Your search found 2 records
1 Yao, Y.; Zheng, C.; Andrews, C. B.; Scanlon, B. R.; Kuang, X.; Zeng, Z.; Jeong, S.-J.; Lancia, M.; Wu, Y.; Li, G. 2021. Role of groundwater in sustaining northern Himalayan rivers. Geophysical Research Letters, 48(10):e2020GL092354. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL092354]
Groundwater flow ; Rivers ; Sustainability ; Stream flow ; Groundwater recharge ; Discharges ; Hydrology ; Precipitation ; Highlands ; Models / China / Himalayan Rivers / Yarlung Zangbo Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050400)
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2020GL092354
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050400.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050400.pdf
(4.10 MB) (4.10 MB)
The Himalayas are critical for supplying water for ~2 billion people who live downstream, and available water is highly sensitive to climate change. The role of the groundwater system in sustaining the northern Himalayan rivers remains unknown, and this compromises Asia's future water sustainability. Here, we quantify the spatiotemporal contribution of groundwater to river flows in the Yarlung Zangbo Basin (upper reaches of Brahmaputra). Our results show that the groundwater recharge represents ~23% of mean annual precipitation, translating into ~30 km3/yr of baseflow, which contributes ~55% of the total river discharge in the upstream reaches to ~27% in the downstream reaches. The percentage of groundwater contribution is inversely related to topographic steepness and total precipitation, with the steepest topography and highest precipitation in the eastern Himalayas. This study fills a knowledge gap on groundwater in the Himalayas and is a foundation for projecting water changes under climatic warming.
2 Li, D.; Lu, X.; Walling, D. E.; Zhang, T.; Steiner, J. F.; Wasson, R. J.; Harrison, S.; Nepal, Santosh; Nie, Y.; Immerzeel, W. W.; Shugar, D. H.; Koppes, M.; Lane, S.; Zeng, Z.; Sun, X.; Yegorov, A.; Bolch, T. 2022. High Mountain Asia hydropower systems threatened by climate-driven landscape instability. Nature Geoscience, 15(7):520-530. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00953-y]
Hydropower ; Climate change ; Mountains ; Landscape ; Glaciers ; Snowmelt ; Extreme weather events ; Floods ; Rain ; Sediment load ; Erosion ; Resilience ; Dams ; Reservoirs ; Lakes / Asia / High Mountain Asia / Himalaya
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051234)
(2.58 MB)
Global warming-induced melting and thawing of the cryosphere are severely altering the volume and timing of water supplied from High Mountain Asia, adversely affecting downstream food and energy systems that are relied on by billions of people. The construction of more reservoirs designed to regulate streamflow and produce hydropower is a critical part of strategies for adapting to these changes. However, these projects are vulnerable to a complex set of interacting processes that are destabilizing landscapes throughout the region. Ranging in severity and the pace of change, these processes include glacial retreat and detachments, permafrost thaw and associated landslides, rock–ice avalanches, debris flows and outburst floods from glacial lakes and landslide-dammed lakes. The result is large amounts of sediment being mobilized that can fill up reservoirs, cause dam failure and degrade power turbines. Here we recommend forward-looking design and maintenance measures and sustainable sediment management solutions that can help transition towards climate change-resilient dams and reservoirs in High Mountain Asia, in large part based on improved monitoring and prediction of compound and cascading hazards.
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