamics. To effectively manage water resources, it is critical to monitor and understand shifts in, and variability of, streamflow regimes. However, in this region there is a paucity of hydrologic data available for use in streamflow monitoring, and the data that are available are not distributed evenly across hydrologic regime types. Chapter 2, Hydrometrics for Monitoring Streamflow Response to Climate Change, describes and inventories available U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS) hydrologic data in the region and evaluates a set of hydrometrics (streamflow metrics) that may be responsive to changes in climate and snowpack. Chapter 3, Stage Height and Flow Variability in the Glacier River Tributary Watershed, explores the efficacy of using stage height, instead of discharge, to identify high and low streamflow occurrences and applies stage height monitoring throughout the Glacier River Tributary (GRT) watershed to compare patterns of streamflow throughout the stream network. Overall, this thesis identifies data gaps in existing USGS hydrologic data, hydrometrics that may be useful in future monitoring, and explores the utility of a more cost-effective method for hydrologic monitoring to help support current and future monitoring efforts in the region.