Browsing by Author "Fang, Xing"
Now showing 1 - 11 of 11
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item The cold regions hydrological modelling platform for hydrological diagnosis and prediction based on process understanding(Elsevier B.V., 2022) Pomeroy, John; Brown, Tom; Fang, Xing; Shook, Kevin R.; Pradhananga, Dhiraj; Armstrong, Robert; Harder, Phillip; Marsh, Christopher; Costa, Diogo; Krogh, Sebastian; Aubry-Wake, Caroline; Annand, Holly; Lawford, Peter; He, Zhihua; Kompanizare, Mazda; Lopez-Moreno, IgnacioCold regions involve hydrological processes that are not often addressed appropriately in hydrological models. The Cold Regions Hydrological Modelling platform (CRHM) was initially developed in 1998 to assemble and explore the hydrological understanding developed from a series of research basins spanning Canada and international cold regions. Hydrological processes and basin response in cold regions are simulated in a flexible, modular, object-oriented, multiphysics platform. The CRHM platform allows for multiple representations of forcing data interpolation and extrapolation, hydrological model spatial and physical process structures, and parameter values. It is well suited for model falsification, algorithm intercomparison and benchmarking, and has been deployed for basin hydrology diagnosis, prediction, land use change and water quality analysis, climate impact analysis and flood forecasting around the world. This paper describes CRHM’s capabilities, and the insights derived by applying the model in concert with process hydrology research and using the combined information and understanding from research basins to predict hydrological variables, diagnose hydrological change and determine the appropriateness of model structure and parameterisations.Item Hydrometeorological data from Marmot Creek Research Basin, Canadian Rockies(Copernicus Publications, 2019) Fang, Xing; Pomeroy, John; DeBeer, Chris; Harder, Philip; Siemens, EvanMeteorological, snow survey, streamflow, and groundwater data are presented from Marmot Creek Research Basin, Alberta, Canada. The basin is a 9.4 km2, alpine–montane forest headwater catchment of the Saskatchewan River basin that provides vital water supplies to the Prairie Provinces of Canada. It was heavily instrumented, experimented upon, and operated by several federal government agencies between 1962 and 1986, during which time its main and sub-basin streams were gauged, automated meteorological stations at multiple elevations were installed, groundwater observation wells were dug and automated, and frequent manual measurements of snow accumulation and ablation and other weather and water variables were made. Over this period, mature evergreen forests were harvested in two sub-basins, leaving large clear cuts in one basin and a “honeycomb” of small forest clearings in another basin. Whilst meteorological measurements and sub-basin streamflow discharge weirs in the basin were removed in the late 1980s, the federal government maintained the outlet streamflow discharge measurements and a nearby high-elevation meteorological station, and the Alberta provincial government maintained observation wells and a nearby fire weather station. Marmot Creek Research Basin was intensively re-instrumented with 12 automated meteorological stations, four sub-basin hydrometric sites, and seven snow survey transects starting in 2004 by the University of Saskatchewan Centre for Hydrology. The observations provide detailed information on meteorology, precipitation, soil moisture, snowpack, streamflow, and groundwater during the historical period from 1962 to 1987 and the modern period from 2005 to the present time. These data are ideal for monitoring climate change, developing hydrological process understanding, evaluating process algorithms and hydrological, cryospheric, or atmospheric models, and examining the response of basin hydrological cycling to changes in climate, extreme weather, and land cover through hydrological modelling and statistical analyses. The data presented are publicly available from Federated Research Data Repository (https://doi.org/10.20383/101.09, Fang et al., 2018).Item Improving and Testing the Prairie Hydrological Model at Smith Creek Research Basin(Centre for Hydrology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 2014) Pomeroy, John W.; Shook, Kevin; Fang, Xing; Dumanski, Stacey; Westbrook, Cherie; Brown, TomThe 2010 Prairie Hydrological Model configuration of the Cold Regions Hydrological Model was developed to include improved snowmelt and evaporation physics and a hysteretic relationship between wetland storage and runoff contributing area. The revised model was used to simulate the snow regimes on and the streamflow runoff from the five sub-basins and main basin of Smith Creek, Saskatchewan for six years (2007-2013) with good performance when compared to field observations. Smith Creek measured streamflows over this period included the highest annual flow volume on record (2011) and high flows from heavy summer rains in 2012. Smith Creek basin has undergone substantial drainage from 1958 when it contained 96 km2 of wetlands covering 24% of the basin area to the existing (2008 measurement) 43 km2 covering 11% of the basin. The Prairie Hydrological Model was run over the 2007-2013 period for various wetland extent scenarios that included the 1958 historical maximum, measured extents in 2000 and 2008, a minimum extent that excluded drainage of conservation lands and an extreme minimum extent involving complete drainage of all wetlands in Smith Creek basin. Overall, Smith Creek total flow volumes over six years increase 55% due to drainage of wetlands from the current (2008) state, and decrease 26% with restoration to the 1958 state. This sensitivity in flow volume to wetland change is crucially important for the water balance of downstream water bodies such as Lake Winnipeg. Whilst the greatest proportional impacts on the peak daily flows are for dry years, substantial impacts on the peak daily discharge of record (2011) from wetland drainage (+78%) or restoration (-32%) are notable and important for infrastructure in and downstream of Smith Creek. For the flood of record (2011), the annual flow volume and the peak daily discharge are estimated to increase from 57,317 to 81,227 dam3 and from 19.5 to 27.5 m3 /s, respectively, due to wetland drainage that has already occurred in Smith Creek. Although Smith Creek is already heavily drained and its streamflows have been impacted, the annual flow volumes and peak daily discharge for the flood of record can still be strongly increased by complete drainage from the 2008 wetland state, rising to 103,669 dam3 and 49 m3 /s respectively. This model simulation exercise shows that wetland drainage can increase annual and peak daily flows substantially, and that notable increases to estimates of the annual volume and peak daily flow of the flood of record have derived from wetland drainage and will proceed with further wetland drainage.Item Prairie Hydrological Model Study Progress Report, April 2008(Centre for Hydrology, University Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 2008) Pomeroy, John; Westbrook, Cherie; Fang, Xing; Minke, Adam; Guo, XulinThis report is an update on the progress made over the first 12 months of the Prairie Hydrological Model Study and corresponds to Milestone #3. In summary, we have characterized the 2007-2008 Hydrological Year for modeling by installing weather, soil moisture, rainfall and pond level recording stations, observing summer evaporation, fall freeze-up and winter snowpack development to the start of melt. We have also made progress on wetland and basin characterization using remote sensing and other spatial information, and begun analysis of hydrometeorological data.Item Prairie Hydrological Model Study Progress Report, December 2008(Centre for Hydrology, University Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 2009) Pomeroy, John; Westbrook, Cherie; Fang, Xing; Brown, Tom; Minke, Adam; Guo, XulinThis report is an update on progress made to the middle of December 2008, corresponding to “Milestone Month 20”. According to our study plan, at this milestone “we will have completed a wetland module and with evaluation on Smith Creek Research Basin and archival data available at the Centre for Hydrology (Objective 3, 4)”. More specifically, Objectives 3 and 4 are stated as: • Objective 3: A physically based, hydrological response unit-based hydrological model, (the Prairie Hydrological Model), will be developed that is suitable for multiple season simulation of the hydrology of the Canadian Prairie environment. The model will be capable of predicting water balance, soil moisture, snow cover, actual evaporation and streamflow on a daily time-step with minimal calibration of model parameters from streamflow records. The model will contain a wetland module that includes assigned variable drainage rates from the wetland. The intended basins would drain to a stream or internally drained lake/wetland, with basin size to be greater than ~1 km2 and less than ~250 km2. • Objective 4: The Prairie Hydrological Model will be evaluated at Smith Creek through hydrological simulation and quantitative analysis of multi-objective criteria, including streamflow and wetland extent. Whilst calibration will be minimised and limited to non-physical aspects of the model, certain parameters will be optimised from these comparisons. For streamflow, both annual and peak flows are parameters of interest. For wetlands, seasonal extent is the parameter of interest. Outlined below are the research activities regarding these two objectives, beginning with a description of the model created with the Cold Regions Hydrological Modelling Platform (CRHM), the CRHM-Prairie Hydrological Model, or CRHM-PHM, followed by a description of the addition of the wetland module, and concluding with preliminary results from CRHM-PHM evaluations at Smith Creek.Item A Review of Canadian Prairie Hydrology: Principles, Modelling and Response to Land Use and Drainage Change(Centre for Hydrology, University Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 2007) Fang, Xing; Minke, Adam; Pomeroy, John; Brown, Tom; Westbrook, Cherie; Guo, Xulin; Guangul, SeifuThis report reviews research on the hydrological cycle, runoff generation, hydrological modelling and the influence of changes to land cover and wetlands on the same for the Canadian Prairies. The purpose of this report is to identify and examine the major processes that are responsible for prairie hydrology as well as the impacts of land cover change such as wetland drainage on water storage and on the streamflow hydrograph. The objective of this report is to propose hydrological modelling techniques; these techniques can contribute to the development of a predictive tool in the form of a prairie hydrological model. It is intent to utilize such a hydrological model to evaluate the impacts of wetland drainage and restoration as well as changes in the surrounding upland land use on downstream hydrology. Hydrology in the Canadian Prairie region is complex and highly varied. Only one third of annual precipitation occurs over the winter and the surface snow water equivalent distribution is highly heterogeneous due to wind redistribution of snow during blowing snow storms. Blowing snow can transport and sublimate as much as 75% of annual snowfall from open prairie fields. The formation of drifts from windblown snow lengthens the spring runoff season and modulates the peak spring flows. The frozen state of mineral soils results in rapid snowmelt runoff in the springtime, which produces 80% or more of annual local runoff. The prairie region is characterized by glacially-formed depressions; these depressions fill with water to form pothole sloughs and wetlands and are very important to prairie hydrology due to their surface storage capacity. A fill-and-spill runoff mechanism is identifiable in prairie basins that are dominated by these surface depressions where flow does not commence until all storage in the depressions is filled. This results in an episodic and rapid increase in contributing area during peak runoff events. However outside of these events much of the prairie landscape is non-contributing to streamflow and even in the most extreme runoff events, some prairie basins are internally drained and never contribute to streamflow. This fill and spill phenomenon is in contrast to forms of hydrological storage found in temperate regions in which the flow rate is proportional to storage. Because of depressional storage and poorly and internally drained basins, most surface runoff in the prairie region does not contribute to the major river systems. Hydrological processes in the prairie region are sensitive to the land cover and climate change. Wetlands can be completely dried out when surrounded by native grassland rather than agricultural fields. Droughts are frequent on the Canadian Prairies. Lower precipitation and higher air temperature are the common characteristics of droughts; surface snowmelt runoff is largely suppressed and can even completely cease when warmer (e.g. 5 ºC increase of temperature) or drier (e.g. 50% decrease of precipitation) conditions develop. The Cold Regions Hydrological Model platform (CRHM) is a “state-of-the-art” physically-based hydrological model designed for the prairie region. CRHM is based on a modular, object-oriented structure in which component modules represent basin descriptions, observations, or physically-based algorithms for calculating hydrological processes. Preliminary tests show reasonable performance of CRHM in simulating the water balance and streamflow hydrograph for prairie regions. The model also shows capabilities to simulate impact of land use change and climate change on hydrological processes and streamflow. Further work in CHRM will be development of surface storage and surface routing models that are suitable for modelling hydrology in the prairie wetland region.Item The Role of Basin Geometry in Mountain Snowpack Responses to Climate Change(Frontiers Media, 2021) Shea, Joseph; Whitfield, Paul; Fang, Xing; Pomeroy, JohnSnowmelt contributions to streamflow in mid-latitude mountain basins typically dominate other runoff sources on annual and seasonal timescales. Future increases in temperature and changes in precipitation will affect both snow accumulation and seasonal runoff timing and magnitude, but the underlying and fundamental roles of mountain basin geometry and hypsometry on snowmelt sensitivity have received little attention. To investigate the role of basin geometry in snowmelt sensitivity, a linear snow accumulation model and the Cold Regions Hydrological Modeling (CRHM) platform driven are used to estimate how hypsometry affects basin-wide snow volumes and snowmelt runoff. Area-elevation distributions for fifty basins in western Canada were extracted, normalized according to their elevation statistics, and classified into three clusters that represent top-heavy, middle, and bottom-heavy basins. Prescribed changes in air temperature alter both the snow accumulation gradient and the total snowmelt energy, leading to snowpack volume reductions (10–40%), earlier melt onsets (1–4 weeks) and end of melt season (3 weeks), increases in early spring melt rates and reductions in seasonal areal melt rates (up to 50%). Basin hypsometry controls the magnitude of the basin response. The most sensitive basins are bottom-heavy, and have a greater proportion of their area at low elevations. The least sensitive basins are top-heavy, and have a greater proportion of their area at high elevations. Basins with similar proportional areas at high and low elevations fall in between the others in terms of sensitivity and other metrics. This work provides context for anticipating the impacts of ongoing hydrological change due to climate change, and provides guidance for both monitoring networks and distributed modeling efforts.Item Saskatchewan’s Natural Capital in a Changing Climate : An Assessment of Impacts and Adaptation(Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative, 2009) Sauchyn, Dave; Henderson, Norm; Barrow, Elaine; Wheaton, Elaine; Fang, Xing; Johnston, Mark; Pomeroy, John W.; Thorpe, Jeff; Williams, BClimate change impacts in Saskatchewan are already evident and will become increasing significant over time. This report draws on the expertise of top climate change researchers and a large body of previous work to create a state-of-knowledge synthesis of key biophysical impacts and adaptation options specific to Saskatchewan. The focus is Saskatchewan’s ecosystems and water resources and the sectors of our economy, agriculture, and forestry, which are most dependent on these natural resources. The purpose of this report is to 1) document the expected impacts of climate change on Saskatchewan’s natural resources and dependent industries, and 2) outline options for adaptation of resource management practices, policies and infrastructure to minimize the risks associated with the impacts of climate change and to take advantage of opportunities provided by a warming climate.Item Scientific and Human Errors in a Snow Model Intercomparison(American Meteorological Society (AMS), 2021) Menard, Cecile; Essery, Richard; Krinner, Gerhard; Arduini, Gabriele; Bartlett, Paul; boone, aaron; Brutel-Vuilmet, Claire; Burke, Eleanor; Cuntz, Matthias; Dai, Yongjiu; Decharme, Bertrand; Dutra, Emanuel; Fang, Xing; Fierz, Charles; Yeugeniy, Gusev; Hagemann, Stefan; Haverd, Vanessa; Kim, Hyungjun; Lafaysse, Matthieu; Marke, Thomas; Nasonova, Olga; Nitta, Tomoko; Niwano, Masashi; Pomeroy, John; Schädler, Gerd; Semenov, Vladimir A.; Smirnova, Tatiana; Strasser, Ulrich; Swenson, Sean; Turkov, Dmitry; Wever, Nander; Yuan, HuaTwenty-seven models participated in the Earth System Model–Snow Model Intercomparison Project (ESM-SnowMIP), the most data-rich MIP dedicated to snow modeling. Our findings do not support the hypothesis advanced by previous snow MIPs: evaluating models against more variables and providing evaluation datasets extended temporally and spatially does not facilitate identification of key new processes requiring improvement to model snow mass and energy budgets, even at point scales. In fact, the same modeling issues identified by previous snow MIPs arose: albedo is a major source of uncertainty, surface exchange parameterizations are problematic, and individual model performance is inconsistent. This lack of progress is attributed partly to the large number of human errors that led to anomalous model behavior and to numerous resubmissions. It is unclear how widespread such errors are in our field and others; dedicated time and resources will be needed to tackle this issue to prevent highly sophisticated models and their research outputs from being vulnerable because of avoidable human mistakes. The design of and the data available to successive snow MIPs were also questioned. Evaluation of models against bulk snow properties was found to be sufficient for some but inappropriate for more complex snow models whose skills at simulating internal snow properties remained untested. Discussions between the authors of this paper on the purpose of MIPs revealed varied, and sometimes contradictory, motivations behind their participation. These findings started a collaborative effort to adapt future snow MIPs to respond to the diverse needs of the community.Item Simulating the hydrological impacts of land use conversion from annual crop to perennial forage in the Canadian Prairies using the Cold Regions Hydrological Modelling platform(Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2022) Cordeiro, Marcos; Liang, Kang; Wilson, Henry; Vanrobaeys, Jason; Lobb, David; Fang, Xing; Pomeroy, JohnThe Red River is one of the largest contributing sources of discharge and nutrients to the world’s 10th largest freshwater lake, Lake Winnipeg. Conversion of large areas of annual cropland to perennial forage has been proposed as a strategy to reduce both flooding and nutrient export to Lake Winnipeg. Such reductions could occur either via a reduction in the concentration of nutrients in runoff or through changes in the basin-scale hydrology, resulting in a lower water yield and the concomitant export of nutrients. This study assessed the latter mechanism by using the physically based Cold Regions Hydrological Modelling platform to examine the hydrological impacts of land use conversion from annual crops to perennial forage in a subbasin of the La Salle River basin in Canada. This basin is a typical agricultural subbasin in the Red River Valley, characterised by flat topography, clay soils, and a cold subhumid, continental climate. Long-term simulations (1992–2013) of the major components of water balance were compared between canola and smooth bromegrass, representing a conversion from annual cropping systems to perennial forage. An uncertainty framework was used to represent a range of fall soil saturation status (0% to 70 %), which governs the infiltration to frozen soil in the subsequent spring. The model simulations indicated that, on average, there was a 36.5±6.6% (36.5±7.2 mm) reduction in annual cumulative discharge and a 29.9±16.3% (2.6±1.6m3 s-1/ reduction in annual peak discharge due to forage conversion over the assessed period. These reductions were driven by reduced overland flow 52.9±12.8% (28.8±10.1 mm), increased peak snowpack (8.1±1.5 %, 7.8±1.6 mm), and enhanced infiltration to frozen soils (66.7±7.7 %, 141.5±15.2 mm). Higher cumulative evapotranspiration (ET) from perennial forage (34.5±0.9 %, 94.1±2.5 mm) was also predicted by the simulations. Overall, daily soil moisture under perennial forage was 18.0% (57.2±1.2 mm) higher than that of crop simulation, likely due to the higher snow water equivalent (SWE) and enhanced infiltration. However, the impact of forage conversion on daily soil moisture varied interannually. Soil moisture under perennial forage stands could be either higher or lower than that of annual crops, depending on antecedent spring snowmelt infiltration volumes.Item Simulation of the impact of future changes in climate on the hydrology of Bow River headwater basins in the Canadian Rockies(Journal of Hydrology, 2023) Fang, Xing; Pomeroy, John