Global News – Alberta Flood Season

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Snowpack is above average for Bow River Basin as Alberta flood season begins

Sarah Offin, Global News Calgary
May 12, 2021

Snowpack isn’t a predictor for floods, but it is a factor and it is above average in the headwaters of the Bow River basin this year.

April measurements from Alberta Environment and Parks in the Bow River Basin vary, from as low as six per cent above average to locations nearing record highs of 87 per cent above average. Mountain snow overall in the basin is 27 per cent above average.

Read the full article and watch the video here.

Deadline for abstract submissions for the 2021 Annual meeting of the CGU extended to May 17th, 2021

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The Canadian Geophysical Union is accepting abstracts for its planned online series of summer research seminars.  Centre for Hydrology researchers, Chris Marsh, Phillip Harder, and Vincent Vionnet will be convening the following session:

Session 9 – Observation and modelling of snow processes: New advances in an era of big data, UAVs, and high-performance computing

Session Description:
Seasonal snowpacks store substantial volumes of water and their melt provides fresh water supplies to downstream users and ecosystems. Globally, they are estimated to provide essential flows for about one-sixth of the world’s population. Ongoing anthropogenic climate and land use change are dramatically impacting the snowpacks driving these critical flows. There is therefore significant incentive to provide better estimates of these snowpacks and their physical processes through improved observations, analysis, and modelling.

Innovations in modelling, analysis, and observations have expanded predictive and observation capacity in unprecedented ways. Tremendous advances in all types of remote sensing platforms have expanded observation capabilities. For example, the rapid democratisation of remote sensing technology via UAVs have allowed individual researchers the capabilities to observe particular snow processes at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions. Broad access to high performance computing resources through academic institutions and commercial vendors have enabled increased resolution, larger spatial and temporal coverage of numerical models, and improved representation of physical processes. The creation of massive datasets constitutes a challenge for the snow community and requires new developments to generate substantial scientific advances in the coming years.

In this session we invite contributions from the broader snow science community who are interested in observations, analysis, and/or models to share their experiences, insights, and new advances in utilizing these next-generation tools. Canada boasts impressive, but at times disconnected, snow science capabilities and we envision this session to be a forum to highlight and discuss areas of recent progress and collective gaps.

For more information and to submit an abstract, go to: https://meeting2021.cgu-ugc.ca/session-9/

News article – Drought in Saskatchewan

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‘Extreme’ drought in parts of Sask.: Ag Canada
Social Sharing

Amanda Marcotte
CBC News, May 10, 2021

CBC News and Dr. John Pomeroy address the drought and fire conditions in Southern Saskatchewan that have farmers and fire chiefs hoping for rain in an article here.

News Article – Canada’s Troubled Waters

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Kerry Banks
University Affairs, May 4, 2021

“In 2018, Cape Town was steadily inching toward Day Zero. Three years of punishing drought had reduced the city’s rain-fed reservoirs to just 17 percent capacity. It seemed possible that the South African metropolis might become the first major city in the world to run out of water. Luckily, disaster was narrowly averted when rain arrived in the fall of 2018 and restored the water supply.

 

But scientists warn that, as the planet continues to warm and extreme weather events become more common, scenarios similar to what transpired in Cape Town will surface in other parts of the world. Even Canada is not immune to this threat. In fact, some places in Canada have already had to cope with water shortages….”

Read the full article, featuring an interview with Dr. John Pomeroy, here.

Announcing the WCRP Climate Research Forum for the North and Central America, the Caribbean and Greenland Region

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11 May 2021, 15:00 – 17:30 Eastern Daylight Time (19:00 – 21:30 UTC) – Online

The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) local organizing committee for the North and Central America, Caribbean and Greenland region, warmly invite you to the upcoming WCRP Climate Research Forum on “Climate research priorities for the next decade.”

This Forum will begin with an overview of WCRP from the Chair and Vice Chair of the WCRP Joint Scientific Committee (the scientific steering body of WCRP), Detlef Stammer and Helen Cleugh, followed by three invited talks on:

  1. Perspectives on the role, benefits and science imperatives of the WCRP
  • Climate information needs from a user/policy maker perspective. Roberto Sánchez-Rodríguez, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Mexico.
  • Earth system observations for assessing climate-related risks. Susann Tegtmeier, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
  • Advances and challenges in global and regional climate modeling. Andreas Prein, National Center for Atmospheric Research, United States.

This will be followed by a moderated discussion session that will include short presentations on:

  1. Collaboration activities in the region
  • The Precipitation Prediction Grand Challenge, Louis W. Uccellini, NOAA, National Weather Service, United States.
  • Understanding and Predicting Water Futures in an Era of Global Change. John Pomeroy, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
  • IAI’s strategic priorities in global change research, with a focus on climate and water. Anna Stewart, Executive Director, Inter American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI).
  • The changing cryosphere in a warming climate, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and the Centre for Earth Observation Science, University of Manitoba, Canada.

This is the third in a series of online Climate Research Forums, aimed at exchanging ideas, discussing new activities and opportunities being developed by WCRP, and exploring ways that our climate science community of scientists, partner programs, funders, and end-users can engage towards building “a world that uses sound, relevant, and timely climate science to ensure a more resilient present and sustainable future for humankind.” The Forum is without charge and is open to all, but we do ask that you register your interest.

Further information and details of how to register can be found at:

https://www.wcrp-climate.org/crf-events/crf-ncacg-may2021

Upcoming Webinar – Clean & Reliable Water Matters

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Creative Solutions for a New World
Climate and Artist Series, Season 3

Clean & Reliable Water Matters
Dr. John Pomeroy, Terry Duguid, MP, Oliver Brandes and Bob Sandford

Wednesday, May 5, 11am-noon Pacific Time

Water is life. A secure and reliable supply of water is essential for all life forms.

This webinar will demonstrate that water is becoming increasingly insecure and unreliable due to climate change and increased demand by a growing population. Although a global challenge, this webinar will demonstrate the nature of this risk in Canada and how governments and communities are rising to the challenge.

For more information and to register for the live webinar and free video replays, go to: https://creativelyunited.org/climate-artists-series/

Centre hydrologists presenting at EGU21

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Researchers from the Centre for Hydrology will be presenting at the European Geophysical Union Annual Assembly, EGU 21, this week.

Quantifying streamflow predictability across North America on sub-seasonal to seasonal timescales
Louise Arnal, Martyn Clark, Vincent Vionnet, Vincent Fortin, Alain Pietroniro, and Andy Wood
Mon, 26 Apr, 15:45–15:47

Facilitating reproducible science: a workflow for setting up SUMMA simulations anywhere on the globe
Wouter Knoben, Shervan Gharari, and Martyn Clark
Tue, 27 Apr, 15:55–15:57

Exploring the Art-Science Interface
Convener: Kelly Stanford | Co-conveners: Daniel Parsons, Konstantin Novoselov, Louise Arnal
Wed, 28 Apr, 09:00–12:30 (CEST)

Large-sample hydrology: characterizing and understanding hydrologic diversity and catchment organization
Convener: Wouter Knoben | Co-conveners: Daniele Ganora, Nans Addor, Stacey Archfield, Sara Lindersson, Sandra Pool, Nicolas Vasquez
Wed, 28 Apr, 09:00–10:30 (CEST)

The Virtual Water Gallery: a collaborative science and art project
Louise Arnal, Martyn Clark, Stacey Dumanski, and John Pomeroy
Wed, 28 Apr, 11:04–11:06

Climate change impact on the hydrological functioning of the mountain lakes: a conceptual framework
Daniel Amaro Medina and Cherie Westbrook
Wed, 28 Apr, 15:39–15:41

Progress on a comprehensive earth system model evaluation framework
Wouter Knoben, Vincent Vionnet, and Martyn Clark
Thu, 29 Apr, 09:35–09:37

Comparing impact of ERA5 vs ERAInterim on hydrology using the eWaterCycle Open Hydrological Platform
Rolf Hut, Niels Drost, Jerom Aerts, Laurene Bouaziz, Willem van Verseveld, Bert Jagers, Fedor Baart, Jannis Hoch, Lieke Melsen, Andrew Bennett, Lousie Arnal, Fabrizio Fenicia, Leonard Santos, Emiliano Gelati, Marco dal Molin, Wouter Knoben, Shervan Gharari, Caitlyn Hall, and Eric Hutton and the the Netherlands eSciencecenter eWaterCycle team
Thu, 29 Apr, 11:06–11:08

Exploring the future hydrology of a Canadian Rockies glacierized catchment and its sensitivity to meteorological forcings
Caroline Aubry-Wake and John W. Pomeroy
Thu, 29 Apr, 11:10–11:12

Do Beaver Dam Analogues Really Mimic Beaver Dams?
Cherie Westbrook and David Cooper
Thu, 29 Apr, 11:10–11:15

Improving hydroclimatic services for water sectors: from forecasts to management and policy
Convener: Matteo Giuliani | Co-conveners: Louise Arnal, Tim aus der Beek, Louise Crochemore, Stefano Galelli, Charles Rougé, Andrew Schepen, Christopher White
Thu, 29 Apr, 13:30–15:00 (CEST)

Clustering in hydrology: methods, applications and challenges
Co-organized by ESSI1/NP4
Convener: Nilay Dogulu | Co-conveners: Svenja Fischer, Wouter Knoben
Thu, 29 Apr, 13:30–14:15 (CEST)

Reliability of global gridded precipitation products in assessing extremes
Chandra Rupa Rajulapati, Simon Michael Papalexiou, Martyn P Clark, Saman Razavi, Guoqiang Tang, and John Pomeroy
Thu, 29 Apr, 14:27–14:29

Quantifying the controls of Peruvian glacier response to climate
Catriona L. Fyffe, Emily Potter, Stefan Fugger, Andrew Orr, Simone Fatichi, Katy Medina, Robert Å. Hellström, Thomas E. Shaw, Maud Bernat, Alan Llacza, Gerardo Jacome, Caroline Aubry-Wake, Wolfgang Gurgiser, L. Baker Perry, Wilson Suarez, Duncan J. Quincey, Edwin Loarte, and Francesca Pellicciotti
Fri, 30 Apr, 16:00–16:02