Some Characteristics of Peak Flow in the Richelieu River, Quebec

Abstract

This paper presents a statistics analysis of 1938-2012 data of daily discharge and water level collected from a gauging station on the Richelieu River in Southern Quebec, Canada. Using the most recent data, this paper aims to update flood characteristics from previous decades old analyses. Such update is important to the flood-prone region. The present analysis covers peak flow magnitude, duration, timing and, more importantly, their changes. The main findings are: There are no significant changes over time in average magnitude of floods, but there are increasing fluctuations between low and high peak discharges. The distribution of annual peak discharges shows a signifcaint shift of skewness from left to right; if this condition persists, future floods are expected to have a larger magnitude than historic flood events. The timing of peak discharges has not shown any significant trend of changes. A new flow rating curve has been obtained for discharge estimates.