Impacts of declining water levels on the quantity of fish habitat in coastal wetlands of eastern Georgian Bay, Lake Huron

Fracz, Amanda; Chow‐Fraser, Patricia

doi:10.1007/s10750-012-1318-3

Cited by 21 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…In the Great Lakes basin of North America, annual runoff is dominated by snowmelt (Barnett et al 2005), and snowmelt is considered the primary driver behind the seasonal cycle of the Great Lakes' water levels in spring and summer (Quinn 2002). A number of negative ecological and environmental consequences are linked to variable lake levels including those impacting wildlife habitats (Fracz and Chow-Fraser 2013). Changes to snow-ablation events within the basin therefore could substantially alter the timing of runoff, influencing soil moisture availability, lake levels, and ecological environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Great Lakes Basin Snow-Cover Ablation and Synoptic-Scale Circulation

Suriano

Leathers

2018

Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

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Synoptic-scale atmospheric conditions play a critical role in determining the frequency and intensity of snow-cover-ablation events. Using a synoptic weather-classification technique, distinct regional circulation patterns influencing the Great Lakes basin of North America are identified and examined in conjunction with daily snow-ablation events from 1960 to 2009. An ablation event is considered in this study to be an interdiurnal decrease in areal-weighted average snow depth of greater than 2.54 cm in magnitude over the entire Great Lakes basin. General meteorological characteristics associated with ablation-causing synoptic types are examined, and three individual case studies from prominent synoptic types are presented to understand the diversity of meteorological influences on regional snow ablation. Results indicate that a variety of synoptic weather conditions lead to snow ablation in the Great Lakes basin. The 10 most common synoptic types accounted for 66% of the 349 ablation events detected from 1960 to 2009. Snow ablation in the Great Lakes basin most commonly occurs when there is advection of warm and moist air into the region to provide the sensible and latent heat fluxes that are needed for melt, but ablation frequently occurs during rain-on-snow events and in instances of high pressure overhead. Ablation magnitude is highest during rain-on-snow synoptic types, and the interannual frequency of these types significantly decreased by 37% over 1960–2009. Conversely, the frequency of high-pressure-overhead synoptic types significantly increased by more than 30% from 1960 to 2009. Such changes may influence the hydrologic impact of these synoptic types on ablation over time.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Great Lakes Basin Snow-Cover Ablation and Synoptic-Scale Circulation

Suriano

Leathers

2018

Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

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“…This suggests that changes to the frequency and timing of snowmelt events could substantially change the timing of run‐off into the basin and seasonal lake‐water levels. Such water level changes impact a variety of environmental and ecological factors in the Great Lakes basin including fish habitats, sediment‐water nutrients, aquatic vegetation, and marsh bird breeding abundance (Barry, Bowers, & De Szalay, ; Fracz & Chow‐Fraser, ; Steinman et al, ; Timmermans, Badzinski, & Ingram, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such water level changes impact a variety of environmental and ecological factors in the Great Lakes basin including fish habitats, sediment-water nutrients, aquatic vegetation, and marsh bird breeding abundance (Barry, Bowers, & De Szalay, 2004;Fracz & Chow-Fraser, 2013;Steinman et al, 2012;Timmermans, Badzinski, & Ingram, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatio‐temporal variability of Great Lakes basin snow cover ablation events

Suriano

Leathers

2017

Hydrological Processes

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In the Great Lakes basin of North America, annual run‐off is dominated by snowmelt. This snowmelt‐induced run‐off plays an important role within the hydrologic cycle of the basin, influencing soil moisture availability and driving the seasonal cycle of spring and summer lake levels. Despite this, relatively little is understood about the patterns and trends of snow ablation event frequency and magnitude within the Great Lakes basin. This study uses a gridded dataset of Canadian and United States surface snow depth observations to develop a regional climatology of snow ablation events from 1960 to 2009. An ablation event is defined as an interdiurnal snow depth decrease within an individual grid cell. A clear seasonal cycle in ablation event frequency exists within the basin and peak ablation event probability is latitudinally dependent. Most of the basin experiences peak ablation frequency in March, while the northern and southern regions of the basin experience respective peaks in April and February. An investigation into the interannual frequency of ablation events reveals ablation events significantly decrease within the northeastern and northwestern Lake Superior drainage basins and significantly increase within the eastern Lake Huron and Georgian Bay drainage basins. In the eastern Lake Huron and Georgian Bay drainage basins, larger ablation events are occurring more frequently, and a larger impact to the hydrology can be expected. Trends in ablation events are attributed primarily to changes in snowfall and snow depth across the region.

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“…Water quantity Lake levels have repeatedly fallen to record lows in recent decades, while water levels are not always low, they do reach lower lows. In some parts of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin, shallow bays and coastal areas have dried up, damaging critical marshland habitats (Fracz and Chow-Fraser, 2013). Fish populations have plummeted as their shallow spawning areas have disappeared.…”

Section: A18 Governance and Geopoliticsmentioning

confidence: 99%