The INARCH Inaugural Workshop
Hosted by the University of Saskatchewan Centre for Hydrology Coldwater Laboratory at the Barrier Lake BioGeoSciences Centre, Kananaskis, Alberta, 22nd - 24th October 2015.
- GEWEX’s INARCH is launched and has broad participation and support from scientists studying mountain regions around the world.
- In order to provide warning of the impacts of climate on downstream water resources, INARCH finds an urgent need for enhanced mountain hydrometeorological and cryospheric observations with open availability of data, and reduced measurement uncertainty. INARCH has identified a series of mountain hydrometeorological observatories around the world that address this need, and will promote enhanced mountain observations, and data publication for these observatories.
- INARCH notes that despite the substantial predictive skill shown, there is a need to identify and reduce uncertainty in application of mountain atmospheric, cryospheric and hydrological models. The understanding developed using mountain hydrometeorological observatories can help accomplish this by improving the capability and range of downscaling methods to drive models, improving exchange processes with frozen surfaces, and integrating atmospheric, cryospheric and hydrological components to consider impacts of dynamic climate and transient vegetation and hydrological and cryospheric storage at various scales.
- INARCH will observe and diagnose mountain climate and resulting cryospheric and hydrological change and explore the changing prospects for mountain water resources through diagnostic modelling experiments using our instrumented catchments from around the world, paying particular attention to the impact of loss of snow and ice on hydrological cycling. This will help quantify and improve the prognostic potential of these models for predicting the water security impacts of global change in mountain regions.
| Introduction, Opening | ||
| Welcome, objectives and introduction of attendees | John Pomeroy | |
| Importance of mountain headwaters to Alberta | John Diiwu | |
| Context of mountain observations and modelling in GEWEX's CCRN and large scale hydroclimatic change | Howard Wheater | |
| Mountain water resources, climate change – UNESCO’s interest | Anil Mishra | |
| Mountain Measurements and Observations | ||
| Austria and Tropical Glaciers | Georg Kaser | |
| United States - NASA JPL | McKenzie Skiles | |
| United States - NCAR | Ethan Gutmann | |
| Switzerland | Tobias Jonas | |
| Germany | Matthias Bernhardt | |
| China | Junfeng Liu | |
| Spain | Ignacio Lopez Moreno | |
| France | Isabella Zin | |
| Chile | James McPhee | |
| Canadian Rockies Hydrological Observatory | John Pomeroy | |
| Lake O’Hara, BC and related studies | Masaki Hayashi | |
| Haig Glacier, AB and related studies | Shawn Marshall | |
| Cariboo Mountains, BC and related studies | Stephen Dery | |
| Discussion – Recommendations for common measurement strategies, collaboration, and archiving and accessing datasets Rapporteur's Notes - PDF |
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| Groundwater, Snow, Glaciers and Hydrology | ||
| The role of groundwater in alpine hydrology | Masaki Hayashi | |
| The role of glaciers in alpine hydrology | Georg Kaser | |
| The role of snow in alpine hydrology | Matthias Bernhardt | |
| Integrating alpine hydrology into river basin hydrology | James McPhee | |
| Discussion – Persistent scientific uncertainties, recommendations to address improvements Rapporteur's Notes - PDF | ||
| Developing, Intercomparing and Downscaling Models | ||
| Advances in snow modelling in Switzerland | Tobias Jonas | |
| Snow model intercomparisons | Richard Essery | |
| Downscaling atmospheric models | Ethan Gutmann | |
| Validating the Airborne Snow Observatory | McKenzie Skiles | |
| Discussion – Testing and improving model physics, downscaling, and parameterisations Rapporteur's Notes - PDF | ||
| Modelling Changing Mountain Hydrology and Climate | ||
| Cold Regions Hydrological Model - background and modelled alpine snow and hydrological change in North America | John Pomeroy, Xing Fang, Kabir Rasouli, Danny Marks | |
| Snow and glacier change modelling in the French Alps | Isabella Zin | |
| Snow change modelling by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) | Ignacio Lopez Moreno | |
| Glacier change modelling in Canada | Shawn Marshall | |
| Mountain snow and hydrological change modelling | Stephen Dery | |
| Snow and glacier change modelling in the Chilean Andes | James McPhee | |
| Glacier change modelling in the tropics | Georg Kaser | |
| Discussion – Common numerical experiments to assess the climate sensitivity of alpine snow and ice hydrology regimes around the world - synthesis project and paper Rapporteur's Notes - PDF |
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| Synthesis | ||
| Discussion – Network structure, function and future activities | ||
| Wrap-up – Closing comments, Workshop 'statement' | ||
