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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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

CH Prof Cherie Westbrook was interviewed for an article for Saskatoon Home Page on the current hydrological state of play in Saskatchewan: with an unprecedented amount of rainfall through the spring, on top of already wet soil, and a natural physiography not yet evolved to encourage ordered runoff, the water table is effectively ‘full up’.
The article is available here

CH MSc student Alasdair Morrison is blogging about his field work experience in the Rockies this summer. His goal is to inventory Rocky Mountain peatlands, especially those infested with beaver: he is using ground penetrating radar to search for buried beaver paleoponds, to give us insight into beaver as a soil forming agent. The blog is at: dontrunfromthebears.blogspot.ca
In his words to supervisor Dr Cherie Westbrook: “I’m trying to keep it reasonably entertaining and funny, so I may be using a bit of exaggeration and artistic licence at some points for comedy effect. I just don’t want you to get worried about when I talk about trespassing, and getting lost etc! I’m hoping it comes off as a reasonably fun and honest (bar exaggerations) account of what happens during field work!”

CH PhD student Nicholas Kinar won the D.M. Gray Award at the 2012 Canadian Geophysical Union meeting in Banff, Alberta on June 8 for his paper and talk on Acoustic Imaging and Measurement of Snow.
Nicholas won the Horton Award from the American Geophysical Union in December 2011 and so is the first to achieve the ‘grand slam’ of North American hydrology awards.
Many congratulations, Nicholas!