The Changing Hydrology of Lhù’ààn Mǟn - Kluane Lake - under Past and Future Climates and Glacial Retreat
Date
2018
Authors
Loukili, Youssef
Pomeroy, John W.
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Centre for Hydrology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
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Technical Report
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Abstract
The goal of this report is to estimate the variability and changes in the lake levels of Kluane
Lake over the historical period and into the future climates of the 21st C, with and without
the Kaskawulsh Glacier contribution. The study diagnoses the causes of variability of lake
levels in the past and evaluates the impact of deglaciation on lake levels in the future in the
context of climate change. The methods use a combination of weather data from
observations and global climate models to drive a detailed glacio-hydrological prediction
model, which calculates streamflows in the Slims River and other inflows to Kluane Lake,
lake evaporation and outflows and then the lake level. Historical Kluane Lake levels during
the 20th C and future lake levels under global warming projections for the rest of the 21st C
were predicted - with and without the Kaskawulsh Glacier contribution to the Slims River.
The Canadian glacio-hydrological water prediction model MESH, which couples the
Canadian Land Surface Scheme with both surface and subsurface runoff on slopes and river
routing, was used to model the hydrology of the Kluane Lake Basin for these predictions. The
adjacent gauged Duke River Basin was also included in the model to provide opportunities
to evaluate the model performance in this region against gauged streamflows. Model
parameterisations of topography, land cover, glacier cover, soil type and runoff directions
were made and used to set up the model on various sub-basins flowing into Kluane Lake,
including the Slims River Basin.
The results drawn from this study are intended to answer important questions posed by
Kluane First Nation of Burwash Landing, residents of Destruction Bay and surrounding areas
and Yukon Government on the history and the future of Kluane Lake levels. Furthermore,
the study will help inform water management and infrastructure design around Kluane Lake,
and other environmental and aquatic conservation and adaptation efforts in the region.
While the models employed here represent the “state-of-the-art”, there is uncertainty in the
predictions. This uncertainty could be reduced in future prediction efforts by resuming
Kluane River discharge measurements, which were discontinued in 1994.
Description
Keywords
Slims River (Ä’äy Chù), Kaskawulsh Glacier, Yukon Territory, glacier hydrology, Kluane Lake (Lhù’ààn Mǟn), Water levels
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Part Of
Centre for Hydrology Report #15