Impacts of climate change on August stream discharge in the Central-Rocky Mountains

Leppi, Jason C.; DeLuca, Thomas H.; Harrar, Solomon W.; Running, Steven W.

doi:10.1007/s10584-011-0235-1

Cited by 91 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Not only are temperatures warming most rapidly during this period, but the volume of available habitat is shrinking as summer stream discharges across the region continue multi-decadal declines that have also been partially linked to climate change (Stewart et al 2005;Luce and Holden 2009;Leppi et al 2011). Many things can be done to ameliorate stresses on salmonids during this period (Rieman and Isaak 2010).…”

Section: Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result, the timing of spring stream freshets driven by snowmelt has advanced 2-3 weeks in the last 50 years (Regonda et al 2005;Stewart et al 2005). Because streams discharge more water earlier in the year, less remains in the summer when flows have been trending lower for many decades (Stewart et al 2005;Rood et al 2008;Luce and Holden 2009;Leppi et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast to the extensive long-term meteorological and flow gaging records that have been valuable for documenting many trends in climate-related parameters (e.g., Mote et al 2005;Stewart et al 2005;Leppi et al 2011), few long-term stream temperature records exist. The best long-term records in the U.S. are typically associated with municipal water supplies, U.S. Geological Survey stream gages, or hydroelectric facilities on larger rivers that are often subject to varying degrees of local thermal alterations (Olden and Naiman 2009;Kaushal et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate change effects on stream and river temperatures across the northwest U.S. from 1980–2009 and implications for salmonid fishes

et al. 2011

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Thermal regimes in rivers and streams are fundamentally important to aquatic ecosystems and are expected to change in response to climate forcing as the Earth's temperature warms. Description and attribution of stream temperature changes are key to understanding how these ecosystems may be affected by climate change, but difficult given the rarity of long-term monitoring data. We assembled 18 temperature time-series from sites on regulated and unregulated streams in the northwest U.S. to describe historical trends from 1980-2009 and assess thermal consistency between these stream categories. Statistically significant temperature trends were detected across seven sites on unregulated streams during all seasons of the year, with a cooling trend apparent during the spring and warming trends during the summer, fall, and winter. The amount of warming more than compensated for spring cooling to cause a net temperature increase, and rates of warming were highest during the summer (raw trend = 0.17°C/decade; reconstructed trend = 0.22°C/decade). Air temperature was the dominant factor explaining long-term stream temperature trends (82-94% of trends) and inter-annual variability (48-86% of variability), except during the summer when discharge accounted for approximately half (52%) of the inter-annual variation in stream temperatures. Seasonal temperature trends at eleven sites on regulated streams were qualitatively similar to those at unregulated sites if two sites managed to reduce summer and fall temperatures were excluded from the analysis. However, these trends were never statistically significant due to greater variation among sites that resulted from local water management policies and effects of upstream reservoirs. Despite serious deficiencies in the stream temperature monitoring record, our results suggest many streams in the northwest U.S. are exhibiting a regionally coherent response to climate forcing. More extensive monitoring efforts are needed as are techniques for short-term sensitivity analysis and reconstructing historical temperature trends so that spatial and temporal patterns of warming can be better understood. Continuation of warming trends this century will increasingly stress important regional salmon and trout resources and hamper efforts to recover these species, so comprehensive vulnerability assessments are needed to provide strategic frameworks for prioritizing conservation efforts.

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Section: Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate change effects on stream and river temperatures across the northwest U.S. from 1980–2009 and implications for salmonid fishes

et al. 2011

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“…Abundant information is also available regarding the impact of recent climate changes on streamflow regimes worldwide (e.g. Luce and Holden, 2009;Leppi et al, 2012) and, more specifically, in the Iberian Peninsula (e.g. Ceballos-Barbancho et al, 2008;Lorenzo-Lacruz et al, 2012;Morán-Tejeda et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waning habitats due to climate change: the effects of changes in streamflow and temperature at the rear edge of the distribution of a cold-water fish

Saez

Muñoz‐Mas²,

Solana‐Gutiérrez³

et al. 2017

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Climate changes affect aquatic ecosystems by altering temperatures and precipitation patterns, and the rear edges of the distributions of cold-water species are especially sensitive to these effects. The main goal of this study was to predict in detail how changes in air temperature and precipitation will affect streamflow, the thermal habitat of a cold-water fish (the brown trout, Salmo trutta), and the synergistic relationships among these variables at the rear edge of the natural distribution of brown trout. Thirty-one sites in 14 mountain rivers and streams were studied in central Spain. Models of streamflow were built for several of these sites using M5 model trees, and a non-linear regression method was used to estimate stream temperatures. Nine global climate models simulations for Representative Concentration Pathways RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios were downscaled to the local level. Significant reductions in streamflow were predicted to occur in all of the basins (max. −49 %) by the year 2099, and seasonal differences were noted between the basins. The stream temperature models showed relationships between the model parameters, geology and hydrologic responses. Temperature was sensitive to streamflow in one set of streams, and summer reductions in streamflow contributed to additional stream temperature increases (max. 3.6 • C), although the sites that are most dependent on deep aquifers will likely resist warming to a greater degree. The predicted increases in water temperatures were as high as 4.0 • C. Temperature and streamflow changes will cause a shift in the rear edge of the distribution of this species. However, geology will affect the extent of this shift. Approaches like the one used herein have proven to be useful in planning the prevention and mitigation of the negative effects of climate change by differentiating areas based on the risk level and viability of fish populations.

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“…Since then, and mostly in recent decades, progress in conducting continuous observations has been made by using standardized methods, but there are still some uncertainties which are difficult to solve [1,2]. The very specific conditions of mountain environments make them excellent indicators of climate change, [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Nevertheless it is commonly accepted that a better understanding of the climatic characteristics of mountain regions is limited by a lack of observations adequately distributed in time and space.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Peñalara Mountain Meteorological Network (1999–2014): Description, Preliminary Results and Lessons Learned

2017

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This work describes a mountain meteorological network that was in operation from 1999 to 2014 in a mountain range with elevations ranging from 1104 to 2428 m in Central Spain. Additionally, some technical details of the network are described, as well as variables measured and some meta information presented, which is expected to be useful for future users of the observational database. A strong emphasis is made on showing the observational methods and protocols evolution, as it will help researchers to understand the sources of errors, data gaps and the final stage of the network. This paper summarizes mostly the common sources of errors when designing and operating a small network of this kind, so it can be useful for individual researchers and small size groups that undertake a similar task on their own. Strengths and weaknesses of some of the variables measured are discussed and some basic calculations are made in order to show the potential of the database and to anticipate future deeper climatological analyses over the area. Finally, the configuration of an automatic mountain meteorology station is suggested as a result of the lessons learned and the the common state of the art automatic measuring techniques.

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Impacts of climate change on August stream discharge in the Central-Rocky Mountains

Cited by 91 publications

References 39 publications

Climate change effects on stream and river temperatures across the northwest U.S. from 1980–2009 and implications for salmonid fishes

Climate change effects on stream and river temperatures across the northwest U.S. from 1980–2009 and implications for salmonid fishes

Waning habitats due to climate change: the effects of changes in streamflow and temperature at the rear edge of the distribution of a cold-water fish

The Peñalara Mountain Meteorological Network (1999–2014): Description, Preliminary Results and Lessons Learned

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