The Centre for Hydrology will play a major role in the new Changing Cold Regions Network (CCRN), for which NSERC announced funding of $5 million as part of the five year Climate Change and Atmospheric Research (CCAR) Initiative. The Network of over 50 researchers from Canada, USA, China, UK, France and Germany is headquartered at the University of Saskatchewan, and led by Professor Howard Wheater.
CCRN aims to understand, diagnose and predict interactions among the cryospheric, ecological, hydrological and climatic components of the changing Earth system at multiple scales, with a focus on the Saskatchewan and Peace-Athabasca-Mackenzie River Basins. It will improve our understanding of recent Earth system change in the cold interior of Canada, advance prediction of water, weather, and climate, improve our hydrological, ecological and climatological modeling capability, enhance our capacity for water management, and train the next generation of hydrologists.
The network will support research at several Centre for Hydrology research basins in the Canadian Rockies, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan, provide funds for enhanced student training, and enable further development of the Cold Regions Hydrological Model. The funding of the network at this time is very important, given the extreme weather and water events and rapid climate change which have become evident in western and northern Canada.
Professor John Pomeroy announced the funding of the new network at the American Geophysical Union Meeting of the Americas in Cancun, Mexico on 17 May 2013. The presentation may be viewed here.