Written by: Ruta Basijukaite, Nicholas LoRusso, Qasim Mehdi and JR Slosson.

Mountains are “the water towers of the world” explained the University of Calgary’s Dr. Masaki Hayashi to a full audience of EMPOWER trainees, faculty, and students at Heroy Geology Laboratory. Dr. Hayashi visited Syracuse University as part of the 2018 Darcy Lecture Series, which is supported by the Groundwater Foundation. The lecture capped off recent study by EMPOWER trainees in the realm of alpine hydrology to gain a better understanding of the role mountains play in global water supply.

Dr. Hayashi and EMPOWER trainees alike explored some of the pressures facing alpine water sources, such as a decline in glacial mass, smaller annual snowpack, and earlier spring snowmelt. EMPOWER trainees discussed how glacial meltwater helps buffer streamflow during low flow periods, particularly in the Andes Mountains and the Himalaya-Hindu Kush region. Dr. Hayashi built on this knowledge by exploring the important role of alpine groundwater in winter streamflow and its storage in rock glaciers and talus slopes through a discussion on his work in the Canadian Rockies. Trainees left with a better appreciation of how water moves through and is stored in these remote but beautiful environments.