A hydrological model that incorporates the energy balance (EVAP-2)

Upstream sectors of forested watersheds provide water for half of North America's population and for billions of people around the world. This is particularly true in eastern Canada where abundant surface water supports hydroelectric generation, which in turn supports Canadian economic development.

This project focuses on the humid boreal environment of eastern Canada and is largely based on two flux towers deployed in the Montmorency Forest since 2015. 

Analyze the interannual variability of snow and vertical water and energy fluxes across the atmosphere-vegetation-ground-aquifer continuum in a boreal humid forest with abundant snow. While the initial work illuminated the vertical water flux during the growing season, efforts here will focus more on the winter period. As most of Canada's hydrological regimes are strongly influenced by snow, global warming has the potential to profoundly disrupt this influence, which is a major reason for our partners to get involved in this project.

Evaluate the hydrological relevance of the Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM), in cold regions, configured to perform simulations at a resolution of about 3 km in order to explicitly take convective phenomena into account. The CRCM will use the CLASS surface scheme and the Predicted Particle Properties microphysical scheme (quantity, type, and size distribution of solid precipitation). Based on our detailed observations, the CRCM will be evaluated in simulating solid precipitation, fluxes, aquifer recharge, and snow cover properties. Lateral flows will be routed to simulate river flow.

This project is funded by the Government of Quebec and meets the objectives of the Plan pour une économie verte 2030.