A hydrological model that incorporates the energy balance (EVAP-2)

Upstream sectors of forested watersheds provide water for half of North America's population and for billions of people around the world. This is particularly true in eastern Canada where abundant surface water supports hydroelectric generation, which in turn supports Canadian economic development.

This project focuses on the humid boreal environment of eastern Canada and is largely based on two flux towers deployed in the Montmorency Forest since 2015. 

Analyze the interannual variability of snow and vertical water and energy fluxes across the atmosphere-vegetation-ground-aquifer continuum in a boreal humid forest with abundant snow. While the initial work illuminated the vertical water flux during the growing season, efforts here will focus more on the winter period. As most of Canada's hydrological regimes are strongly influenced by snow, global warming has the potential to profoundly disrupt this influence, which is a major reason for our partners to get involved in this project.

Evaluate the hydrological relevance of the Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM), in cold regions, configured to perform simulations at a resolution of about 3 km in order to explicitly take convective phenomena into account. The CRCM will use the CLASS surface scheme and the Predicted Particle Properties microphysical scheme (quantity, type, and size distribution of solid precipitation). Based on our detailed observations, the CRCM will be evaluated in simulating solid precipitation, fluxes, aquifer recharge, and snow cover properties. Lateral flows will be routed to simulate river flow.

Due to their interdisciplinary nature, the observation and modelling of vertical water and energy fluxes across the atmosphere-vegetation-soil-aquifer continuum in humid boreal forests with abundant snow have offered a research environment favourable to the training of young scientists and engineers specializing in several fields of importance to society: hydrology, hydrometeorology, atmospheric sciences, forestry and climatology. This collaborative work, based on a novel observation site and complementary cutting-edge physical models, has encouraged the emergence of numerous and diverse scientific benefits:

• Hydrometeorological observations that are unique in Quebec, covering nearly 10 years without interruption for two of the three active towers

• In-depth knowledge on the structure of snow cover, the role of the interception of solid precipitation, and the hydrological impact of rain on snow

• A probabilistic model of precipitation phase

• A better understanding of aquifer recharge in cold boreal environments

• A diagnosis of the sensitivity of CRCM5/CLASS to soil texture

• A demonstration that high-resolution CanRCM6 simulations with explicit deep convection provide added value in the cold season and a better description of the water cycle at the watershed scale

This project is funded by the Government of Quebec and meets the objectives of the Plan pour une économie verte 2030.

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