Aufeis area and breakup characteristics on the Sagavanirktok River under El Niño and La Niña conditions

Authors: Toniolo, Horacio. UAF; Lai, Alex. Alyeska; Stutzke, Jeff. AKDOT

Video Presentation

Abstract

Nearly a decade ago, the Dalton Highway was flooded by the Sagavanirktok waters during late winter and spring breakup. As a consequence of these flooding events, transportation along the only road connecting Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay was interrupted for almost 3 weeks. Since that year (2015) we are collecting hydro-meteorological data along a 150 km river reach, south of Prudhoe Bay. Recently, we explored the correlations between aufeis area, breakup characteristics, and temperature anomalies over a three-month period. Temperature anomalies above 0.5 C and below - 0.5 C define, in principle, El Niño and La Niña scenarios. Available data indicate that, in general, under El Niño, the aufeis area increases, breakups are dynamic, with discharge peaks happening in early Spring. Under La Niña, breakups are thermal and the discharge peaks occur further into the Spring. Consequently, we speculate that under strong El Niño, engineers dealing with infrastructure in the vicinity of the river should be prepared for hydrological events that could pose increased risks, and potentially damage the infrastructure.

Citation

Please use the following citation when citing this presentation: