British Columbia

British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada. Situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, forests, lakes, mountains, inland deserts and grassy plains. British Columbia borders the province of Alberta to the east, the territories of Yukon and the Northwest Territories to the north, and the US states of Washington, Idaho and Montana to the south and Alaska to the northwest. With an estimated population of over 5.4 million as of 2023, it is Canada's third-most populous province. The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, while the province's largest city is Vancouver. Vancouver and its suburbs together make up the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada; with the 2021 census recording 2.6 million people in Metro Vancouver. The first known human inhabitants of the area settled in British Columbia at least 10,000 yea

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Improving the degree-day method for sub-daily melt simulations with physically-based diurnal variations

Guillermo Barrenetxea Kobas, Ludovico Nicotina, Marc Parlange, Andrea Rinaldo, Bettina Schaefli, Silvia Simoni, Cara Christine Tobin

This paper proposes a new extension of the classical degree-day snowmelt model applicable to hourly simulations for regions with limited data and adaptable to a broad range of spatially-explicit hydrological models. The snowmelt schemes have been tested with a point measurement dataset at the Cotton Creek Experimental Watershed (CCEW) in British Columbia, Canada and with a detailed dataset available from the Dranse de Ferret catchment, an extensive ly monitor ed catchment in the Swiss Alps. The snowmelt model performance is quantified with the use of a spatially-explicit model of the hydrologic response. Comparative analyses are presented with the widely-known, grid-based method proposed by Hock which combines a local, temperature-index approach with potential radiation. The results suggest that a simple diurnal cycle of the degree-day melt parameter based on minimum and maximum temperature s is competitive with the Hock approach for sub-daily melt simulations. Advantages of the new extension of the classical degree-da y method over other temperature-index methods include its use of physically-based, diurnal variations and its abil ity to be adapted to data-constrained hydrological models which are lumped in some nature.

Elsevier2013

Effects of impoundment on nutrient availability and productivity in lakes

Alfred Johny Wüest

We investigate the hydraulic alteration and the effect on primary productivity of the Hugh Keenleyside Dam built at the outlet of the Arrow Lakes (British Columbia, Canada) in 1967. Three dam-induced hydraulic changes have been identified as relevant: (1) water level increase, (2) leveling of the seasonal outflow, and (3) subsurface release of water from the dam. The potential effect of these alterations on primary productivity were tested with a numerical model supported by field observations. Hydraulic modifications can reduce lake productivity by up to 40%, primarily as a result of altered flow path and allowing nutrients to pass through the reservoir without entering the productive zone near the surface. This productivity loss is comparable to the reduction caused by nutrient retention behind dams constructed upstream of the Arrow Lakes Reservoir. The combined productivity loss from both of these two mechanisms is significant and may well be responsible for the dramatic decline of kokanee (Oncorhynchus nerka) observed in the Arrow Lakes Reservoir in the 1990s.

Amer Soc Limnology Oceanography2007

Double diffusion in saline Powell Lake, British Columbia

Alfred Johny Wüest

Powell Lake contains a deep layer of relic seawater separated from the ocean since the last ice age. Permanently stratified and geothermally heated from below, this deep layer is an isolated geophysical domain suitable for studying double-diffusive convection. High-resolution CTD and microstructure measurements show several double-diffusive staircases (R-rho = 1.6 to 6) in the deep water, separated vertically by smooth high-gradient regions with much larger density ratios. The lowest staircase contains steps that are laterally coherent on the basin scale and have a well-defined vertical structure. On average, temperature steps in this staircase are 4 mK, salinity steps are 2 mg kg(-1), and mixed layer heights are 70 cm. The CTD is capable of measuring bulk characteristics of the staircase in both temperature and salinity. Microstructure measurements are limited to temperature alone, but resolve the maximum temperature gradients in the center of selected laminar interfaces. Two different algorithms for characterizing the staircase are compared. Consistent estimates of the steady-state heat flux (27 mW m(-2)) are obtained from measurements above and below the staircase, as well as from microstructure measurements in the center of smooth interfaces. Estimates obtained from bulk interface gradients underestimate the steady-state flux by nearly a factor of 2. The mean flux calculated using a standard 4/3 flux law parameterization agrees well with the independent estimates, but inconsistencies between the parameterization and the observations remain. These inconsistencies are examined by comparing the underlying scaling relationship to the measurements.

American Meteorological Society2014

ENV-406: Biomineralization: from nature to application

Understanding process and role of biomineralization (minerals formed by living organisms) in context of Earth's evolution,global chemical cycles, climatic changes and remediation.

ENV-200: Environmental chemistry

This course provides students with an overview over the basics of environmental chemistry. This includes the chemistry of natural systems, as well as the fate of anthropogenic chemicals in natural systems. It enables students to apply general chemical concepts to natural systems.

ENV-525: Physics and hydrology of snow

This course covers principles of snow physics, snow hydrology, snow-atmosphere interaction and snow modeling. It transmits sound understanding of physical processes within the snow and at its interfaces with the atmosphere and the ground, including field, laboratory, and modeling techniques.