DAMMING JAMES BAY: I. POTENTIAL IMPACTS ON COASTAL CLIMATE AND THE WATER BALANCE

Abstract

The proposed grand Canal project calls for the damming of James Bay and the diversion of its water southward. This first part of a two‐part study models some potential impacts on the climate, water balance, and growth patterns in the James Bay coastal zone. Use is made of a linear relationship of Bowen ratio and temperature, developed from studies of coastal wetlands in southern and northwestern James Bay and central Hudson Bay. It is hypothesized that changing James Bay into a fresh‐water lake and disrupting its coastal currents would result in a delayed Bay ice melt of unknown length in the spring. Allowing a delay to vary between 0 and 30 days results in the prediction of lesser evaporation and greater water surplus. These differences in magnitude increase with the length of delayed melt, but in all cases are most strongly evident during the peak of the growing season. Colder and wetter conditions would have a strong ecological impact on all coastal areas of western and southern James Bay. In the northwest this could change the species composition of coastal flora, cause forests to retreat from the coast, and result in the growth of permafrost there.