The water budget of a mountainous boreal watershed, the Quesnel River Basin, British Columbia

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The anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane has caused global surface air temperatures to rise by about 0.6°C during the past century.  This trend is expected to accelerate in the next century as greenhouse gas emissions intensify.  Some of the greatest environmental changes will be in high-latitude and high altitude regions where the surface energy budget is highly sensitive to modifications in snow and ice covers.  Global warming will therefore have significant repercussions on the water budget of northern mountainous watersheds such as the Quesnel River Basin (QRB) of British Columbia (BC). The Quesnel River drains an area of 11,500 square kilometres of variable (mountainous to flat) terrain at a mean elevation of 1400 m, and it encompasses some of the wettest and driest areas of BC's interior. Although future precipitation is likely to increase owing to the enhanced capacity of the atmosphere to hold water vapour at warmer temperatures, it is unknown how the additional input of freshwater will be partitioned after falling on the land surface. The overarching goals of my research program are: 1) to obtain and maintain a long-term climatology of water budget terms for the QRB; 2) to explore the effects of climate variability and change on the QRB water fluxes (precipitation, evaporation and river runoff) and stores (snowpack, glaciers, permafrost and soil moisture).  A good understanding of the role of climate variability and change on the QRB water budget is critical since it is a major tributary of the Fraser River, constitutes a major spawning area for Pacific salmon, and supports active logging, agricultural, and tourism industries, among other commercial activities. Freshwater remains a natural resource of primary importance in Canada. However, amplified stressors arising from climate change, increasing demand, and globalization require precise knowledge of its future availability.  My research program will answer some of the most pertinent questions that Canadian society will face in the 21st century: Will we have sufficient water for our needs and where will it come from?