Restoring the Grand Canyon Ecosystem: Evidence from Dynamic Systems Theory

Conference · Tue Jul 26 04:00:00 EDT 2016

OSTI ID:1630939

Hummel, Michelle ^[1]

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1. Hydro Research Foundation

Constructing and operating dams for hydropower generation can impact downstream ecosystems by altering natural flow regimes and interfering with the lifecycles of aquatic and riparian species. Increased concern from environmental interests, coupled with federal relicensing requirements that aim to minimize environmental impacts, have put pressure on dam operators to quantify the flow regime changes that have resulted from dam construction and to evaluate how future modifications to dam releases may impact river systems. In this study, we present a method for analyzing the impact of dam operations by reconstructing system trajectories from hydrologic flow time series for different periods of dam operation (pre-dam, post-dam, and post-modification). We apply these methods to flow data from Lees Ferry, Colorado, just downstream of Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River, to determine how the dimensionality of the river system has changed over time and to evaluate the effectiveness of a new operating policy put into place after the 1992 Grand Canyon Protection Act was passed. While the post-dam period governed by hydropower operations is characterized by high dimensional, stochastic behavior, the pre-dam and post-modification periods are low dimensional and less complex, demonstrating the success of the new operating policy in mirroring the natural flow regime. Our analysis also suggests that applying a strictly deterministic or stochastic modeling approach to historical flow data does not appropriately capture the varying complexity of the Colorado River system during the three distinct periods of hydrologic behavior.

• Research Organization: Hydro Research Foundation
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Technology Utilization (EE-34); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Wind and Water Technologies Office (EE-4W)
• DOE Contract Number: EE0006506
• OSTI ID: 1630939
• Report Number(s): DOE-HRF-6506-HVpresentation
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

13 HYDRO ENERGY