Gordon Young

The effect of glacier wastage on the flow of the Bow River at Banff, Alberta, 1951-1993

A surface area/volume relationship was used to estimate total glacier volumes for the highly glacierized Hector Lake Basin (281 km 2 ) in the Canadian Rockies in the years 1951 and 1993. The change in volume was calculated and this value then extrapolated up to the Bow Basin at Banff (2230 km 2 ) based on relative proportions of glacier cover. The mean net glacier volume loss estimate of 934 × 10 6 m 3 was divided into annual proportions of glacier wastage and storage using a local mass balance record collected at Peyto Glacier in the Mistaya Valley, contiguous to the Bow Basin. Unfortunately, the record began in 1966 and a hind-cast to 1952 (hydrological year) was necessary. Banff maximum summer temperature and Lake Louise snow course data were used as surrogates for summer and winter glacier mass balance, respectively. Monthly wastage proportions were estimated for 1967 1974 by using modelled values of glacial melt as a template. Glacier wastage inputs to and storage held back from the Bow River hydrograph at Banff were compared with known basin yields to assess the hydrological effects of glacier volume change For 1952-1993, the average annual wastage/basin yield ratio was found to be around 1.8%. For the extremely low flow year of 1970 this ratio increased to 13%. The proportion of flow derived from glacier wastage in August of this year was estimated to be around 56%. Although the results tend to confirm the regulatory effect of glaciers on stream flow, it was found that in some years of low flow this situation has been aggravated by water being held in glacial storage.

Handedness throughout the lifespan: cross-sectional view on sex differences as asymmetries change

Manual asymmetries has been studied by many researchers, however contradictory findings still exist as to whether preferred manual asymmetries increases with age or do we become more ambidextrous. Recently it was shown that perhaps there is a third option, that there is no increase or decrease in laterality but rather preferred manual asymmetries remains consistent throughout adulthood. Another related finding is that females appear to have an advantage in some handedness tasks, such as the Grooved Pegboard. When a larger pegboard is used, sex differences may reverse as males may perform better when larger pegs and a larger trajectory are required. However, it is not fully understood if these sex differences arise from an early age and continue throughout life. Therefore, we sought to explore sex differences in preferred hand dominance throughout the lifespan. In order to explore preferred hand dominance during the lifespan we examined 76 children (19.4–5 year olds, 12 female, Mage = 4.73; 34.6–8 year olds, 12 female, Mage = 6.97; 23.9–12 year olds, 14 female, Mage = 10.83) in Experiment 1 and 35 healthy young right-handed adults (15 female, Mage = 20.91) and 37 healthy older right-handed adults (20 female, Mage = 72.3) in Experiment 2. Individuals were tested using a standard size (small) and modified Grooved Pegboard (larger pegboard). Our study demonstrates that hand asymmetries are present early in life (children 4–5 years old) at that these differences attenuate as a function of age until adulthood (Experiment 1). Furthermore, our results demonstrate that as we age (Experiment 2), asymmetries may increase (small and large pegboards), decrease (Annett), or stay the same (finger tapping). As well we demonstrated that the sex differences could not be entirely accounted for by hand size. Therefore, asymmetries as regard to the aging process, seems to be task specific which may account for the conflicting findings in research.

Cold matters: the state and fate of Canada’s fresh water

mitigation, water resources engineering and environmental economics will find this an invaluable resource even if they struggle (as I did) through some of the more advanced concepts of fuzzy logic. This will also be very useful to the next generation of decision-makers if it can be introduced into the academic curriculum in the fields of hydrology, climate change, environmental science or policy, and risk assessment.