Water runoff of small rivers flowing into the Gulf of Ob’ and Taz Bay: current state of research

Abstract

Fresh water supply is a basic need of the gas and oil industry of the Yamal-Gydan region. Small rivers flowing into the Ob’ and Taz Bay could be used for solving this problem. The purpose of the study is to summarise the available research data on the runoff of small rivers and to calculate the catchment areas using GIS technologies. The study covers more than 200 small rivers in the catchment area of the Ob’ and Taz Bay. It is established that there have been no stationary observations of the water runoff on them. Expedition observations of water discharges of small rivers are summarized. More than 40 small rivers are involved in water consumption. The runoff data from water users in the State Water Registry are questionable and need to be critically analyzed. Published annual runoff maps of the Yamal-Gydan region are presented in a unified form. Consolidation of the annual runoff maps showed an overall latitudinal distribution of the runoff isolines. The reliability of river runoff estimates from maps is largely determined by the accuracy of the catchment area calculations. GIS calculation of the river catchment areas has been done using two methods. Automated digitization by DEM has given incorrect results, which need to be verified. Manual digitization of catchments is labour-intensive, but gives reliable results for the lowland relief of the Yamal-Gydan region. For the first time, small rivers’ catchment areas obtained by GIS have been calculated. Difficulties arise in using the names of small rivers, which are different from one source to another. It is necessary to organize government monitoring on small rivers including obligatory measurements of water discharge, first of all on the Sabetta-Yakha, Se-Yakha and Messo-Yakha rivers, which provide fresh water to economic facilities. The modeling of runoff formation and the use of satellite image data are promising directions of runoff assessment.