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EESC Seminar Series: Changes in Snowpack Water Storage and Hydrologic Partitioning Across Western North America
February 25 at 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Free
Speaker: Dr. Kate Hale, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia
Mountain snowpacks dictate the timing and amount of downstream meltwater resources, storing winter precipitation until warming temperatures trigger spring and summer snowmelt. In the montane, snow‑affected regions of western North America, climate warming is altering both the amount of snow that accumulates and the timing of meltwater release.
Projections indicate that the fraction of precipitation falling as snow will continue to decline, and snowmelt will shift earlier in the year—changes that may significantly affect evapotranspiration, streamflow, spring nutrient fluxes, soil conditions, flooding, and drought.
Dr. Kate Hale and her Snow Water Resources Laboratory use observation-based, remotely sensed, and modelled datasets to evaluate the magnitude and timing of snowpack water storage and release across western North America. Their work quantifies differences between precipitation seasonality and surface water input seasonality—from catchment to continental scales—as an index of snow storage, which is both spatially uneven and highly climate‑sensitive.
Paired with intensive field campaigns, this research advances water resource monitoring within watersheds and globally.
Registration is required to attend via Zoom.
No pre-registration is required to attend in person.
