Modelling the Athabasca watershed snow response to a changing climate

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dc.contributor.authorDibike, Yonas
dc.contributor.authorEum, Hyung-Il
dc.contributor.authorProwse, Terry D.
dc.date.accessioned2018-10-29T23:45:06Z
dc.date.available2018-10-29T23:45:06Z
dc.date.copyright2018en_US
dc.date.issued2018
dc.description.abstractStudy region: The Athabasca River basin (ARB) with its head-waters located within the Canadian Rockies. Study focus: Investigating the snow response of the Athabasca watershed to projected climate using the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrologic model and statistically downscaled future climate data from a selected set of CMIP5 GCMs forced with RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 emissions scenarios. New hydrological insights for the region: High resolution end-of-century projections of SWE over the Athabasca watershed show an overall decreasing trend in the mean monthly SWE over the watershed, with the largest decreases occurring in March and April, especially in the high-elevation sub-basin. There are also widespread decreases in annual maximum SWE (SWEmax), with the middle-basin showing slight increases under the RCP4.5 scenario. The dates of SWEmax are generally getting earlier, with RCP4.5 showing a less linear response than RCP8.5. Increases in early spring snowmelt are followed by decreases during the late spring and summer months mainly as a result of earlier start of snowmelt. An overall decrease in snow-cover duration of up to fifty days is projected with the largest decrease occurring in the high elevation sub-basin. Such projected declines in snow water storage and a shift to earlier peak SWE and snowmelt over the ARB have significant implications for the magnitude and timing of the watershed soil-moisture content and hydrologic regime of the Athabasca River.en_US
dc.description.reviewstatusRevieweden_US
dc.description.scholarlevelFacultyen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThis study was conducted with the financial support provided by the Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Climate Change Adaptation program and the Joint Alberta and Environment and Climate Change Canada Oil-sands Monitoring Program (JOSMP). The authors would like to thank the University of Washington Computational Hydrology group for making the VIC hydrologic model available and the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC), at the University of Victoria, for providing the downscaled daily Canada-wide high-resolution climate-change scenario data. The authors also acknowledge the contribution of Émilie Wong, Victoria Gagnon and Joshua Hartmann at the various stages of data acquisition and processing. Finally, the authors gratefully acknowledge the constructive comments and suggestions provided by Ross Brown of Environment and Climate Change Canada and a second anonymous reviewer that help improve the quality of the final paper.en_US
dc.identifier.citationDibike, Y., Eum, H. & Prowse, T. (2018). Modelling the Athabasca watershed snow response to a changing climate. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 15, 134- 148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2018.01.003en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2018.01.003
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/10196
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherJournal of Hydrology: Regional Studiesen_US
dc.subjectClimate changeen_US
dc.subjectSnow coveren_US
dc.subjectSWEen_US
dc.subjectSnow melten_US
dc.subjectAthabasca watersheden_US
dc.subjectVIC modelen_US
dc.titleModelling the Athabasca watershed snow response to a changing climateen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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