Changing Cold Regions Hydrology

全球变暖对寒冷地区水文过程的影响以及由此对生态系统和水资源(包括洪水和干旱)的影响的广泛关注，指导了这一变化的寒冷地区水文学建议。寒冷地区的水源集水区是加拿大淡水的主要来源，其径流大部分来自冰雪融化。冰雪融化也是水文循环中对气候变暖最敏感的部分。1)无人驾驶飞机和利用研究天气、雪和径流观测站的集水区观测技术的进展，2)开发可利用高性能计算的高分辨率大气和水文模拟平台所产生的计算能力，3)加拿大水文学的冰雪成分的快速变化，4)林业和农业做法即将转变，创造了在变化中改善寒冷地区水资源的可预测性的迫切需要、明确的机会和新的能力。因此，该项目的总体目标是确定支配水源集水区对气候和土地利用变化反应的水文机制，并更好地预测对下游水资源的影响。它的具体目标是：1)更好地了解和预测冰川和雪的水文学；2)更好地测量和预测林区和农业区的水文学；3)利用气候和水文学的计算机模型预测加拿大水源集水区对气候变化的水文响应，这些集水区控制着对河流流域的水资源供应。这项研究是通过对加拿大落基山脉、北部和草原的10个仪表化集水区进行实地研究，以及根据实地观察所获得的知识进行密集的计算机建模和预测相结合的方式完成的。观测方法得到了加拿大落基山脉水文观测站和机载寒冷地区观测站的资助，这些资金来自CFI和NSERC以前的RTI仪器赠款，这些赠款为完全可操作的仪器研究集水和机载无人机提供了激光高度计、热图像、光学图像和高光谱图像。这项研究还得到了CFREF全球水期货和加拿大研究教席项目的帮助，这些项目为参与该项目的学生提供技术、后勤、建模和后勤帮助，以及专门的实验室。研究结果将证明寒冷的消失对加拿大水文学的巨大影响，并有助于为我们未来更温暖、更多变、可能更潮湿的气候指明可持续水资源管理的方向。它强调研究生在发现方面的作用，并鼓励通过实地工作、建模和分析方面的团队合作方法，在培训HQP的方法中公平、多样化和包容。

This Changing Cold Regions Hydrology proposal is guided by broad concerns over the impacts of global warming on cold regions hydrological processes and the resulting impacts on ecosystems and water resources including flooding and drought. Cold regions headwater catchments are the primary sources of freshwater for Canada and most of their runoff comes from snow and ice melt. Snow and ice melt are also the most sensitive parts of the hydrological cycle to climate warming. Advances in 1) observational technology from airborne drones and catchments instrumented with research weather, snow and streamflow stations, 2) computing power from the development of high resolution atmospheric and hydrological modelling platforms that can take advantage of advances in high-performance computing, 3) rapid change in the snow and ice components of Canadian hydrology at the same time as 4) forestry and agricultural practises are poised to shift, have created the urgent need, clear opportunity and new capability to improve the predictability of cold regions water resources under change. Therefore this project focusses on the overall objective of determining the hydrological mechanisms that govern the response of headwater catchments to climate and land use change and better predicting the implications for downstream water resources. It has specific objectives of 1) better understanding and predicting glacier and snow hydrology, 2) better measuring and predicting hydrology in the forested and agricultural zones and 3) using computer models of climate and hydrology to predict the hydrological response to climate change in Canadian headwater catchments that govern the water resource supply to river basins. The research accomplishes this by a combination of field studies in 10 instrumented catchments in the Canadian Rockies, North and Prairies and intensive computer modelling and prediction that is guided by what is learned from field observations. The observational methodology is aided by previously funded Canadian Rockies Hydrological Observatory and the Airborne Cold Regions Observatory capital grants from CFI and previous RTI instrument grants from NSERC that have provided fully operational instrumented research catchments and airborne drones with laser altimeters, thermal, optical and hyperspectral imagery. The study is also aided by the CFREF Global Water Futures and Canada Research Chairs programs which provide technical, logistical and modelling and logistical help along with specialized laboratories for the students working on this project. The results will document the dramatic impacts of the loss of cold on Canadian hydrology and help point the way to sustainable water management for our future, warmer, more variable and possibly wetter climate. It emphasizes the roles of graduate students in discovery and encourages equity, diversity and inclusion in its approach to training HQP through teamwork approaches in fieldwork, modelling and analysis.