DOCSLIB.ORG

Vulnerability and Adaptation to Drought: the Canadian Prairies and South America

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Vulnerability and Adaptation to Drought: the Canadian Prairies and South America University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository University of Calgary Press University of Calgary Press Open Access Books 2016-07 Vulnerability and Adaptation to Drought: The Canadian Prairies and South America Diaz, Harry; Hurlbert, Margot; Warren, Jim University of Calgary Press Diaz, H., Hurlbert, M. & Warren, J. (2016). "Vulnerability and Adaptation to Drought: The Canadian Prairies and South America." Energy, ecology, and the environment series; no. 9. University of Calgary Press, Calgary, Alberta. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/51490 book http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTATION: The Canadian Prairies and South America Edited by Harry Diaz, Margot Hurlbert, and Jim Warren ISBN 978-1-55238-820-4 THIS BOOK IS AN OPEN ACCESS E-BOOK. It is an electronic version of a book that can be purchased in physical form through any bookseller or on-line retailer, or from our distributors. Please support this open access publication by requesting that your university purchase a print copy of this book, or by purchasing a copy yourself. If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected] Cover Art: The artwork on the cover of this book is not open access and falls under traditional copyright provisions; it cannot be reproduced in any way without written permission of the artists and their agents. The cover can be displayed as a complete cover image for the purposes of publicizing this work, but the artwork cannot be extracted from the context of the cover of this specific work without breaching the artist’s copyright. COPYRIGHT NOTICE: This open-access work is published under a Creative Commons licence. This means that you are free to copy, distribute, display or perform the work as long as you clearly attribute the work to its authors and publisher, that you do not use this work for any commercial gain in any form, and that you in no way alter, transform, or build on the work outside of its use in normal academic scholarship without our express permission. If you want to reuse or distribute the work, you must inform its new audience of the licence terms of this work. For more information, see details of the Creative Commons licence at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ UNDER THE CREATIVE UNDER THE CREATIVE COMMONS LICENCE YOU COMMONS LICENCE YOU MAY NOT: MAY: • gain financially from the work in any way; • read and store this • sell the work or seek monies in relation to the distribution document free of charge; of the work; • distribute it for personal • use the work in any commercial activity of any kind; use free of charge; • profit a third party indirectly via use or distribution of • print sections of the work the work; for personal use; • distribute in or through a commercial body (with • read or perform parts of the exception of academic usage within educational the work in a context where institutions such as schools and universities); no financial transactions • reproduce, distribute, or store the cover image outside take place. of its function as a cover of this work; • alter or build on the work outside of normal academic scholarship. Acknowledgement: We acknowledge the wording around open access used by Australian publisher, re.press, and thank them for giving us permission to adapt their wording to our policy http://www.re-press.org Vulnerability and Adaptation to Drought The Canadian Prairies and South America Edited by HARRY DIAZ, MARGOT HURLBERT, and JIM WARREN Vulnerability and Adaptation to Drought Energy, Ecology, and the Environment Series ISSN 1919-7144 (Print) ISSN 1925-2935 (Online) This series explores how we live and work with each other on the planet, how we use its resources, and the issues and events that shape our thinking on energy, ecology, and the environment. The Alberta experience in a global arena is showcased. No. 1 · Places: Linking Nature, Culture and Planning J. Gordon Nelson and Patrick L. Lawrence No. 2 · A New Era for Wolves and People: Wolf Recovery, Human Attitudes, and Policy Edited by Marco Musiani, Luigi Boitani, and Paul Paquet No. 3 · The World of Wolves: New Perspectives on Ecology, Behaviour and Management Edited by Marco Musiani, Luigi Boitani, and Paul Paquet No. 4 · Parks, Peace, and Partnership: Global Initiatives in Transboundary Conservation Edited by Michael S. Quinn, Len Broberg, and Wayne Freimund No. 5 · Wilderness and Waterpower: How Banff National Park Became a Hydroelectric Storage Reservoir Christopher Armstrong and H. V. Nelles No. 6 · L’Alberta Autophage: Identités, mythes et discours du pétrole dans l’Ouest canadien Dominique Perron No. 7 · Greening the Maple: Canadian Ecocriticism in Context Edited by Ella Soper and Nicholas Bradley No. 8 · Petropolitics: Petroleum Development, Markets and Regulations, Alberta as an Illustrative History Alan J. MacFadyen and G. Campbell Watkins No. 9 · Vulnerability and Adaptation to Drought: The Canadian Prairies and South America Edited by Harry Diaz, Margot Hurlbert, and Jim Warren Vulnerability and Adaptation to Drought The Canadian Prairies and South America Edited by HARRY DIAZ, MARGOT HURLBERT, and JIM WARREN Energy, Ecology, and the Environment Series ISSN 1919-7144 (Print) ISSN 1925-2935 (Online) © 2016 Harry Diaz, Margot Hurlbert, and Jim Warren University of Calgary Press 2500 University Drive NW Calgary, Alberta Canada T2N 1N4 press.ucalgary.ca This book is available as an ebook which is licensed under a Creative Commons licence. The publisher should be contacted for any commercial use which falls outside the terms of that license. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Vulnerability and adaptation to drought : the Canadian prairies and South America / edited by Harry Diaz, Margot Hurlbert, and Jim Warren. (Energy, ecology, and the environment series, ISSN 1919-7144 ; no. 9) Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-1-55238-819-8 (paperback).–ISBN 978-1-55238-821-1 (pdf).– ISBN 978-1-55238-820-4 (open access pdf).–ISBN 978-1-55238-822-8 (epub).– ISBN 978-1-55238-823-5 (mobi) 1. Droughts–Prairie Provinces. 2. Droughts–South America. 3. Drought management–Prairie Provinces. 4. Drought management–South America. I. Diaz, Harry P., author, editor II. Hurlbert, Margot Ann, 1964-, author, editor III. Warren, Jim W. (Jim William), author, editor IV. Series: Energy, ecology, and the environment series ; no. 9 QC929.28.C32P72 2016 363.34’929709712 C2016-901975-6 C2016-901976-4 The University of Calgary Press acknowledges the support of the Government of Alberta through the Alberta Media Fund for our publications. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities. We acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. This book was completed with the generous support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Cover image: #4650692 (colourbox.com) Copyediting by Kelley Kissner Cover design, page design, and typesetting by Melina Cusano CONTENTS Introduction 1 Authors: Harry Diaz, Margot Hurlbert, and Jim Warren PART 1: FRAMING THE BOOK 13 Chapter 1: Drought and Vulnerability: A Conceptual Approach 15 Authors: Johanna Wandel, Harry Diaz, Jim Warren, Monica Hadarits, Margot Hurlbert, and Jeremy Pittman PART 2: PAST AND FUTURE DROUGHT: 37 LESSONS FROM CLIMATE SCIENCE Chapter 2: Canadian Prairies Drought from a Paleoclimate 39 Perspective Authors: David Sauchyn and Samantha Kerr Chapter 3: Future Possible Droughts 59 Authors: Elaine Wheaton, David Sauchyn, and Barrie Bonsal v PART 3: DEALING WITH PRAIRIE DROUGHTS: 77 CRISES AND ADAPTIVE RESPONSES Chapter 4: The Impacts of the 2001–2 Drought in Rural 79 Alberta and Saskatchewan, and Canada Authors: Suren Kulshreshtha, Elaine Wheaton, and Virginia Wittrock Chapter 5: The “Min Till” Revolution and the Culture of 107 Innovation Author: Jim Warren Chapter 6: The Troubled State of Irrigation in Southwestern 133 Saskatchewan: The Effects of Climate Variability and Government Offloading on a Vulnerable Community Author: Jim Warren Chapter 7: Gendering Change: Canadian Farm Women 159 Respond to Drought Authors: Amber J. Fletcher and Erin Knuttila PART 4: GOVERNANCE SYSTEMS FOR PRAIRIE 179 DROUGHT AND WATER MANAGEMENT Chapter 8: Drought and Public Policy in the Palliser 181 Triangle: The Historical Perspective Author: Gregory P. Marchildon Chapter 9: The Governance of Droughts 199 Author: Margot Hurlbert Chapter 10: Water Governance in the Prairie Provinces 217 Author: Margot Hurlbert vi VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTATION TO DROUGHT PART 5: STRATEGIC PLANNING AND DROUGHT 249 Chapter 11: Values Analysis as a Decision Support Tool to 251 Manage Vulnerability and Adaptation to Drought Authors: Darrell R. Corkal, Bruce Morito, and Alejandro Rojas Chapter 12: Bridging Knowledge Systems for Drought 279 Preparedness: A Case Study from the Swift Current Creek Watershed (Canada) Authors: Jeremy Pittman, Darrell R. Corkal, Monica Hadarits, Tom Harrison, Margot Hurlbert, and Arlene Unvoas PART 6: LEARNING FROM OTHER EXPERIENCES 301 Chapter 13: Drought Risks and Opportunities in the Chilean 303 Grape and Wine Industry: A Case Study of the Maule Region Authors: Monica Hadarits, Paula Santibáñez, and Jeremy Pittman Chapter 14: Drought in the Oasis of Central Western Argentina 327 Authors: Elma Montaña and José
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Drought Planning and Adaptation
    Running Head: DROUGHT PLANNING AND ADAPTATION Drought Disaster Planning and Adaptation in Rural British Columbia by Evan Lloyd A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Social and Applied Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts In Disaster and Emergency Management Royal Roads University Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Supervisor: Professor Ann Dale June, 2017 Evan Lloyd, 2017 DROUGHT PLANNING AND ADAPTATION 2 COMMITTEE APPROVAL The members of Evan Lloyd’s Thesis Committee certify that they have read the thesis titled Drought Disaster Planning and Adaptation in Rural British Columbia and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the thesis requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Disaster and Emergency Management: Dr. Ross Pink [signature on file] Dr. Julie Drolet [signature on file] Final approval and acceptance of this thesis is contingent upon submission of the final copy of the thesis to Royal Roads University. The thesis supervisor confirms to have read this thesis and recommends that it be accepted as fulfilling the thesis requirements: Dr. Ann Dale [signature on file] DROUGHT PLANNING AND ADAPTATION 3 Creative Commons Statement This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ca/. Some material in this work is not being made available under the terms of this licence: • Third-Party material that is being used under fair dealing or with permission. • Any photographs where individuals are easily identifiable. DROUGHT PLANNING AND ADAPTATION 4 Abstract Drought is one of the more devastating climate-driven hazards across the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Assessment of the Influence of Nonstationary Climate on Extreme Hydrology of Southwestern Canada
    ASSESSMENT OF THE INFLUENCE OF NONSTATIONARY CLIMATE ON EXTREME HYDROLOGY OF SOUTHWESTERN CANADA A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research For the Degree of Special Case Doctor of Philosophy in Geography University of Regina By Sunil Gurrapu Regina, Saskatchewan January 2020 Copyright 2020: S. Gurrapu UNIVERSITY OF REGINA FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH SUPERVISORY AND EXAMINING COMMITTEE Sunil Gurrapu, candidate for the degree of Special Case Doctor of Philosophy in Geography, has presented a thesis titled, Assessment of the Influence of Nonstationary Climate on Extreme Hydrology in Southwestern Canada, in an oral examination held on November 7, 2019. The following committee members have found the thesis acceptable in form and content, and that the candidate demonstrated satisfactory knowledge of the subject material. External Examiner: *Dr. Stephen Jacques Dery, University of Northern British Columbia Co-Supervisor: Dr. David Sauchyn, Department of Geography & Environmental Studies Co-Supervisor: *Dr. Kyle Hodder, Department of Geography & Environmental Studies Committee Member: *Dr. Jeannine St. Jacques, Adjunct Committee Member: Dr. Peng Wu, Environmental System Engineering Committee Member: Dr. Ulrike Hardenbicker, Department of Geography & Environmental Studies Chair of Defense: Dr. Fanhua Zeng, Faculty of Graduate Studies & Research *Via ZOOM conferencing ABSTRACT The demand for water supplies across southwestern Canada has increased substantially over the past century with growing population and economic activities. At the same time, the region’s resilience to the impacts of hydrological extremes, floods and droughts is challenged by the increasing frequency of these extreme events. In addition, increased winter temperatures over the past century have led to declines in winter snowpack and caused earlier snowmelt, leading in some years to a substantial shortage of water during late summer and fall seasons.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mounties and the Origins of Peace in the Canadian Prairies∗
    The Mounties and the Origins of Peace in the Canadian Prairies∗ Pascual Restrepo October 2015 Abstract Through a study of the settlement of the Canadian Prairies, I examine if differences in violence across regions reflect the historical ability of the state to centralize authority and monopolize violence. I compare settlements that in the late 1880s were located near Mountie- created forts with those that were not. Data from the 1911 Census reveal that settlements far from the Mounties’ reach had unusually high adult male death rates. Even a century later the violence in these communities continues. In 2014, communities located at least 100 kilometers from former Mountie forts during their settlement had 45% more homicides and 55% more violent crimes per capita than communities located closer to former forts. I argue that these differences may be explained by a violent culture of honor that emerged as an adaptation to the lack of a central authority during the settlement but persisted over time. In line with this interpretation, I find that those who live in once-lawless areas are more likely to hold conservative political views. In addition, I use data for hockey players to uncover the influence of culture on individual behavior. Though players interact in a common environment, those who were born in areas historically outside the reach of the Mounties are penalized for their violent behavior more often than those who were not. Keywords: Culture, Violence, Culture of honor, Monopoly of violence, Institutions. JEL Classification: N32, N42, D72, D74, H40, J15, K14, K42, Z10 ∗I thank Daron Acemoglu, Abhijit Banerjee, Alberto Chong, Pauline Grosjean, Suresh Naidu, Ben Olken and Hans-Joachim Voth for their comments and helpful discussion.
    [Show full text]
  • Hydrological Extremes in the Canadian Prairies in the Last Decade Due to the ENSO Teleconnection—A Comparative Case Study Using WRF
    water Article Hydrological Extremes in the Canadian Prairies in the Last Decade due to the ENSO Teleconnection—A Comparative Case Study Using WRF Soumik Basu * , David J. Sauchyn and Muhammad Rehan Anis Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, Canada; [email protected] (D.J.S.); [email protected] (M.R.A.) * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 8 September 2020; Accepted: 21 October 2020; Published: 23 October 2020 Abstract: In the Prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, agricultural production depends on winter and spring precipitation. There is large interannual variability related to the teleconnection between the regional hydroclimate and El Niño and La Niña in the Tropical Pacific. A modeling experiment was conducted to simulate climatic and hydrological parameters in the Canadian Prairie region during strong El Niño and La Niña events of the last decade in 2015–2016 and 2010–2011, respectively. The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was employed to perform two sets of sensitivity experiments with a nested domain at 10 km resolution using the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis (ERA) interim data as the lateral boundary forcing. Analysis of the hourly model output provides a detailed simulation of the drier winter, with less soil moisture in the following spring, during the 2015–2016 El Niño and a wet winter during the La Niña of 2010–2011. The high-resolution WRF simulation of these recent weather events agrees well with observations from weather stations and water gauges. Therefore, we were able to take advantage of the WRF model to simulate recent weather with high spatial and temporal resolution and thus study the changes in hydrometeorological parameters across the Prairie during the two extreme hydrological events of the last decade.
    [Show full text]
  • BREAKDOWN of SUB-REGIONS Americas
    BREAKDOWN OF SUB-REGIONS Americas Atlantic Islands and Central and Canada Eastern US Latin America Southwest US Argentina Atlantic Canada Kansas City Boston Atlantic Islands British Columbia Nebraska Hartford Brazil A Canadian Prairies Oklahoma Maine Brazil B Montreal & Quebec Southwest US A New York A Central America Toronto Southwest US B New York B Chile St. Louis Philadelphia Colombia Pittsburgh Mexico Washington DC Peru Western New York Uruguay Midwest US Southeastern US Western US Chicago Florida Colorado Cleveland Greater Tennessee Desert US Indianapolis Louisville Hawaii Iowa Mid-South US Idaho Madison North Carolina Los Angeles Milwaukee Southern Classic New Mexico Minnesota Virginia Northern California Southern Ohio Orange County West Michigan Portland Salt Lake San Diego Seattle Spokane Asia Pacific Oceania Eastern Asia Southeastern Asia Southern Asia Brisbane Beijing Cambodia Bangladesh Melbourne Chengdu Indonesia India A New Zealand Hong Kong Malaysia India B Perth Japan Philippines India C Sydney Korea Singapore Nepal Mongolia Thailand Pakistan Shanghai Vietnam Sri Lanka Shenzhen A Shenzhen B Taiwan Europe, Middle East, and Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Eastern Europe Northern Europe Southern Europe Ethiopia Bulgaria Denmark & Norway Croatia Ghana Czech Republic Finland Cyprus Kenya Hungary Ireland Greece Mauritius Kazakhstan Sweden Israel Nigeria A Poland A Istanbul Nigeria B Poland B Italy Rwanda Romania Portugal South Africa Russia A Serbia Tanzania Russia B Slovenia Uganda Slovakia Spain Zimbabwe Ukraine A Ukraine B Middle East and Western Europe North Africa Austria Bahrain Benelux Doha France Egypt Germany Emirates Switzerland Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Morocco Oman Saudi Arabia .
    [Show full text]
  • Weather and Climate Extremes on the Canadian Prairies: an Assessment with a Focus on Grain Production
    Environment and Ecology Research 5(4): 255-268, 2017 http://www.hrpub.org DOI: 10.13189/eer.2017.050402 Weather and Climate Extremes on the Canadian Prairies: An Assessment with a Focus on Grain Production 1,* 2 E. Ray Garnett and Madhav L. Khandekar 1Agro-Climatic Consulting, Canada 2Former Environment Canada Scientist, Expert Reviewer IPCC 2007, Climate Change Documents, Canada Copyright©2017 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License Abstract The Canadian prairies are Canada’s granaries, 1 . Introduction producing up to 75 million tons of grain (primarily wheat, barley, and oats) and oilseeds (primarily canola) during the The Canadian prairie provinces have an area of about 2 summer months of June to August. Canada is a major grain million square kilometers, an area greater than Spain and exporting country; exports have a market value of about Portugal combined, and they make up about 20% of the total 30-40 billion US dollars. The Canadian prairie agricultural area of Canada. The prairie provinces are situated in western industry is a major socio-economic activity for western Canada; Canada extends from Victoria (British Columbia) in Canada, employing thousands in farming communities and the west to St John’s (Newfoundland) in the east. The current in other industries such as transportation on a year-round population of the three prairie provinces is now over 6 basis. A good grain harvest in a given year depends critically million, about 1/6th of the total population of Canada, about on various summer weather and climate extremes which can 36.5 million.
    [Show full text]
  • Th Em Es of Act Ivit Ies Dur Ing Rep Orti Ng Per
    Reporting format for UNESCO’s Water-related Centres on activities for the period October 2018 – March 2021 1. Basic information Water Center for Arid and Semi-Arid Zones of Full Name of the Centre Latin America and the Caribbean (CAZALAC) Name of Centre holder/Director Gabriel Mancilla Escobar Other contacts (other focal points/Deputy Director, etc.) E-mail [email protected] Telephone number +56 51 2204493 Website http://www.cazalac.org Mailing Address Benavente 980, La Serena, Chile Geographic scope 1* ☐ International x regional Specify which Region(s) (if Latin America and Caribbean applicable) Year of establishment 2006 Year of renewal 2016 x groundwater ☐ urban water management x rural water management x arid / semi-arid zones ☐ humid tropics Th ☐ cryosphere (snow, ice, glaciers) em x water related disasters (drought/floods) x Erosion/sedimentation, and landslides es x ecohydrology/ecosystems Of x water law and policy act x social/cultural/gender dimension of water/youth ivit ☐ transboundary river basins/ aquifers ies ☐ mathematical modelling Focal Areas 2♦ dur hydroinformatics ing x remote sensing/GIS x IWRM rep x Watershed processes/management orti x global and change and impact assessment ng ☐ mathematical modelling per x water education iod ☐ water quality ☐ nano-technology x waste water management/re-use ☐ water/energy/food nexus ☐ water systems and infrastructure ☐ Water Diplomacy x Climate Change 1* check on appropriate box 2♦ check all that apply ☐ other: (please specify) ___________________ x vocational training x postgraduate education ☐ continuing education x public outreach x research x institutional capacity-building Scope of Activities 3♦ ☐ advising/ consulting x software development x data-sets/data-bases development xKnowledge/sharing x Policy Advice/Support x Publication and documentation ☐ other: (please specify) __________________ UNESCO Water Family; G-WADI Program Existing networks network; UNCCD;FAO; European Union /cooperation/partnerships 4 (EUROCLIMA project; RALCEA); Technological Consortium Quitai-Anko (Chile).
    [Show full text]
  • Global and Continental Drought in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century: Severity–Area–Duration Analysis and Temporal Variability of Large-Scale Events
    1962 JOURNAL OF CLIMATE VOLUME 22 Global and Continental Drought in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century: Severity–Area–Duration Analysis and Temporal Variability of Large-Scale Events J. SHEFFIELD Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey K. M. ANDREADIS Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington E. F. WOOD Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey D. P. LETTENMAIER Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (Manuscript received 10 July 2008, in final form 15 October 2008) ABSTRACT Using observation-driven simulations of global terrestrial hydrology and a cluster algorithm that searches for spatially connected regions of soil moisture, the authors identified 296 large-scale drought events (greater than 500 000 km2 and longer than 3 months) globally for 1950–2000. The drought events were subjected to a severity–area–duration (SAD) analysis to identify and characterize the most severe events for each continent and globally at various durations and spatial extents. An analysis of the variation of large-scale drought with SSTs revealed connections at interannual and possibly decadal time scales. Three metrics of large-scale drought (global average soil moisture, contiguous area in drought, and number of drought events shorter than 2 years) are shown to covary with ENSO SST anomalies. At longer time scales, the number of 12-month and longer duration droughts follows the smoothed variation in northern Pacific and Atlantic SSTs. Globally, the mid-1950s showed the highest drought activity and the mid-1970s to mid-1980s the lowest activity.
    [Show full text]
  • Meltwater Run-Off from Haig Glacier, Canadian Rocky Mountains, 2002–2013
    Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 5181–5200, 2014 www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/18/5181/2014/ doi:10.5194/hess-18-5181-2014 © Author(s) 2014. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Meltwater run-off from Haig Glacier, Canadian Rocky Mountains, 2002–2013 S. J. Marshall Department of Geography, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr NW, Calgary AB, T2N 1N4, Canada Correspondence to: S. J. Marshall ([email protected]) Received: 14 June 2014 – Published in Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss.: 21 July 2014 Revised: 18 October 2014 – Accepted: 1 November 2014 – Published: 12 December 2014 Abstract. Observations of high-elevation meteorological 1 Introduction conditions, glacier mass balance, and glacier run-off are sparse in western Canada and the Canadian Rocky Moun- Meltwater run-off from glacierized catchments is an inter- tains, leading to uncertainty about the importance of glaciers esting and poorly understood water resource. Glaciers pro- to regional water resources. This needs to be quantified so vide a source of interannual stability in streamflow, supple- that the impacts of ongoing glacier recession can be eval- menting snow melt, and rainfall (e.g. Fountain and Tangborn, uated with respect to alpine ecology, hydroelectric opera- 1985). This is particularly significant in warm, dry years (i.e. tions, and water resource management. In this manuscript drought conditions) when ice melt from glaciers provides the the seasonal evolution of glacier run-off is assessed for an main source of surface run-off once seasonal snow is de- alpine watershed on the continental divide in the Canadian pleted (e.g. Hopkinson and Young, 1998).
    [Show full text]
  • Seasonality of the Water Balance of the Sooke Reservoir, BC, Canada
    Seasonality of the Water Balance of the Sooke Reservoir, BC, Canada by Arelia Taymen Werner B.Sc., University of British Columbia, 2000 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in the Department of Geography Arelia Taymen Werner, 2007 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee _____________________________________________________________________ Dr. Terry D. Prowse, Co-Supervisor (Department of Geography) _____________________________________________________________________ Dr. John J. Gibson, Co-Supervisor (Department of Geography) _____________________________________________________________________ Dr. Dan L. Peters, Departmental Member (Department of Geography) _____________________________________________________________________ Dr. Barrie R. Bonsal, Departmental Member (Department of Geography) Examining Committee All members of the Supervisory Committee and _____________________________________________________________________ Dr. Garth van der Kamp, External Examiner (University of Saskatchewan) iii Supervisory Committee Dr. Terry D. Prowse, Co-Supervisor (Department of Geography) Dr. John J. Gibson, Co-Supervisor (Department of Geography) Dr. Dan L. Peters, Departmental Member (Department of Geography) Dr. Barrie R. Bonsal, Departmental Member (Department of Geography) Abstract Climate change and population growth is putting
    [Show full text]
  • Effects of Lightning and Other Meteorological Factors on Fire
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 10, C2473–C2476, 2010 Atmospheric www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/10/C2473/2010/ Chemistry ACPD © Author(s) 2010. This work is distributed under and Physics 10, C2473–C2476, 2010 the Creative Commons Attribute 3.0 License. Discussions Interactive Comment Interactive comment on “Effects of lightning and other meteorological factors on fire activity in the North American boreal forest: implications for fire weather forecasting” by D. Peterson et al. Anonymous Referee #1 Received and published: 7 May 2010 Review of Effects of lightning and other meteorological factors on fire activity in the North Ameri- Full Screen / Esc can boreal forest: implications for fire weather forecasting. D. Peteron, J. Wang, C. Ichoku, and L. Remer Printer-friendly Version Recommendation: Accept with minor revisions Interactive Discussion General Comments Discussion Paper The authors have presented a manuscript investigating the role of lightning and me- teorological factors on fire in Western Canada and Alaska. The authors use lightning C2473 data from the Canadian Lightning Detection Network (CLDN) and Alaska Lightning Detection Network (ALDN); weather data from th North American Regional Reanaly- ACPD sis (NARR); and fire data from satellite -detected (MODIS) hotspots. The data period 10, C2473–C2476, 2010 ranges from 2000 to 2006 (seven years), focusing on the principal burning months: June, July and August. I found the paper to be well-written with no apparent grammatical errors. The methodol- Interactive ogy seemed logical and the figures and tables well presented. The authors could have Comment referenced various lighting-caused fire models in Canada (Anderson 2002, Kourtz and Todd 1991, Wotton and Martell 2005) I was concerned over the extent of the study regions A and B.
    [Show full text]
  • Drought Preparedness
    -- CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY -- Statement by the Delegation of Canada to the Sixteenth Session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development Wednesday, May 7 2008, 10:00 am – Drought Preparedness Mr/Madame Chairperson, Canada experienced serious land degradation and severe drought in the 1930s. In response, Canada developed soil and water conservation initiatives and converted fragile lands into grassland to inhibit land degradation. Despite these efforts drought can still cause loss of income and pose adaptation challenges. This was seen in the 2001 - 2002 drought, which affected regions not normally affected by drought such as parts of Eastern Canada and northern areas of Canada’s prairies. This drought cost an estimated $6 billion, in total, to the agriculture, forestry, petroleum and mining, hydro power, and water supply sectors. Climate change experts are anticipating greater variability and shifts in timing of available water supplies in the future, with a predicted increase in the frequency and duration of droughts. Because droughts are expensive, efforts are being applied to deal with drought proactively as a part of a comprehensive Canadian approach. Canada has established a range of drought identification activities. These activities require partnerships across jurisdictions and sectors. One example of drought monitoring and reporting is ‘Drought Watch’. This is a national program that provides timely information about climatic impacts on water supply and agriculture. Drought Watch products combine physical information, such as precipitation and soil moisture, with historic climate information to assess the status of drought in Canada’s agricultural regions. During each growing season, the Climate Production Risk Committee uses Drought Watch maps and regional information supplied by representatives from provinces and other government departments to assess drought impacts on soil conservation, crop and livestock management, and range, pest and water supply management.
    [Show full text]