Wolf Creek Research Basin, Yukon
Location:
60o31’40” N, 135o31’14”
W
Area:
~220 km2
Elevation Range:
800 to 2250 m a.s.l.
Mean Annual Precipitation:
300 to 500 mm (40% snow)
Mean Annual Temperature:
-3 oC
Wolf Creek Archive Summary
- Three permanent met stations in each of the three main Wolf Creek
ecozones: “Forest” (boreal forest, 22%)
“Alpine” (alpine tundra, 20%)
“Buckbrush” (subalpine taiga, 58%)
- Periodic stations within the Granger Basin sub-catchment, one of which is
currently active “Granger Plateau”
WOLF HWY
FOREST
- Four permanent hydrometric
stations:
“Upper Wolf”
“Coal Lake Outlet”
“Granger Creek”
“Wolf Creek Highway”
ALPINE
GRANGER
BUCKBRUSH
COAL
UP WOLF
Meteorological Towers
- Since 1993, three permanent towers measure: air
temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, wind speed,
ground heat flux, soil moisture, soil temperature, infrared
surface temperature, and atmospheric pressure
• Power Failure
- Missing data periods are common in the late fall and early
winter due to failures at the buckbrush and alpine stations
available data
blue indicates periods of
missing data
Alpine Tundra
Shrub Taiga
Boreal Forest
Precipitation
Location
Gauge
Install
Lost Data
Notes
Forest Tower
Tipping Bucket
Nipher
Geonor T200B
1993
1993
2007
Minimal
Minimal
28%
Rain Only
Snow Only
Alpine Tower
Tipping Bucket
Nipher
Geonor T200B
1993
1993
2010
Minimal
Minimal
49%
Rain Only
Snow Only
Buckbrush
Tower
Tipping Bucket
Nipher
Geonor T200B
Ott Pluvio 200
Ott Pluvio 400
1993
1993
2010
2013
2013
Minimal
Minimal
2%
0%
0%
Rain Only
Snow Only
Granger Basin
Tipping Buckets
periodic
measurements
during research
studies
Rain Only
- Poor Geonor data availability due to power failures
Snow
• Snow Surveys
- Monthly surveys near Forest, Alpine, and Buckbrush
Towers starting in 1993
- Periodic surveys within Granger Basin mostly
between 1998-2004
• Snow Pillow
- Located at Buckbrush (1994-current)
• Snow Depth
- UDG01 (1993-2007), SR50 (2007-current) at all
three towers
• Snow Pack Analyser (SPA)
- Measures SWE, snow density, liquid water content
- Starting Fall 2013 at Buckbrush
Hydrometric Stations
Station
Drainage
Area (km2)
Length of
Record
Years Missing
Peak Freshet
Upper Wolf
14.5
1994-2013
94,95,03,06,13
Granger Creek
4.5
1998-2013
None
Coal Lake Outlet
70.5
1994-2013
94,95
Wolf Creek Hwy
177
1993-2013
09
• Winter Flow Data
- Continuous data is not available for the winter period. In the early years, point
discharges were made several times a month, more recently these winter
measurements have occurred once a month or less.
• Poor Quality Data
- Problems at Upper Wolf include: beavers, above channel peak flows, and debris flows.
Granger Basin
GB_04 2.1 km2
Stony soils, some lichen
GB_03 1.5 km2
Tundra vegetation
GB_02 2.9 km2
Birch dominated
GB_01 1.1 km2
Willow dominated
Image Classification
Treeline dendrochronology
Alpine
G-TREE
1
3
Four
treatments:
1. Control
2. Seeded
3. Scarified
4. Scarified &
seeded
2
Shrub
4
Forest
Shrub cut
Historical Water Balance Info
Centre for Hydrology
hydrologic sensitivity analysis
Maximum snowpacks show a pronounced sensitivity to warming in wet years and a
smaller sensitivity in drier years.
Centre for Hydrology
CCRN Water Year Activities
• Continue operation of hydromet network
• High-frequency and distributed isotope sampling
and collaboration with U Aberdeen (ERC
funding)
• New students and PDF……?