Dendrochronological analysis of past hydro-climatic variations in La Grande river complex in Northern Quebec

International audience In order to retrace the evolution of the hydrological regime parameters with time, we have reconstructed the main hydroclimatological variables used in forecast models. The study was conducted in the region of the James Bay hydroelectric complex of La Grande. Trees occupying s...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Begin, Yves, Nicault, Antoine, Begin, Christian, Savard, Martine M., Arseneault, Dominique, Berninger, Frank, Guiot, Joel, Boreux, Jean-Jacques, Perreault, Luc
Other Authors: Institut Méditerranéen d'Ecologie et de Paléoécologie (IMEP), Université Paul Cézanne - Aix-Marseille 3-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Avignon Université (AU)-Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille 1, Centre européen de recherche et d'enseignement des géosciences de l'environnement (CEREGE), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Département des Sciences et Gestion de l'Environnement Liege (DSGE), Université de Liège, Hydro-Québec
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2007
Subjects:
[SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes
La Grande River
James Bay
Online Access:https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01457684
https://doi.org/10.1051/lhb:2007085
Description
Summary:International audience In order to retrace the evolution of the hydrological regime parameters with time, we have reconstructed the main hydroclimatological variables used in forecast models. The study was conducted in the region of the James Bay hydroelectric complex of La Grande. Trees occupying sites sensitive to water availability variations (xeric, mesic and hydric sites) and those sensitive to thermal conditions (depending on exposition) give the opportunity to reconstruct climate variability between years. A calibration period with instrumental data is essential and it is also important to verify the models relating rings to climate with independent data. More than one hundred treering series covering more than 180 years, tens series of more than 250 years and one series covering one thousand years have been reconstructed. These tree-ring series cover an area of 320 000 km(2) (800 km in longitude x 400 km in latitude). Summer temperatures, snow precipitation and seasonal water supply were reconstructed over the past 200 years by means of various tree-ring proxies: ring width, density (9 derived variables) and ratios of stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon.

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