Paleohydrological context for recent floods and droughts in the Fraser River Basin, British Columbia, Canada
The recent intensification of floods and droughts in the Fraser River Basin (FRB) of British Columbia has had profound cultural, ecological, and economic impacts that are expected to be exacerbated further by anthropogenic climate change. In part due to short instrumental runoff records, the long-te...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac3daf |
| _version_ | 1797747091984875520 |
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| author | Becky L Brice Bethany L Coulthard Inga K Homfeld Laura A Dye Kevin J Anchukaitis |
| author_facet | Becky L Brice Bethany L Coulthard Inga K Homfeld Laura A Dye Kevin J Anchukaitis |
| author_sort | Becky L Brice |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The recent intensification of floods and droughts in the Fraser River Basin (FRB) of British Columbia has had profound cultural, ecological, and economic impacts that are expected to be exacerbated further by anthropogenic climate change. In part due to short instrumental runoff records, the long-term stationarity of hydroclimatic extremes in this major North American watershed remains poorly understood, highlighting the need to use high-resolution paleoenvironmental proxies to inform on past streamflow. Here we use a network of tree-ring proxy records to develop 11 subbasin-scale, complementary flood- and drought-season reconstructions, the first of their kind. The reconstructions explicitly target management-relevant flood and drought seasons within each basin, and are examined in tandem to provide an expanded assessment of extreme events across the FRB with immediate implications for water management. We find that past high flood-season flows have been of greater magnitude and occurred in more consecutive years than during the observational record alone. Early 20th century low flows in the drought season were especially severe in both duration and magnitude in some subbasins relative to recent dry periods. Our Fraser subbasin-scale reconstructions provide long-term benchmarks for the natural flood and drought variability prior to anthropogenic forcing. These reconstructions demonstrate that the instrumental streamflow records upon which current management is based likely underestimate the full natural magnitude, duration, and frequency of extreme seasonal flows in the FRB, as well as the potential severity of future anthropogenically forced events. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:47:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a68253d64e804393b13752b733898d83 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:47:13Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-a68253d64e804393b13752b733898d832023-08-09T15:23:44ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262021-01-01161212407410.1088/1748-9326/ac3dafPaleohydrological context for recent floods and droughts in the Fraser River Basin, British Columbia, CanadaBecky L Brice0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0023-5988Bethany L Coulthard1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5082-4938Inga K Homfeld2Laura A Dye3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1311-9815Kevin J Anchukaitis4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8509-8080U.S. Geological Survey, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center , Denver, CO 80225, United States of America; Department of Geoscience, University of Nevada, Las Vegas , Las Vegas, NV 89154, United States of AmericaDepartment of Geoscience, University of Nevada, Las Vegas , Las Vegas, NV 89154, United States of AmericaDepartment of Geoscience, University of Nevada, Las Vegas , Las Vegas, NV 89154, United States of AmericaDepartment of Geoscience, University of Nevada, Las Vegas , Las Vegas, NV 89154, United States of AmericaSchool of Geography, Development, and Environment, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ 85721, United States of America; Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ 85721, United States of AmericaThe recent intensification of floods and droughts in the Fraser River Basin (FRB) of British Columbia has had profound cultural, ecological, and economic impacts that are expected to be exacerbated further by anthropogenic climate change. In part due to short instrumental runoff records, the long-term stationarity of hydroclimatic extremes in this major North American watershed remains poorly understood, highlighting the need to use high-resolution paleoenvironmental proxies to inform on past streamflow. Here we use a network of tree-ring proxy records to develop 11 subbasin-scale, complementary flood- and drought-season reconstructions, the first of their kind. The reconstructions explicitly target management-relevant flood and drought seasons within each basin, and are examined in tandem to provide an expanded assessment of extreme events across the FRB with immediate implications for water management. We find that past high flood-season flows have been of greater magnitude and occurred in more consecutive years than during the observational record alone. Early 20th century low flows in the drought season were especially severe in both duration and magnitude in some subbasins relative to recent dry periods. Our Fraser subbasin-scale reconstructions provide long-term benchmarks for the natural flood and drought variability prior to anthropogenic forcing. These reconstructions demonstrate that the instrumental streamflow records upon which current management is based likely underestimate the full natural magnitude, duration, and frequency of extreme seasonal flows in the FRB, as well as the potential severity of future anthropogenically forced events.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac3dafFraser River Basinpaleohydrologydendroclimatologywater resourcesstreamflow extremes |
| spellingShingle | Becky L Brice Bethany L Coulthard Inga K Homfeld Laura A Dye Kevin J Anchukaitis Paleohydrological context for recent floods and droughts in the Fraser River Basin, British Columbia, Canada Environmental Research Letters Fraser River Basin paleohydrology dendroclimatology water resources streamflow extremes |
| title | Paleohydrological context for recent floods and droughts in the Fraser River Basin, British Columbia, Canada |
| title_full | Paleohydrological context for recent floods and droughts in the Fraser River Basin, British Columbia, Canada |
| title_fullStr | Paleohydrological context for recent floods and droughts in the Fraser River Basin, British Columbia, Canada |
| title_full_unstemmed | Paleohydrological context for recent floods and droughts in the Fraser River Basin, British Columbia, Canada |
| title_short | Paleohydrological context for recent floods and droughts in the Fraser River Basin, British Columbia, Canada |
| title_sort | paleohydrological context for recent floods and droughts in the fraser river basin british columbia canada |
| topic | Fraser River Basin paleohydrology dendroclimatology water resources streamflow extremes |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac3daf |
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