| Resource Name |
Impacts of climate change in three hydrologic regimes in British Columbia, Canada |
| Unique File Number |
364 |
| Information Type |
applied Research |
| Surface Water |
A |
| Aquatic Ecosystem |
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| Groundwater |
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| Groundwater & Surface Water |
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| Management for Natural & Industrial Hazards |
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| Strengths |
climate change impacts on flow regime including Peace River |
| Limitations |
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| Challenges |
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| Outstanding Research Questions |
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| Outstanding Research Questions |
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| Information Subtype |
climate change |
| Organization |
PCIC |
| Resource Name |
Schnorbus, M et al. 2014. Impacts of climate change in three hydrologic regimes in British Columbia, Canada. Hydrological Processes 28: 1170-1189. |
| Resource Purpose |
Hydrologic modelling has been applied to assess the impacts of projected climate change within three study areas in the Peace, Campbell and Columbia River watersheds of British Columbia, Canada. These study areas include interior nival (two sites) and coastal hybrid nival–pluvial (one site) hydro-climatic regimes. Projections were based on a suite of eight global climate models driven by three emission scenarios to project potential climate responses for the 2050s period (2041–2070). Climate projections were statistically downscaled and used to drive a macro-scale hydrology model at high spatial resolution. This methodology
covers a large range of potential future climates for British Columbia and explicitly addresses both emissions and global climate model uncertainty in the final hydrologic projections. Snow water equivalent is projected to decline throughout the Peace and Campbell and at low elevations within the Columbia. At high elevations within the Columbia, snow water equivalent is projected to increase with increased winter precipitation. Streamflow projections indicate timing shifts in all three watersheds, predominantly because of changes in the dynamics of snow accumulation and melt. The coastal hybrid site shows the largest sensitivity, shifting to more rainfall-dominated system by mid-century. The two interior sites are projected to retain the characteristics of a nival regime by mid-century, although streamflow-timing shifts result from increased mid-winter rainfall and snowmelt, and earlier freshet onset. |
| Type of Information |
article |
| How does this help decision making? |
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| Program Status |
ongoing |
| NE Coverage |
ne BC specific |
| Drinking Water |
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| Ecosystem |
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| Fish |
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| Groundwater |
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| Public Safety |
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| SW Quality |
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| SW Quantity |
y |
| Link |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hyp.9661/abstract |
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