Vancouver Island University researchers are taking a deeper look at snow packs in unique alpine forested watersheds on northern Vancouver Island.
VIU Geography adjunct professor Dr. Bill Floyd is a Research Hydrologist with the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development and Leader of the Coastal Hydrology and Climate Change Research Lab operated out of VIU.
He said they’ll be using drone technology to fill a science knowledge gap on stream flows.
“If we can increase our ability to sample snow across a watershed it’s going to increase our ability to know what is actually there. So, people who need to make decisions based on that snow pack have a much better number in which to do that.”
Floyd said most people don’t give a second thought about the snow way up in the mountains, but it is critical to water supply, to fish, our forest ecosystems, and to our economy.
