Water Stewardship Information Sources
| ID | 415 |
|---|---|
| Citation | Dery, S, Hernandez-Henrique, MA, Owens, PN, Parkes, MW and Petticrew, EL. 2012. A century of hydrological variability and trends in the Fraser River Basin. Environmental Research Letters 7:024019, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/7/2/024019 |
| Organization | UNBC |
| URL | http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/7/2/024019/pdf/erl12_2_024019.pdf |
| Abstract/Description or Keywords | This study examines the 1911-2010 variability and trends in annual streamflow at 139 sites across the Fraser River Basin (FRB) of British Columbia (BC), Canada. The Fraser River is the largest Canadian waterway flowing to the Pacific Ocean and is one of the world's greatest salmon rivers. Our analyses reveal high runoff rates and low interannual variability in alpine and coastal rivers, and low runoff rates and high interannual variability in most streams in BC's interior. The interannual variability in streamflow is also low in rivers such as the Adams, Chilko, Quesnel and Stuart where the principal salmon runs of the Fraser River occur. A trend analysis shows a spatially coherent signal with increasing interannual variability in streamflow across the FRB in recent decades, most notably in spring and summer. The upward trend in the coefficient of variation in annual runoff coincides with a period of near-normal annual runoff for the Fraser River at Hope. The interannual variability in streamflow is greater in regulated rather than natural systems; however, it is unclear whether it is predominantly flow regulation that leads to these observed differences. Environmental changes such as rising air temperatures, more frequent polarity changes in large-scale climate teleconnections such as El Nino-Southern Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and retreating glaciers may be contributing to ﾘ the greater range in annual runoff fluctuations across the FRB. This has implications for ecological processes throughout the basin, for example affecting migrating and spawning salmon, a keystone species vital to First Nations communities as well as to commercial and recreational fisheries. To exemplify this linkage between variable flows and biological responses, the unusual FRB runoff anomalies observed in 2010 are discussed in the context of that year's sockeye salmon run. As the climate continues to warm, greater variability in annual streamflow, and hence in hydrological extremes, may influence ecological processes and human usage throughout the FRB in the 21st century. |
| Information Type | article |
| Regional Watershed | All |
| Sub-watershed if known | |
| Aquifer # | |
| Comments | |
| Project status | complete |
| Contact Name | Stephen Dery |
| Contact Email | [email protected] |