Drought Research in Canada: A Review

Bonsal, Barrie; Wheaton, Elaine; Chipanshi, Aston; Lin, Charles A.; Sauchyn, David J.; Wen, Lei

doi:10.1080/07055900.2011.555103

Cited by 97 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…There have been a number of severe prairie droughts documented over the instrumental record, with multi-year droughts occurring in the 1890s, 1930s, late 1950s and early 1960s, 1980s, and 2000s (Bonsal and Regier, 2007Bonsal et al, 2011). In the first half of 2015, much of western Canada was experiencing abnormal to record dry conditions -in many areas immediately following a several-year period of historical record wetness and flooding.…”

Section: Droughtmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Through the use of proxy information it appears that extended drought conditions during the 20th century have been relatively mild in comparison to the pre-settlement era on the prairies, and there is evidence of climate-driven nonstationarities in hydrological variables over the past several centuries or millennia (Bonsal et al, 2013;Razavi et al, 2015). Bonsal et al (2011) provide a useful review of drought research in Canada. The recently completed DRI network was established to conduct a comprehensive study of the severe 1999-2005 Canadian prairie drought (Hanesiak et al, 2011;Stewart et al, 2011).…”

Section: Droughtmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Recent climatic, cryospheric, and hydrological changes over the interior of western Canada: a review and synthesis

DeBeer

Wheater

Carey

et al. 2016

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

101

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Abstract. It is well established that the Earth's climate system has warmed significantly over the past several decades, and in association there have been widespread changes in various other Earth system components. This has been especially prevalent in the cold regions of the northern midto high latitudes. Examples of these changes can be found within the western and northern interior of Canada, a region that exemplifies the scientific and societal issues faced in many other similar parts of the world, and where impacts have global-scale consequences. This region has been the geographic focus of a large amount of previous research on changing climatic, cryospheric, and hydrological regimes in recent decades, while current initiatives such as the Changing Cold Regions Network (CCRN) introduced in this review seek to further develop the understanding and diagnosis of this change and hence improve the capacity to predict future change. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the observed changes in various Earth system components and a concise and up-to-date regional picture of some of the temporal trends over the interior of western Canada since the mid-or late 20th century. The focus is on air temperature, precipitation, seasonal snow cover, mountain glaciers, permafrost, freshwater ice cover, and river discharge. Important long-term observational networks and data sets are described, and qualitative linkages among the changing components are highlighted. Increases in air temperature are the most notable changes within the domain, rising on average 2 • C throughout the western interior since 1950. This increase in air temperature is associated with hydrologically important changes to precipitation regimes and unambiguous declines in snow cover depth, persistence, and spatial extent. Consequences of warming air temperatures have caused mountain glaciers to recede at all latitudes, permafrost to thaw at its southern limit, and active layers over permafrost to thicken. Despite these changes, integrated effects on stream flow are complex and often offsetting. Following a review of the current literature, we provide insight from a network of northern research catchments and other sites detailing how climate change confounds hydrological responses at smaller scales, and we recommend several priority research areas that will be a focus of continued work in CCRN. Given the complex interactions and process responses to climate change, it is argued that further conceptual understanding and quantitative diagnosis of the mechanisms of change over a range of scales is required before projections of future change can be made with confidence.

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Section: Droughtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Droughtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent climatic, cryospheric, and hydrological changes over the interior of western Canada: a review and synthesis

DeBeer

Wheater

Carey

et al. 2016

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

101

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Dealing with water scarcity requires a complementary approach of supply and demand management as well as on-farm and off-farm measures. Importantly, adaptation strategies can be framed and implemented not only at temporal scales, but can also have a range of spatial scales, from local to regional and to national (Bonsal et al, 2011 ). Appropriate adaptations foster resilience and decrease vulnerability to multiple threats.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farmers’ adaptation to water scarcity in drought-prone environments: A case study of Rajshahi District, Bangladesh

Alam

2015

Agricultural Water Management

187

123

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Water scarcity and droughts pose serious threats to the livelihood of farming communities and the economy in many parts of the world. Using a survey of 546 farming households and employing multinomial logit regression, this study investigates rice farmers' adaptation to water scarcity in a semi-arid climate in Bangladesh. It identified factors determining farmers' adaptation responses to addressing water scarcity. The analysis shows that farmers with more experience of farming, better schooling, more secure tenure rights, better access to electricity and institutional facilities, and an awareness of climatic effects are more likely to adopt alternative adaptation strategies. Farmers' alternative adaptation choices are examined in comparison to the traditional approach of groundwater irrigation. This study raises issues of sustainability of agricultural adaptation practices in the context of an increasing dependence on groundwater irrigation. The results provide an insight to sustainable irrigation practices and an understanding of the characteristics of farms and farming households to frame better strategies to cope with water-stressed regimes in drought-prone environments.

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“…Access to funds for irrigation infrastructure can be difficult to attain. A large irrigation installation can cost millions of dollars that is simply not feasible for some communities (Bonsal et al 2011). It becomes important to consider the economic costs and benefits associated with different adaptation strategies as management decisions are often based on this information (Belcher 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An economic assessment of local farm multi-purpose surface water retention systems in a Canadian Prairie setting

2017

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There is a need to explore more sustainable approaches to water management on the Canadian Prairies. Retention pond installation schemes designed to capture surface water may be a viable option that would reduce water stress during drought periods by providing water for irrigation. The retention systems would serve to capture excess spring runoff and extreme rainfall events, reducing flood potential downstream. Additionally, retention ponds may be used for biomass production and nutrient retention. The purpose of this research was to investigate the economic viability of adopting local farm surface water retention systems as a strategic water management strategy. A retention pond was analyzed using a dynamic simulation model to predict its storage capacity, installation and upkeep cost, and economic advantage to farmers when used for irrigation. While irrigation application increased crop revenue, the cost of irrigation and reservoir infrastructure and installation costs were too high for the farmer to experience a positive net revenue. Farmers who harvest cattails from retention systems for biomass and available carbon offset credits can gain $642.70/hectare of harvestable cattail/year. Cattail harvest also removes phosphorus and nitrogen, providing a monetized impact of $7014/hectare of harvestable cattail/year. The removal of phosphorus, nitrogen, carbon, and avoided flooding damages of the retention basin itself provide an additional $17,730-$18,470/hectare of retention system/year. The recommended use of retention systems is for avoided flood damages, nutrient retention, and biomass production. The revenue gained from these functions can support farmers wanting to invest in irrigation while providing economic and environmental benefits to the region.

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Drought Research in Canada: A Review

Cited by 97 publications

References 69 publications

Recent climatic, cryospheric, and hydrological changes over the interior of western Canada: a review and synthesis

Recent climatic, cryospheric, and hydrological changes over the interior of western Canada: a review and synthesis

Farmers’ adaptation to water scarcity in drought-prone environments: A case study of Rajshahi District, Bangladesh

An economic assessment of local farm multi-purpose surface water retention systems in a Canadian Prairie setting

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