Ph.D. Research Profile: Tim Kerr
Precipitation distribution in the Lake Pukaki Catchment, New Zealand
Research Overview
The Lake Pukaki catchment is nationally important for hydro-electricity generation, tourism, conservation and agriculture. Knowledge of the precipitation regime in the catchment is of primary importance for efficient management of these activities. The majority of precipitation falls in the upper catchment, but due to its mountainous nature few accurate measurements have been made. This has resulted in a poor understanding of the precipitation distribution in the upper catchment and in turn compromised planning and management of the resulting water resource. An intensive precipitation measurement regime is proposed for the upper catchment in an effort to improve precipitation characterisation. Analysis of the new measurements will be carried out to determine relationships against nearby long term gauge sites and to synoptic conditions. The new precipitation distribution knowledge that is gained is then to be used to improve snow storage and river flow models. These models are to be applied to the catchment to provide an understanding of the past variability of snow storage and river flow, enabling provision of flood flow and frequency information. The same principle will be used to explore the effect of possible climate change scenarios on the catchment hydrology, enabling improved resource planning.
This research will provide much overdue basic information of precipitation distribution in the Lake Pukaki catchment and the South Island as a whole. Application of this new information to snow storage and river runoff models will provide valuable insight into the historic, current and future variability of the hydrology of this nationally important region.
Recent publications and conference presentations
- Clark, M., Hendrikx, J., Slater, A., Woods, R., Hreinsson, E.Ö., Kerr, T., Owens, I. and Cullen, N., Submitted. The use of field data to design distributed snow models. Water Resources Research.
- Anderson, B., Mackintosh, A., Stumm, D., George, L., Kerr, T., Winter-Billington, A. and Fitzsimons, S., Submitted. Climate sensitivity of a high-precipitation glacier in New Zealand. Journal of Geophysical Research.
- Kerr, T. and Owens, I.F., 2008. Ghiacciai e cambiamenti climatici durante l’ultimo secolo nella regione Aoraki/Mt Cook, Nuova Zelanda (Glaciers and climate change over the last century in the Aoraki/Mt Cook region, New Zealand). Terra Glacialis, Speciale 2008: 15pp.
- Presented at and abstract submitted to the 2008 Snow and Ice Research Group New Zealand, February 4-6th, Cass.
Kerr, T., 2008. Snow and ice research information to the world through Google Earth, Snow and Ice Research Group NZ, Cass. - Hendrikx, J., Clark, M., Slater, A., Kerr, T. and Tait, A., 2007.
Observations, process studies, and modeling of seasonal snow in New Zealand, American Geophysical Union, San Francisco. - Allen, S. and Kerr, T., 2007. Times they are a changing. The Canterbury Mountaineer, 64: 60-62.
- Poster presented at the 2007 European Geoscience Union General Assembly, 15-20 April, Vienna.
- Kerr T, Owens I, Henderson R, (2007). An extreme average annual precipitation gradient measured at Aoraki/Mt Cook New Zealand (pdf - 3Mb) - Presented at and abstract submitted to the 2007 Snow and Ice Research Group New Zealand, February 12-14th, Mt Ruapehu.
- Kerr, T., Owens, I., Henderson, R.(2007). Comparison of cross-mountain precipitation profiles from around the world. - Presented at and abstract submitted to the 2006 joint conference of the New Zealand Hydrological Society, New Zealand Association of Resource Management, and the Meterological Society, November 20-23rd, Christchurch.
- Kerr, T., Owens, I., Henderson, R.(2006). Measured precipitation distributions in the Lake Pukaki Catchment, New Zealand. In Resource Management under Stormy Skies: Water Allocation @ the Crossroads? Conference Programme and abstracts, A conference jointly hosted by the New Zealand Hydrological Society, New Zealand Association of Resource Management, and the Meterological Society of New Zealand. November 20-23, 2006. Christchurch. - Presented at and abstract submitted to the 2006 Snow and Ice Research Group New Zealand, February 8th, Twizel.
- Kerr, T.(2006). Rainfall and snowfall measurement in Aoraki/ Mt Cook National Park, New Zealand - Presented at and abstract submitted to the 2006 Global Land Ice Measurement from Space workshop, February 8th, Twizel.
- Kerr, T.(2006). Thermal detection of debris-covered-ice using ASTER imagery - Kerr, T. (2005). Snow storage modelling in the Lake Pukaki catchment, New Zealand: An investigation of enhancements to the SnowSim model. Unpub. M.Sc. thesis, Department of Geography, University of Canterbury, Christchurch
- Presented at and abstract submitted to the 2004 New Zealand Hydrological Society Conference, 16-19 November, Queenstown.
- Kerr, T., Owens, I.(2004). Precipitation estimation in the Lake Pukaki catchment, New Zealand. In The Water Balance programme and Abstracts, New Zealand Hydrological Society 2004 Conference, Queenstown, 16-19 November 2004 - Presented at and abstract submitted to the 2005 Snow and Ice Research Group New Zealand, January 15 th-17th, Harihari.
- Kerr, T.(2004). Optimisation of SnowSim, a snow storage model, to the Lake Pukaki catchment, New Zealand. - Presented at and abstracts submitted to the 2004 Snow and Ice Research Group New Zealand, January 29-30, Queenstown.
- Kerr, T.(2004). Radiation melt modelling on the Cameron Glacier, New Zealand
- Kerr, T., Owens, I. (2004) Digital methods of end-of-summer-snowline estimation. - McLane, D. N., Kerr, T. R., Barrell, G. K., Bloomberg, M. and Sturman, A. (2004). The potential for climate stress in Canterbury dairy cattle. Lincoln University, Lincoln.
- Kerr, T. (2003). A distributed glacier melt model for the Cameron Stream catchment, New Zealand. Unpub. Pg.Dip.Sc. thesis, Department of Geography, University of Canterbury, Christchurch.
Supervisors
Associate Professor Ian Owens