The Calgary Herald (8th October 2013) has published an ‘op-ed’ by Centre for Hydrology Director Professor John Pomeroy.

In the article, Prof. Pomeroy discusses options for reducing the risks of exposure to, and damage from, events such as this summer’s flooding in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba (which seem set to become Canada’s most expensive natural disaster).

He argues that improved prediction, avoidance and active mitigation should be integrated into a new Canadian national strategy, with hydrological science playing a key role.

The piece is available online here.

The Globe and Mail has published an important commentary by Centre for Hydrology Fellow Bob Sandford, focusing on the recently-released Working Group 1 Report of the 5^th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. The article is available here.

While it is generally accepted in science that global change is occurring and has a substantive anthropogenic cause, and while hydrologists are occupied with better understanding the atmospheric feedbacks and hydrological and water resource impacts of a changing atmosphere on the hydrological cycle and cryosphere, this call for attention and response to the science behind these changes is timely and needed in Canada.

Centre for Hydrology Director Professor John Pomeroy, and the work of CH staff and students during and since the Alberta floods of June 2013, provided the main focus of an extended piece on CBC TV’s The National, on Friday 27th September: the segment is available in full here.

The Calgary Herald of 23rd September has published an article describing the work of the Canadian Rockies Hydrological Observatory (CRHO), which is being established and will be operated by Centre for Hydrology staff and students.

Persisting media interest in the wake of this summer’s floods in Canmore, Calgary and much of Southern Alberta has resulted in more requests for CH Director Prof. John Pomeroy’s input.

On Monday 16th September he participated in CBC Radio One’s The World at Six, talking about the floods themselves, and the additional challenges which non-stationarity – as a result of climate change – introduces to flood prediction.

He has also contributed to two articles in the High River Times;
9 September: Hydrologist warns of disastrous rain-on-snow flooding
16 September: Canadian flood mitigation projects possible solutions

Former Banff National Park Superintendent, Kevin van Tighem, has written a comprehensive article on the need for source water protection in the headwaters of the Saskatchewan River Basin and published it in the July edition of Alberta Views magazine.
The article reviews the pressures on watershed management from various land uses and from climate change in the context of recent research results from the Centre for Hydrology’s Marmot Creek Research Basin. It then recommends scientifically guided forest management in the headwaters to provide for greater water security.
Van Tighem attended a Biogeoscience Institute led short-course on Mountain Headwaters and Climate Change in July 2012 that included a component on Marmot Creek.
Marmot Creek Research Basin has celebrated 50+ years since its founding this year and also has sustained substantial change and loss of measurement stations as a result of the June floods . Van Tighem’s article was written before the floods and is particularly prescient on the need to protect mountain watersheds from fluvial erosion.

The Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet has broadcast a segment focusing on the Centre for Hydrology’s work, in the wake of this summer’s flooding in Alberta.
Comprising part of the program’s Disaster Week, the piece aired on Tuesday September 3rd.
More detail is provided by August 24th’s Calgary Herald, here: the video itself is available here.

Staff and students from the U. of S. Centre for Hydrology and Global Institute for Water Security, both based at and visiting the Coldwater Lab. in the Kananaskis Valley, experienced the extreme flooding event in the area over the week of 17-23 June: a gallery of their pictures is available from the CH website, here.
CH Director Prof. John Pomeroy – who found himself hosting a housefull of evacuees and stranded travellers at his home in Canmore – has been in great demand from the media for his views on the event;
Calgary Herald, 20 August:
Long-term solutions sought to prevent Canmore flooding
Calgary Herald, 30 July:
Experts say all flooded homes should be included in recovery plans
Calgary Herald, 20 July:
Wildrose Rains Criticism on Tories over Flooding
Calgary Herald, 17 July:
Study warned three years ago of more intense flooding due to climate change
The Gazette, Colorado Springs. 12 July:
Colorado fires and Canadian flooding–connected?
Calgary Herald, 12 July:
City of Calgary engineers seeking advice on permanent flood-control measures
CBC TV, 11 July:
The National
CBC Web, 11 July:
Devastating floods change Alberta’s landscape forever
CBC Radio 1, 11 July:
The World at Six
CTV Saskatoon, 5 July:
Accuracy of flood forecast called into question
Edmonton Journal, 4 July:
Albertans have become naturals at dealing with disasters
Calgary Herald, 2 July:
Recovering Canmore to consider ways to repair Cougar Creek
Calgary Herald, 29 June:
Rare ‘rain-on-snow’ event contributed to Canmore deluge
Editorial: Manitoba-style floodway not for Calgary
Calgary Herald, 28 June:
Alberta must do a ‘much better job of forecasting’ after failing to sound flood alarm early
CBC Radio, 27 June:
The Current: AB Floods: Are we ready for the next one?
Rocky Mountain Outlook, 27 June
Colorado fires brought Bow Valley rain
News Talk 650 Radio, 27 June:
Rockies, flood plains will need to be re-mapped
Calgary Herald, 26 June:
Province was ‘ill-prepared’ for flood, water experts say
The Tyee, 26 June:
Authorities ‘Caught Flatfooted’ on Alberta Flood Disaster: Expert
660 Radio, 25 June:
Calls for flood defences in Southern Alberta to be bolstered
CBC Manitoba, 25 June:
Alberta floodwaters head to Manitoba
CBC Radio, 25 June:
As It Happens
Global TV News, 24 June:
Alberta government failed to act on flood prevention report
Calgary Herald, 24 June:
Flooding has changed the Rockies forever, says scientist
Syndicated:
Saskatoon Star Phoenix, 24 June
Huffington Post, 24 June
CTV, 25 June
CBC Calgary, 24 June:
The EyeOpener
Maclean’s, 24 June:
Climate change and the Alberta flood
Calgary Herald, 24 June:
‘Utter destruction’ leaves campgrounds a mess ahead of long weekend
CBC Saskatchewan, 24 June:
Blue Sky speaks with scientist caught in the flood
Saskatoon Star Phoenix, 22 June:
Sask. residents stranded in Alta.
Saskatoon Star Phoenix, 22 June:
Disaster plan for nation wise
CBC, 22 June:
Why Alberta’s floods hit so hard and fast
CTV, 22 June:
Alberta underwater: The 4 factors that led to massive flooding
Calgary Herald, 21 June:
Update: Bow Valley residents living their worst nightmares
CTV News, 21 June:
Southern Alberta’s flooded communities face more rain through weekend
CBC, 21 June:
Alberta residents describe what they’re seeing
It’s also worth reading what has proven to be a remarkably prescient piece on environmental hazards in Canmore, from the Calgary Herald of 29 May:
Alberta urged to prepare for increasingly severe weather as insurance losses mount.
CH Member (and another Canmore resident) Bob Sandford, Director of the Western Watersheds Research Collaborative, and Chair of the Canadian Partnership Initiative, United Nations Water for Life Decade, has also been busy:
CBC Radio, 24 July:
Alberta Noon
CBC Radio, 29 June:
Daybreak Alberta (Hour 3)
AM980 Vancouver, 27 June:
The Bill Good Show
AM640 Talk Radio, 26 June:
The Real Estate Talk Show
CBC Radio, 25 June:
BC Almanac
CTV2 Alberta, 25 June:
Alberta PrimeTime: Predicting Floods in Alberta
CTV, 22 June:
News video

Jason Mercer, an MSc student with CH Prof. Cherie Westbrook, is participating in Expedition Arguk, which will see a small team of five scientists and media experts hike and packraft 300 miles, from the Gates of the Arctic to the Arctic Ocean. There are no trails and no roads, only a few towns scattered through a vast wilderness area eight times the size of Switzerland.
Despite the remoteness of the region, however, profound changes are underway. Petroleum exploration and drilling, and the effects of climate change itself, are having a profound impact on the landscape. The expedition’s goal is to implement the most creative and effective ways to spread awareness and understanding of this rapidly-changing corner of the world.
More information is available from the expedition’s website – expeditionarguk.com.

CH Research Technician Angus Duncan shot a series of time-lapse sequences over two days in July 2013, during the construction of a new hydrometeorological and snow observing station which forms part of the Canadian Rockies Hydrological Observatory, just off the toe of the Peyto Glacier in Banff National Park.
The station will measure air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, solid and liquid precipitation, snow depth, soil temperature, soil moisture, snow temperature at 20cm and 150cm depth, and incoming and outgoing longwave and shortwave radiation. Before the onset of winter the solar panel and rain gauge will be moved higher, so that they’re above the snow surface, and a dielectric device will be installed to measure snow density and wetness. A time-lapse camera is also directed at the glacier taking 2 photos per day.
The video is available on Vimeo.