NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - Sauchyn - Whirlpool Point - PIFL - ITRDB CANA330

In this paper the mean water year (October through September) flow of the North Saskatchewan River (NSR) at Edmonton, Alberta is reconstructed back to 1063 A.D. using a new network of moisture-sensitive tree-ring chronologies from limber pine and Douglas fir at seven sites in the headwater sub-basins of the North Saskatchewan River Basin (NSRB). Over the full extent of the proxy hydrometric record (1063-2007), we examined 1) the duration and severity of low flow, 2) the dominant frequencies of periodic variability and 3) the correlation between these significant periodicities in proxy streamflow and climate indices, specifically sea surface temperature oscillations, which are known drivers of regional hydroclimatic variability. This new record of the paleohydrology of the NSRB is compared to previous tree-ring reconstructions of the annul flow of the North and South Saskatchewan Rivers. Extending the reference hydrology for the basin from decades to centuries changes perceptions of the reliability of the water supply and understanding of the hydroclimatic variability. The gauge record not does represent the full extent of interannual to multidecadal variability in the tree-ring data; there are periods of low flow in the pre-instrumental record that are longer and more severe than those recorded by the gauge.