Northern Research Basins Water Balance (Proceedings of a workshop held at Victoria, Canada, March 2004). IAHS Publ. 290, 2004, 195–204

1 Water Resources Section, Yukon Department of Environment, Box 2703, Whitehorse, Yukon, Y1A 2C6, Canada

2 Aquatic Ecosystem Impacts Research Branch, National Hydrology Research Centre, Environment Canada, 11 Innovation Blvd., Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 3H5, Canada

3 Centre for Hydrology, 42 Kirk Hall, University of Saskatchewan, 117 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 5C8, Canada

4 Department of Geography, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 5A5, Canada

Abstract Several classical water balance studies have been conducted in Wolf Creek. Most recently such work was carried out for the upper Wolf Creek basin to provide a comprehensive historical water balance assessment for all years of operation as part of the Northern Research Basins (NRB) water balance project. A closed annual water budget was obtained with a residual storage value of 19 mm. The relatively new CRHM model was applied to the upper Wolf Creek watershed for the 1995/1996 water year, with simulation for the remaining years ongoing. Of the past studies conducted for Wolf Creek forest environments, precipitation and evapotranspiration rates are similar in magnitude between studies. The recent CRHM water balance was carried out for higher elevation alpine and subalpine environments and yields evapotranspiration rates lower than those in forest environments, due to lower energy levels. Infiltration and runoff is variable within, and between, individual studies. In the upper Wolf Creek study, summer infiltration was simulated adequately; however, there are problems with snowmelt infiltration and runoff.

Key words CRHM model; HRU; infiltration; runoff; water balance; Wolf Creek, Canada