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The Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Great Lakes Transportation
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Quinn, Frank H. |
| Copyright Year | 2003 |
| Abstract | The Great Lakes are one of North America's largest water resource systems with a basin area of about 770,000 sq km, of which about one third is lake surface. It is one of the most intensively used fresh water systems in the world, serving multiple interests including navigation, hydropower, recreation, water supply, food supply, and riparian. The outflows from Lakes Superior and Ontario are regulated by regulatory works in the St. Marys and St. Lawrence Rivers, respectively. The remainder of the system is naturally regulated. Great Lakes water levels change slowly due to the large lake surface areas and constructed outlet channels which integrate short-term climate fluctuations. There is a likely potential for significant global climate change due to increased greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. The impacts of this change, when translated to the Great Lakes basin, are significant in terms of lake levels and waterborne transportation. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence water transportation system supports more than 30,000 jobs in the U.S. and Canada with business revenue and personal income from the movement of cargo topping $3 billion per year (Stead et al., 2000). Because of the relatively small water level variability, about 1.8 m, shipping interests have become dependent upon a relatively stable lake levels regime, resulting in sensitivity to the water level changes anticipated under climate change. Studies conducted in the U.S. and Canada since the early 1980s show an increased possibility of lake level lowering due to global warming, resulting in major changes to the water resources and lake levels. The Great Lakes have had two episodes of low water over the past 40 years, in 1963-1966 and 1997-2001, which provide some guidance in impact assessment. The problem with using them as a true analogue is that they were of limited duration lasting three to four years, and did not represent a long term change. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/quinn_Potential_Impacts_CC_Great_Lakes_Trans.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
