GIS and Remote Sensing in Hydrology, Water Resources and Environment (Proceedings of ICGRHWE held at the Three Gorges Dam, China, September 2003). IAHS Publ. 289, 2004, 355-362

1 BC Hydro, 6911 Southpoint Drive (E13), Burnaby, British Columbia, V3N 4X8, Canada

2 University of Washington, 160 Wilcox Hall, Box 352700 Seattle, Washington 98195-2700, USA

3 Atmospheric Dynamics Corporation, 271 Trevlac Place, RR3, Victoria, British Columbia,
V9E 2C4, Canada

Abstract The use of simulation models to analyse impacts of water management decisions for large river basins is constrained by lack of available streamflow and meteorological records of adequate duration, quality, and spatial distribution. This paper describes an effort to extend the limited meteorological and hydrometric records for the Peace River basin, an area encompassing nearly 300 000 km² in western Canada. For temperature and precipitation, continuous spatial and temporal datasets were developed for 1909–1997 using a combination of surface observations, coarse mesh upper air data, and a mesoscale boundary layer model incorporating terrain effects. An analogue technique was used for the period prior to the availability of upper air data. A distributed hydrological model "WATFLOOD/SPL" with parameterization based on land cover Grouped Response Units (GRUs) was applied to the basin. The model is an effective tool for estimating streamflows from ungauged areas and for running long-term water management simulations.

Key words analogue method; distributed hydrological model; mesoscale topographical effects; Peace River basin, Canada; spatial interpolation of meteorological input variables; WATFLOOD/SPL