Research projects and publications

The availability of more reliable extreme water level statistics will enable designers and engineers to better assess the risks associated with extreme water levels for present and future infrastructure.

The project made municipalities and MRCs more aware of the impacts of certain land use planning and water management decisions. Each participating community has increased its autonomy in dealing with the impacts of the issues to which they are exposed.

The projections from the project serve to identify plausible risks and protect human health and the shellfish industry in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The main results of this project will be presented to the elected officials and population of the Québec City region to raise awareness about the issue of drinking water availability in a changing climate.

This project produced results that can be used by actors in each sector, as well as by economic, regional, national and international development stakeholders, to inform adaptation efforts.

This project focused on the modeling of climate change impacts on water resources, specifically in Quebec and Bavaria, which is a growing concern for the scientific community working in the field of water resources.

This project has provided an integrated tool for clearly assessing vulnerability to riverbank erosion and identifying important variables in river dynamics. It has also made it possible to localize areas vulnerable to riverbank adjustments by identifying favourable zones for sediment accumulation in the channel.

Air traffic plays an essential role in the functioning of Nunavik communities, whose infrastructures must be maintained in good operating condition. This study provided a technical description of how permafrost degradation affects these infrastructures.

This project has raised the awareness and responsibility of many Quebec municipalities to issues related to climate risks, in particular the impacts on the built environment and the vulnerability of infrastructures.

This study, carried out as part of the Ouranos consortium’s health program and coordinated by the INSPQ, is part of the water quality component. It focuses on the impact of climate change on precipitation and runoff in urban and rural areas and highlights seasonal differences that may arise.

This project assessed snow cover characteristics and snow physical properties within the CRCM4 Canadian Regional Climate Model in northern Quebec, and helped improving albedo in the Canadian LAnd Surface Scheme (CLASS).

This project allowed examination of cyclone tracks over North America, mainly focusing on those over the east coast and on intraseasonal, interannual and decadal timescales. Moreover, cyclone tracks were simulated by CRCM.

This project involved the development and testing of diagnostic programs for the extraction and analysis of climate data in the Ouranos database. Modifications to the existing programs will enable the processing of data from the new CRCM at 15 km simulations and the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program simulations.

This project has enabled the optimization of flood and low-water risk management and the development of proactive adaptation strategies.

This project allowed an extensive analysis of extreme precipitation that occurs in the Saint Lawrence River Valley.

The goal of this project is to explore the potential of CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project - Phase 5) data-base for its future use in impact and adaptation studies at Consortium Ouranos.

This project has provided a better understanding of the relationships between atmospheric circulation and the spatial and temporal variability of water inflows in northern Quebec and will thus become a fundamental source for predicting water resources in that area.

This project has strengthened collaboration between Quebec and Bavaria in watershed management in a context of climate change.

The project helped to strengthen the tools and knowledge available to support the implementation of adaptation initiatives and build closer linkages between the monitoring and evaluation and adaptation communities practice.

This project strengthened the case for climate change adaptation for both government and civil society.

The results of this project will improve the coverage of the observation network for climate, ice, fresh water and wind. They will provide additional knowledge on large-scale atmospheric and ocean actions/interactions.

This project has led to the development of models that will enable our industrial partners Hydro Québec and Rio Tinto, among others, to better manage their equipment stocks in the face of climate variability and changes.

This project made it possible to offer simple procedures and guidelines to support small municipalities in developing their response plans and assessing risk in the context of climate change.

This project provided basic knowledge on trembling aspen and improved our ability to anticipate the impact of global changes on its productivity. This species is important due to its distribution and economic potential.

The results of this project will provide tools to help municipalities better understand the value and means of developing a municipal-level (regional or sometimes local) climate change adaptation plan through a participatory process.

This project gave rise to a better understanding of the dynamics of runoff, water storage and evapotranspiration in a small boreal watershed with a large minerotrophic patterned fen peatland.

An in-depth study of the components of the water balance will fill the knowledge gap on the hydrology of minerotrophic patterned fens and their influence on the production and emission of greenhouse gases.

Upon completion of this project, hydroelectric power resource managers and the authorities concerned with climate change will benefit from a better understanding of the temporal and spatial changes in hydroclimatic conditions, which may facilitate the development of appropriate hydrological scenarios for this climate-sensitive region.

This project allowed a structured reflection to help the Quebec government develop a comprehensive and integrated strategy towards the development of priority actions involved in adapting to climate change rather than scattered initiatives.

This project led to an improved fifth generation Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM5) allowing the production of climate change projections to support vulnerabilities, impacts and adaptation projects. This project will improve our understanding of specific processes to be considered for climate change studies.

These four publications deal with the recommendations on floodplain management in the Lake Champlain-Richelieu transboundary watershed presented to the International Joint Commission.

This project focuses on the consequences of extreme events linked to climate change. In particular, the aim here is to analyze the direct link between CO2 emissions and socio-economic impacts such as loss of worker productivity during episodes of intense heat. 

The project has enabled APM to identify the elements of the Montreal port system most vulnerable to climate change on which they can focus their adaptation actions.

This study has made it possible to improve the post-processing tools used and to verify the relative performance of these statistical methods for estimating the biases that exist in climate studies, which may not be constant even over two periods that are very close in time.

This project will offer support for the process of prioritizing public infrastructure components in terms of vulnerability to climate change, based on evidence.

The CRCM5 driven by MPI projects almost no sea ice in the Arctic Ocean in 2100. Furthermore, warming of 22°C is projected until the end of this century. These robust changes can affect the lives of Indigenous people, animals and the whole planet.

This project will enable modeling of future tree distribution, taking into account both the direct effects of climate on reproduction and growth, and the indirect effects on fire activity.

As a result of this research, Quebec stakeholders in crop protection will have the elements needed to launch a climate change adaptation strategy for the sector based on an analysis of the coherence between the actions identified in Quebec’s 2011-2021 crop health strategy and the priority adaptation measures identified during this project.

Agricultural sector users have now access to summary knowledge on climate change and its potential impacts on the agricultural sector. They can access resource documents validated by experts, including an inventory of the knowledge and tools available for dealing with expected climate changes.

The tool developed in this project describes the levels of freedom space and can serve to integrate this concept into municipal and provincial water management policies. The analyses revealed the important role wetlands play in the proper functioning of rivers, especially in the climate change context, and supports efforts to better protect these essential areas.

This project has allowed to increase awareness through regular meetings of the municipal water withdrawers who share the same finite resource. It will allow improved preparedness for expected low flow periods, through a decision support tool that helps municipal users react more
rapidly and equitably. Moreover, it is an approach to monitoring that can be adapted to circumstances other than low flows.

The results obtained for the Yamaska basin will allow the extension of the studies to other basins and could eventually allow the implementation of the methodology within the forecasting system of the Centre d'expertise hydrique du Québec.

The results of this study reinforce the importance of avoiding disturbance of wetlands, which encourages the establishment of the common reed through seed germination, and revegetating any areas disturbed by work in marshes as quickly as possible.

This project reccomands the reduction of the fragmentation of habitats to encourage the spatial reorganization of species; to expand the network of protected areas and to conceive it based on climate change considerations. Moreover, a better system for monitoring biodiversity in Quebec is needed to detect changes and respond to them in time.

This project has revealed that it is to the advantage of the tourism industry to take a proactive leadership role in raising awareness and training; increased knowledge among participants and encouraged decision-making bodies in the pilot regions to adopt a practical approach to climate change adaptation; and shown the need for a support system and regulatory framework for the tourism industry that will encourage better climate change adaptation.