Monthly Archives: July 2020

John Pomeroy discusses the suspension of Alberta water monitoring on CBC radio

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Trailbreaker with Loren McGinnis

Aired on CBCListen, July 21, 2020

“Last week, leaked emails revealed that Alberta suspended its water monitoring without notifying the NWT. That’s in violation of a bilateral water agreement signed by the Government of the Northwest Territories and the government of Alberta in 2015. Monitoring have been paused due to public-health concerns raised by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Hear the discussion between John Pomeroy and former NWT environment minister Michael Miltenberger here.

Read the related article, “Suspending water quality monitoring during pandemic a ‘serious oversight,’ says expert” from CBC News here.

Greta Thunburg speaks of her visit to the Athabasca Glacier with John Pomeroy

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Released On: 10 Jul 2020

Greta Thunberg describes the remarkable and tumultuous past year of her life on a BBC podcast. Hear her description of her visit to the Athabasca Glacier and discussions with John Pomeroy on chapter 6 (30:06).

Read the Time Magazine article: Six Months on a Planet in Crisis: Greta Thunberg’s Travel Diary from the U.S. to Davos, for a full transcription of the podcast here.

USask ranked No. 1 in Canada for water resources research and among top 100 globally in four subject areas

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Jul 14, 2020
By USask Research Profile and Impact and Mark Ferguson

USask also placed in the top 100 universities in the world in three other research areas: environmental science/engineering (51-75th place), veterinary sciences (51-75th), and agricultural sciences (76-100th), according to the 2020 Shanghai Ranking Consultancy’s ARWU, an influential ranking of 1,800 universities around the world based on research performance indicators such as publications, citation impact, and international collaboration.

“These results are a reflection of the outstanding research that takes place at the University of Saskatchewan as we strive to be the university the world needs,” said USask Vice-President Karen Chad.

“Particularly notable is the fact we are among global leaders in our signature areas of water and food security, as well as in fields such as environmental sciences and new materials research that involve synchrotron-based studies at our Canadian Light Source, Canada’s only synchrotron.”

Read the full article here.

New Article – Heat Pulse Probes

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Signal processing for in situ detection of effective heat pulse probe spacing radius as the basis of a self-calibrating heat pulse probe

Nicholas Kinar, John Pomeroy and Bing Si
Published July 16, 2020
Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems
volume 9, issue 2, pages 293–315
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-9-293-2020

Abstract
A sensor comprised of an electronic circuit and a hybrid single and dual heat pulse probe was constructed and tested along with a novel signal processing procedure to determine changes in the effective dual-probe spacing radius over the time of measurement. The circuit utilized a proportional–integral–derivative (PID) controller to control heat inputs into the soil medium in lieu of a variable resistor. The system was designed for onboard signal processing and implemented USB, RS-232, and SDI-12 interfaces for machine-to-machine (M2M) exchange of data, thereby enabling heat inputs to be adjusted to soil conditions and data availability shortly after the time of experiment. Signal processing was introduced to provide a simplified single-probe model to determine thermal conductivity instead of reliance on late-time logarithmic curve fitting. Homomorphic and derivative filters were used with a dual-probe model to detect changes in the effective probe spacing radius over the time of experiment to compensate for physical changes in radius as well as model and experimental error. Theoretical constraints were developed for an efficient inverse of the exponential integral on an embedded system. Application of the signal processing to experiments on sand and peat improved the estimates of soil water content and bulk density compared to methods of curve fitting nominally used for heat pulse probe experiments. Applications of the technology may be especially useful for soil and environmental conditions under which effective changes in probe spacing radius need to be detected and compensated for over the time of experiment.

Read the full article here.

John Pomeroy featured in Star Phoenix article discussing the Sask irrigation project

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Peiris: Every phase of $4B irrigation project must be done with careful planning

Star Phoenix, July 7, 2020

“The Saskatchewan government is going back to the future by resurrecting an irrigation scheme that was shelved a half-century ago, with plans to more than double the irrigated farm acreage over the next decade at a whopping cost of about $4 billion — the largest single project in provincial history.

Certainly, the attraction of tapping the full potential of the massive Lake Diefenbaker to ensure water and food security for Saskatchewan is undeniable, especially in an era when the need to mitigate impacts of climate change is clearly evident.”

Read the full article here.

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John Pomeroy discusses the Saskatchewan irrigation plan in CBC article

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Sask.’s $4B irrigation plan must address changing climate, Indigenous rights: professor

CBC News, July 5th, 2020

“The Saskatchewan government has announced a $4-billion plan to expand irrigation out of the Lake Diefenbaker reservoir. Work is set to begin immediately, and will be completed in three phases over the next decade.

CBC reporter Jason Warick spoke Friday with John Pomeroy, a Canada Research chair and director of the University of Saskatchewan’s Global Water Futures program.”

Click here to read the full article.