Innovation Anthology #459:
The new manual for rebuilding oil sands hydrology is based on the lessons learned through the scientific research conducted by Drs. Kevin Devito and Carl Mendoza from the University of Alberta.
As soil scientist and knowledge transfer expert Clara Qualizza, success depends on understanding the main principle – the boreal plain ecosystem is driven by a very dry climate.
CLARA QUALIZZA: You need to think about designing a landscape to sustain the ecosystems, the wetlands and the forest lands, through the predominantly dry cycles and then capture and redistribute water and store it during the very periodic wet cycles. The natural landscape does that by the fact that it’s a very heterogeneous landscape with a mosaic of wetlands and forest lands sitting on top of all these glacial deposits. And they fill up with water and they spill over with water. They kind of turn on and off on the landscape, depending on where they are in a climate cycle. And it’s that mosaic that keeps that landscape functioning.
Clara Qualizza says this new understanding comes from the HEAD projects. That stands for Hydrology, Ecology and Disturbance of Wetlands.
Thanks today to SYNCRUDE
FOR INNOVATION ANTHOLOGY
I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
Guest
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Sponsor
Syncrude
Program Date: 2012-02-23