Reconstructing climate and hydrological variability in the Canadian cordillera

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The most critical impacts of ongoing and future climate changes in the Canadian Cordillera and adjacent prairies will be related to the availability of water for irrigation, hydro power, human consumption, etc. in times of increased demand. This project examines the spatial and temporal variability of components of the hydrological cycle in selected regions of the Canadian Cordillera by developing tree-ring reconstructions of past hydroclimate and snowpack variability, examination of changes in the instrumental streamflow record and documentation of recent changes in glacier cover. Recent studies from the US have shown marked reductions in winter snowpack, earlier streamflow timing and changes in the seasonal distribution of flows during the last 50 years that could critically affect summer flows. Ongoing studies show these strong coherent regional patterns of variation in winter snowpack, glacier mass balance and summer streamflow are driven by variations in the PDO, ENSO and global temperatures. A critical element of the project will be to identify those tree species with tree-ring series sensitive to winter precipitation or snowpack in order to develop hydrologically realistic reconstructions of summer streamflows. It will also develop estimates of recent (in some cases annual) recession of selected glaciers for the past few decades. These studies will contribute to a new international, interdisciplinary Collaborative Research Network funded by IAI that examines hydroclimatic variability in the cordillera of North America, Mexico, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.