Northern Research Basins Water Balance (Proceedings of a workshop held at Victoria, Canada, March 2004). IAHS Publ. 290, 2004, 205–212

Abstract There have been few, if any, studies of the water cycle in the vicinity of the treeline in northern Canada. Such data are required for circumpolar comparisons, for testing hydrological data, and, if the data available cover a sufficient length of time, for considering climate variability/change. In order to address these issues, this paper will present a 9-year data set for two research basins located in the boreal forest/tundra transition zone near Inuvik, NWT. On an annual basis, these data present the best estimate to date of the magnitude and relative importance of all water balance components, and these data have illustrated large inter-annual variability. However, given the short term covered by these data, it is not surprising that there is little evidence of a trend. The exception is a trend toward earlier spring melt, a longer runoff season, and a deeper active layer. These changes are in response to changes in temperature in the study area, as reported earlier.

Key words boreal forest; hydrology; northern Canada; permafrost; tundra; water balance