Impact of Climate and Land Use Change on Streamflow and Sediment Yield in a Snow‐Dominated Semiarid Mountainous Watershed

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of climate and land use change on the magnitude and timing of streamflow and sediment yield in a snow‐dominated mountainous watershed in Salt Lake County, Utah using a scenario approach and the Hydrological Simulation Program — FORTRAN model for the 2040s (year 2035–2044) and 2090s (year 2085–2094). The climate scenarios were statistically and dynamically downscaled from global climate models. Land use and land cover (LULC) changes were estimated in two ways — from a regional planning scenario and from a deterministic model. Results indicate the mean daily streamflow in the Jordan River watershed will increase by an amount ranging from 11.2% to 14.5% in the 2040s and from 6.8% to 15.3% in the 2090s. The respective increases in sediment load in the 2040s and 2090s is projected to be 6.7% and 39.7% in the canyons and about 7.4% to 14.2% in the Jordan valley. The historical 50th percentile timing of streamflow and sediment load is projected to be shifted earlier by three to four weeks by mid‐century and four to eight weeks by late‐century. The projected streamflow and sediment load results establish a nonlinear relationship with each other and are highly sensitive to projected climate change. The predicted changes in streamflow and sediment yield will have implications for water supply, flood control and stormwater management.

The effects of climate change and fluctuations on the riparian bird communities of the arid Intermountain West

“…However, climate change also threatens the riparian corridors themselves (Capon et al ., 2013). In addition to altering precipitation regimes and snowpack, climate change may lead to changes in the magnitude and timing of streamflow and sediment transport dynamics (Khatri et al ., 2019), alter riverine habitat (Hinojosa‐Huerta, Zamora & Calvo‐Fonseca, 2013; Friggens & Finch, 2015) and impact the biodiversity that depends on it (Seavy et al ., 2009). In an era when bird populations are in general decline (Rosenberg et al ., 2019) and the conservation status of migratory birds is declining much faster than that of sedentary species (Şekercioğlu, 2007; Horns & Şekercioğlu, 2018), there has never been a more critical time to understand the effects of climate change on riparian avifauna.…”