Your search found 2 records
1 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]
(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.
2 Orr, A.; Ahmad, B.; Alam, U.; Appadurai, A. N.; Bharucha, Z. P.; Biemans, H.; Bolch, T.; Chaulagain, N. P.; Dhaubanjar, S.; Dimri, A. P.; Dixon, H.; Fowler, H. J.; Gioli, G.; Halvorson, S. J.; Hussain, A.; Jeelani, G.; Kamal, S.; Khalid, I. S.; Liu, S.; Lutz, A.; Mehra, M. K.; Miles, E.; Momblanch, A.; Muccione, V.; Mukherji, Aditi; Mustafa, D.; Najmuddin, O.; Nasimi, M. N.; Nusser, M.; Pandey, V. P.; Parveen, S.; Pellicciotti, F.; Pollino, C.; Potter, E.; Qazizada, M. R.; Ray, S.; Romshoo, S.; Sarkar, S. K.; Sawas, A.; Sen, S.; Shah, A.; Ali Shah, M. Azeem; Shea, J. M.; Sheikh, A. T.; Shrestha, A. B.; Tayal, S.; Tigala, S.; Virk, Z. T.; Wester, P.; Wescoat, J. L. Jr. 2022. Knowledge priorities on climate change and water in the Upper Indus Basin: a horizon scanning exercise to identify the top 100 research questions in social and natural sciences. Earth's Future, 10(4):e2021EF002619. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EF002619]
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051443)
(2.20 MB) (2.20 MB)
River systems originating from the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) are dominated by runoff from snow and glacier melt and summer monsoonal rainfall. These water resources are highly stressed as huge populations of people living in this region depend on them, including for agriculture, domestic use, and energy production. Projections suggest that the UIB region will be affected by considerable (yet poorly quantified) changes to the seasonality and composition of runoff in the future, which are likely to have considerable impacts on these supplies. Given how directly and indirectly communities and ecosystems are dependent on these resources and the growing pressure on them due to ever-increasing demands, the impacts of climate change pose considerable adaptation challenges. The strong linkages between hydroclimate, cryosphere, water resources, and human activities within the UIB suggest that a multi- and inter-disciplinary research approach integrating the social and natural/environmental sciences is critical for successful adaptation to ongoing and future hydrological and climate change. Here we use a horizon scanning technique to identify the Top 100 questions related to the most pressing knowledge gaps and research priorities in social and natural sciences on climate change and water in the UIB. These questions are on the margins of current thinking and investigation and are clustered into 14 themes, covering three overarching topics of “governance, policy, and sustainable solutions”, “socioeconomic processes and livelihoods”, and “integrated Earth System processes”. Raising awareness of these cutting-edge knowledge gaps and opportunities will hopefully encourage researchers, funding bodies, practitioners, and policy makers to address them.
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