Abstract
Abstract. This comment paper addresses data and analysis issues in a paper entitled "Streamflow Input to Lake Athabasca, Canada" by Rasouli et al. (2013). Analyses of observed and naturalized lake level data for Lake Athabasca are redone in this comment paper with corrected hydrometric data to provide northerners and researchers with the correct information for environmental assessments. The comment paper also highlights the importance of including in the analysis not only direct inflows to Lake Athabasca, but also the hydraulic influences on lake outflow, especially when meaningful future projections of lake levels are required for water management.
Highlights
Not reported in RHD was that Wolfe et al (2011) inferred a ∼ 2 m higher lake level during the Little Ice Age period (AD 1600–1900), which is in the range of the historical extreme peak daily levels observed during the summers of 1935 and 1936 at the west end of the lake at the Fort Chipewyan hydrometric gauge (07MD001; Environment Canada, 2013)
Given the local to international focus on the study region linked to multiple upstream stressors that have and continue to influence the hydrology of Lake Athabasca and the Peace–Athabasca Delta (PAD), it is important to provide details on the hydrological regime that were omitted by RHD and redo the analyses with corrected lake level data, providing accurate information for northerners, researchers and stakeholders involved in environmental assessments
Drainage is northward for most of the year, but lake outflow can be obstructed by high stage on the Peace River and occasionally reverse when the river stage is higher than the level of the central lakes – typically during high stage events induced by spring ice river ice break-up/jams and occasional summer high flow events (Peters and Buttle, 2010)
Summary
Not reported in RHD was that Wolfe et al (2011) inferred a ∼ 2 m higher lake level during the Little Ice Age period (AD 1600–1900), which is in the range of the historical extreme peak daily levels observed during the summers of 1935 and 1936 at the west end of the lake at the Fort Chipewyan hydrometric gauge (07MD001; Environment Canada, 2013). In addition to the occurrence of a large ice-jam flood on the lower Peace River, 1996 was influenced by a large, sustained precautionary water release from the Williston Reservoir that produced a river stage sufficiently high to restrict outflow from the lake system for several weeks over the summer months and helped, at the time, to generate the highest lake level observed since the introduction of flow regulation (Peters et al, 2006; Peters and Buttle, 2010) (Fig. 2a).
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