ABSTRACT: Representation of landscape heterogeneity in high-relief regions: Implication for hydrological and atmospheric models.

CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Abstract

The nonlinear nature of energy and water exchanges between the land surface and the atmosphere and the control of the landscape heterogeneity over hydrological processes makes the aggregation of surface parameters and fluxes a challenge for high-relief hydrological modelling. Two main alternative methodological modelling approaches, deductive or bottom up and inductive or top down are generally applied. Here a combined approach based on the incorporation of both detailed process understanding and information gained from examination of basin-wide streamflow phenomenon is evaluated. The study site is Granger Creek basin which is part of the Wolf Creek Research Basin in the mountains of the Yukon Territory, Canada. Sparse shrub tundra covers the basin and soils are frozen at the time of snowmelt. The combination of shrubs, and slope and aspect affect both snow accumulation and the subsequent wind redistribution, and the snowmelt energetics. As a result differential patterns of snow accumulation and spring snowmelt rates between landscapes units are observed. Information from processes understanding such as slope and aspect, shrub canopy, snow water equivalent, soil structure and soil moisture, and streamflow observations will be used to predict snow-cover depletion and runoff generation using data from several years. Parameterisation of landcover parameters to model snow covered area depletion, water balance and streamflow is analysed by a sensitivity analysis on parameter values and spatial aggregation unit size. Furthermore implication of these results in land-surface models will be investigated.

Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology