Upper Arkansas River Basin

GEOG 110

Upper Arkansas River Basin Map


Biomes/ City limits

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Biomes

This map shows the biomes of Northern America along with the Upper Arkansas River Basin, and the city limits.


Köppen Climate Zone for Upper Arkansas River

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Upper Arkansas River _2

  • The Upper Arkansas River Basin is located in the western United States which includes Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas. Upper Arkansas River Köppen climate classification includes the Cold Semi-Arid climate zone (BSk) for the majority of the river basin.

Temperature

Monthly temperature (F)

Temperature Time-Series chart

  • There are different trends in this climate zone especially when we look at the temperature differences. The yearly temperature difference for five years does not have that much variation and stayed constant with the highest being 72 - 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and the lowest being 27 - 32 degrees Fahrenheit. But when we look at the months there is a temperature difference which includes the lowest in December 2015 being 27.9 degrees Fahrenheit, and the highest being 71.8 degrees Fahrenheit in August 2015. Moreover, the relationship between the temperature of the upper Arkansas river basin and the cold semi-arid climate shows how higher latitude plays a significant role in deciding between this kind of variation in the temperature (Arnfield, 2022). Especially, in this climate zone summers are wet, and the winters are dry correlating with the region as well.

Precipitation

Monthly precipitation (inches)

Precipitation Time-Series chart

  • Upper Arkansas involves different sorts of variations in the precipitation levels we talk about the monthly variation show the lowest precipitation being 0.761 inches in January 2015, and the highest precipitation being 6.587 inches in May 2015. Moreover, in the yearly difference, the lowest precipitation has ranged from 0.12 - 0.85 inches, and the highest precipitation is 3.0 - 6.8 inches. The connection between the precipitation of cold semi-arid climate and the upper Arkansas river shows how there is a sudden shifting for the ocean which involves the specific changes in the climate of the land (Christopherson et al., 2018).

Guided Tour

1

Tributary - Yampa River, Colorado

Yampa River is one of the major tributaries of the Colorado River and is connected with the upper Arkansas River basin. Water supply to most places goes from this river to Arkansas and California 8 , and Yampa River passes by the Arkansas River via the rocky mountains.

2

Rocky Mountain, Colorado

Southern Rocky Mountains come into the middle when the upper Arkansas river flows for 120 miles between Leadville and Canon city. 6  Moreover, the agriculture and outdoor recreation is acknowledged by the upper Arkansas river basin. 5 

3

Gunnison National Park

Close to the upper Arkansas river basin lies Gunnison National Park. Proclamation was done as one of the historical monuments in 1933. Geologic features are significantly important which include the steepest cliffs in North America. 3 

4

Rosemount Museum

Built in 1893 and located in Pueblo, Colorado, the house was specifically architectured for the Thatcher family which included art, paintings, custom woodwork, etc. Additionally, Rosemount Museum lies close to the Upper Arkansas River basin. 5 

5

Bent's Old Fort

Lies on the edge of the Arkansas river floodplain specifically the northern bank of the Arkansas river, and is part of the heritage of the Great Plains. In 1849 fort was destroyed due to the disaster, and the diseases that came along. 7 

6

Lamar, Colorado

Lamar became famous for the history of hijacking in May 1886, and during the development of the town, the landowner refused to negotiate for better development of the Blackwell station. Due to the arguments, the Blackwell sign was removed, and the sign of Lamar was mounted. Upper Arkansas River passes through Lamar, CO, and most of the time flooding events occur at this place due to the major flooding at 15.0 feet, and the wind goes around 10 to 20 mph. 1 


Biome

Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands

Upper Arkansas River Basin Biome Map

The upper Arkansas river basin describes the major biome as the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands. In this biome, there are usually warm summers and cold winters with some rain being involved, and due to the less rain, there are a low amount of trees being found. 10  Canopy height is being classified as an additional layer for the Upper Arkansas river basin along with this biome and involves high latitudes and deserts at the subtropical latitudes. Moreover, variation in the grass size is being involved as well some being tall and others being short. 10 

The source of the layer includes the forested wetland class as we can see medium precipitation levels due to the significant rain this river basin is in the semi-arid Koppen region, and is dominated by the tall conifer which is at the top layer (Temperate Grassland & Shrubland). 11  The canopy height is 3 meters in the Upper Arkansas river basin specifically in this biome due to the varied amount of sunlight, water, and air circulation that takes place. Moreover, this layer relates to the biome in several ways which include the vegetation that there was not a specific or perfect size for the grasses and forbs because they were grown at different heights. 11  One pattern that I noticed in this layer shows how the canopy height stays similar for the region covered by this biome. Moreover, we can see that the area seems dry in this biome which involves the hot summers, and below-freezing winters due to that the precipitation fluctuates as well.

Upper Arkansas River Basin map with Canopy Height


Global Change

Climate change impacts river flow in the Upper Arkansas river basin as we can see specifically in this chart that the May month has had a significant effect since 1991 (Taylor & Francis, n.d). Moreover, May month keeps rising up to mostly all of the days during that month as the river flow increases as well. On the other side when we take a look at the river flow for March 1991-2000 compared to the year after 2000, and April month they are decreasing as well which shows a positive effect due to the drought that occurred in the 2000s.

This figure described the streamflow levels specifically for these three months in the Upper Arkansas River as we can see there were not any significant differences between the years 1991 to 2020 for May month due to the increased level of streamflow (Taylor & Francis, n.d). This occurs due to the high levels of precipitation, and storms that lead to the river flow in certain parts of Upper Arkansas. Additionally, when we look at the data for March and April month showed reduced levels of streamflow in certain areas because of the frequent amount of droughts taking place.

Image reference: (Taylor & Francis, n.d.) Upper Arkansas River Flow


Connections with Chapter 10 Climate Change/Human Interaction

The global change in the river flow explains the sea level rising which can form a loss of mountain glaciers and ice caps in the world. Rising sea levels can cause significant damage to places specifically in the United States by bringing in tides, storm surges in several regions, and higher water levels. Specifically, in New York, New Orleans, Miami, etc. people have to leave the coastal area and find other places to live for their survival (Christopherson et al., 2018).

Climate change is necessary to survive in our daily lives due to the higher amount of greenhouse emission gases which could harm society significantly. Moreover, people can take several steps to address climate change by reducing the use of the carbon footprint, replacing incandescent bulbs with the LEDs which can help them save several money moving forward, and planting as many trees as possible because this could remove ozone from the ground, and removes CO 2  as well (Christopherson et al., 2018).

Additionally, decreased levels of river flow can cause drying and climate warming in several places in the Upper Arkansas River. Conservative strategies to save water for future usage can be determined by the people and how they use the water efficiently (Yang et al., 2023). Specifically, supplying water to the land for agricultural purposes in an effective way could allow us to maintain water resources.


References

  1. Arkansas River at Lamar Flow Report: Colorado USGS 07133000. Arkansas River At Lamar Flow Report | Colorado Usgs 07133000. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2023, from https://snoflo.org/report/flow/colorado/arkansas-river-at-lamar/
  2. Arnfield, A. J. (2022). Köppen climate classification. Encyclopedia Britannica.   https://www.britannica.com/science/Koppen-climate-classification  
  3. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Homepage. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2023, from https://www.historycolorado.org/black-canyon-gunnison-national-park#:~:text=Founded%20as%20a%20National%20Monument,steepest%20cliffs%20in%20North%20America.
  4. Christopherson, R. W. & Birkeland G. H. (2018). Geosystems: An Introduction to Physical Geography (10th ed.). Pearson.
  5. Home. Rosemount. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2023, from https://www.rosemount.org/#:~:text=About%20Rosemount%20Museum,family%20residence%20for%2075%20years.
  6. Staff. (2010, January 14). The monthly magazine for Powder Hounds - road and Riverside Geology of the upper arkansas valley. Colorado Central Magazine. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from https://www.coloradocentralmagazine.com/road-and-riverside-geology-of-the-upper-arkansas-valley/
  7. U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.). NPS geodiversity Atlas-Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site, Colorado (U.S. National Park Service). National Parks Service. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from https://www.nps.gov/articles/nps-geodiversity-atlas-bent-s-old-fort-national-historic-site-colorado.html
  8. Yampa_basin_rendezvous. Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2023, from https://cw3e.ucsd.edu/yampa_basin_rendezvous/
  9. Yongli. (2022, August 9). Arkansas river. Articles | Colorado Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/arkansas-river
  10. NASA. (n.d.). Grassland: Mission: Biomes. NASA. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/biome/biograssland.php#:~:text=They%20are%20often%20located%20between,8%20to%2010%20in)%20tall.
  11. NatureServe Explorer 2.0. (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.860245/Temperate_Grassland_Shrubland_Formation
  12. Adaptive co-management and hydroclimatic change: Examining the voluntary flow management program in the Upper Arkansas River Basin, Colorado. Taylor & Francis. (n.d.). Retrieved April 21, 2023, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09640568.2023.2174089
  13. Yang, J., Zou, C., Will, R., Wagner, K., Ouyang, Y., King, C., Winrich, A., & Tian, H. (2023). River flow decline across the entire Arkansas River Basin in the 21st century. Journal of Hydrology, 618, 129253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.129253

Image links (Guided tour):

Temperature Time-Series chart

Monthly precipitation (inches)

Precipitation Time-Series chart

Image reference: (Taylor & Francis, n.d.) Upper Arkansas River Flow