Deliverables
The SRB study brings together research sites, multi-scale monitoring data from ground and satellite observations and national and international experts in natural science, engineering and social science, from universities and government laboratories across Canada and internationally, to undertake research to address water management issues in the SRB. Key deliverables will be new multidisciplinary science and next generation modelling tools to support basin-wide management of uncertain water futures. Existing research sites will be significantly augmented to provide more comprehensive interdisciplinary monitoring and the deployment of new, state-of-the-art, instrumentation. This study will build on and integrate on-going initiatives and will create a unique large-scale state-of-the-art laboratory to support multi-disciplinary research. It also builds on the legacy of scientific understanding, data systems and models developed in DRI, IP3, and The Mackenzie River Basin Study (MAGS).
Project Deliverables: The 5-year SRB study aims to deliver improved scientific understanding and predictive capability to address the interactions amongst the cryospheric, ecological, hydrological and climatic components of the changing Earth system at multiple scales, and will provide new understanding, improved modelling tools and enhanced community awareness for improved water management in the SRB. In particular, it will improve our understanding of the consequences of agricultural practices, and land use and climate change for water resources and their management in interior western Canada. Equally important it will provide an improved understanding of critical policy choices in the region’s water future. Other priority deliverables will include the training of a new generation of water scientists better prepared to deal with integrated water systems and the human institutions that govern them, and development and implementation of systems that will ensure the advances of research are made available to users in ways that will facilitate planning and decision making.
