Northern Research Basins Water Balance (Proceedings of a workshop held at Victoria, Canada, March 2004). IAHS Publ. 290, 2004, 78–90

Abstract Water balance analysis at the watershed scale is the tool used to estimate the typical fresh water cycle for the region, to find gaps and weaknesses in the understanding of water circulation processes, and to define water balance components. Computations of the well-equipped nested small forest-steppe basins water balances for hydrological years 1973–1988 showed that evapotranspiration was the predominant discharging component, comprising on average 71–74% of total precipitation, while mean annual runoff ranged from 2 to 23%, depending on the basin size and watercourse base level. The main reasons for water balance discrepancies were lack of correct information on the moisture percolation below the top 1 m of soil and underestimation of evapotranspiration observed when using weighing lysimeters.

Key words forest-steppe zone; representative and experimental catchments; Russia; water balance components; water year