GWFO News
September 9, 2026 • McMaster News
From forests to farms to cities: Long-term Canadian environmental data informs global climate science
For over twenty years, Altaf Arain has been researching how forests and agricultural crops can act as carbon sinks and mitigate the effects of climate change. His team’s work has been used to inform Canada’s climate policy and guided hundreds of researchers worldwide.
February 3, 2026 • UWaterloo
Our 14th annual World Wetlands Day was a success!
World Wetlands Day is held annually to mark the day when the United Nations Convention on Wetlands was adopted in 1971 in Ramsar, Iran. The Convention is an international agreement acknowledging the importance of wetlands and plays a central role in the wise use and conservation of these critical ecosystems.
February 2, 2026 • USask News
Tech talk: How USask researchers are utilizing new technology
Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) are at the forefront of new and evolving digital tech and are harnessing this innovation to advance their research and the livelihoods of people around the world.
2025 • GEWEX Quarterly
Canada's Regional Hydroclimate Project GEWEX: Transitioning from the GWF Programme to the GWFO Facility
The network of Canadian water experts who operate the facility are global leaders in their specific fields and they contribute key insights and novel scientific advances. pg 4
2025 • USask Economic and Social Impact Analysis
USask as a Driver of Research and Innovation
As a U15 Canada institution, USask performs world-leading research, scholarly and artistic work across a range of fields and disciplines. In addition to the research performed in USask’s colleges, the university is also home to world-class centres focused on finding solutions to complex local and global challenges.
Fall 2025 • IAGLR Lakes Letter
Integrating technology and collaborative monitoring in the Western Lake Erie Basin
RAEON supports collaborative freshwater research by providing access to water monitoring instruments and infrastructure. The core of RAEON’s mission centers on collaboration: providing a system through which emerging freshwater monitoring technologies are shared to improve research and management. pg 24
October 8, 2025 • IAHS
Dooge Medal Presented to Prof. John Pomeroy during IAHS2025 Scientific Assembly
Professor John Pomeroy is the recipient of the 2025 Dooge Medal (International Hydrology Prize) of IAHS/UNESCO/WMO: For critical advancements to improve our understanding of climate warming as well as the cryosphere, hydrological processes, and hydrological predictions in cold regions and ungauged basins around the world.
April 24, 2025 • USask News
USask’s Dr. John Pomeroy wins international water research prize
One of the University of Saskatchewan’s (USask)—and the world’s—top water researchers has been recognized with a prestigious international honour recognizing his career work. The Dooge Medal is presented annually to a researcher who has made critical contributions to the fundamental understanding of the science of hydrology.
March 21, 2025 • GWF News
Glaciers and mountains: melting water towers will aggravate global crises (report)
The United Nations World Water Development Report 2025, published by UNESCO on behalf of UN-Water, reveals the extent to which climate disruption, biodiversity loss, and unsustainable activities are transforming mountain environments at an unprecedented rate, threatening the water resources upon which billions of people and countless ecosystems depend.
March 20, 2025 • GWF News
The Great Thaw book features GWFO sites across Western Canada
The melting of glaciers and snowpacks, and the thawing of permafrost, affects us all. People living in coastal areas face rising sea levels. Those in high mountain regions are increasingly vulnerable to floods, landslides, and avalanches. And communities downstream depend on water supplies fed by snow and glaciers, now at risk.
December 20, 2024 • University of Windsor News
Students dive into robotics and research at RAEON
A group of high school students took a deeper look at the mechanics of underwater gliders during a visit to RAEON (Real-Time Aquatic Ecosystem Observation Network) earlier this month, gaining hands-on experience with the high-tech devices used to monitor the Great Lakes ecosystems.
December 13, 2024 • CBS News
The fight to preserve the world's glaciers
Glaciers around the world are melting due to climate change. In response, the United Nations has declared 2025 the year of glacier preservation. In the Canadian Rockies, glaciers power a uniquely stunning ecosystem, but the changes to the ice are concerning.
October 16, 2024 • CBC News
Toxic algal blooms threaten Canadian drinking water, but scientists are developing a way to protect against the harmful slime.
From a boat on Lake Erie, scientists have launched what they hope will soon be an early warning system to protect locals from a threat lurking in the water. Dangerous, slimy mats of blue-green algae are plaguing Lake Erie and...
September 9, 2024 • University of Waterloo
Urban Ecohydrology Observatory – Southern Ontario included among UNESCO’s new Ecohydrology Demonstration Sites
Urban Ecohydrology Observatory – Southern Ontario is joining 14 newly approved Ecohydrology Demonstration Sites of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Hydrologic Programme.
May 9, 2024 • Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine
New chapter of water data begins for Global Water Futures network
Global Water Futures Observatories (GWFO) officially launched in April as a new chapter of the freshwater observation network that now connects nine Canadian post-secondary institutions, including Carleton, McMaster, Saskatchewan (lead), Toronto, Trent, Waterloo, Western, Wilfrid Laurier and Windsor.
April 18, 2024 • University of Windsor News
Windsor signs on to national water observatory network
Participating in a new nationwide scientific freshwater observatory will help to secure the University of Windsor as a leader in freshwater research, says Aaron Fisk. Professor and Canada Research Chair in Changing Great Lakes Ecosystems in the School of the Environment, he also serves as scientific director of the...
April 17, 2024 • USask News
USask celebrates launch of Canada’s freshwater monitoring network
Led by USask in partnership with eight other Canadian universities, The Global Water Futures Observatories (GWFO) is a network of freshwater monitoring and observation stations placed strategically across Canada.
April 17, 2024 • Windsor Star
'Crazy time' — UWindsor joins Canadian fight against freshwater threats
Flooding, droughts, and zombie fires — Canada could be in for another rough ride this summer. “It’s a crazy time,” said Aaron Fisk, a University of Windsor professor and Canada Research Chair in Changing Great Lakes Ecosystems.
April 17, 2024 • The Star Phoenix
Saskatchewan-headquartered water research to continue with new funding
Scientists who have spent years developing capacity to better study and monitor vital water flows that sustain life and commerce throughout Canada can continue their work after securing further funding.
April 17, 2024 • CBC News
University of Sask. officially launches Canada's freshwater monitoring network
Water is becoming a scarce resource and, unless carefully managed, the Prairies could be even drier than they are now, but a project officially announced Wednesday at the University of Saskatchewan is meant to help monitor our waterways, act as an early warning system and point the way to water sustainability.
May 15, 2023 • USask News
USask-led Global Water Futures marks the end of an era and looks to the future
The research coming out of Global Water Futures (GWF) is being presented at an open science meeting over three days from May 15–17, and will highlight some of the best science and knowledge addressing solutions for Canada’s water futures, including advancements in the forecasting and modelling of snow, glaciers, water quality, soil...
January 9, 2023 • CBC News
UWindsor receives $1.77M to join largest freshwater research network in Canada
The University of Windsor is receiving more than $1.77 million in funding to support its leadership in the Real-Time Aquatic Ecosystem Observation Network (RAEON). It's working with eight other schools in the largest freshwater observational research network in Canada, and one of the largest globally.
January 8, 2023 • Windsor News Today
U of W joining national freshwater research network
"We came to RAEON to be part of this proposal because of its leadership in Great Lakes research," said John Pomeroy, Distinguished Professor and Director of Global Water Futures Observatories at the University of Saskatchewan. "REAON is well positioned to provide critical infrastructure and expertise to ensure water security by measuring the aquatic health of our lakes for all Canadians."
January 4, 2023 • UWindsor
UWindsor Joining Largest Freshwater Observational Research Network in Canada
Under the leadership of the University of Saskatchewan (USask), GWFO brings together nine Canadian universities to create the largest freshwater observational research network in the country, and one of the largest globally.
August 22, 2022 • CBC News
Funding for USask-led water monitoring network will help understand, manage floods, drought: director
Four research centres at the University of Saskatchewan are getting nearly $170 million in funding, and the work done at one centre is necessary for understanding and addressing a water crisis in Canada, its director says.
August 19, 2022 • Canada Foundation of Innovation
Mounting an early warning system for Canada’s looming water crisis, through the Global Water Futures Observatories
A network of observation systems across the country’s freshwater basins provides urgently needed data to help ward off the devastating impacts of floods, droughts and other water crises plaguing Canada.
August 19, 2022 • USask News
USask major scientific centres awarded $170M of MSI funding
Four flagship research centres at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) uniquely equipped to keep Canada at the forefront internationally in vaccine development, imaging science, sustainable water management and monitoring space weather have been awarded nearly $170 million.
October 22, 2022 • USask News
Global Water Futures Observatories a critical step towards water security for Canadians
When the University of Saskatchewan (USask) set out to lead the pan-Canadian Global Water Futures (GWF) Program in 2016, it laid the groundwork for what has become an integrated system of research stations across the country that are critical to understanding, predicting and tracking the health of our water.
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