Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area
Tags: active layer, permafrost, snow accumulation, snow water equivalence, snow, runoff
| Principal Investigator: | Marsh, Philip (37) |
| Licence Number: | 13413 |
| Organization: | National Water Research Institute |
| Licensed Year(s): |
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
1990
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| Issued: | Apr 08, 2003 |
| Project Team: | C. Onclin, |
Objective(s): The primary objective of this project is to develop improved understanding of the fluxes of water and energy in northern regions, and to develop improved predictive models of these processes. This work is an important contribution to the Mackenzie GEWEX study, the Climate Change Action Fund (CCAF), the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Studies (CFCAS), and to the Program for Energy Research and Development (PERD). This study considers both the atmospheric and land surface water budgets of the Mackenzie Basin, with an emphasis on predicting the effects of climate change on the hydrology of the northern environment. This will include studies of the rates of, and processes controlling: accumulation of snow, snow melt, water flux through snow, exchange of water between snowcover, active layer and permafrost; the effect of snow/soil temperature regime and vegetation types on runoff processes; evaporation processes; and development of physically based predictive models of snowmelt runoff. This work will provide improved techniques for predicting a wide range of environmental impacts in northern areas, including potential climate change impacts, and implications to northern oil and gas exploration and development, and the changing environmental conditions on pipelines. Changes in the hydrologic regime of northwestern Canada will be compared with that of Alaska and Siberia.
