The Impacts of Glacier Change on the Jago, Okpilak, and Hulahula Rivers in the Arctic

The Jago, Okpilak, and Hulahula rivers in the Arctic are heavily glaciated waterways that are important for fish and wildlife as well as human activities including the provision of food, recreation, and, potentially, resource extraction on the coastal plain. If current glacial melting trends continue, most of the ice in these rivers will disappear in the next 50-100 years. Because of their importance to human and natural communities, it is critical to understand how these rivers and their surrounding environments will be affected by climate change and glacier loss. The overarching goal of this project was to research (1) the amount of river water, sediment, nutrients, and organic matter in the Jago, Okpilak, and Hulahula rivers that come from glacier melt, (2) the effects that glacier melt has on terrestrial, aquatic, and coastal ecosystems, and (3) the changes in river processes that occur as glaciers disappear.  This project was designed to bring a better understanding about how glacier-dominated Arctic rivers differ from un-glaciated rivers and, in turn, sought to improve the ability of resource managers to plan for potential changes in downstream ecosystem responses that may be different from region to region along the Arctic Ocean coast.