Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

The anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane has contributed to a rise in global air temperatures of about 0.6 degrees Celsius in the 20th century.  This trend is projected to accelerate in the next century as greenhouse gas emissions intensify.  Some of the greatest environmental changes will be in high-latitude and alpine regions where the surface climate is highly sensitive to modifications in snow and ice covers. Global warming will therefore have significant repercussions on the hydrological cycle of northern mountainous watersheds such as the Quesnel River Basin of BC. The Quesnel River drains an area of 11,500 square kilometres of variable (mountainous to flat) terrain at a mean elevation of 1400 metres, encompasses some of the wettest and driest areas of BC's interior, and contains glaciers and deep fjord lakes.  The expansion of the Cariboo Alpine Mesonet, a network of five weather stations deployed in the Cariboo Mountains, will greatly advance our knowledge of the role of climate variability and change on the region's water cycle. Understanding the partitioning of precipitation into evaporation and river runoff, and evaluating the past, current and possible future contribution of snow and glaciers to the basin's hydrological cycle, are very important for water resources management and commercial activities in BC and elsewhere in Canada. Enhanced meteorological and hydrological monitoring of this watershed will provide crucial information on the impacts of climate variability and change on environmental and ecological processes including treeline dynamics, pest infestations such as the mountain pine beetle outbreak, salmon migration and spawning, and the endangered mountain caribou.  Freshwater remains a natural resource of primary importance in Canada; however the increasing demands for water require precise knowledge of its future availability.  This project will thus help answer some of the most pertinent questions that Canadian society will face in the 21st century: Will we have sufficient water for our needs, where will it come from, and what will be the environmental and ecological consequences of changes to the hydrological cycle?