TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schwanghart, Wolfgang
A1  - Ryan, Marie
A1  - Korup, Oliver
T1  - Topographic and seismic constraints on the vulnerability of himalayan hydropower
T2  - Geophysical research letters
N2  - Plain Language Summary The 2015 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal caused severe losses in the hydropower sector. The country temporarily lost similar to 20% of its hydropower capacity, and >30 hydropower projects were damaged. The projects hit hardest were those that were affected by earthquake-triggered landslides. We show that these projects are located along very steep rivers with towering sidewalls that are prone to become unstable during strong seismic ground shaking. A statistical classification based on a topographic metric that expresses river steepness and earthquake ground acceleration is able to approximately predict hydropower damage during future earthquakes, based on successful testing of past cases. Thus, our model enables us to estimate earthquake damages to hydropower projects in other parts of the Himalayas. We find that >10% of the Himalayan drainage network may be unsuitable for hydropower infrastructure given high probabilities of high earthquake damages.
KW  - natural hazards
KW  - hydropower
KW  - landslides
KW  - Himalaya
Y1  - 2018
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/51957
SN  - 0094-8276
SN  - 1944-8007
VL  - 45
IS  - 17
SP  - 8985
EP  - 8992
PB  - American Geophysical Union
CY  - Washington
ER  -