CH Faculty Member Dr Cherie Westbrook is about to depart with a group of students on a research expedition to Tierra del Fuego, at the extreme southern tip of South America, to study the ecohydrological impacts of invasive beaver.
Departing on February 10, they will head to Ushuaia, the most southerly city in the world (intriguingly, it is at roughly the same latitude as Saskatoon – 45º South, instead of North).
The expedition will be documented at regular intervals through a blog at beaverlady.tumblr.com.
Author Archives: Jin
CH Research in Canadian Geographic – again!
The development of a device to use snow acoustics to measure snowpack physical properties by Centre for Hydrology student Nicholas Kinar was featured in the January edition of Canadian Geographic.
The System for Acoustic Sensing of Snow, SAS2, was developed by Nicholas to investigate how snowpack density, depth, wetness, temperature and structure affect sound waves and how sound waves can be used to measure these properties without disturbing the snowpack. It is uniquely capable of measuring a wide range of snow properties in both cold and melting snowpacks of varying depth and has been configured in stationary and portable versions.
Nicholas is completing his PhD in the Dept of Geography & Planning under the supervision of Dr John Pomeroy, and has won several national and international awards for his research.
CH / CRHO In The News
The Canadian Rockies Hydrological Observatory, which is being established in the Kananaskis and Upper Bow drainages by CH staff based at the Coldwater Laboratory, was the subject of a detailed article in the December 13th issue of Canmore’s Rocky Mountain Outlook.
The piece describes the purpose and aims of the project in improving river-flow predictions in the Prairies, through detailed observation of hydrometeorological conditions in the mountain headwaters of the South Saskatchewan River.
It also highlights the importance of major funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (40%), Province of Saskatchewan (40%) and U of S (20%) in covering the $835,000 cost.
The full article is available online from the RMO website.
Cold Matters – IP3 / WC2N Book Published
The IP3 and WC2N research networks are now ended, but Robert Sandford has written an engaging popular science book on the findings of the networks and related research, Cold Matters: the State and Fate of Canada’s Freshwater (publication details).
The book describes the research, researchers and results in these studies of cold regions hydrology, glaciology, meteorology and climatology in western and northern Canada.
CH Director Prof. John Pomeroy remarks “I was very impressed by how Bob related abstract scientific concepts (such as model parameterisation) into approachable descriptions that the non-scientist can enjoy. The book reviews the development of the models we use and why they were developed, the principles that govern hydrology and glaciology in Canada, the rapid changes to rivers, snow, glaciers and permafrost that have been observed and the implications of our results for the future of western and northern Canada. He encourages the reader to see the importance of research on these topics and their application in water management. The book is not only informative, but enjoyable to read and I highly recommend it not only to scientists in the field but a way to teach this information to non-physical science students and to inform the general public.”
Hydrology Seminar – Wednesday December 19th, 12:00noon
Dr Jean-Emmanuel Sicart, Researcher at the IRD, University of Grenoble, will present a seminar on
The Analysis of seasonal variations in energy fluxes and meltwater discharge of a Tropical high-altitude Glacier
On Wednesday 19th December, 2012, at 12noon in Room 146 of Kirk Hall.
The seminar will present a study of the atmospheric forcing that controls seasonal variations in the mass balance and in meltwater discharge of the tropical glacier Zongo, Bolivia (16°S, 6000-4900 m asl. 2.4 km²). The full abstract is available here.
This is a ‘brown bag lunch’ event, so please feel free to bring your lunch, and to pass this information on to others who might be interested.
Dr Cherie Westbrook’s research featured in Canadian Geographic Magazine
Associate Professor Cherie Westbrook of the Centre for Hydrology and Dept of Geography & Planning and her wetland ecohydrology research team’s results were featured in this month’s Canadian Geographic article on Rethinking the Beaver.
In the article, Dr Westbrook explains the ecohydrological approach to study of hydrology where beaver are present, and the tremendous impact beaver dams have in enhancing groundwater recharge. She also notes the impact of beaver-enhanced surface and groundwater storage in headwater streams on reducing the variability of streamflow, including maintaining low flows in drought situations. More information on Dr Westbrook’s research can be found here.
CH Marmot Creek Workshop – 21-22 February 2013
The Centre for Hydrology is organising a workshop to mark 50 years of academic activity at its Marmot Creek Research Basin, to be held from 21-22 February 2013 at the Coldwater Centre, Barrier Lake Biogeoscience Institute, near Kananaskis, Alberta.
This meeting will
– Celebrate the half-century of work at the Basin
– Review the challenges, designs and results of over this time, and
– Plan future scientific activities
Talks and posters are solicited on a range of topics: the abstract submission deadline is 15 January 2013.
More information is available here
CH Water Policy Expert on CBC
CBC News reported on a tour of the Columbia Icefields in the Canadian Rockies, led by Bob Sandford (EPCOR Chair for the Canadian Partnership Initiative of the United Nations Water for Life Decade and long-standing contributor to the Centre for Hydrology), on Wednesday 17 October 2012, as part of a conference titled Storm Warning – Water, Energy and Climate Security in a Changing World in Banff, Alberta.
His aim was to offer the group of leading water and climate scientists, engineers, risk managers, municipal planners and policy experts an opportunity to “see first-hand why we’re concerned about warming effects on the hydrological cycle”, as a result of climate change.
More detail about the field-trip and Sandford’s comments is available on the CBC website.
CH Director on Global Saskatoon
During an interview by Global Saskatoon, CH Director Prof. John Pomeroy talked about the likelihood of greater likelihood of rain and tornadoes, and of milder winters, as a result of a changing climate. He commented on the running in recent years of the Jet Stream at much higher latitudes than ever observed previously, which helps to pull moist, warm air north into the Prairies from the Gulf of Mexico. One principal problem with this is that Saskatchewan’s infrastructure has been built to cope with generally drier and colder conditions, and this poses challenges for the future.
Details of the interview are available on the Global web-site
Hydrology Seminar – Wednesday October 3rd, 11:30am
Dr Keith Musselman, Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Centre for Hydrology, will present a seminar entitled
Inter-annual snow accumulation and melt patterns in forested and alpine terrain;
a case study from the Sierra Nevada, California
On Wednesday October 3rd, 2012, at 11:30am, in AGRI 1E85
Results are presented from a study of snowpack dynamics in the southern Sierra Nevada, California. The study area covers 1800 km2 and a 3600 m elevation gradient. The accuracy of a distributed snow model is evaluated against a multi-scale suite of field measurements including a network of snow depth sensors, basin-scale manual surveys, and airborne LiDAR. In general, the model accurately simulated the seasonal maximum snow depth and SWE at lower and middle elevations. The model overestimated SWE at upper elevations where wind effects are pronounced and no precipitation measurements were available. The SWE errors were partially explained (R2 > 0.80, p<0.01) by the distance of the SWE measurement from the nearest precipitation gauge. The results suggest that precipitation uncertainty and wind redistribution are both critical limitations on snow model accuracy, particularly at upper elevations. Analyses of snowmelt patterns highlight distinct differences in melt dynamics at lower, middle, and upper elevations. Specifically, forested middle elevations experienced the most sustained snowmelt at relatively low seasonal average melt rates (~ 5 mm day-1). This unique melt timing and rate may be critical to the local forest ecosystem. Furthermore, the three years evaluated in this study indicate a marked sensitivity of this elevation range to seasonal meteorology, suggesting that it could be highly sensitive to future changes in climate.