Changes in precipitation phase and effects on runoff
1 March - 31 May 2020
Biography
Dan Moore is Professor and Forest Renewal BC Chair of Forest Hydrology in the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. He received his B.Sc. (Hons) in Physical Geography (Climatology) from the University of British Columbia in 1979, and his PhD in Physical Geography (Hydrology) from Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1984. Prior to joining the faculty at UBC in 1999, he held positions as Assistant Professor at McGill University in Montréal (1985-1987), Hydrologist at Triton Environmental Consultants in Vancouver (1988-1989), and Assistant Professor and Associate Professor at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC (1989-1999). Dan's current research addresses a range of topics related to hydrology, climatology and glaciology, including the effects of glacier retreat and forest management and disturbance on downstream hydrology, water quality and fish habitat. His research involves intensive field observation and experimentation, empirical analyses of hydroclimatic data, and computer simulation. Dan is involved in a range of extension activities, including serving as an advisor on the effects of forest harvesting on aquatic systems to the province of British Columbia and the states of Washington and Idaho, and on the influence of glacier retreat on reservoir inflow to BC Hydro. Dan received the "Outstanding Achievement Award" from the Canadian Society for Hydrologic Sciences in 2010 and the "Meritorious Achievement Award from the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC in 2015.
Summary
The seasonal melting of snow that accumulates through the winter is a major source of streamflow and water supply in many parts of the world. It is well known that, in a warming climate, an increasing amount of winter precipitation will fall as rain, resulting in less accumulated snow at the end of winter, and snowmelt will begin earlier. As a consequence, the spring snowmelt freshet will begin earlier and have less volume, and late-summer flows will decrease, resulting in reduced availability of water for human use and habitat for aquatic organisms. A recent high-profile study by Berghuijs et al. (2014), published in Nature Climate Change, demonstrated that in addition to the change in the timing of streamflow, a shift from snowfall to rain is also associated with an overall reduction in annual streamflow volume. While this result is robust, the physical causes remain poorly understood, thus limiting our ability to make predictions of the likely magnitude of streamflow decreases.
The goal of the proposed study will be to conduct detailed analyses of hydroclimatic and spatial data sets for forested watersheds in British Columbia, Canada. The watersheds will be selected so as to minimize the potentially confounding influences of changes in land cover, particularly the effects of forest harvesting. The analyses will focus on (a) quantifying the relation between annual streamflow volume and the relative amounts of rainfall versus snowfall and (b) identifying the physical processes by which a shift from snowfall to rain results in lower streamflow volumes. This study, when complemented by similar studies focused on different geographic settings, will improve our understanding of and ability to predict the effect of climatic warming on streamflow, which will assist water managers in developing strategies to adapt to ongoing climatic change.
Professor Moore is hosted by Dr Ross Woods, Civil Engineering
Planned events include:
Graduate seminar
Title: Glacier retreat exacerbates climate-driven declines in late-summer streamflow
Cabot Institute seminar
Title: Stream temperature response to environmental change
Dates, times and venues will be confirmed shortly
