Principles of Hydrology: A Classroom in the Mountains
John Pomeroy Climate Change Webinar – Part 2, June 17
Climate Change and Canada’s Water Future – Part 2
Creative Solutions for a New World – Climate Series
June 17, 2020 11am – noon, Pacific time
The second part of the Global Water Futures webinar (see the first show here) will feature two of the titans of contemporary climate science research in the world.
Dr. Trevor Davies, the force behind the creation of the Tyndall Climate Research Centre at the University of East Anglia in Britain, the first dedicated climate research unit in the world, and the scientist who also led the careful and thoughtful response of the global climate community to the Climategate crises that derailed climate action at the failed IPCC climate conference in Copenhagen in 2009, will discuss the history of sabotage of climate science.
Dr. John Pomeroy, who currently directs the largest water and water-related climate research program in the world, will then discuss how the world can transcend the mistakes of the past to ensure the scientific findings generated by leading edge contemporary research can inform evidence-based policy decisions in the future, not just in Canada but around the world.
This session will be moderated by award-winning author Bob Sandford, senior advisor on water policy and as the 20-year Chair of Water and Climate Security at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health.
Register here.
New Hydrology Article from Logan Fang and John Pomeroy
Diagnosis of future changes in hydrology for a Canadian Rockies headwater basin
Xing Fang and John W. Pomeroy
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
Published May 28, 2020
Abstract
Climate change is anticipated to impact the hydrology of the Saskatchewan River, which originates in the Canadian Rockies mountain range. To better understand the climate change impacts in the mountain headwaters of this basin, a physically based hydrological model was developed for this basin using the Cold Regions Hydrological Modelling platform (CRHM) for Marmot Creek Research Basin (∼9.4 km2), located in the Front Ranges of the Canadian Rockies. Marmot Creek is composed of ecozones ranging from montane forests to alpine tundra and alpine exposed rock and includes both large and small clearcuts. The model included blowing and intercepted snow redistribution, sublimation, energy-balance snowmelt, slope and canopy effects on melt, Penman–Monteith evapotranspiration, infiltration to frozen and unfrozen soils, hillslope hydrology, streamflow routing, and groundwater components and was parameterised without calibration from streamflow. Near-surface outputs from the 4 km Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model were bias-corrected using the quantile delta mapping method with respect to meteorological data from five stations located from low-elevation montane forests to alpine ridgetops and running over October 2005–September 2013. The bias-corrected WRF outputs during a current period (2005–2013) and a future pseudo global warming period (PGW, 2091–2099) were used to drive model simulations to assess changes in Marmot Creek’s hydrology. Under a “business-as-usual” forcing scenario, Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) in PGW, the basin will warm up by 4.7 ∘C and receive 16 % more precipitation, which will lead to a 40 mm decline in seasonal peak snowpack, 84 mm decrease in snowmelt volume, 0.2 mm d−1 slower melt rate, and 49 d shorter snow-cover duration. The alpine snow season will be shortened by almost 1.5 months, but at some lower elevations there will be large decreases in peak snowpack (∼45 %) in addition to a shorter snow season. Declines in the peak snowpack will be much greater in clearcuts than under mature forest canopies. In alpine and treeline ecozones, blowing snow transport and sublimation will be suppressed by higher-threshold wind speeds for transport, in forest ecozones, sublimation losses from intercepted snow will decrease due to faster unloading and drip, and throughout the basin, evapotranspiration will increase due to a longer snow-free season and more rainfall. Runoff will begin earlier in all ecozones, but, as a result of variability in surface and subsurface hydrology, forested and alpine ecozones will generate the greatest runoff volumetric increases, ranging from 12 % to 25 %, whereas the treeline ecozone will have a small (2 %) decrease in runoff volume due to decreased melt volumes from smaller snowdrifts. The shift in timing in streamflow will be notable, with 236 % higher flows in spring months and 12 % lower flows in summer and 13 % higher flows in early fall. Overall, Marmot Creek’s annual streamflow discharge will increase by 18 % with PGW, without a change in its streamflow generation efficiency, despite its basin shifting from primarily snowmelt runoff towards rainfall-dominated runoff generation.
For the full article, go here.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2731-2020
John Pomeroy radio interview – Calgary Flood Risk
John Pomeroy gave an interview with CBC Homestretch on May 22nd, 2020, discussing flood risk in Calgary.
Listen to the full interview here.
Nutrient app featured in Environmental Science and Engineering Magazine
Exerpt:
USask Nutrient App kit engages community to take lead on algal blooms
The University of Saskatchewan’s Global Institute for Water Security has designed a new community-based sampling app kit to engage citizens, farmers and water quality managers in identifying and remediating algal bloom hotspots through the real-time monitoring of dissolved nutrient concentrations in wells, streams, wetlands and lakes.
Called the Nutrient App, the mobile application allows users to dip and photograph test strips for nitrates and phosphates to instantaneously measure nutrient loads with an accuracy of <30% based on inexpensive commercially available test kits.
Read the rest of the article here.
John Pomeroy Climate Change Webinar – part 1, May 27th
Canada’s Climate and Water Futures- Which Future Will We Choose?
Creative Solutions for a New World Climate Series
“Award-winning author; Chair of Water and Climate Security at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health; and senior policy advisor, Bob Sandford, will join us again on Wednesday, May 27th, for a fascinating discussion with the much celebrated Dr. John Pomeroy, Canada Research Chair in Water Resources and Climate Change; Associate Director, Global Institute for Water Security; and Director of the Global Water Futures Program.
The effects of climate change are magnified in Canada’s North and other cold regions where global warming is changing landscapes, ecosystems and the water environments faster than any other region on Earth. The goal of the Global Water Futures Program is to forecast water futures and use leading edge science to deliver risk management solutions. Through this research, Canada will become a global leader in water science in cold regions and will address the strategic needs for the Canadian economy in adapting to change and managing risks associated with uncertain water futures and extreme events.”
May 27th, 2020
11am-noon Pacific Time
Register at CreativelyUnited.org
See the video here.
Postponed- John Pomeroy to discuss the results of the Bow River project in Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) webinar June 3rd
Canada’s Climate Change Adaptation Platform is please to offer:
A Blueprint for Climate Change and Future Flooding: A Case Study of Calgary’s Bow and Elbow River Basins
Presenter: Dr. John Pomeroy
Wednesday, June 3, 2020, 2-3 PM (ET)
Abstract: While increases in precipitation and temperature have been observed across Canada in the last half-century and are predicted for the future as climate change proceeds, there is still little understanding of how climate change will affect future streamflow and flooding in Canada due to the complexity of meteorological, hydrological, and water management aspects of flooding. This project modelled the historical and future changes in the flow frequencies of the Bow and Elbow river basins above Calgary to better understand how natural . processes and reservoir management contribute to river flow and flood frequency estimates and how they can be expected to change with a changing climate through the 21st C. In this webinar geared toward technical experts, Dr. John Pomeroy will present the case study and methodology for incorporating climate change into flood frequency and water supply estimates, including a blueprint for applying these lessons in river basins across Canada.
Register here.
Please note your time zone when registering.
John Pomeroy to Discuss Water Security in the Massey Dialogues on May 26th
Tuesday, May 26, 2020 – 4:00-5:00pm Eastern Time
The Dialogues format is as follows: Principal Des Rosiers of Massey College will first interview Dr. Pomeroy regarding Water Security, which will then evolve into a broader discussion with a Junior Fellow and an invited guest from the community in an unrelated discipline. Together via live broadcast, the guests will describe what they have drawn from the talk and reflect on how it applies to their own profession and research.
Everyone is invited to follow the discussion via the Massey College YouTube channel, where participants are invited to listen and interact with our guests in real time by posting questions online via the YouTube chat function.
For more information click here.
Water Quality, Climate Change and the Columbia Icefield webinar with Carolyn Aubry-Wake May 27th
Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Mountain Time
Centre for Hydrolody PhD candidate, Carolyn Aubry-Wake, will be one of four luminaries in climate, ice, and water science presenting in a live webinar hosted by Guardians Of The Ice and Alberta Tomorrow.
Join the event here.
New Canada Water Agency to provide solutions for emerging water crisis—expert panel
The new Canada Water Agency—a mandated commitment of the federal government—will provide much-needed solutions to the emerging water crisis, according to Tom Axworthy, chair of a national water policy panel organized by Global Water Futures (GWF) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask).
“The pandemic has shown us what is possible when we work together to protect the health of Canadians,” said Axworthy, public policy chair at Toronto’s Massey College and former principal secretary to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
“Similarly, we need to work together to address water security challenges that have been underscored by climate change impacts in communities across Canada. Water-related natural disasters such as floods and fires have cost Canadians $28 billion between 2000 and 2017 alone.”
In mandate letters last December, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called on the ministers of the departments of Environment and Climate Change and Agriculture and Agri-Food to create the new agency to “work together with the provinces, territories, Indigenous communities, local authorities, scientists, and others to find the best ways to keep our water safe, clean and well-managed.”
Axworthy noted that the focus on co-operative federalism in the Canadian constitution—from the British North America Act to its current form—has paved the way for a Canada Water Agency, which he said is critically important in the face of water security challenges that transcend national boundaries.
He pointed out that the multi-faceted issue of water security is spread out across more 20 departments in the federal government alone. The Canada Water Agency, he said, could begin to address this siloed approach “to protect and manage our freshwater for generations to come.”
The May 13 online national panel discussion, involving more than 650 scientists and water management professionals, marked the start of a series of national and regional discussions though the USask-led Global Water Futures program. Recommendations from these consultations are expected to inform the development of the new agency.
Read the full article here.
Additional article from Environmental Science and Engineering Magazine is available here.