Climate change and the water towers of western Canada

山脉通常被称为“水塔”，因为由于地形的影响，它们接收的降雨量不成比例。它们还将淡水储存在季节性积雪和冰川中，这些水库提供融化的水，成为加拿大西部许多溪流和河流的源头。随着气候变化对淡水资源的需求不断增加，迫切需要更好地了解这些水塔在加拿大西部代表性流域(如奎斯奈尔河流域)的水文学中所起的作用。 这项研究计划的长期目标是量化冰雪在加拿大西部卡里布山脉QRB水循环中的变化作用。通过这项研究计划，我们的目标是扩大我们现有的气象站网络，以监测卡里布山脉2100米以上的海拔。这将提供加拿大西部一些海拔最高的长期气象站，以及一个适合三名研究生进行气候研究的数据库。其中一个项目将研究该地区季节性积雪的演变及其在地表辐射平衡中的作用。由于积雪/反照率的正反馈，积雪的加速后退和融化可能会导致随着海拔的升高而加剧变暖。我们还将探索海拔与春季和秋季通过融点/冰点的时间趋势之间的关系。第二个项目将把我们现场的数据与其他网络的数据结合起来，绘制出横跨卡里布山脉脊梁的东西向气候概况。这将使我们更好地了解迎风和背风对气候的影响，以及这些过程在多大范围内运行。最后的研究将把这项工作放在弗雷泽河的更大范围内，通过检查这一分水岭上50多个量程的趋势和变异性来进行。这项研究还将检查春季融化水脉冲和夏季低流量的时间是否随着时间的推移而变化。因此，这项工作将为加拿大西部“水塔”在气候变化中的演变提供关键信息。

Mountains are often referred to as "water towers" as they receive a disproportionate amount of precipitation owing to topographic effects. They also store freshwater in the seasonal snowpack and in glaciers, with these reservoirs providing meltwater that becomes the source of many streams and rivers of western Canada. With growing demands for freshwater resources in a changing climate, there is an urgent need to better understand the role of these water towers in the hydrology of representative watersheds of western Canada such as the Quesnel River Basin (QRB). The long-term goal of this research program is to quantify the changing role of snow and ice in the water cycle of the QRB, located in the Cariboo Mountains of western Canada. Through this research program, we aim to expand our existing network of weather stations to monitor elevations above 2100 m in the Cariboo Mountains. This will provide some of the highest, long-term weather stations in western Canada and a database suitable for climatic studies to be undertaken by three graduate students. One project will examine the evolution of the region's seasonal snowpack and its role in the surface radiation balance. An accelerating retreat and melt of the snowpack may lead to amplified warming with elevation due to the positive snow-ice/albedo feedback. We will also explore the relationship between elevation and trends in the timing of the passage through the melting/ freezing point in both spring and fall. A second project will combine field data from our sites with those from other networks to develop an east-west profile of the climate across the spine of the Cariboo Mountains. This will provide a better understanding of windward versus leeward effects on climate and at what scales these processes operate. The final study will place this work in the larger context of the Fraser River by examining trends and variability at more than 50 gauges across this watershed. The study will also examine if the timing of the spring meltwater pulse and summer low flows is changing over time. Thus this work will give crucial information on the evolution of western Canada's "water towers" in a changing climate.