Speaker: Professor Michael Gooseff, associate dean for research
Title:  A Hypothesis: Climate Change & Snowmaking will Lead to Saltier Rivers

Abstract
With warming winters due to climate change, it is expected that many ski areas will need to rely more and more on artificial snow. When snow is made, water is essentially recycled within a watershed – liquid water from a reservoir or stream is piped back uphill, turned into snow and sprayed across the slope.  When it melts, it re-enters the subsurface and weathering of these soils further increases solute concentrations of these waters. Thus, streams and reservoirs are likely to have higher concentrations of weathered products (i.e., salts).  Another consequence of reduced snowpack development in future winters is likely to reduce spring runoff flows.  Our research on the Colorado River shows that lower streamflow during snowmelt is correlated to higher concentrations of dissolved salts.  Thus, I hypothesize that increased snowmaking and decreased snowmelt flows will combine to increase salt concentrations in rivers like the Colorado in future winters.