The synoptic climate controls on hydrology in the upper reaches of the Peace River Basin. Part I: snow accumulation

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (19) ◽  
pp. 4097-4111 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Romolo ◽  
T. D. Prowse ◽  
D. Blair ◽  
B. R. Bonsal ◽  
L. W. Martz
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Peace River ◽  
Climate Controls

The synoptic climate controls on hydrology in the upper reaches of the Peace River Basin. Part II: Snow ablation

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (19) ◽  
pp. 4113-4129 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Romolo ◽  
T. D. Prowse ◽  
D. Blair ◽  
B. R. Bonsal ◽  
P. Marsh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Peace River ◽  
Climate Controls

scholarly journals Winter Inputs Buffer Streamflow Sensitivity to Snowpack Losses in the Salt River Watershed in the Lower Colorado River Basin

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Marcos D. Robles ◽  
John C. Hammond ◽  
Stephanie K. Kampf ◽  
Joel A. Biederman ◽  
Eleonora M. C. Demaria
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Colorado River ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Colorado River Basin ◽  
Scale Model ◽  
Annual Streamflow ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Salt River ◽  
Lower Colorado River Basin ◽  
Lower Colorado River

Recent streamflow declines in the Upper Colorado River Basin raise concerns about the sensitivity of water supply for 40 million people to rising temperatures. Yet, other studies in western US river basins present a paradox: streamflow has not consistently declined with warming and snow loss. A potential explanation for this lack of consistency is warming-induced production of winter runoff when potential evaporative losses are low. This mechanism is more likely in basins at lower elevations or latitudes with relatively warm winter temperatures and intermittent snowpacks. We test whether this accounts for streamflow patterns in nine gaged basins of the Salt River and its tributaries, which is a sub-basin in the Lower Colorado River Basin (LCRB). We develop a basin-scale model that separates snow and rainfall inputs and simulates snow accumulation and melt using temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity. Despite significant warming from 1968–2011 and snow loss in many of the basins, annual and seasonal streamflow did not decline. Between 25% and 50% of annual streamflow is generated in winter (NDJF) when runoff ratios are generally higher and potential evapotranspiration losses are one-third of potential losses in spring (MAMJ). Sub-annual streamflow responses to winter inputs were larger and more efficient than spring and summer responses and their frequencies and magnitudes increased in 1968–2011 compared to 1929–1967. In total, 75% of the largest winter events were associated with atmospheric rivers, which can produce large cool-season streamflow peaks. We conclude that temperature-induced snow loss in this LCRB sub-basin was moderated by enhanced winter hydrological inputs and streamflow production.

scholarly journals Modeling Snow Depth and Snow Water Equivalent Distribution and Variation Characteristics in the Irtysh River Basin, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 8365
Author(s):  
Liming Gao ◽  
Lele Zhang ◽  
Yongping Shen ◽  
Yaonan Zhang ◽  
Minghao Ai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Snow Cover ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Snow Depth ◽  
Snow Water Equivalent ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Implicit Scheme ◽  
Snow Water ◽  
Irtysh River ◽  
Simulation Results ◽  
The Irtysh River

Accurate simulation of snow cover process is of great significance to the study of climate change and the water cycle. In our study, the China Meteorological Forcing Dataset (CMFD) and ERA-Interim were used as driving data to simulate the dynamic changes in snow depth and snow water equivalent (SWE) in the Irtysh River Basin from 2000 to 2018 using the Noah-MP land surface model, and the simulation results were compared with the gridded dataset of snow depth at Chinese meteorological stations (GDSD), the long-term series of daily snow depth dataset in China (LSD), and China’s daily snow depth and snow water equivalent products (CSS). Before the simulation, we compared the combinations of four parameterizations schemes of Noah-MP model at the Kuwei site. The results show that the rainfall and snowfall (SNF) scheme mainly affects the snow accumulation process, while the surface layer drag coefficient (SFC), snow/soil temperature time (STC), and snow surface albedo (ALB) schemes mainly affect the melting process. The effect of STC on the simulation results was much higher than the other three schemes; when STC uses a fully implicit scheme, the error of simulated snow depth and snow water equivalent is much greater than that of a semi-implicit scheme. At the basin scale, the accuracy of snow depth modeled by using CMFD and ERA-Interim is higher than LSD and CSS snow depth based on microwave remote sensing. In years with high snow cover, LSD and CSS snow depth data are seriously underestimated. According to the results of model simulation, it is concluded that the snow depth and snow water equivalent in the north of the basin are higher than those in the south. The average snow depth, snow water equivalent, snow days, and the start time of snow accumulation (STSA) in the basin did not change significantly during the study period, but the end time of snow melting was significantly advanced.

Geochemistry of two Cretaceous coal-bearing sequences: James Bay lowlands, northern Ontario, and Peace River basin, northeast British Columbia

1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 1038-1052 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Van der Flier-Keller ◽  
W. S. Fyfe
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Trace Elements ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Northern Ontario ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Modes Of Occurrence ◽  
Peace River ◽  
Element Contents ◽  
Moose River

Cretaceous coal-bearing sequences from the Moose River basin in northern Ontario and the Peace River basin in northeast British Columbia were analysed for trace- and major-element contents. Modes of occurrence of the trace elements are proposed on the basis of Pearson correlation coefficients and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis.The Moose River basin lignite was deposited in an alluvial floodplain environment, and the restricted mineralogy, dominated by quartz and kaolinite, reflects derivation from a highly weathered terrain. The bituminous coal from the Peace River basin was deposited in an alluvial to deltaic environment, with a dominant mineralogy including quartz, illite, kaolinite, mixed-layer clays, carbonates, barite, feldspar, and pyrite.Trace-element contents in both deposits are comparable to the average concentration in United States coals. Modes of occurrence of trace elements in the coals are extremely variable and depend on local conditions both during deposition and subsequently. Association with the organic matter is the most common mode of occurrence of trace elements in the Moose River basin lignites, whereas clay minerals are important trace-element sites in the Peace River basin coal.Factors including coal rank, clay mineralogy, nature of the surrounding rocks, and composition of the groundwaters appear to have important influences on the concentrations of the trace elements and their siting in the coals.

scholarly journals Exploration of the Snow Ablation Process in the Semiarid Region in China by Combining Site-Based Measurements and the Utah Energy Balance Model—A Case Study of the Manas River Basin

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1058 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Liu ◽  
Pu Zhang ◽  
Lei Nie ◽  
Jianhui Xu ◽  
Xinyu Lu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Energy Balance ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Snow Depth ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Semiarid Region ◽  
Snow Density ◽  
Ablation Process ◽  
Manas River Basin

Understanding the snow accumulation and melting process is of great significance for the assessment and regulation of water resources and the prevention of meltwater flooding, especially for the semiarid region in the Manas River Basin. However, the lack of long snow measurement time series in this semiarid region prevents a full understanding of the detailed local-scale snow ablation process. Additionally, the modeling of snow accumulation and melting is challenging due to parameter uncertainty. In this study, the snow ablation process in the Manas River Basin was quantitatively explored with long time-series of 3-h measurements of snow depth, snow density and snow water equivalent (SWE) at the Wulanwusu (WLWS), Hanqiazi (HQZ), and Baiyanggou (BYG) sites. This study explored the ability of the Utah energy balance (UEB) snow accumulation and melt model to simulate SWE, energy flux and water loss in the study area. Furthermore, the uncertainty in the ground surface aerodynamic roughness index zos in the UEB model was also analyzed. The results showed that: (1) noticeable variations in snow depth, SWE and snow density occurred on seasonal and interannual time scales, and variations in melting time and melting ratios occurred on short time scales; (2) a rapid decrease in snow depth did not influence the variations in SWE, and snow melting occurred during all time periods, even winter, which is a typical characteristic of snow accumulation in arid environments; (3) the UEB model accurately simulated the snow ablation processes, including SWE, snow surface temperature, and energy flux, at WLWS, HQZ, and BYG sites; (4) the lowest contribution of net radiation to melting occurred in the piedmont clinoplain, followed by the mountain desert grassland belt and mountain forest belt, whereas the contributions of net turbulence exhibited the opposite pattern; (5) the optimal zos in the UEB model was experimentally determined to be 0.01 m, and the UEB model-simulated SWE based on this value was the most consistent with the measured SWE; and (6) the results may provide theoretical and data foundations for research on the snow accumulation process at the watershed scale.

scholarly journals Assessment of a multiresolution snow reanalysis framework: a multidecadal reanalysis case over the upper Yampa River basin, Colorado

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 3575-3587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Baldo ◽  
Steven A. Margulis
Keyword(s):  
Data Assimilation ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Snow Water Equivalent ◽  
Low Complexity ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Computationally Efficient ◽  
Snow Cover Area ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Snow Water

Abstract. A multiresolution (MR) approach was successfully implemented in the context of a data assimilation (DA) framework to efficiently estimate snow water equivalent (SWE) over a large head water catchment in the Colorado River basin (CRB), while decreasing computational constraints by 60 %. A total of 31 years of fractional snow cover area (fSCA) images derived from Landsat TM, ETM+, and OLI sensor measurements were assimilated to generate two SWE reanalysis datasets, a baseline case at a uniform 90 m spatial resolution and another using the MR approach. A comparison of the two showed negligible differences in terms of snow accumulation, melt, and timing for the posterior estimates (in terms of both ensemble median and coefficient of variation). The MR approach underestimated the baseline peak SWE by less than 2 % and underestimated day of peak and duration of the accumulation season by a day on average. The largest differences were, by construct, limited primarily to areas of low complexity, where shallow snowpacks tend to exist. The MR approach should allow for more computationally efficient implementations of snow data assimilation applications over large-scale mountain ranges, with accuracies similar to those that would be obtained using ∼ 100 m simulations. Such uniform resolution applications are generally infeasible due to the computationally expensive nature of ensemble-based DA frameworks.

Corrigendum to “Evidence for photic zone euxinia through the end-Permian mass extinction in the Panthalassic Ocean (Peace River Basin, Western Canada)”

Palaeoworld ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-75
Author(s):  
Lindsay E. Hays ◽  
Tyler Beatty ◽  
Charles M. Henderson ◽  
Gordon D. Love ◽  
Roger E. Summons
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Western Canada ◽  
Photic Zone ◽  
Peace River ◽  
Permian Mass Extinction

scholarly journals Quantifying the contribution of glacier runoff to streamflow in the upper Columbia River basin, Canada

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 4979-5008 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Jost ◽  
R. D. Moore ◽  
B. Menounos ◽  
R. Wheate
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Volume Change ◽  
Model Calibration ◽  
Columbia River ◽  
Hydrologic Model ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Columbia River Basin ◽  
Glacier Mass Balance ◽  
Glacier Melt

Abstract. Glacier melt provides important contributions to streamflow in many mountainous regions. Hydrologic model calibration in glacier-fed catchments is difficult because errors in modelling snow accumulation can be offset by compensating errors in glacier melt. This problem is particularly severe in catchments with modest glacier cover, where goodness-of-fit statistics such as the Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency may not be highly sensitive to the streamflow variance associated with glacier melt. While glacier mass balance measurements can be used to aid model calibration, they are absent for most catchments. We introduce the use of glacier volume change determined from repeated glacier mapping in a guided GLUE (generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation) procedure to calibrate a hydrologic model. We also explicitly account for changes in glacier area through the calibration and test periods. The approach is applied to the Mica basin in the Canadian portion of the Columbia River basin using the HBV-EC hydrologic model. Use of glacier volume change in the calibration procedure effectively reduced parameter uncertainty and helped to ensure that the model was accurately predicting glacier mass balance as well as streamflow. The seasonal and interannual variations in glacier melt contributions were assessed by running the calibrated model with historic glacier cover and also after converting all glacierized areas to alpine land cover in the model setup. Although glaciers in the Mica basin only cover 5 % of the watershed, glacier ice melt contributes up to 25 % and 35 % of streamflow in August and September, respectively, and is particularly important during periods of warm, dry weather following winters with low accumulation and early snowpack depletion. The approach introduced in this study provides an effective and widely applicable approach for calibrating hydrologic models in glacier fed catchments, as well as for quantifying the magnitude and timing of glacier melt contributions to streamflow.

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