Modelling the possible impacts of climate change on the thermal regime and macroinvertebrate species of a regulated prairie river

Carr, Meghan K.; Лин, Ли; Sadeghian, Amir; Phillips, Iain D.

doi:10.1002/eco.2102

Cited by 16 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 45 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The ecological and chemical importance of water temperature has driven a need to characterise human impacts on water temperature. The impact of dams (e.g., Kędra & Wiejaczka, 2018), catchment management (e.g., LeBlanc, Brown, & FitzGibbon, 1997) and climate change (e.g., Carr, Li, Sadeghian, Phillips, & Lindenschmidt, 2019;Hari, Livingstone, Siber, Burkhardt-Holm, & Guttinger, 2006;Orr et al, 2014) on water temperature are all of interest. Temperatureflow relationships are of interest where river water, or connected groundwater, is being abstracted because anthropogenically-induced lower flows may be linked to warmer water temperatures.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

River water temperatures are higher during lower flows after accounting for meteorological variability

Booker

Whitehead

2021

River Research & Apps

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

River water temperature is known to be important for water quality and ecosystem processes. We quantified the degree to which lower river flows are associated with warmer river water, after accounting for seasonality and meteorological variability.We applied a systematic methodology to analyse observed mean daily river water temperature and mean daily river flow from 47 sites draining mountain, hill, and lowland catchments across the Canterbury region of Aotearoa New Zealand. We fitted regression models to remove seasonal patterns from all variables, then removed correlations between water temperature and each of three meteorological variables (solar radiation, air temperature, and earth temperature) before quantifying water temperature-river flow relationships. Strong seasonal patterns were present in water temperature and each meteorological variable across all sites. Many sites also showed strong seasonal patterns in river flows. We demonstrated that seasonal patterns must be accounted for before day-to-day associations between water temperature and meteorological variables or river flow can be characterised. Higher water temperatures were associated with lower flows for 46 of 47 sites, even after having accounted for seasonality and associations with each meteorological variable.Increases in water temperature associated with a hypothetical reduction in river flow from the median to the fifth percentile varied with the site but were 0.5 C on average. This finding has important implications for river flow management because it indicates that increased river water temperatures would accompany reduced river flows regardless of site or catchment characteristics.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

River water temperatures are higher during lower flows after accounting for meteorological variability

Booker

Whitehead

2021

River Research & Apps

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The model can now be used to explore other scenarios, particularly if there are shifts in reservoir management and operation strategies. Such shifts may include maintaining temperature coherence between the outflow river reach and the inflowing river to potentially improve diversity and habitat for animal species in the downstream river [e.g., macroinvertebrates-see Carr et al (2019)]. In addition, the model can also be used to determine optimum abstraction levels to fulfill nutrient concentration thresholds in the downstream river reach for downstream water uses (e.g., water treatment plant at Saskatoon).…”

Section: Implications Of Water Withdrawals In Reservoir Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Varying Dam Outflow Elevations on Water Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen, and Nutrient Distributions in a Large Prairie Reservoir

Carr

Sadeghian

Rinke

et al. 2020

Environmental Engineering Science

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dam operations are known to have significant impacts on reservoir hydrodynamics and solute transport processes. The Gardiner Dam, one of the structures that forms the Lake Diefenbaker reservoir located in the Canadian Prairies, is managed for hydropower generation and agricultural irrigation and is known to have widely altering temperature regimes and nutrient circulations. This study applies the hydrodynamic and nutrient CE-QUAL-W2 model to explore how various withdrawal depths (5, 15, 25, 35, 45, and 55 m) influence the concentrations and distribution of nutrients, temperature, and dissolved oxygen (DO) within the Lake Diefenbaker reservoir. As expected, the highest dissolved nutrient (phosphate, PO 3 À 4 -P and nitrate, NO À 3 -N) concentrations were associated with hypoxic depth horizons in both studied years. During summer high flow period spillway operations impact the distribution of nutrients, water temperatures, and DO as increased epilimnion flow velocities route the incoming water through the surface of the reservoir and reduce mixing and surface warming. This reduces reservoir concentrations but can lead to increased outflow nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations. Lower withdrawal elevations pull warmer surface water deeper within the reservoir and decrease reservoir DO during summer stratification. During fall turnover low outflow elevations increase water column mixing and draws warmer water deeper, leading to slightly higher temperatures and nutrient concentrations than shallow withdrawal elevations. The 15 m depth (540 m above sea level) outflow generally provided the best compromise for overall reservoir and outflow nutrient reduction.

show abstract

“…In a large river, structural measures, such as dams and reservoirs, can be an effective means of mitigating ice‐jam floods (Jasek, Friesenham, & Granson, 2007); however, the construction and operational costs of these measures are very expensive. Additionally, they have some adverse impacts on river ecology, such as flow (Prabin et al, 2019) and stream temperature (Carr, Li, Sadeghian, Phillips, & Lindenschmidt, 2019) modulations, which may lead to the drying of wetlands in deltas (Prowse & Conly, 1998). In small rivers, more eco‐friendly and low‐cost control structures such as in‐stream piers have been implemented in recent years (Burrell et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the implications of ice‐jam flood mitigation measures

Das

2021

J Flood Risk Management

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ice‐jam flood risk management requires new approaches to reduce flood damages. Although many structural and non‐structural measures are implemented to reduce the impacts of ice‐jam flooding, there are still many challenges in identifying appropriate strategies to reduce the ice‐jam flood risk along northern rivers. The main purpose of this study is to provide a novel methodological framework to assess the feasibility of various ice‐jam flood mitigation measures based on risk analysis. A total of three ice‐jam flood mitigation measures (artificial breakup, sediment dredging and dike installation) were examined using a stochastic modelling framework for the potential to reduce the ice‐jam flood risk along the Athabasca River at Fort McMurray. An ensemble of hundreds of backwater level profiles was used to construct ice‐jam flood hazard maps to estimate expected annual damages, using depth‐damage curves for structural and content damages, within the downtown area of Fort McMurray. The results show that, while sediment dredging may be able to reduce a certain level of expected annual damages in the town, and artificial breakup and a dike with a crest elevation of 250 m a.s.l. can be the most effective measures to reduce the amount of expected annual damages.

show abstract

Modelling the possible impacts of climate change on the thermal regime and macroinvertebrate species of a regulated prairie river

Abstract: The thermal regime is a key consideration for instream flow management as the ecological integrity of river ecosystems relies on the natural dynamics of temperature range and spatiotemporal characteristics. Climate change can alter thermal regimes

Cited by 16 publications

References 45 publications

River water temperatures are higher during lower flows after accounting for meteorological variability

River water temperatures are higher during lower flows after accounting for meteorological variability

Impacts of Varying Dam Outflow Elevations on Water Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen, and Nutrient Distributions in a Large Prairie Reservoir

Evaluation of the implications of ice‐jam flood mitigation measures

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About