In a time of extreme weather events and their impact, globally, as well as in Canada, the University of Saskatchewan has two professors who will be part of an international collaboration that builds models to predict water activity.  Specifically they will aim to improve hydrology predictions when it comes to warnings of floods, droughts, and harmful water quality conditions.

Team lead from the U of S is Dr. Martyn Clark, professor in the Department of Geography and Planning, He will be joined by department colleague and Canada Research Chair in Water Resources and Climate Change, Dr. John Pomeroy.

They will be a part of the Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology that will be headquartered in the Alabama Water Institute at the University of Alabama. There will be 13 total post-secondary institutions involved in the hydrology research.

The new modelling from this project will provide predictions that enable administrative bodies to optimize water supply and irrigation, hydro power operations, reservoir management, and recreation.

Dr. John Pomeroy notes that this collaboration is crucially important because flooding is something that effects everyone.

“Flood damages have gone through the roof in the last couple decades compared to the previous century. This is not just in Canada, it’s in the United States, it’s throughout the world.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States is funding the five year project with 360 million dollars.

Dr. Pomeroy says, “Right now warning is often very, very short notice and historically in Canada it’s been hours in some places, and that’s not enough time. We want to extend that to several days and reduce the uncertainty of these forecasts.”

This project will mark the first time that a Canadian university will be incorporated in a NOAA cooperative institute such as this project.