Elevational dependence of projected hydrologic changes in the San Francisco Estuary and watershed
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Abstract
California's primary hydrologic system, the San Francisco Estuary and its upstream watershed, is vulnerable to the regional hydrologic consequences of projected global climate change. Previous work has shown that a projected warming would result in a reduction of snowpack storage leading to higher winter and lower spring-summer streamflows and increased spring-summer salinities in the estuary. The present work shows that these hydrologic changes exhibit a strong dependence on elevation, with the greatest loss of snowpack volume in the 1300–2700 m elevation range. Exploiting hydrologic and estuarine modeling capabilities to trace water as it moves through the system reveals that the shift of water in mid-elevations of the Sacramento river basin from snowmelt to rainfall runoff is the dominant cause of projected changes in estuarine inflows and salinity. Additionally, although spring-summer losses of estuarine inflows are balanced by winter gains, the losses have a stronger influence on salinity since longer spring-summer residence times allow the inflow changes to accumulate in the estuary. The changes in inflows sourced in the Sacramento River basin in approximately the 1300–2200 m elevation range thereby lead to a net increase in estuarine salinity under the projected warming. Such changes would impact ecosystems throughout the watershed and threaten to contaminate much of California's freshwater supply.
Publication type | Article |
---|---|
Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
Title | Elevational dependence of projected hydrologic changes in the San Francisco Estuary and watershed |
Series title | Climatic Change |
DOI | 10.1023/B:CLIM.0000013696.14308.b9 |
Volume | 62 |
Issue | 1-3 |
Year Published | 2004 |
Language | English |
Publisher | Springer |
Contributing office(s) | San Francisco Bay-Delta, Toxic Substances Hydrology Program, Pacific Regional Director's Office |
Description | 18 p. |
First page | 319 |
Last page | 336 |
Country | United States |
Other Geospatial | San Francisco Estuary |
Online Only (Y/N) | N |
Additional Online Files (Y/N) | N |
Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |