Written by Bernice Trick
Citizen staff
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Monday, 29 June 2009 |
A research partnership between UNBC and Princeton University in New Jersey finds that global warming is causing havoc with the volume of water flowing in Canada's northern waterways.
The study, led by UNBC Environmental Science and Engineering professor Stephen DÈry, confirms early predictions of how an increase in global temperature will affect Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. The study indicates that global warming is causing hydrological cycles to intensify, which induces a “teeter-totter” effect in weather systems, creating dramatic increases in precipitation in some areas and decreases in others, and is having a profound effect on river water volume.
“If rivers are the veins of Canada, we’re having some pretty dramatic blood pressure fluctuations,” said DÈry. “This affects a variety of things: farms, forest fires, fish-dependent First Nations communities and many others. An increase in fresh water discharge into the Arctic Ocean also impacts climate on a global level.”
He added changes in river water volume can lead to drops in fish stocks, drought, flooding, and a litany of interconnected problems, which have an impact on the health of people and ecosystems as well as northern industries.
DÈry and his collaborators collected data from weather stations across the North to find out exactly how precipitation is changing. The results confirm early predications that higher elevations and latitudes will experience more climate change and lead to changes in the intensity of weather systems.
"For example, the research shows that the Yukon River’s annual fluctuation increased by approximately 20 per cent. From 1964 through 1986, the standard deviation was 8.15 cubic kilometres per year. From 1988 until 2008, this had increased to 10.51 cubic kilometres per year," said Dery.
Temperatures increases can lead to both drought and flooding, said Dery.
“In some cases, a temperature increase leads to more moisture in the air, which causes heavy precipitation and flooding, while in other areas, it can lead to an increase in evaporation, which produces drought. As both of these are extremes that we would rather avoid, this information is significant.”
The study, to be published next month in an international Geophysics journal, is part of the International Polar Year project, a large scientific program focused on the Arctic and the Antarctic. In Canada, the project concentrated on the Arctic drainage basin, which drains more than half of the country’s land surface.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 29 June 2009 )
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