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March 09, 2012

'Why Cold Matters' in Canmore Press

This week’s edition of Canmore’s Rocky Mountain Outlook carried a detailed report on Why Cold Matters: The State and Fate of Canada’s Ice and Snow, an evening of presentations co-hosted by the Centre for Hydrology and the Interpretive Guides' Association on Thursday, March 1.

Presenters included Prof John Pomeroy (Director of the Centre for Hydrology), Bob Sandford (CH associate and chair of the Canadian arm of the UN’s Water for Life Decade), and glaciologist Dr Shawn Marshall (University of Calgary): all three are key members of the Western Watersheds Research Collaborative.

Their talks provided illustrations of entire ecosystems which have evolved in alpine and glacial habitats, and of the immense importance of snow and ice as store-houses of water for human use. With changes to global climate likely to lead to temperature increases of as much as 4° C in the next few decades, their continued existence is looking increasingly precarious.

The article is available on the Outlook’s web-site.

Posted by mia801 at 12:37 PM |

March 07, 2012

Pomeroy / Shook SWA Flood Report in the News

CBC News has posted a report about a recent review of operations at Lake Diefenbaker preceding and during the floods of late Spring 2011, conducted by U of S hydrologists Prof John Pomeroy and Dr Kevin Shook: the article is available on the CBC Website.

The Winnipeg Free Press also published its perspective on the report.

The study, conducted on behalf of the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority, highlights the challenges of striking the right balance when trading-off the competing demands of flood protection, electricty generation and water supply. It notes that minimum water levels in the lake have been rising over the years, and that inflows from snowmelt and rainfall were - despite the best efforts of SWA staff - under-predicted, due in part to a paucity of gauges in the watersheds which drain into the lake.

The report is available as a PDF from the SWA website at the following URL.

Posted by mia801 at 01:24 PM |

December 16, 2011

CH News from the AGU 2011 Fall Meeting

Two items of CH-related news from the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California, December, 2011:

Dr Phil Marsh, an Adjunct Professor in the Centre for Hydrology, and Research Scientist and Project Chief in Environment Canada, was honoured by the American Geophysical Union as author of one of the top 5 papers in the journal Water Resources Research.

Marsh and co-author Dr Lance Lesack from Simon Fraser University received this award for their article entitled River-to-lake connectivities, water renewal, and aquatic habitat diversity in the Mackenzie River Delta.

Nicholas Kinar, who was named in July as winner of the prestigious Horton Research Grant, was formally recognized by the AGU at its Hydrology Section Luncheon at. Together with Prof. John Pomeroy, Nicholas presented a poster at the meeting entitled Acoustic Imaging and Analysis of Snowpack Physical Properties.

Posted by mia801 at 04:18 PM |

October 13, 2011

Sandford - Saskatchewan needs a water strategy

In his GIWS-sponsored presentation of October 7 2011, Northern Voices, Southern Choices: Water policy lessons for Saskatchewan drawn from leading Canadian and international examples, Bob Sandford, EPCOR Chair of the Canadian Partnership Initiative in support of the UN Water for Life Decade, made a strong case for the need for new thinking on water strategies for Saskatchewan. Major pressures are already being felt as a result of a combination of effects, including climate change, increased water use, and other environmental pressures, and these are likely only to intensify.

The StarPhoenix included a synopsis of the lecture on 8 October 2011, available here, and Bob was interviewed by CBC TV.

Posted by mia801 at 10:07 AM |

September 15, 2011

CH students' Trans-Canada epic

Centre for Hydrology alumni Nathalie Brunet and Ross Phillips have been taking part in an epic 7000km trans-national adventure, taking them from Vancouver BC to Saint John NB.

Travelling since April, largely by canoe, sometimes by bike (with boats trailered), and even portaging through high mountains on snowshoes, they hope to arrive on the right-hand side of the country sometime over the next few weeks.

The trek was awarded a $25,000 Expedition of the Year grant from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and is also receving funding from the RBC Blue Water Project.

They are hoping to use the trip to raise awareness of the importance of Canada’s freshwater resources, and to draw attention to the work done by both the Canadian Heritage River System and the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

Details of the trip are updated regularly on the team's blog / website: they were also interviewed in Ottawa by the CBC.

Posted by mia801 at 10:55 AM |

July 31, 2011

Nicholas Kinar wins AGU Horton Research Grant

Congratulations to Centre for Hydrology PhD student, Nicholas Kinar, who is one of two recipients of the American Geophysical Union Horton Research Grant in 2011.

There were 70 applicants for the grant, so it is a very prestigious award and will contribute to Nicholas’ research on acoustic imaging of snowpacks.

The AGU will recognize Nicholas at its Hydrology Section Luncheon at the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California Dec 5-9 2011.

The full press release from the AGU is available here


Posted by mia801 at 10:00 AM |

June 22, 2011

IP3 and DRI in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix

The Saskatoon Star Phoenix included an editorial in its issue of 21st June 2011 discussing the need for increased funding of hydrological research, in order to improve methods for predicting and mitigating the effects of climate change, and included mention of the IP3 and DRI networks.

This topic has been brought into particular focus by this spring's severe flooding throughout the Prairie Provinces.

The article is available from the Star Phoenix site, or in PDF form here.

Posted by mia801 at 12:07 PM |

June 10, 2011

CH's Marmot Creek Research Basin in the news

The 10 June 2011 edition of Canmore's Rocky Mountain Outlook newspaper included an overview of the extreme variability in snowpack and melt behaviour observed in Marmot Creek and other sites through the Alberta Rockies this spring: the article is available here.

The same edition also profiled the PUB2011-P3 workshop held in May (here).

Posted by mia801 at 10:46 AM |

May 19, 2011

Chris Marsh wins prize at CGU

Congratulations to CH MSc student Chris Marsh, who has been awarded the D.M.Gray Award for Best Student Paper in Hydrology at the Canadian Geophysical Union this year, for his paper and talk Implication of mountain shading and topographic scaling on energy for snowmelt.

There was a large number of applicants and the papers and presentations were very strong, so this is a particularly significant feedback to Chris. CH Director Prof John Pomeroy comments "I am sure that Don Gray would be very happy with this".

The paper is available for download here.

Posted by mia801 at 04:49 PM |

April 10, 2011

Canmore's Rocky Mountain Outlook profiles CH 'Principles of Hydrology' course

Canmore newspaper the 'Rocky Mountain Outlook' has published a profile of the Centre for Hydrology's 'Principles of Hydrology' course, GEOG_827, held at the Coldwater Centre in early March.

The article is available here.

Posted by mia801 at 04:41 PM |

March 30, 2011

Global Institute for Water Security Launches

In the course of his presentation entitled Water Security and the Perfect Storm on United Nations World Water Day, March 22nd, Canada Excellence Research Chair Professor Howard Wheater announced the establishment of a new Global Institute for Water Security, to be based at the University of Saskatchewan.

Full details are available here

Posted by mia801 at 04:42 PM |

March 28, 2011

Water Week presentations now available online

Two hydrology-related presentations from the University of Saskatchewan's Water Week are now available for online viewing:

Water Security and the Perfect Storm by Professor Howard Wheater, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Water Security


Climate Uncertainty: What it Means for Water Planning and Policy - recent results from Saskatchewan and Arizona by Professor John Pomeroy, Canada Research Chair in Water Resources and Climate Change, and Professor Patricia Gober, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy

Posted by mia801 at 07:18 PM |

March 25, 2011

Star Phoenix Profiles CH Plans for Flood Research

March 25th - The Saskatoon Star Phoenix published an article highlighting planning by Professors John Pomeroy and Howard Wheater for a major Prairie research project this spring.

With near-record snowpacks persisting later than usual this year throughout much of the West, it's envisaged that the imminent melt season may well provide a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity to observe and document a runoff - and potentially flood - event of the scale currently thought to be likely.

The article is available here.

Posted by mia801 at 02:33 PM |

March 16, 2011

Ross Phillips' MSc Thesis Accepted

MSc student Ross Phillips of the Centre for Hydrology, supervised by Prof John Pomeroy and Dr Chris Spence, has received approval for his Master's thesis on 'Connectivity and runoff dynamics in heterogeneous drainage basins'.

Ross's thesis was based largely on fieldwork in the Baker Creek research basin, in the Northwest Territories, and contributed to the findings of the IP3 network.

Details of the thesis are available here.

Posted by mia801 at 01:17 PM |

April 12, 2010

Dr. Donald Gray Scholarship in Canadian Hydrology

The CGU is pleased to announce a new sholarship for Ph.D. stduents, "Donald Gray Scholarship in Canadian Hydrology". The scholarship was made possible by generous donation by the family of the late Don Gray, a recipient of the CGU J. Tuzo Wilson Medal (please see the attachment). The scholarship is open to all Canadian students, not just to CGU members. The deadline for 2010 application is May 15.

Download full description here.

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 11:18 AM |

March 16, 2010

Hydrology course establishes Bow Valley as national centre

By Lynn Martel, Rocky Mountain Outlook, Canmore, AB
March 11, 2010

Students and professionals converged in Kananaskis Country last week to participate in an intensive course on the physical principles of hydrology – the first of its kind in four decades.

Hydrology is the scientific study of the properties, distribution and circulation of water on earth – on the surface, below ground and in the atmosphere.

Taking place at the University of Calgary’s Biogeoscience Institute Barrier Lake Station, the course was hosted by the University of Saskatchewan’s Centre for Hydrology in partnership with the Canadian Society for Hydrological Sciences.

Running March 2-11, the for-credit course drew 40 grad students from the universities of Lethbridge, Regina, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and B.C.’s Simon Fraser, as well as professionals working as environmental assessment specialists, design engineers, environmental technicians, hydrometric technicians, water resource managers, streamflow forecasters and hydrogeologists with employers including Ducks Unlimited, Alberta Environment, Environment Canada and Syncrude.

The jam-packed agenda included full-day classroom sessions covering topics such as the fundamentals and physical principles of hydrology, precipitation and snow hydrology, the hydrology of glaciers, wetlands and groundwater, interception and evapotranspiration, infiltration and soil water, river networks, river hydraulics and ice.

Continue reading "Hydrology course establishes Bow Valley as national centre" »

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 10:32 AM |

February 15, 2010

Canadian Water Security – How Science Can Help

Canada has vast reserves of water – yet only 7% of the world’s renewable supply. Water is of critical economic and strategic importance—a resource, a commodity and an essential element in health, agriculture, energy, urban, commercial and industrial development. What is happening to our water resources? What have we learned about changing water conditions across Canada over the last few years—and what questions remain? The Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences and Environment Canada invite you to find out.

Since 2000, the Foundation has invested $14.4 million in water related research. The workshop will look at what has emerged from this work and its relevance to safety, security, ecosystems, health and economic development. The Symposium will provide a forum on water security for policy and decision makers, in cooperation with researchers.

Continue reading "Canadian Water Security – How Science Can Help" »

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 12:31 PM |

February 10, 2010

Experts explore future of Columbia Basin glaciers

from Revelstoke Times Review
A distinguished panel of glacier scientists was in Golden on Feb. 1 week to present information about the state of water reserves in the Columbia Basin, and to discuss the impacts of shrinking water supply.
Kindy Gosal, Director of Water and Environment for Columbia Basin Trust, said the evening was intended to be an information session for the citizens of the area about glacial recession.
“I think it’s important information to fill in the knowledge gap that people have in this basin about what’s going to happen for the future of water supply in the face of climate change and the recession of our glaciers,” said Gosal.
“The reason we need this information is because those glaciers are our banks and reserves of water. And really, we don’t have a good idea what’s happened to those bank accounts of water and what the future impacts might be as those bank accounts become depleted, or how fast we’re depleting their funds.”
Speaking at the event, Brian Menounos, from University of Northern British Columbia, commented on the potential political ramifications of this research. Part of this involves striking a balance between the electricity and water needs of the people in the Columbia Basin, southern British Columbia, and exports to the United States.
“One of the reasons we are studying these glaciers – and this is also why BC Hydro finds this interesting – people are going to consider the renegotiation of the Columbia Basin Treaty. When it was actually first set, at the turn of the last century, people assumed the glaciers were at their extent, that climate was more or less stable. We know that is not the case now. So we have to have a better understanding of how those glaciers have changed and how surface flows have changed.”

Read more here

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 01:11 PM |

January 20, 2010

Whatcha gonna do when the well runs dry?

courtesy The Western Producer

What are we going to do when our new well runs dry? Dig a deeper one. What are we going to do when that one runs dry? Drill deeper again and ask why the wells keep running dry.
The prairie moisture cycle has been disrupted. Nobody disputes that point. But how badly is it disrupted and can it be fixed? Nobody knows, says John Pomeroy, director at the Centre for Hydrology at the University of Saskatchewan. Prairie people know they have to go progressively deeper with their wells and as they do, the water is often lower quality than their previous well. “Most shallow surface aquifers once had very good quality water, but very little storage capacity,” said Pomeroy. Small storage limits the ability to recharge and available water is used quickly.
“These shallow aquifers are connected to the surface so they experience the same rain and drought cycles we experience. They get their water from the moisture cycle, which goes up and down, wet and dry.”
As the Prairies required more water for irrigation, livestock and municipal purposes, shallow wells ran dry and were abandoned in favour of deeper wells.
“There’s much more water underground than on the surface or in the shallow aquifers. Nobody knows how much,” Pomeroy said. “But the flow rate in the deep aquifers is extremely slow and it’s mostly very poor quality. There are a few areas with high quality deep water, such as the Assiniboine Delta Aquifer, but most deep water isn’t suitable for agriculture or people. A lot of that water was laid down in pre-glacial times, so it’s old. The older it is, the more dissolved solids it has. It can’t be used for anything.”
Pomeroy said it’s easy to see how shallow wells and their high quality water were pumped dry. The water was needed. But other land management factors affect the situation.
Recharging ground water on the Prairies is different from other places, Pomeroy said. Because these shallow aquifers are small, they recharge quickly from potholes and sloughs. Conversely, they also respond quick- ly to drought or having their recharge sources cut off. “Recharge absolutely depends on sloughs and potholes. You need water standing for a period of time to force it through that thick till layer. Sloughs are mainly filled by snow- melt runoff. Snow is the primary source of water for our prairie water tables. Summer rainfall that runs into the sloughs generally evaporates before it has a chance to recharge the water table.”
Pomeroy said a cool rainy summer will recharge some of the water tables but with 70 percent of prairie sloughs and potholes now drained, every remaining acre of surface water is vital. “Every time we drain another pot- hole, we lose one more source of snowmelt water for our shallow aquifers and recharge for those shal- lower wells. There’s another problem with the remaining sloughs. We’re not putting as much snowmelt runoff into those sloughs as we did 20 years ago.”
Farmers and researchers agree that water is the limiting factor on all types of agricultural production on the Prairies. With a limited amount of water most years, the industry has geared itself to maximum use of that precious resource.

Read the full article here.

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 04:36 PM |

November 11, 2009

Grad student on the radio

"Snow Man. He's a grad student with a snowy mission. Nicholas Kinar is measuring the amount of water in snow. He hopes it will help predict droughts and floods"
On November 10th CBC radio's "The Morning Edition" had an interview with Nicholas Kinar, a grad student at the Centre for Hydrology. You can listen to the interview here.

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 04:08 PM |

Sound waves used to study snow

By Anne-Marie Hickey, The StarPhoenix, Saskatoon, SK
November 9, 2009

A University of Saskatchewan graduate student has discovered how to use sound waves to determine the water content of snow -- a finding that could help scientists better predict floods and droughts and shed light on climate change.

"Nicholas Kinar is the only person who has been able to figure out how to use sound waves to measure the amount of water in snow," said his supervisor John Pomeroy, Canada Research chair in Water Resources and Climate Change and director of the U of- Centre for Hydrology.

"This will allow people to put improved water management systems in place and offer an early warning for water irrigation supply," said Pomeroy, noting that 80 per cent of the water in Saskatchewan lakes and rivers comes from melted snow.

Continue reading "Sound waves used to study snow" »

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 03:26 PM |

October 28, 2009

Going North to Help Gauge Global Water Supply

By Lisa Johnson, For The StarPhoenix, Saskatoon, SK

In the Sheep Creek Basin in Ivvavik National Park, in Canada’s far northwest corner, Stacey Dumanski took full advantage of the amazing 24-hour sunlight this summer to do fieldwork that could help improve global water prediction.

“We are entering a global water crisis, and given rapid climate change and resource development in the North, this work is urgent,” says the fourth-year University of Saskatchewan student.

Water shortages due to climate change could seriously affect Canadians and people all over the world. Dumanski’s research in the remote creek basin will help policy makers better understand water resources in cold regions and predict the global water supply.

Continue reading "Going North to Help Gauge Global Water Supply" »

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 03:24 PM |

June 25, 2009

Recent Awards at Centre for Hydrology

Best Presentation Award: The Western Snow Conference Best Paper Award was given to John Pomeroy, Matt MacDonald, Chris DeBeer and Tom Brown for their paper "Alpine Snow Hydrology in the Canadian Rocky Mountains" at the 77th Annual WSC in Canmore, Alberta 23 April 2009.

CGU Best Student Paper: The Canadian Geophysical Union Best Student Paper Award was given to Nicholas Kinar for the paper "Acoustic Observation of Snowpack Physical Properties" at the CGU-AGU Meeting in Toronto, Ontario, 27 May 2009

CAG Award: The Canadian Association of Geographers gave the CAG Award for the most outstanding students graduating in Geography honours/majors programmes at universities or colleges across Canada to Chris Marsh who graduated this spring and will be continuing as a MSc student in the Centre for Hydrology.

Congratulations to all of you on a job well done!

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 10:42 AM |

April 02, 2009

Province Awards $1.1 M for U of S Healthy River Ecosystem Research

A University of Saskatchewan project led by Canada Research Chair Monique Dubé will receive $1.142 million from the Saskatchewan government's Go Green Fund. The project known as THREATS (The Healthy River Ecosystem Assessment Tool System) will create a database of information to track changes in and help manage Canadian watersheds, including those in Saskatchewan. Dr. Westbrook from Centre for Hydrology is part of this project.

View the complete release here. Additional information on the THREATS research group is available at: http://threats.usask.ca

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 11:07 AM |

March 27, 2009

Province Awards $1.1 M for U of S Healthy River Ecosystem Research

A University of Saskatchewan project led by Canada Research Chair Monique Dubé will receive $1.142 million from the Saskatchewan government's Go Green Fund. The project known as THREATS (The Healthy River Ecosystem Assessment Tool System) will create a database of information to track changes in and help manage Canadian watersheds, including those in Saskatchewan.

Dr. Westbrook from Centre for Hydrology is part of this project.

View the complete release here. Additional information on the THREATS research group is available at: http://threats.usask.ca

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 04:46 PM |

February 17, 2009

U of S Student wins AGU Award

Congratulations to May Guan, MSc student in the Centre for Hydrology, for winning an Outsanding Student Paper Award for her presentation "Influence of Frozen Ground on Spatial Soil Moisture Patterns in a Subarctic Canadian Shield Landscape" at the 2008 Fall Meeting of the AGU (American Geophysical Union) in San Francisco this past December.

Congratulations May on a job well done!

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 11:54 AM |

December 18, 2008

In the News: Water Monitoring Network Flows

By Mari-Louise Rowley - Rocky Mountain Outlook

Plans for an integrated hydrometeorological observation and prediction network focused on western Canada's watersheds moved closer to reality as more than 80 delegates attended an international conference at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Centre in Canmore earlier this week.

Running Dec. 8-10, the Improving Water Security Through Integrated Observation and Prediction Networks conference drew top glaciologists, hydrologists and utility and government representatives from the U.S., France and across Canada.
"We're all drinking from the same tap - the tap being the Canadian Rockies," said John Pomeroy, University of Saskatchewan-based Canadian research chair in water resources and climate change. "Our water doesn't stop in western Canada."
Water that originates in the Rockies, from North America's hydrological apex at Mount Snow Dome on the Columbia Icefields, eventually flows to three oceans, the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Arctic, while water from Bow Lake, the headwaters of the Bow River, flows through Calgary and southern Alberta to eventually feed the South Saskatchewan River.
And the issues that are affecting the flows of fresh water all over the world - pollution threats from industry, overuse due to population growth and decreased flows due to the impacts of climate change - are equally pressing in western Canada, Pomeroy said. As such, establishing a network dedicated to collecting data, conducting research, and predicting future flows is an important undertaking, but a restricted one given the work currently underway.

Read the full article here.

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 12:10 PM |

September 18, 2008

U of S Student Wins Eastern Snow Conference Award in United States

Nicholas Kinar, a PhD student with the Centre for Hydrology, won the Campbell Scientific Canada Award for Best Student Paper at the 65th Eastern Snow Conference in Fairlee, Vermont, USA. He won the award for his June 2008 presentation of his paper "Operational Techniques for Determining Snow Water Equivalent by Sound Propagation through Snow". The Eastern Snow Conference is a US-Canada organization devoted to the study of snow and ice for hydrological and climatological purposes.

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 11:16 AM |

September 17, 2008

U of S student wins Garfield Weston award

May (Xiu Juan) Guan has won the prestigious Garfield Weston Award for Northern Research (Masters) from the Canadian Northern Studies Trust Program.
Congratulation!

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 05:24 PM |

May 20, 2008

U of S Student wins D.M. Gray Award

Congratulations to Gro Lilbaek, PhD student in the Centre for Hydrology, for winning the D.M.Gray Award from the Canadian Geophysical Union - Hydrology Section at the 2008 CGU Meeting for her paper Enhanced Infiltration Reduces Ion Load in Infiltration Excess Water during Snowmelt.
The DM Gray Award is the highest student prize awarded in Canadian Hydrology and is dedicated to the standards set by the late Professor Don Gray, Chairman of the University of Saskatchewan's Division of Hydrology for over 35 years. The competition involves review of a submitted paper and oral presentation by a panel of hydrology experts.
Congratulations Gro on a job well done!

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 06:13 PM |

April 21, 2008

U of S Hydrology in the News

Saskatchewan has always been known for its extreme weather and highly variable water supplies. Lately, however, the extremes have become more severe and less predictable. In 2007, the spring snow melt set records in east central Saskatchewan, while a drought developed in the southwest. August was one of the coldest and wettest on record in parts of the province. Flooding destroyed homes and communities and ruined crops—if the intense heat in July hadn’t already burnt them. University of Saskatchewan hydrologist John Pomeroy is trying to decipher why this is happening and how we can best cope with the effect of climate change on water resources. “Saskatchewan agriculture is set up for extremes already, as every farmer has had to deal with drought or floods at various times,” says Pomeroy. “Our interest in climate change is in understanding how it causes these extreme variations in water supply and weather.” The Canada Research Chair in Water Resources and Climate Change and director of the U of S Centre for Hydrology says his team’s work will help cities, farmers and industry plan and prepare for the effect of extreme weather on water resources.



Read the full article here.

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 09:18 AM |

April 13, 2008

Five NSERC Scholarships to Hydrology Graduate Students

The Centre for Hydrology is delighted at the success of five of its students in the recent NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Scholarship (formerly Canada Graduate Scholarships) competition:

PhD Chris DeBeer, Chad Ellis, Nicholas Kinar

MSc Adam Minke, Erin Shaw

Congratulations to all on this important confirmation of your abilities and promise.

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 11:00 AM |

February 06, 2008

CGU-HS Prairies Student Conference

This year the seventh annual Canadian Geophysical Union – Hydrology Section (CGU-HS) Prairies student conference was held on January 26th at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon. Overall, the conference was attended by over 40 people from the National Hydrology Research Centre in Saskatoon, the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, the University of Lethbridge and the University of Saskatchewan. A full list of talks and their corresponding written abstracts are provided below (or at inserted link). Funding for this event was provided by the Department of Geography of the University of Saskatchewan as well as the CGU-HS.



Download abstract volume



Photograph taken by John Pomeroy. Click on it for larger version.

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 02:27 PM |

February 05, 2008

What’s Happening with our Water and Weather? Managing Climate Change and Water Resources

By Mari-Louise Rowley

Saskatchewan has always been known for its extreme weather and highly variable water supplies. Lately, however, the extremes have become more severe and less predictable. In 2007, the spring snow melt set records in east central Saskatchewan, while a drought developed in the southwest. August was one of the coldest and wettest on record in parts of the province. Flooding destroyed homes and communities and ruined crops—if the intense heat in July hadn’t already burnt them. University of Saskatchewan hydrologist John Pomeroy is trying to decipher why this is happening and how we can best cope with the effect of climate change on water resources. “Saskatchewan agriculture is set up for extremes already, as every farmer has had to deal with drought or floods at various times,” says Pomeroy. “Our interest in climate change is in understanding how it causes these extreme variations in water supply and weather.” The Canada Research Chair in Water Resources and Climate Change and director of the U of S Centre for Hydrology says his team’s work will help cities, farmers and industry plan and prepare for the effect of extreme weather on water resources.

Read the full article here.

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 04:41 PM |

January 05, 2008

Scientists try to gauge mountain water supplies

by Lynn Martel, Rocky Mountain Outlook

There's water in them thar hills, and scientists are diligently working and thinking up new ways to measure, estimate and predict just how water is stored in mountain landscape. More than 60 scientists, along with consultants and representatives of utility and power companies, non-profit organizations and provincial and federal governments, gathered at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Centre last week to share information and ideas about how to determine how much water is stored in Canada's cold weather regions. They were participants at a workshop hosted by the Canmore-based Western Watersheds Climate Research Collaborative titled IP3: Prediction of Water Resources in Mountain and Northern Canada.

Read the full article here.

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 04:44 PM |

December 18, 2007

Students receive award

Kimberely Janzen and Erin Shaw (both MSc students) are the co-recipients of this year's Fred Heal Graduate Award from the College of Engineering, for their research on water resources in the Saskatchewan River Basin! Congratulations to you both!

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 11:05 AM |

December 06, 2007

Student Wins ESRI Scholarship Award

Robert Armstrong, PhD student in the Centre for Hydrology and Department of Geography won the ESRI Canada Student Scholarship Award in November 2007 to assist in his research using GIS to calculate spatial variability of evaporation over prairie landscapes. The award includes a cash prize as well as a wide range of complimentary software. Congratulations Robert!

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 01:04 PM |

October 28, 2007

'Changing the Flow: a Blueprint for Federal Action on Freshwater' has been release by the Gordon Water Group

This important document details a vision for how the federal govenment might restore Canada's capacity to understand, measure, predict and sustainably manage our precious freshwater resources. It provides a history of Canada's recent capabilities in respect of water, emerging threats to water and the needed national capacity to meet new challenges and opportunities that water presents.


John Pomeroy

Read more here!

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 11:14 PM |

September 24, 2007

New Appointments in the Centre for Hydrology

Dr. Kevin Shook Appointed SGI Canada Research Fellow and DRI Research Scientist.

Dr. Kevin Shook, PhD, P.Eng. has been appointed the SGI Canada Research Fellow and will form the core of the SGI Canada Hydrometeorology Programme at the Centre for Hydrology. Dr. Shook will also contribute to the Drought Research Initiative (DRI) in respect to hydrological aspects of droughts and drought modelling. Dr. Shook is a graduate of the Division of Hydrology and Department of Agricultural and Bioresource Engineering at U of S and comes back to Saskatoon from a senior flood forecasting and hydrological modelling post with Alberta Environment in Edmonton. Dr. Shook's research has included snowmelt modelling, fractal analysis of hydrological phenomena, flood modelling and extreme events analysis. His new research will focus on prairie hydrometeorology including drought, rainfall, flooding, and water supply under recent, current and future climates and on prairie hydrological modelling.

Welcome back to Saskatoon Kevin!

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 09:35 AM |

June 19, 2007

SGI CANADA gift announcement

On Friday June 15th 2007 at 1:30 pm in the Agriculture Building foyer, an announcement ceremony was held in honor of SGI CANADA’s commitment to the Centre for Hydrology at the University of Saskatchewan – a donation which will enable greater understanding of prairie precipitation patterns in the face of climate change. The Honourable Lorne Calvert, Premier of Saskatchewan, Mr. Jon Shubert, President and CEO of SGI Canada, Dr. Peter MacKinnon Q.C., President, University of Saskatchewan, and Ms. Heather Magotiaux, Vice President University Advancement, University of Saskatchewan announed the SGI Canada Hydrometeorology Programme and SGI Canada Research Fellowship in Hydrometeorology at this ceremony. Further details on the SGI Canada Hydrometeorology Programme can be found under Research on the Centre for Hydrology website.

Continue reading "SGI CANADA gift announcement" »

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 04:08 PM |

June 14, 2007

U of S Hydrology Student wins Award in Newfoundland

At the Joint Congress of the Canadian Geophysical Union, Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, American Meteorological Society and Eastern Snow Conference, Gro Lilbaek of the Centre for Hydrology won the Campbell Scientific Award which was awarded by the ESC Research Committee to the paper demonstrating innovative technical expertise in data collection resulting in a superior oral or poster paper. Gro's paper was titled 'Meltwater Ion Enrichment Caused by Basal Ice Formation' and was presented as an oral paper. Congratulations Gro for excellence in research!

Continue reading "U of S Hydrology Student wins Award in Newfoundland" »

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 04:00 PM |

December 14, 2006

Student receives award

Kimberely Janzen, MSc student at Centre for Hydrology, is the recipient of this year's Fred Heal Graduate Award for the Saskatchewan River Basin, from the College of Engineering.

Congratulations Kim on your efforts!

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 10:24 AM |

October 18, 2006

IP3 is being launched

The research network IP3 is having its first meeting in Saskatoon October 19-20, 2006.

Continue reading "IP3 is being launched" »

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 09:24 PM |

June 05, 2006

Beaver Dams Create Healthy Downstream Ecosystems

AGU Release No. 06-19

Beavers, long known for their beneficial effects on the environment near their dams, are also critical to maintaining healthy ecosystems downstream. Researchers have found that ponds created by beaver dams raised downstream groundwater levels in the Colorado River valley, keeping soil water levels high and providing moisture to plants in the otherwise dry valley bottom.

Cherie Westbrook of Colorado State University and colleagues there and at the U.S. Geological Survey in Fort Collins, Colorado, conducted a three-year study in Rocky Mountain National Park, examining valley ecosystems downstream in the Colorado River. They noted that water diverted by beaver dams is forced out of the natural stream channel and spreads across and down the valley for hundreds of meters [yards]. In addition, dams built on the river changed the direction of groundwater flow in the valley. The changes caused water to infiltrate the river banks and flow underground toward the sides of the valley, instead of down the center of the valle ... more.

Read more here at Science Daily and Denver Post.

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 04:56 PM |

May 18, 2006

Students win awards at CGU

Geography students did remarkably well in winning student awards at this year's Canadian Geophysical Union annual meeting (May 14-17, 2006).

Continue reading "Students win awards at CGU" »

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 07:11 PM |

May 15, 2006

Students recieve Deans Scholarship

Congratulation to Kim Janzen (MSc student) and Chris DeBeer (PhD student) for recieving the Deans Scholarhip.

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 07:20 PM |

March 30, 2006

Students are being honoured with NSERC

Congratulation to Warren Helgason (Ph.D. student) and Nicholas Kinar (M.Sc. student) for being honoured with NSERC scholarships.

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 07:22 PM |

June 20, 2005

Student wins award at ESC

Warren Helgason (Ph.D. student) won the Campbell Scientific Award at the 62nd Annual Eastern Snow Conference, congratulation.

Posted by G. Lilbaek at 07:24 PM |