Critical to any effective hydroelectric development is a firm understanding of the basin-wide controls on river runoff and how seasonal and long-term reservoir recharge may change over the course of the structure’s life-span (~100 years). Permafrost and glaciers play a major role in controlling watershed hydrology and the melting of ice may alter the future quantity and seasonality of stream flow.
This presentation will provide a brief overview of the first year’s effort in the Susitna study, which combines hydrology and glacier field measurements with computational modeling, projected impacts of glacier wastage on European hydropower stations and recent updates to WaSiM (Water balance Simulation Model). In order to effectively represent the hydrology of a glaciated discontinuous permafrost landscape, new additions include a subsurface heat transport module and a dynamic glacier retreat module.
