HR: 12:05h
AN: H32E-07    [Abstracts]
TI: Drought Research: Challenges in Meeting the Needs for Drought Information on the Canadian Prairies
AU: * Lawford, R G
EM: lawford@umbc.edu
AU: Stewart, R
EM: ronald.stewart@mcgill.ca
AB: Through the Drought Research Initiative (DRI), Canada is undertaking a focused 5-year science program to study techniques for characterizating drought; to better understand drought processes, and to develop methods for improving the prediction of drought. Drought research has generated a great deal of interest among those federal and provincial resource agencies on the Canadian prairies, which are sensitive to water stresses that occur during periods of drought. Consultations with these agencies have indicated that they have a range of information needs to support decisions related to mitigating the effects of on-going droughts or planning for future droughts. Furthermore, these information needs vary by sector and user. Over the past six months, through consultations with responsible agencies and knowledgeable managers, these needs have been more clearly articulated. This presentation is a summary of such requirements by resource sector. It explores how these needs vary with respect to location, scale, season, duration and intensity. The presentation also takes a preliminary look at how DRI could be augmented in order to deal with some of these existing needs and position itself to assist with future research-policy linkages.
DE: 1616 Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513)
DE: 1807 Climate impacts
DE: 1812 Drought
DE: 1833 Hydroclimatology
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting