Catchments of the future North: towards science for
management in the 21st century”
21st – 25th May, 2012
(start and introduction on Monday afternoon – departure on Friday morning)
Organizers: Doerthe Tetzlaff on behalf of the North-Watch co-investigators
Potsdam, Germany
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The overall aim of North-Watch is to better understand the integrated consequences of
climate change on the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of water resources
across northern regions. To do this we want to bring together leading, cognate researchers
working at long-term experimental catchments in different parts of the northern region
comprising sensitive boreal, sub-arctic and sub-alpine environments. The purpose is to
facilitate inter-catchment comparisons that will synthesize a comprehensive,
interdisciplinary and regional understanding of the recent effects of climatic change and
provide a stronger scientific basis for predicting what further changes are likely to be. Our
belief is that an examination of a range of sites across a climatic transect in the northern
zone will give a much stronger regional perspective on the responses to climatic change
than any individual studies alone would do.
We plan to focus the presentations and discussions around three major themes:
1. Learning from the past
2. Towards a comparative ecohydrology of northern catchments: structure, functioning and
sensitivity
3. Projecting the non-stationary future: insights from catchment inter-comparisons
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Participants
Ann-Kristin Bergstroem (Umeå Universitet, Sweden)
John Buffington (USDA Forest Service Science, Boise, US)
Jim Buttle (Trent University, Canada)
Rene Capell (University of Aberdeen, UK)
Sean Carey (McMaster University, Canada)
Irena Creed (University of Western Ontario, Canada)
Rick Cunjak (University New Brunswick, Canada)
Richard Essery (University of Edinburgh, UK)
Jim Freer (University of Bristol, UK)
Nikolai Friberg (Aarhus University, Denmark)
Gordon Grant (USDA Forest Service and Oregon State University, US)
Jim Kirchner (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research (WSL) and Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology (ETH), Switzerland)
Hjalmar Laudon (SLU, Umeå, Sweden)
Jeff McDonnell (Oregon State University, US)
Kevin McGuire (Virginia Tech, US)
Diane Mcknight (University of Colorado, US)
Jim McNamara (Boise State University, US)
Myron Mitchell (SUNY, US)
Allan Rohde (University of Uppsala, Sweden)
Jan Seibert (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
Jamie Shanley (U.S. Geological Survey, Montpelier, US)
Chris Soulsby (University of Aberdeen, UK)
Christina Tague (University of California, US)
Doerthe Tetzlaff (University of Aberdeen, UK)
Klement Tockner (Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Germany)
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Programme Schedule
Monday, 21st May 2012
Welcome, organisational things
Doerthe Tetzlaff: Northern Watershed Ecosystem Response to Climate Change (North-Watch) - Towards a
comparative ecohydrology of northern catchments
Introduction: the “North-Watch” project and the workshop
Topic I: Learning from the past
Jim Kirchner: Stream chemistry dynamics on timescales from hours to decades, and their implications for
catchment processes
Gordon Grant: A geological framework for interpreting effects of climate warming on streamflow in Western
U.S. watersheds: what can the past tell us about the future?
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Tuesday, 22nd May
Ann-Kristin Bergström: Climate induced changes in catchments – effects on productivity and biostructure of
unproductive northern lakes
Allan Rohde: Streamflow generation in Nordic till soils. What do we know and what do we
guess?
Rick Cunjak: The complex interaction of ecology and hydrology in a small catchment: a salmon’s perspective
Topic II: Towards a comparative ecohydrology of northern catchments: structure, functioning and
sensitivity
James McNamara: On the co-evolution of landscape pattern and hydrologic process
Diane McKnight: Impacts of Acid Mine Drainage on Stream Ecosystems in the Colorado Rockies under a
Changing Hydrologic Regime
Christina Tague: Towards a comparative ecohydrology of northern catchments: structure, functioning and
sensitivity
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Wednesday, 23rd May
Fieldday
Excursion schedule, Wednesday, 23/05/2012
Time
8:30
~ 10:00
Schedule
Departure from Potsdam by coach. (~1:30 driving time)
Arrival in Gülpe, liaise with Dr. Ralf Mühle (Univ. Potsdam) who will lead the
excursion from there.
Walk ~1 km across restored floodplains of the Havel (area formerly artificially
drained for ~200 years) to the ecological field station, introduction to the area.
Lowland bog areas and Lower Havel river system.
Visit Eurasian Beaver (Castor fiber).
~ 11:30
Short coach ride around the the lake with stops at a 17th century wind mill and a
short walk to Eurasian Beaver (Castor fiber) conservation area in managed
marshlands north of the Gülper Lake.
~ 13:00
Lunch break at a local fishery in Garz (Wilfried Schulz).
~ 14:00
Boat tour on the Lower Havel around Garz with canals and restored river banks
and a needle dam.
~ 16:30
Return to Potsdam by coach (~2:00 driving time).
On interest visit White Stork breeding sites (Ciconia ciconia) in Rühstädt.
~ 18:30
Arrival in Potsdam.
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Thursday, 24th May
Nikolai Friberg: Changing Northern catchments: Is altered hydrology, temperature or both going to shape
future stream communities and ecosystem processes?
John M. Buffington: Understanding potential effects of climate change on streambed scour and risks to
salmonid survival in mountain basins
Topic III. Projecting the non-stationary future: insights from catchment inter-comparisons
Richard Essery: Insights from intercomparisons with a large ensemble of snow models
Jim Freer: Understanding the main uncertainties in hydrological ensembles of future climate change
predictions
Irena Creed: Discriminating between stationary and non-stationary responses in catchment water and solute
yields using wavelet analysis
Myron Mitchell: Regulation of sulfur budgets of forest watersheds in the northeastern United States with an
Emphasis on the Adirondack Mountains of New York State: Shift from Atmospheric Regulation to Climatic
Control
Klement Tockner: Synthesis and discussion
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