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Prof. Jeffrey J. McDonnell

Professor and Associate Director

Global Institute for Water Security

School of Environment and Sustainability

University of Saskatchewan

H-Index - 106

Keynote Title: Understanding Streamflow Generation for Water Security in the Face of Climate Change

Hydrological models are used to solve water security problems and to predict water-related outcomes of climate change. But those models are often based on quite antiquated process descriptions of how catchments store and release water to streams. These old model structures can lead to large uncertainty in model outputs and result in situations where a model may “work” but for the wrong process reasons. This talk explores our understanding of streamflow generation— what we know, what we think we know and what we need to know—in terms where water goes when it rains, what pathway the water takes to the stream and growing evidence of the compartmentalization of the catchment water cycle. The take home message of the talk is that we overestimate what we know and underestimate the importance of new field-based measurements and process discovery—essential parts of enhanced future model formulations to address water security in the face of climate change.

Jeffrey McDonnell is a University of Saskatchewan Distinguished Professor of Hydrology and Associate Director of the Global Institute for Water Security at the University of Saskatchewan. He is the winner of the 2016 International Hydrology Prize from the International Association of Hydrological, UNESCO and the World Meteorological Organization and 2009 Dalton Medal from the European Geosciences Union. McDonnell is a member of the Royal Society of Canada, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Academia Europaea. He is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America and the Royal Geographical Society. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, among them the Outstanding Achievement Award of the New Zealand Hydrological Society, the Ray K. Linsley Award for Surface Water of the American Institute of Hydrology, the Gordon Warwick Medal of the British Society for Geomorphology and the Scientific and Technological Achievement Award from the US Environmental Protection Agency. He is the former President of the AGU Hydrology Section and author of the book “Navigating an Academic Career: A Brief Guide for PhD Students, Postdocs and Early Career Faculty”.​

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