Canada Water Act annual report for 2016 to 2017: chapter 4

4. Research

4.1 Research on the impacts of climate change on aquatic systems

In 2016–2017, ECCC undertook a number of activities to quantify and predict local, regional and national sensitivities of hydrological regimes and aquatic ecosystems to climate change, including:

• identification of catchments and field sites in the North to provide testbed data and locations for process research to assist in the development of next generation climate-permafrost-hydrology models
• initiation of studies in collaboration with universities and provincial and territorial agencies to achieve a pan-Canadian network capable of determining the impacts of permafrost thawing on water resources
• examination the effects of permafrost degradation on fluvial sediment dynamics
• examination of the linkage between terrestrial flow pathways and sediment sources with changes in moisture content/condition (permafrost thaw, rainfall)
• maintenance of energy flux sites at fixed locations and with partners by enhanced mobile platforms with new mounted observation systems
• quantifying the impacts on river and lake ice phenology^{Footnote 5} in northern regions
• evaluating changes in peak runoff events to the Arctic Ocean
• ongoing research at the Baker Creek Research Catchment in order to obtain information on how baseline runoff and water chemistry regimes are changing so as to properly evaluate responsible resource development in the subarctic Canadian Shield
• continued research of historical and projected future hydro-climatic variability and extremes over southern watersheds in the Canadian Prairies
• analysis of the impact of projected climate on water availability over western Canada in terms of precipitation, temperature and the Standard Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index was finalized using Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5^{Footnote 6} climate scenario data
• assessment of climate variability and change on prairie wetlands and hydrology; and
• research on the vulnerability of those regions of western Canada reliant on water from mountain headwaters to increasing drought risk and diminishing snow packs in collaboration with international and national academic organizations