Research Interests

Overview of Research Interests

There are currently 37 University of Saskatchewan faculty members associated directly with the Centre for Hydrology, and many more research associates and graduate students. Hydrologists are to be found in the following departments:

We additionally have very close links with Environment and Climate Change Canada's Water Science & Technology Directorate through their National Hydrology Research Centre, which is immediately adjacent to the campus, and at which a number of faculty members are based. Other links also exist with the Saskatchewan Research Council and the Western Watersheds Climate Research Collaborative.

The Centre for Hydrology contributes to the Global Institute for Water Security which coordinates a wide range of water studies and science on campus and to the NSERC CREATE training programme in Food and Water Nexus. The Centre is a key contributor to the Global Water Futures Program which is the largest university-led water research program in the world. The Centre hosts the Global Water Futures Observatories (GWFO) secretariat and research facilities in the Canadian Rockies and Prairies.

Current Research

Hydrology and Climate

Research on global water and energy cycling, hydrometeorology, hydrology in climate and weather models, hydrological modelling, climate change impacts on water resources.

Snow Processes and Cold Regions Hydrometeorology

Research on cold regions hydrometeorology covers the complex interactions between atmospheric, cryospheric and hydrologic domains, and their effect on both streamflow and meteorology.

Water Resources of Western and Northern Canada

Research on the water resources of the major river basins of western and n01thern Canada, water management, drought, flooding, wetlands, groundwater, irrigation, cumulative effects assessment, soil water relationships, plant-water relationships, forest hydrology.

Hydroecology and Water Quality

Research on drinking water supplies, aquatic ecology, agricultural water quality, water pathways, pollutant effects on aquatic ecosystem health, development of software tools to relate changes in water quality and quantity to human development.

Effects of the Mining Sector on Water Resources

Research on mine reclamation with respect to water quality and quantity on uranium mines, oilsands, potash mines, pipelines, northern development. Research on the effects of the discharges of mine effluents on aquatic biota and water quality.

Global Water Futures

Global Water Futures: Solutions to Water Threats in an Era of Global Change has an overarching goal to deliver risk management solutions­ - informed by leading-edge water science and supported by innovative decision-making tools - to manage water futures in Canada and other cold regions where global warming is changing landscapes, ecosystems, and the water environment. GWF goals include i) delivering new capacity for disaster warning, ii) diagnosing and predicting water futures and iii) developing new models , tools and approaches to managing water-related risks to multiple sectors.

Global Water Futures Observatories

Global Water Futures Observatories (GWFO) is Canada's premier national university-operated scientific freshwater observation network. With funding support, in part, through the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and its Major Sciences Initiative (MSI), GWFO operates 64 instrumented river basins, lakes, streams, and wetlands, 15 deployable measurement systems, and 18 state-of-the-art water laboratories. These monitor Canada's drainage basins and aquatic systems in fine detail at local scales across a vast portion of Canada, spanning many of the provinces and territories, and major river basins including the Yukon, Mackenzie, Saskatchewan–Nelson, and Great Lakes–St. Lawrence.