The Drought Research Initiative: A Comprehensive Examination of Drought over the Canadian Prairies

Stewart, Ronald E.; Pomeroy, John W.; Lawford, Rick

doi:10.1080/07055900.2011.622574

Cited by 19 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Bonsal et al (2011) provide a useful review of drought research in Canada. The recently completed DRI network was established to conduct a comprehensive study of the severe 1999-2005 Canadian prairie drought (Hanesiak et al, 2011;Stewart et al, 2011).…”

Section: Droughtmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The CCRN builds on a legacy of other preceding research initiatives, including the Mackenzie GEWEX Study (MAGS; Stewart et al, 1998;Woo et al, 2008;www.usask.ca/geography/MAGS), the Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (BOREAS; Sellers et al, 1997;Hall, 1999), the Drought Research Initiative (DRI; Stewart et al, 2011;www.drinetwork.ca), the Western Canadian Cryospheric Network (WC2N; http://wc2n.unbc.ca), the International Polar Year (IPY), and the Improved Processes and Parameterization for Prediction in Cold Regions Hydrology Network (IP3; www.usask.ca/ip3), among others. These major studies provided important observations and insights into change, while also providing the foundation for further investigations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Recent climatic, cryospheric, and hydrological changes over the interior of western Canada: a review and synthesis

DeBeer

Wheater

Carey

et al. 2016

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

105

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Abstract. It is well established that the Earth's climate system has warmed significantly over the past several decades, and in association there have been widespread changes in various other Earth system components. This has been especially prevalent in the cold regions of the northern midto high latitudes. Examples of these changes can be found within the western and northern interior of Canada, a region that exemplifies the scientific and societal issues faced in many other similar parts of the world, and where impacts have global-scale consequences. This region has been the geographic focus of a large amount of previous research on changing climatic, cryospheric, and hydrological regimes in recent decades, while current initiatives such as the Changing Cold Regions Network (CCRN) introduced in this review seek to further develop the understanding and diagnosis of this change and hence improve the capacity to predict future change. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the observed changes in various Earth system components and a concise and up-to-date regional picture of some of the temporal trends over the interior of western Canada since the mid-or late 20th century. The focus is on air temperature, precipitation, seasonal snow cover, mountain glaciers, permafrost, freshwater ice cover, and river discharge. Important long-term observational networks and data sets are described, and qualitative linkages among the changing components are highlighted. Increases in air temperature are the most notable changes within the domain, rising on average 2 • C throughout the western interior since 1950. This increase in air temperature is associated with hydrologically important changes to precipitation regimes and unambiguous declines in snow cover depth, persistence, and spatial extent. Consequences of warming air temperatures have caused mountain glaciers to recede at all latitudes, permafrost to thaw at its southern limit, and active layers over permafrost to thicken. Despite these changes, integrated effects on stream flow are complex and often offsetting. Following a review of the current literature, we provide insight from a network of northern research catchments and other sites detailing how climate change confounds hydrological responses at smaller scales, and we recommend several priority research areas that will be a focus of continued work in CCRN. Given the complex interactions and process responses to climate change, it is argued that further conceptual understanding and quantitative diagnosis of the mechanisms of change over a range of scales is required before projections of future change can be made with confidence.

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Section: Droughtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent climatic, cryospheric, and hydrological changes over the interior of western Canada: a review and synthesis

DeBeer

Wheater

Carey

et al. 2016

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

105

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Toward this end, the current study has undertaken an analysis of precipitation and virga events during the recent drought (1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004) and a sub-drought period (2001-02) on the Canadian Prairies. This drought has been the focus of the Drought Research Initiative and numerous articles have addressed its occurrence and some of its features (Shabbar and Skinner, 2004;Stewart et al, 2011;Greene et al, 2011). However, there has been no direct study of precipitation and individual events for this period.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

On Precipitation and Virga over Three Locations during the 1999–2004 Canadian Prairie Drought

Evans¹,

Stewart

Henson

et al. 2011

Atmosphere-Ocean

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The recent 1999-2004 drought, and especially the period from 2001 to 2002, had major impacts across Canada and in the western Canadian Prairie region in particular. This study characterizes the recent drought with respect to precipitation on a small scale at three sites: Calgary, Edmonton and Saskatoon. Climatologically, precipitation events of low daily accumulation (≤10 mm) account for the majority of the total accumulation (up to 58%) at all study locations. During the recent drought, these events contributed a higher proportion of the total precipitation (up to 63%) because of a lack of heavy precipitation events. Using radar data at these locations, precipitation events were also classified into three categories: convective, stratiform and virga. There was wide variation in the relative importance of stratiform and convective precipitation at the sites with, for example, some drought periods being dominated by convective and others by stratiform events. Virga was also present with an average cloud base temperature <0°C which would have led to efficient sublimational loss contributing to the reduction of precipitation at the surface. Any understanding of drought must take into account such precipitation issues. RÉSUMÉ [Traduit par la rédaction] La récente sécheresse de 1999-2004, et plus spécialement la période de 2001 à 2002, a eu des répercussions majeures au Canada en général et dans la région des Prairies canadiennes en particulier. La présente étude caractérise cette sécheresse récente en fonction des précipitation à petite échelle à trois sites : Calgary, Edmonton et Saskatoon. D'un point de vue climatologique, les événements de précipitations de faible accumulation journalière (≤10 mm) comptent pour la majorité de l'accumulation totale (jusqu'à 58 %) à tous les endroits étudiés. Durant la récente sécheresse, ces événements ont constitué une plus grande proportion des précipitations totales (jusqu'à 63 %) à cause du faible nombre d'événements de fortes précipitations. À l'aide des données radar à ces endroits, les événements de précipitation ont aussi été classifiées en trois catégories : convective, stratiforme et virga. Il y a eu une grande variation de l'importance relative des précipitations stratiformes et convectives à ces sites avec, par exemple, certaines périodes de sécheresse dominées par des événements convectifs et d'autres par des événements stratiformes. Il y a eu aussi des virgas avec une température moyenne de la base des nuages <0°C, ce qui aurait causé des pertes par sublimation contribuant à la réduction des précipitations à la surface. Pour comprendre toute sécheresse on doit prendre en compte ce genre de facteurs liés aux précipitations.

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“…Within CRHM a hydrological model is assembled to estimate actual evaporation from a mixed prairie at Lethbridge, Alberta in 2000 and 2001. The application presented here is relevant to better understanding and modelling of ET processes during the 1999-2004 drought period that affected various regions of Canada and is the focus of the Drought Research Initiative (Stewart et al, 2008).…”

Section: Objective and Rationalementioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating Evaporation in a Prairie Landscape under Drought Conditions

Armstrong¹,

Pomeroy²,

Martz³

2010

Canadian Water Resources Journal

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Abstract:Physically-based atmospheric models of evapotranspiration (ET) that consider the Penman combination energy balance and aerodynamic approach have achieved acceptance as useful tools for obtaining estimates of actual ET from land surfaces. These models have been made applicable to the case of non-saturated conditions through either surface resistance formulations (e.g., Penman-Monteith) or by application of the complementary evaporation theory of feedback between the atmosphere and surface moisture states (e.g., Granger-Gray). Their application becomes complicated under conditions of drought, when extremely low soil moisture availability severely restricts ET from the soil and plants. Under such severe conditions, consideration for the surface water balance and interactions with the balance of available energy and aerodynamic principles are important for accurately estimating actual ET. A modelling application is demonstrated using the Cold Regions Hydrological Model (CRHM) platform to examine the estimation of ET under drought conditions. CRHM allows users to assemble hydrological models by linking a suite of modular physically-based algorithms that describe the individual processes. In this case, the models assembled consider infiltration, evaporation, and soil moisture accounting and are applied to a mixed prairie located at Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada under drought conditions during the growing period in 2000 and 2001. Near surface meteorological and ecological observations used as model input and for evaluating model performance were obtained through the Ameriflux network and the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AFC) Lethbridge Research Centre. Results show that consideration for the effective rooting zone depth of the mixed-prairie at the site is important for estimating actual ET using the Penman-Montieth and Granger-Gray models during severe moisture stress. Relative differences in ET estimates provided by the models are discussed in the context of their contrasting theoretical approaches.

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The Drought Research Initiative: A Comprehensive Examination of Drought over the Canadian Prairies

Cited by 19 publications

References 11 publications

Recent climatic, cryospheric, and hydrological changes over the interior of western Canada: a review and synthesis

Recent climatic, cryospheric, and hydrological changes over the interior of western Canada: a review and synthesis

On Precipitation and Virga over Three Locations during the 1999–2004 Canadian Prairie Drought

Estimating Evaporation in a Prairie Landscape under Drought Conditions

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