Canadian Rockies Hydrological
Observatory (CRHO)
John Pomeroy, Warren Helgason, Cherie Westbrook,
May Guan, Angus Duncan
& coinvestigators & students
University of Saskatchewan and elsewhere
Contributors
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Tom Brown, Modeller – CRHM coding and platform development
Xing Fang, Research Officer - hydrological process modeller
Paul Whitfield, Research Fellow – change detection and extreme event statistical
evaluation
Angus Duncan, Technician – research basin instrumentation and maintenance
May Guan, Research Officer – field operations, data archival
Michael Schirmer, PDF – mountain snowmelt variability
Nicholas Kinar, PDF – innovative instrumentation development
Keith Musselman, PDF – detailed forest and alpine snow measurement and
modelling
Jonathan Conway, PDF – turbulent transfer to snow and glaciers
Nikolas Aksamit, PhD student – blowing snow and turbulence
Phillip Harder, PhD student – Rocky Mountain observed hydrometeorological change
Nicolas Leroux, PhD student – 3D snowmelt observation and model development
Zhibang Lv, PhD student – snow data assimilation for mountain hydrological
modelling
Matt MacDonald, PhD student – CLASS uncertainty modelling
Chris Marsh, PhD student – multiscale modelling and process robustness testing
Dhiraj Pradhananga, PhD student – glacier hydrology modelling and change analysis
Kabir Rasouli, PhD student – alpine hydrology climate impact sensitivity assessment
Evan Siemens, MSc student – Rocky Mountain hydrological change modelling
Principal Linkages
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Masaki Hayashi, Ed Johnson & Shawn Marshall – Univ. Calgary
Richard Essery – Edinburgh Univ.
Julie Theriault - Univ Quebec a Montreal
Ronald Stewart - Univ. Manitoba
Richard Petrone - Univ. Waterloo
Sean Carey - McMaster Univ.
Scott Munro - Univ. Toronto
Melissa Lafreniere - Queen’s Univ.
Chris Hopkinson, Univ. Lethbridge
Alain Pietroniro, Craig Smith – Environment Canada
Michael Demuth – Natural Resources Canada
John Diiwu - Alberta Agriculture and Forestry
Jean Emmanuel Sicart – IRD France
Danny Marks – USDA ARS
Martyn Clark – NCAR
Xin Li - Chinese Academy of Sciences
Howard Wheater, Andrew Ireson, Yanping Li, Angela Bedard-Hahn – Univ.
Saskatchewan
INARCH members
CRHO: Focus on the
Headwaters of the
Saskatchewan-Nelson
River Basin
Columbia Icefield
Upper Bow River
Kananaskis
Observations Clustered in Small
Basins Improve Understanding
Kananaskis Sites
35 stations – 22 meteorological, 5 groundwater and 8 hydrometric
Upper Bow River Sites
15 stations: 8 meteorological and 7 hydrometric
Columbia Icefield Sites
Two stations
-Athabasca Glacier
-Athabasca Forefield
CRHO Science Questions
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How do mountain basin biophysical
characteristics affect snow and ice systems
to produce hydrological responses to
precipitation and energy inputs on time
scales from hours to centuries?
Do cold regions mountain hydrological
systems enhance or dampen the effects of
climate variability on water resources?
Are the Canadian Rocky Mountains a
reliable future source of streamflow?
CRHO Objectives
Improve understanding and description of governing processes for
mountain water supply
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Snow and glacier cold regions processes
Ecohydrological processes
Sub-surface processes
Improve modelling of mountain hydrological systems
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Small scale distributed physically based simulations
Moderate scale headwater catchment models
Large scale river basin and continental models
Use better observations and modelling to better predict mountain
water supply
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Downscale current meteorology and future climate to drive cold
regions hydrology in light of concurrent ecohydrological dynamics,
Predict hydrological cycling and quantify uncertainty in these
calculations in ungauged mountain basins.
Improve the coupling of the sub-surface flow system to the surfaceatmosphere system
Glacier Hydrology
Retreat of Peyto Glacier
Demuth
Columbia
Icefield
Airborne
LiDAR
Chris
Hopkinson
Katabatic and topographic influences on surface heat exchange over Athabasca Glacier, Jasper National Park.
Three AWS installed – show strong pressure gradients forming during katabatic and strong on‐glacier wind speeds Intensive observation period – June 2015
Intensive campaign with:
• Additional Toe AWS,
• EC flux, • Profile mast, • SODAR/ RASS • + kite profiles characterized the influence of regional gradient flow, valley circulation and katabatic flow on turbulent heat fluxes.
Transect of temperature/ humidity loggers to capture lapse rates through season
Testing of WRF at 1km over Peyto Glacier
Topography
Surface winds and air temperature
ULTIMATE GAP EXPERIMENT - UGE
Methods
West
South
Met. tower
Met. tower
Shaded
Met. tripod
Met. tripod
North
Sunlit
Met. data
Met. tripod
Met. tripod
Circular forest clearing (60 m diameter)
Clearing centre
Shaded side
Sunlit side
Forest
Met. tripod
System for Acoustic Sounding of Snow (SAS2)
Field Locations for testing
Icefields Parkway Forest
Bow Summit
Bow Lake
Upper
Clearing
Bow Meadows
Sawmill Creek
Nakiska Ski Hills
Black Prince Cirque
Boulton Campground
Snowpit Observation Comparisons to SAS2
Airborne LiDAR Snow Depth
and CFD Windflow Modeling
LiDAR derived snow depth:
subtraction of summer elevations from
late winter elevations provides alpine
snow depth
3D Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes
equations used for wind flow
modelling over Marmot Creek
topography (WindSim)
Alpine Blowing Snow Transport
Alpine Blowing Snow Particle
Tracking Study
N. Aksamit, PhD Research
SnoDrone – Fortress Mountain Snow Lab
Fortress Ridge
NW facing
SE facing
SCA
SCA
SCA
SCA
SCA
SCA
SCA
SCA
Snow depth
Difference in snow depth