CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Fleming, S.W.; Moore, R.D.; and Clarke, G.
Date : 2004.
Title : Contrasting responses of glacier- and snowmelt-fed rivers to the Arctic Oscillation and El Nino-Southern Oscillation.
Publication : Eos Transactions. Joint Assembly of the CGU, AGU, SEG and EEGS, Montreal, Canada, May 17-21, 2004.
Issue : 85(17):
Page(s) : H43B-01.
Abstract
The responses of four glacier-fed and four snowmelt-fed rivers in the southwest Canadian subarctic to El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Arctic Oscillation (AO; also known as the Northern Annular Mode) were empirically investigated and compared using historical streamflow data. Empirical orthogonal function, correlation, and composite analyses, implemented using nonparametric (Mann-Whitney and Monte Carlo randomization) methods for significance testing, yielded two key results. First, the regionally coherent components of annual glacial and nival river discharges are statistically independent, suggesting that the hydroclimatic filtering effects of watershed glacierization may be no less important that the regional climatic driving forces themselves in determining local interannual water resource fluctuations. Second, annual glacial river flows are strongly influenced by the AO but not ENSO, whereas yearly nival streamflows are moderately influenced by ENSO but not the AO, implying glacially-controlled selective hydroclimatic teleconnections. Seasonal-scale fluvial responses are seen to be somewhat more complex but consistent with the annual results. Results from composite analyses of available surface meteorological station data are consistent with the hydrologic interpretations.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology