An Assessment of the river ice break-up season in Canada

A return-period analysis of annual peak spring break-up and open-water levels for 136 Water Survey of Canada hydrometric stations was used to classify rivers across Canada and to assess the physical controls on peak break-up water-levels. According to the peak water-level river-regime classification...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Von de Wall, Simon Julius
Other Authors: Prowse, Terry Donald
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1828/3752
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record_format openpolar
spelling ftuvicpubl:oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/3752 2023-05-15T15:12:44+02:00 An Assessment of the river ice break-up season in Canada Von de Wall, Simon Julius Prowse, Terry Donald 2011 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1828/3752 English en eng http://hdl.handle.net/1828/3752 Available to the World Wide Web Cold regions hydrology river ice break-up flood levels return-period analysis river regimes teleconnections spring 0°C isotherm variability Thesis 2011 ftuvicpubl 2022-05-19T06:13:23Z A return-period analysis of annual peak spring break-up and open-water levels for 136 Water Survey of Canada hydrometric stations was used to classify rivers across Canada and to assess the physical controls on peak break-up water-levels. According to the peak water-level river-regime classification and subsequent analysis, 32% of rivers were classified as spring break-up dominated, characterized by low elevations and slopes and large basin sizes while 45% were open-water dominated and associated with alpine environments of high elevations and channel slopes, and smaller basin sizes. The remaining 23% of rivers were classified as a mixed regime. A spatial and temporal analysis (1969-2006) of the river ice break-up season using hydrometric variables of timing and water levels, never before assessed at the northern Canada-wide scale, revealed significant declines in break-up water levels and significant trends towards earlier and prolonged break-up in western and central Canada. The spatial and temporal influence of air temperature on break-up timing was assessed using the spring 0°C isotherm, which revealed a significant positive relationship but no spatial patterns. In the case of major ocean/atmosphere oscillations, significant negative (positive) correlations indicate that break-up occurs earlier (later) during the positive phases of the Pacific North American Pattern (El Niño Southern Oscillation) over most of western Canada. Fewer significant positive correlations show that break-up occurs later during the positive phases of the Arctic Oscillation and North Atlantic Oscillation in eastern Canada. Graduate Thesis Arctic North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation University of Victoria (Canada): UVicDSpace Arctic Canada Pacific
institution Open Polar
collection University of Victoria (Canada): UVicDSpace
op_collection_id ftuvicpubl
language English
topic Cold regions hydrology
river ice break-up
flood levels
return-period analysis
river regimes
teleconnections
spring 0°C isotherm
variability
spellingShingle Cold regions hydrology
river ice break-up
flood levels
return-period analysis
river regimes
teleconnections
spring 0°C isotherm
variability
Von de Wall, Simon Julius
An Assessment of the river ice break-up season in Canada
topic_facet Cold regions hydrology
river ice break-up
flood levels
return-period analysis
river regimes
teleconnections
spring 0°C isotherm
variability
description A return-period analysis of annual peak spring break-up and open-water levels for 136 Water Survey of Canada hydrometric stations was used to classify rivers across Canada and to assess the physical controls on peak break-up water-levels. According to the peak water-level river-regime classification and subsequent analysis, 32% of rivers were classified as spring break-up dominated, characterized by low elevations and slopes and large basin sizes while 45% were open-water dominated and associated with alpine environments of high elevations and channel slopes, and smaller basin sizes. The remaining 23% of rivers were classified as a mixed regime. A spatial and temporal analysis (1969-2006) of the river ice break-up season using hydrometric variables of timing and water levels, never before assessed at the northern Canada-wide scale, revealed significant declines in break-up water levels and significant trends towards earlier and prolonged break-up in western and central Canada. The spatial and temporal influence of air temperature on break-up timing was assessed using the spring 0°C isotherm, which revealed a significant positive relationship but no spatial patterns. In the case of major ocean/atmosphere oscillations, significant negative (positive) correlations indicate that break-up occurs earlier (later) during the positive phases of the Pacific North American Pattern (El Niño Southern Oscillation) over most of western Canada. Fewer significant positive correlations show that break-up occurs later during the positive phases of the Arctic Oscillation and North Atlantic Oscillation in eastern Canada. Graduate
author2 Prowse, Terry Donald
format Thesis
author Von de Wall, Simon Julius
author_facet Von de Wall, Simon Julius
author_sort Von de Wall, Simon Julius
title An Assessment of the river ice break-up season in Canada
title_short An Assessment of the river ice break-up season in Canada
title_full An Assessment of the river ice break-up season in Canada
title_fullStr An Assessment of the river ice break-up season in Canada
title_full_unstemmed An Assessment of the river ice break-up season in Canada
title_sort assessment of the river ice break-up season in canada
publishDate 2011
url http://hdl.handle.net/1828/3752
geographic Arctic
Canada
Pacific
geographic_facet Arctic
Canada
Pacific
genre Arctic
North Atlantic
North Atlantic oscillation
genre_facet Arctic
North Atlantic
North Atlantic oscillation
op_relation http://hdl.handle.net/1828/3752
op_rights Available to the World Wide Web
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