Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.
Non-UMass Amherst users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
Dissertations that have an embargo placed on them will not be available to anyone until the embargo expires.
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9756-0156
Access Type
Open Access Thesis
Document Type
thesis
Degree Program
Geosciences
Degree Type
Master of Science (M.S.)
Year Degree Awarded
2021
Month Degree Awarded
September
Abstract
High latitude mountain environments are experiencing disproportionately adverse effects in a currently changing climate. The Gulf of Alaska (GoA) region is an exemplar of this. Dramatic shifts are occurring in the region’s freshwater reservoirs as glaciers retreat more with each passing year. Research in the region places much focus on observing and predicting climate driven shifts in glacier mass balance, surface discharge, and associated nutrient fluxes to the ocean. On the other hand, coastal groundwater discharge (CGD) is given very little attention. Global and near-global estimates of CGD indicate variable results spanning an order of magnitude. Focusing on regionally specific processes may provide more reliable estimates of CGD and allow isolation of CGD hotspots. This is of particular importance in the GoA region where complex topography, geology, and climate are coupled with recharge derived from rain, snow, and ice. I estimate CGD to the GoA with a water balance that integrates high temporal and spatial resolution recharge inputs and distinguishes between high conductivity surficial deposit and bedrock catchments. I find that CGD contributes nearly 3% of the total freshwater flux to the GoA, equivalent to a mean annual flux of 20.8 km3, and that CGD has been increasing by 0.5%/year over the past 4 decades. Although freshwater discharge to the GOA is well-constrained, the importance of fresh CGD to the GoA has, thus far, been overlooked.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/24578043.0
First Advisor
David F. Boutt
Second Advisor
Matthew Winnick
Third Advisor
Lee Ann Munk
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Russo, Aeon, "Coastal Groundwater Catchments of the Gulf of Alaska" (2021). Masters Theses. 1105.
https://doi.org/10.7275/24578043.0
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/1105
Included in
Fresh Water Studies Commons, Geology Commons, Hydrology Commons, Water Resource Management Commons