MACKENZIE GEWEX STUDY
A MAJOR CANADIAN CONTRIBUTION TO THE GLOBAL ENERGY AND WATER CYCLE EXPERIMENT
INTRODUCTION
The Mackenzie GEWEX Study (MAGS) is a major Canadian study that is concerned with the climate of the Mackenzie River Basin, a region of Canada that has been experiencing significant warming over the last few decades.

MACKENZIE BASIN FEATURES

The Mackenzie Basin covers 20% of Canada and its discharge is almost as large as that of the St. Lawrence. It is the world's 10th largest river by drainage area and 15th largest by discharge, and it is by far the largest North American source of fresh water for the Arctic.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of MAGS are:

  • To understand, quantify and model the critical components of the water and energy cycles that affect the Mackenzie Basin.
  • To improve the capability to predict changes to the water resources of the Mackenzie Basin that are influenced by natural climate variability and that may be altered by anthropogenic climate change.
TEAM

MAGS is being carried out by a team of some 30 groups within the Canadian university and government communities; the university participants are supported through a special NSERC collaborative grant award.

RESEARCH PROGRAM

The overall effort is concerned with all the critical atmospheric, surface and hydrological issues that are affecting the Basin's water and energy cycles. MAGS is carrying out the needed observational, process and modeling studies that will lead to the development and validation of coupled atmosphere-surface-hydrology models that adequately represent the Basin's climate system.

OBSERVATIONAL STRATEGY

MAGS is very concerned with the full utilization of observations over the Mackenzie Basin. MAGS is carrying out studies using historical and current operational data, it has established several ongoing research sub-basins, it is enhancing ongoing measurements over the Basin, and it is carrying out several targeted process studies. MAGS is also planning for the 1998/99 water year to enhance key measurements of vapour, precipitation, snowcover, radiation, snowmelt, evaporation and discharge within the Canadian GEWEX Enhanced Study (CAGES) to produce a more comprehensive dataset of the Basin's water and energy cycles.

INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS

MAGS represents a key northern contribution to the international effort (GEWEX Hydrometeorology Panel) aimed at ensuring that climate models are able to account for the flow of water and energy into and through large river basins around the world. Other GHP efforts are concentrating on the Mississippi (GCIP), the Amazon (LBA), the Baltic Sea (BALTEX) and several regions of Asia (GAME). Results from all these efforts will be applied to other regions of the world to address critical water resource issues.

CONTACT

If you would like further information on MAGS, please contact:

Dr. Geoff Strong, MAGS Secretariat
National Hydrology Research Centre
11 Innovation Blvd., Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 3H5
phone 306-975-5809, fax 306-975-6516 or email Geoff.Strong@ec.gc.ca.
MAGS Homepage: http://www.msc.ec.gc.ca/GEWEX/MAGS.html