KANANASKIS COUNTRY — Dozens of international scientists met in Kananaskis Country on the weekend to better understand how water resources are changing in cold, alpine regions due to global warming.
With more than half of the world’s population relying on water from mountain-derived rivers, there are concerns melting snow and ice will affect both the quantity and quality of water — an issue identified in a 2014 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
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The International Network for Alpine Research Catchment Hydrology, formed earlier this year, held its inaugural workshop from Thursday to Saturday at the Barrier Lake Field Station in Kananaskis Country.
Approximately 40 scientists from countries including Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, Austria, France and China hope to better predict and manage mountain water resources around the world in a changing climate.
“We came up with three statements,” said John Pomeroy, director at the centre for hydrology at the University of Saskatchewan and Canada research chair in water resources and climate change. “We have identified the urgent need for improved mountain observational data availability.”
They will work with the World Meteorological Organization to promote improved observations, he said.
Secondly, the scientists agreed that they want to reduce the uncertainty in mountain hydrology models.
As it relates to climate change, Pomeroy said the group noted that snow and ice are diminishing in many mountain environments due to warming, but also other issues such as dust and forest fire soot.
“For instance, this year we had a warm summer so the snow melts quickly and the glaciers melted quickly,” he said. “Because of the warm summer, we also had some mini dust storms up on Fortress Mountain, which put dark dust on the snow, and because of the fires, there was soot deposition on the Athabasca Glacier, the Wapta and Peyto that accelerated their melt because it made them darker.
“So it’s not just temperature.”
His comments come after news earlier this month that the glaciers continued to melt at an alarming rate, with the Athabasca recording a 5.5-metre ice surface loss and the Peyto facing its last 10 years of existence.
Despite the change in snow and ice, Pomeroy said some of the river systems, including the Bow River, have been resilient — although flows have declined this year.
“That’s due to lower glacier input, less groundwater, a longer snow-free season in the summer and then earlier melt,” he said.
Although monitoring systems in Canada are strong in many areas, the final statement from the group was that they will continue to explore changing mountain hydrology by installing equipment in countries such as Nepal, Chile and Spain that are not currently being monitored to try to predict water security impacts globally.
Findings from the conference will inform the UN before its climate change talks in Paris, which begin Nov. 30 and run until Dec. 12.