Autumn 2013 SENR Seminar Series
The SENR Seminar Series welcomes Dr. Bryan Mark, Associate Professor, OSU Department of Geography Byrd Polar Research Center, who will present Below the Melting Glaciers: Hydrologic Change and Emergent Vulnerabilities in a Tropical Andean Waterscape.
Over the past 50+ years, glacier mass loss in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, has been causing downstream hydrologic transformations. This research couples multiscalar observations of changes in glacier volume, hydrology, water quality, and land usage with social and economic data about perceptions of and responses to environmental change. Based on historical runoff and glacier data, the upper Santa River watershed is found to be on the descending limb of a conceptual multi-decadal hydrograph. We argue that societal forces shape water usage over time, but perceptions of water availability and actual water use practices remain relatively divorced from the amount of either glacier runoff or Santa River water flow.
The SENR Seminar begins at 4:10 p.m in 103 Kottman Hall with a video link to 123 Williams Hall on the Wooster campus.