Changing Climate and Streamflow in the Western Canadian Arctic

Philip Marsh1, Stefano Endrizzi2, Daqing Yang3 and Tyler de Jong2, (1)Wilfrid Laurier University, Geography, Waterloo, ON, Canada, (2)Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada, (3)National Hydrology Research Center, Environment Canada, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

Contact First Author: Philip Marsh; pmarsh@wlu.ca

Previously Published Material: Previous work has described changes in streamflow for one watershed. This paper will expand this work to six watersheds crossing the treeline and diagnose the observed changes.

Abstract ID#: 33721

 

English Abstract:
The climate, landcover and permafrost are changing across the Western Canadian Arctic, with resulting changes in streamflow. Observed changes include warming air temperatures, decreasing precipitation, earlier onset of spring snowmelt, warming and deepening active layer, and north of the treeline expansion of shrubs. For one watershed north of the treeline, decreases in total, and peak, spring melt streamflow and delayed timing of melt runoff have been described. This paper will consider changes in spring melt streamflow for 6 watersheds along a 200 km transect crossing the arctic treeline in the vicinity of Inuvik, NWT, Canada, and will diagnose the integrated impact of changes in climate, landcover and permafrost, on the spring melt hydrology of these watersheds.
Back to: Changing Cold Regions: Climate, Cryosphere, Hydrology, Ecology I