An Assessment of Potential Severe Droughts in the Colorado River Basin

ABSTRACT Much has been learned about Colorado River hydrology since the severe sustained drought study in 1995. We summarize our updated understanding of plausible future drought conditions by considering historical flows, tree‐ring reconstructions, and climate change. We focus on natural streamflow...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the American Water Resources Association 2022-12, Vol.58 (6), p.1053-1075
Main Authors: Salehabadi, Homa, Tarboton, David G., Udall, Bradley, Wheeler, Kevin G., Schmidt, John C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archives & records
Average flow
Climate change
Climate models
CMIP
Colorado River Basin
CRSS
dendrochronology
Drought
Ferries
Hydroelectric power
Hydrology
Lakes
Natural flow
Penstocks
Resampling
River basins
Rivers
Runoff
stochastic models
Stream discharge
Stream flow
streamflow
Tree rings
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Summary:ABSTRACT Much has been learned about Colorado River hydrology since the severe sustained drought study in 1995. We summarize our updated understanding of plausible future drought conditions by considering historical flows, tree‐ring reconstructions, and climate change. We focus on natural streamflow at Lees Ferry, the primary metric used to quantify the runoff in the Colorado River Basin. We identify drought periods using historical records and tree‐ring reconstructed streamflow at Lees Ferry, which we then use to characterize potential future droughts. Resampling from past drought periods generates plausible future conditions to consider during planning. We produced three drought scenarios, each comprising 100 streamflow sequences to be used as input to systems operation and management models. We used analysis of the duration‐severity and cumulative deficit relative to the mean natural flow to evaluate droughts and drought simulations and show that the current millennium drought that started in 2000 has an average flow far less than the historical record. However, the flows reconstructed from tree rings or future flows projected from climate models indicate that even more severe droughts are possible. When used as input to the Colorado River Simulation System the drought scenarios developed indicate considerable periods when Lake Powell falls below its hydropower penstocks, indicating a need to rethink management and operation of these reservoirs during these critical conditions.
ISSN:1093-474X
1752-1688
DOI:10.1111/1752-1688.13061