Climate insights: high-resolution forecasts and groundwater dynamics

Climate change has led to significant alterations in snow water resources, highlighting the need for robust adaptation strategies. In this talk, I will discuss our study which focuses on the high-resolution forecasting of daily snow cover and Snow Water Equivalent (SWE).

Utilising CMIP6 climate projections along with a novel K-nearest neighbor algorithm, our research simulates high-resolution changes in snow. This enhances predictions of hydrological phenomena and aids in improving water resource management.

Groundwater recharge (GWR) represents the water that infiltrates from the surface, percolates through the soil, and eventually replenishes groundwater reservoirs. It plays a crucial role in regional hydrological dynamics, propagating changes at the surface to groundwater resources, which sustain various uses (domestic and industrial water, agriculture, and ecosystems).

This presentation will focus on characterising the impacts of global change on groundwater recharge in the cold and humid climate of southern Quebec, Canada. The hydrological dynamics of the region are primarily influenced by the cold period, during which precipitation accumulates as snow and ice. Changes in climatic conditions will significantly impact GWR, leading to dramatic alterations in seasonal hydrological dynamics. Additionally, changes in land cover increase GWR sensitivity to climate changes.