Snow conditions and the demand for skier accommodation in British Columbia : a comparison of climate change impacts under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 emission scenarios
department or school: Science, Irving K. Barber Faculty of (Okanagan)
department or school: Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences, Department of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCO
creator: Giesler, Wendelin
issued: 2023-06-27T22:19:13Z
issued: 2023
related degree: Master of Science - MSc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Ski resorts around the world are facing rapidly warming winter temperatures and shifts in precipitation patterns, likely impacting the demand for resort skiing and affecting regional businesses. Previous work investigates the future of alpine skiing in Europe, Eastern Canada, and in the United States (US), finding variable results depending on the analysed region and research methods. Within-seasonal impacts of changing climate conditions on customer demand are little researched and the ski region of British Columbia (BC) remains virtually unexplored by related studies. Via a multiple linear regression model, this research project investigates the reactivity of rental apartment bookings surrounding four selected ski resorts in BC to short-term changes in snowfall, rainfall, and temperatures. Expected future weather and snow conditions are then simulated using downscaled output from global climate models for each location under the emission scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, permitting insights into skiing conditions by the mid and late 21st century. Expected activity levels are finally attributed to future skiing conditions, providing an estimate of within-seasonal climate change impacts on the ski industry while holding supply and properties of rental apartments constant. The results differ among the sample of resorts with the colder resorts in the interior of BC displaying future increases in snowfall and moderate increases in rainfall levels. The resorts with warmer baseline temperatures are projected to experience significant increases in winter rainfall and steady or decreasing snowfall levels depending on the emission scenario. Demand levels surrounding all resorts are shown to increase with higher snowfall levels and decrease due to the impacts of winter rainfall. While expected climate change impacts differ insubstantially at the investigated resorts between the two emission scenarios by 2055, RCP4.5 leads to distinctly lower losses by 2085 than seen under RCP8.5.…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/85163
note: SNOW CONDITIONS AND THE DEMAND FOR SKIER ACCOMMODATION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: A COMPARISON OF CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS UNDER RCP4.5 AND RCP8.5 EMISSION SCENARIOS by Wendelin Giesler B.Sc. Environmental System Sciences and Economics, Karl-Franzens University Graz, 2020 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Earth and Environmental Sciences) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) June 2023 © Wendelin Giesler, 2023ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis/dissertation entitled: SNOW CONDITIONS AND THE DEMAND FOR SKIER ACCOMMODATION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: A COMPARISON OF CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS UNDER RCP4.5 AND RCP8.5 EMISSION SCENARIOS submitted by Wendelin Giesler in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science. Dr. Michael Pidwirny, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science Supervisor Dr. John Janmaat, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Co-Supervisor Dr. John R. J. Thompson, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Julien Picault, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Patrick Baylis, University of British Columbia (Vancouver), School of Economics University Examiner iii Abstract Ski resorts around the world are facing rapidly warming winter temperatures and shifts in precipitation patterns, likely impacting the demand for resort skiing and affecting regional businesses. Previous work investigates the future of alpine skiing in Europe, Eastern Canada, and in the United States (US), finding variable results depending on the analyzed region and research methods. Within-seasonal impacts of changing climate conditions on customer demand are little researched and the ski region of British Columbia (BC) remains virtually unexplored by related studies. Via a multiple linear reg…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2023-09
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0433752
language: eng
degree discipline: Earth and Environmental Sciences
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Pidwirny, Michael J., 1958-
contributor: Janmaat, John
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/85163