www.ec.gc.ca
PROCESSES AND
PARAMETERIZATION OF
HYDROLOGICAL CONNECTIVITY
IN NORTHERN LANDSCAPES
National Water Research Institute, Saskatoon
Christopher Spence
October 19, 2006
Heterogeneous northern catchments
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Collaborations
• Sean Carey, Carleton University
• Bill Quinton, Wilfred Laurier University
• Phil Marsh, Environment Canada
• Al Pietroniro, Environment Canada
• Ken Dies, NWT Power Corporation
• Bob Reid, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
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Hydrological connectivity
a)
b)
ΔSi = Pi-Ei
Ri > 0 if Si > Sci
basin R = ΣRi
c)
lake
ΔSi = Pi+Ri-1-Ei
Ri > 0 if Si > Sci
basin R = Rfinal i
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Research Basin
Land cover
Water
Conifers
Mixed woods
Deciduous forest
Wetlands
Tundra
Exposed bedrock
Recent burn
Disturbed
Vital
Shadow
Landing
Lower Martin
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WSC gauge 07SB013
Page 5
Field instrumentation
Water level and temperature
Climate tower
Snow course
Well and soil moisture nest
N
Objectives / Hypotheses – Theme 1
• O1 - Determine the hydrological processes acting in
water courses that could affect the streamflow
response at the basin scale.
• O2 - Determine how headwater and basin scale
processes interact to produce streamflow at the basin
scale.
• H1 - Connectivity in the water course influences
streamflow processes and patterns at the basin scale.
• H2 - Headwater processes influence basin scale
response by controlling contributing areas to the water
course.
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Methodology
• Hydrological and hydrochemical approaches will
be used to discern water sources at the
landscape component and basin scales.
• Supplemented with contributing area mapping
using satellite imagery (ie, Radarsat).
• These measurements will be used to establish
storage – runoff relationships at different
scales.
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Objectives / Hypotheses – Theme 2
• O3 – Develop numerical representations of the
processes identified in Theme 1 responsible for the
streamflow regimes at the basin and/or grid scale.
• O4 – Incorporate these algorithms in diagnostic and
predictive models
• H3 – Incorporating representation of landscape
connectivity at the sub grid scale will improve water
cycle simulation by environmental models
• H4 – Incorporating representation of water course
connectivity will improve water cycle simulation by
environmental models.
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Methodology
• MESH and CRHM
• Models parameterized and run with and without
new algorithms to determine the influence of
the schemes on model simulations.
• Short and long simulations will be generated
from which flood and low flow regimes can be
generated. These will be compared with
calculations of the regime using observed data.
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