Presenter: Gabriel Béla Olland

Faculty Sponsor: David F. Boutt

School: UMass Amherst

Research Area: Geology and Earth Sciences

Session: Poster Session 6, 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM, Auditorium, A71

ABSTRACT

As a high-latitude state, Alaska’s streamflow and watershed dynamics are strongly influenced by snowpack accumulation and melt. Understanding these regimes and the factors impacting them, as well as their associated impact on streamflow**,** is crucial to water resource management and hazard mitigation. Streamflow generation mechanisms in this region remain poorly understood and constrained. While both streamflow data and snowpack data are publicly available and widely used, they are frequently analyzed independently of one another rather than as two related variables. We retrieve SNOTEL data from the Natural Resources Conservation Service and streamflow data from USGS stream gauges for the analysis. Using these data, we aim to describe the primary mechanisms that drive snowpack accumulation and melt in the region and to understand how snow dynamics have been evolving in response to climate change. Datasets are compiled to show and compare statistics such as peak SWE, peak SWE DOY, melt onset, melt duration, and total melt-season discharge at daily and interannual scales. Across the region, snow timing statistics appear to be trending downward. Although there are few SNOTEL sites within USGS streamflow gauge watersheds, snowpack appears to contribute similarly to streamflow across watersheds. High-snow years increase streamflow by approximately 0.5–0.6 standard deviations relative to low-snow years, which has important implications for water availability, energy generation, and fish habitat and migration. Better understanding the hydrologic response of the region to climate change will contribute to more precise modeling and better informed research and management.