With climate change comes severe changes in how things happen. This would include floods and drought. Natural and man-made floods and drought would see an increase. This method may stop floods and drought as it is new. Details about it are being made known.
Floods and drought are a threat as climate change continues. A study has been made on Alberta's rivers that show how it would change later on, and how both floods and drought can affect much of the Prairies. The study aims to improve water resource management especially at this time of climate change.
Ali Nazemi is the lead author of the study and assistant professor in Concordia's Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering. He along with others in the study have made a new mathematical method that shows how stream flow and climate are related. Eight streams have been studied which are part of the Oldman River Basin in Southern Alberta.
Nazemi said that the study has found air temperature to have an effect Alberta's headwaters. This is due to snow melting in the Rocky Mountains. As more snow melts, more water flows into the basin. He observed that different components of temperature affect stream-flow.
A phenomenon similar to El Nino is causing this. It is called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and it is affecting surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean. Climate change is being attributed as another source of this as it has changed the timing of Alberta's headwaters, according to the Concordia University's site. Nazemi also lists human influence in changing stream-flow characteristics and cites reservoir regulations as an example, which he said can make the situation severe.
The area will continue to be vulnerable to the changing environment as climate change continues. There is need to find new ways in effectively managing water resources, as Science Daily reports. He hopes the study will give a more scientific approach to the situation in the area as well as others as climate change continues. Another study has shown that lakes are also susceptible to climate change.
