THE ALBERTA DROUGHT RESEARCH INITIATIVE (DRI) USERS WORKSHOP
LOCATION: Greenwood Inn Hotel & Suites
Edmonton Alberta
Tel: 780-432-1200
www.greenwoodinn.ca
DATE: TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2010
For the past five years the Drought Research Initiative, an effort funded by the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Science (CFCAS), has been studying the 1999-2004/05 drought to understand the processes that led to its formation, propagation and termination; to characterize the event in terms of its impacts on hydrology, agriculture, forestry and other resources, and to determine how this experience can be used to develop better prediction systems. This research has led to the spin-off of a number of ideas, methodologies and model developments that have benefitted, or have the potential to benefit, provincial and federal government agencies involved in renewable resource management in all parts of western Canada. The Alberta DRI users workshop will focused on those findings that are most relevant for users and explore ways in which the DRI results could be implemented in operational environments. Included in the workshop was a “hands-on” exercise, known as DEWS (Drought Early Warning System), that provided experts in operations and applications an opportunity to give specific feedback on some of the data products that have been developed in DRI.
Presentations
- Introduction to DRI (Ron Stewart)
- DRI and its implications for Sustainable Development (Rick Lawford)
- DRI Contributions to drought prediction (Al Pietroniro)
- DRI research groundwater-related processes (Masaki Hayashi)
- Modeling surface water responses to drought (Kevin Shook)
- Planetary scale circulations and their effects on prairie drought (Barrie Bonsal)
- The effects of land surface feedback on drought and thunderstorms (Geoff Strong)
- Estimation of soil moisture and evapotranspiration and land atmosphere feedbacks (Julian Brimelow)
- Drought effects on prairie weather (Bob Kochtubajda)
- A synthesis of drought understanding (Ron Stewart)
- Drought impacts on growth & dieback of forests in western Canada (Ted Hogg)
- Overview of the current plans for the DRI Data Legacy(Phillip Harder)
- The DEWS Table Top Exercise (Phillip Harder, Rick Lawford)
Questions should be directed to Rick Lawford at lawfordr@cc.umanitoba.ca