Regionalization of Runoff Variability of Alberta, Canada, by Wavelet, Independent Component, Empirical Orthogonal Function, and Geographical Information System Analyses

Mwale, Davison; Gan, Thian Yew; Devito, K. J.; Silins, U.; Mendoza, Carl; Petrone, Richard M.

doi:10.1061/(asce)he.1943-5584.0000284

Cited by 16 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…For streams or years without winter flow records (November to March), monthly winter flow was estimated assuming exponential recession from October to April, as observed in previous years or adjacent rivers with winter flow records (Devito, Creed, & Fraser, ; Mwale et al . , ). Annual (water year) R was derived using monthly runoff sums from November to October.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The study catchments are of sufficient area (mesoscale) to (a) reduce edge effects in cross‐boundary movement of groundwater for catchment budgets (Devito, Creed, Gan, et al, ; Winter, Rosenberry, & LaBaugh, ) and (b) reduce bias in areal estimates of catchment characteristics. Additionally, the 25‐year hydro‐climatic record captures the full range of wet, dry, and mesic climate patterns experienced in this region (Devito, Creed, & Fraser ; Mwale et al, ) and is of sufficient length to reduce temporal and spatial uncertainties in estimates of long‐term catchment P and R (Kennard, Mackay, Pusey, Olden, & Marsh, ; Winter, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Growing season (April to August) P represents about 70% of the annual P and R is characterized by summer peak flows with minor peaks during spring melt (Devito, Creed, & Fraser, ; Mwale et al . , ).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The result is a large and continually increasing demand for water resources with potentially significant impacts to water quantity and quality (Schneider, Devito, Kettridge, & Baynes, ). Concerns over long‐term water security are heightened by the close balance between potential ET (PET) and P in the region and low but highly variable long‐term runoff (Ireson et al, ; Mwale et al, ). Development of adaptive best management or reclamation practices to protect and address future water availability and cumulative impacts from a range of disturbances requires characterization of the dominant sinks and sources of water that control the magnitude and spatiotemporal variability of catchment runoff (Buttle, ; Winter, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Landscape controls on long‐term runoff in subhumid heterogeneous Boreal Plains catchments

Devito

Hokanson

Moore

et al. 2017

Hydrological Processes

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122

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We compared median runoff (R) and precipitation (P) relationships over 25 years from 20 mesoscale (50 to 5,000 km2) catchments on the Boreal Plains, Alberta, Canada, to understand controls on water sink and source dynamics in water‐limited, low‐relief northern environments. Long‐term catchment R and runoff efficiency (RP−1) were low and varied spatially by over an order of magnitude (3 to 119 mm/year, 1 to 27%). Intercatchment differences were not associated with small variations in climate. The partitioning of P into evapotranspiration (ET) and R instead reflected the interplay between underlying glacial deposit texture, overlying soil‐vegetation land cover, and regional slope. Correlation and principal component analyses results show that peatland‐swamp wetlands were the major source areas of water. The lowest estimates of median annual catchment ET (321 to 395 mm) and greatest R (60 to 119 mm, 13 to 27% of P) were observed in low‐relief, peatland‐swamp dominated catchments, within both fine‐textured clay‐plain and coarse‐textured glacial deposits. In contrast, open‐water wetlands and deciduous‐mixedwood forest land covers acted as water sinks, and less catchment R was observed with increases in proportional coverage of these land covers. In catchments dominated by hummocky moraines, long‐term runoff was restricted to 10 mm/year, or 2% of P. This reflects the poor surface‐drainage networks and slightly greater regional slope of the fine‐textured glacial deposit, coupled with the large soil‐water and depression storage and higher actual ET of associated shallow open‐water marsh wetland and deciduous‐forest land covers. This intercatchment study enhances current conceptual frameworks for predicting water yield in the Boreal Plains based on the sink and source functions of glacial landforms and soil‐vegetation land covers. It offers the capability within this hydro‐geoclimatic region to design reclaimed catchments with desired hydrological functionality and associated tolerances to climate or land‐use changes and inform land management decisions based on effective catchment‐scale conceptual understanding.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Landscape controls on long‐term runoff in subhumid heterogeneous Boreal Plains catchments

Devito

Hokanson

Moore

et al. 2017

Hydrological Processes

Self Cite

122

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“…In an international level, this affirmation can be ascertained through the development of several studies aiming hydrological generalization (ASSANI et al, 2011;MWALE et al, 2011;SAMUEL et al, 2011;ENGELAND & HISDAL, 2009;CASTIGLIONI et al, 2009). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Multivariate statistical analysis to support the minimum streamflow regionalization

Elesbon¹,

Silva²,

Sediyama³

et al. 2015

Eng. Agríc.

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This study aimed to develop a methodology based on multivariate statistical analysis of principal components and cluster analysis, in order to identify the most representative variables in studies of minimum streamflow regionalization, and to optimize the identification of the hydrologically homogeneous regions for the Doce river basin. Ten variables were used, referring to the river basin climatic and morphometric characteristics. These variables were individualized for each of the 61 gauging stations. Three dependent variables that are indicative of minimum streamflow (Q 7,10 , Q 90 and Q 95 ). And seven independent variables that concern to climatic and morphometric characteristics of the basin (total annual rainfall -P a ; total semiannual rainfall of the dry and of the rainy season -P ss and P sc ; watershed drainage area -A d ; length of the main river -L p ; total length of the rivers -L t ; and average watershed slope -S L ). The results of the principal component analysis pointed out that the variable S L was the least representative for the study, and so it was discarded. The most representative independent variables were A d and P sc . The best divisions of hydrologically homogeneous regions for the three studied flow characteristics were obtained using the Mahalanobis similarity matrix and the complete linkage clustering method. The cluster analysis enabled the identification of four hydrologically homogeneous regions in the Doce river basin. KEYWORDS: principal component analysis, cluster analysis, homogeneous regions. ESTATÍSTICAS MULTIVARIADAS COMO SUPORTE À REGIONALIZAÇÃO DE VAZÕES MÍNIMAS1 RESUMO: Este trabalho teve por objetivo propor uma metodologia baseada em análises estatísticas multivariadas de componentes principais e de agrupamento, com o intuito de identificar as variáveis mais representativas em estudos de regionalização de vazões mínimas e otimizar a obtenção das regiões hidrologicamente homogêneas para a bacia hidrográfica do Rio Doce. Foram utilizadas 10 variáveis referentes às características climáticas e morfométricas da bacia. Essas variáveis foram individualizadas para as 61 estações fluviométricas adotadas, sendo três variáveis dependentes e indicativas das vazões mínimas (Q 7,10 , Q 90 e Q 95 ) e sete independentes (precipitação total anual -P a ; precipitação total do semestre seco -P ss e chuvoso -P sc ; área de drenagem da bacia -A d ; comprimento do rio principal -L p ; comprimento total dos cursos d'água da bacia -L t ; e declividade média da bacia -S L ). O resultado da análise de componentes principais apontou a variável independente S L como a menos representativa e foi excluída do estudo. As variáveis independentes mais representativas foram A d e P sc . As melhores divisões de regiões hidrologicamente homogêneas para as três vazões características estudadas foram obtidas utilizando-se conjuntamente da matriz de similaridade de Mahalanobis e do método de agrupamento do vizinho mais distante. A análise de agrupamento possibilitou a identificação de quatro re...

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Diverse response of shallow lake water levels to decadal weather patterns in a heterogeneous glacial Boreal Plains landscape

Leader,

Kettridge,

Hannah

et al. 2024

Hydrological Processes

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To examine the relative controls of landscape and climate on spatial variability, we measured water level dynamics of shallow lakes over two decades that represent both the heterogeneity of surficial geology classifications, and thus the potential range in surface and groundwater connectivity, and the long‐term weather patterns of the Boreal Plain hydrogeoclimatic setting. Large ranges in shallow lakes water levels (between 0.25 and 2 m) were observed corresponding to extremes in precipitation relative to the long‐term mean precipitation over the study period. We found low concurrence in water level dynamics among four detailed study lakes that received the same meteorological weather signal, but were located in different surficial geology texture classifications that incorporated important landscape parameters associated with lake water balance and storage. Surficial geology classification alone did not, however, distinguish between different ranges in lake water level measured in a broader synoptic survey of 26 lakes across the region. Thus, simple surficial geology classifications cannot alone be applied to classify Boreal Plain lake water level dynamics and other controls, notably landscape position, must also be considered. We further show that inter‐annual variability in lake water levels was significantly greater than seasonal variability in this hydrogeoclimatic setting. This emphasizes the need for studies of sufficient length to capture weather extremes that include periods of wetting and drying, and demonstrates how observed magnitudes of water level variability, and lake function, can be an artefact of study length and initiation date. These findings provide a foundation to test and calibrate conceptual understanding of the wider controls of lake water levels to form holistic frameworks to mitigate ecological and societal impacts due to hydrological changes under climate and anthropogenic disturbance within and between hydrogeoclimatic settings.

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Regionalization of Runoff Variability of Alberta, Canada, by Wavelet, Independent Component, Empirical Orthogonal Function, and Geographical Information System Analyses

Cited by 16 publications

References 35 publications

Landscape controls on long‐term runoff in subhumid heterogeneous Boreal Plains catchments

Landscape controls on long‐term runoff in subhumid heterogeneous Boreal Plains catchments

Multivariate statistical analysis to support the minimum streamflow regionalization

Diverse response of shallow lake water levels to decadal weather patterns in a heterogeneous glacial Boreal Plains landscape

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