Name
Hydrological droughts in cold humid regions of Eastern Canada
Date & Time
Tuesday, May 9, 2023, 10:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Description
Climate change and growing anthropogenic pressures are expected to exacerbate hydrological droughts and lead to critical streamflow deficits. This project aims to describe historical hydrological droughts in southern Quebec and understand the spatial propagation of these events within a given watershed. We used a homogenized streamflow dataset where statistical interpolation was used to produce daily streamflow values from 1970 to 2022 at 9665 stream reaches across 301 watersheds. We computed the standardized streamflow index (SSI) at a monthly time step and identified drought events as consecutive months with negative SSI values with at least one month with a SSI that is 1.5 standard deviations below the mean conditions. On average, drought events lasted 5.9 months (sd = 3.9 months) and had a cumulative severity (sum of SSI values over the drought event) of -6.2 (sd = 4.1). Within a watershed, drought duration and severity showed less variability as the drainage area increased. This research provides a better understanding of the magnitude, severity and spatial propagation of hydrological droughts and provides key insights towards better consideration of these events in the management of water resources in cold humid regions typically associated with plentiful resources.
Location Name
Lynx
Full Address
Banff Park Lodge Resort Hotel & Conference Centre
201 Lynx St
Banff AB T1L 1K5
Canada
Abstract
Climate change and growing anthropogenic pressures are expected to exacerbate hydrological droughts and lead to critical streamflow deficits. This project aims to describe historical hydrological droughts in southern Quebec and understand the spatial propagation of these events within a given watershed. We used a homogenized streamflow dataset where statistical interpolation was used to produce daily streamflow values from 1970 to 2022 at 9665 stream reaches across 301 watersheds. We computed the standardized streamflow index (SSI) at a monthly time step and identified drought events as consecutive months with negative SSI values with at least one month with a SSI that is 1.5 standard deviations below the mean conditions. On average, drought events lasted 5.9 months (sd = 3.9 months) and had a cumulative severity (sum of SSI values over the drought event) of -6.2 (sd = 4.1). Within a watershed, drought duration and severity showed less variability as the drainage area increased. This research provides a better understanding of the magnitude, severity and spatial propagation of hydrological droughts and provides key insights towards better consideration of these events in the management of water resources in cold humid regions typically associated with plentiful resources.
Session Type
Breakout Session