Abstract
Abstract. The Cold Regions Hydrological Modelling platform (CRHM) was used to create a prairie hydrological model for Smith Creek Research Basin (~400 km2), east-central Saskatchewan, Canada. Physically based modules were sequentially linked in CRHM to simulate snow processes, frozen soils, variable contributing area and wetland storage and runoff generation. Five "representative basins" (RBs) were defined and each was divided into seven hydrological response units (HRUs): fallow, stubble, grassland, river channel, open water, woodland, and wetland. Model parameters were estimated using field survey data, LiDAR digital elevation model (DEM), SPOT 5 satellite imageries, stream network and wetland inventory GIS data. Model simulations were conducted for 2007/2008 and 2008/2009. No calibration was performed. The model performance in predicting snowpack, soil moisture and streamflow was evaluated against field observations. Root mean square differences (RMSD) between simulation and observations ranged from 1.7 to 25.2 mm and from 4.3 to 22.4 mm for the simulated snow accumulation in 2007/2008 and 2008/2009, respectively, with higher RMSD in grassland, river channel, and open water HRUs. Spring volumetric soil moisture was reasonably predicted compared to a point observation in a grassland area, with RMSD of 0.011 and 0.009 for 2008 and 2009 simulations, respectively. The model was able to capture the timing and magnitude of peak spring basin discharge, but it underestimated the cumulative volume of basin discharge by 32% and 56% in spring 2008 and 2009, respectively. The results suggest prediction of Canadian Prairie basin snow hydrology is possible with no calibration if physically based models are used with physically meaningful model parameters that are derived from high resolution geospatial data.
Highlights
The prairie region of Canada lies in the southern part of provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba and is a portion of the vast Prairie Pothole Region of North America (Winter, 1989)
hydrological response units (HRUs) are defined as spatial units of mass and energy balance calculation corresponding to biophysical landscape units, within which processes and states are represented by single sets of parameters, state variables, and fluxes
The predicted SWE generally matched the observations for most HRUs; except for fallow, stubble, grassland and open water HRUs during the melt period of 2008 and the fallow, stubble, and open water HRUs during the melt period of 2009
Summary
The prairie region of Canada (the Prairies) lies in the southern part of provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba and is a portion of the vast Prairie Pothole Region of North America (Winter, 1989). The Canadian Prairies are a cold region and exhibit typical cold region hydrology typified by continuous snowcover and frozen soils throughout the winter. Important hydrological characteristics of the prairie region of Saskatchewan are long periods of winter (usually four to five months) with occasional mid-winter melts (common in the southwest and rare in the northeast) and a snowcover modified by wind redistribution and sublimation of blowing snow (Pomeroy et al, 1993). High surface runoff derives from spring snowmelt, which is 80% or more of annual local surface runoff (Gray and Landine, 1988), and occurs as a result of frozen mineral soils at the time and a relatively rapid release of water from melting snowpacks (Gray et al, 1985). Deep soils are characterized by good water-retaining capacity and high
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