Munro, D. Scott

Full Research Description:
My focus is in Western Canada, where there is growing awareness that a loss of glacier cover in a time of global warming signifies diminishing water resources, a problem that requires knowledge of how weather variations control the conversion of glacier ice and snow to flowing water, as well as how the conversion processes evolve with climate change. Some aspects of dealing with melt processes, such as mapping the solar energy supply using satellites are well in hand. But, mapping the heat supplied by the warm air that lies over the glaciers in summer presents some real challenges in understanding small-scale weather processes, a field that atmospheric scientists refer to as boundary-layer research. The problem is to understand how heat flows between the glacier surface and its boundary-layer well enough so that data from weather stations located in an area near a glacier can be used to model the contribution of this heat flow to melting anywhere on the glacier, regardless of glacier size. Size matters because most of what we know comes from experience on glaciers larger than those we usually find in Western Canada, the glaciers upon which many of the rivers and streams in this area depend. The objective is to use discoveries from my research to validate methods of mapping the boundary-layer heat supply to melting glaciers using information from weather stations. Thus informed about the processes at work, ice scientists will be in a better position to assess the impact of diminishing glacier cover upon regional stream flow, such as to better inform water management policy.