The characteristics and measurement of winter precipitation in basins of internal drainage in Saskatchewan: a case study of Big Quill Lake
Date
1975
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
The main objective of this thesis is to find an
acceptable method with which to measure the winter
precipitation in the major internal drainage basins in Saskatchewan.
These internal basins constitute twenty per
cent of the settled land area of the province. Using
stochastic hydrological information, precipitation was
demonstrated to be the controlling factor in the level of
four-closed lakes within four of the five major drainage
basins (Old Wives Lake Complex, Quill Lakes and Assiniboine
Plain Complex, Snipe Lake Plain Complex and Moose Mountain
Complex). For the fifth basin (Great Sand Hills Complex)
data were insufficient to permit a valid analysis.
A case study showed that the winter precipitation
data for Big Quill Lake could be used to predict the water
balance for the lake plain section of the basin. With this
understanding, it was possible to design a new technique for
measuring winter precipitation using the recorded
hydrostatic pressure from beneath the ice surface of a
closed lake. The new technique is necessary because the
present network is either too sparse in these basins or
extension too expensive to be used to give areal snow cover
information. The hydrostatic pressure data provided a single
value for winter precipitation which was accurate for ninety
per cent of the Big Quill Lake drainage basin.
The parameters necessary for the calibration
equation were then drawn up as a conceptual model which would permit the snow cover of the remaining three major
internal drainage basins (Old Wives, Snipe Lake Plain and
Moose Mountain Complexes) to be analysed given the necessary
data. The conceptual model provides an estimate of the
precipitation resulting from a single storm.
Another model was developed from which it was
possible to forecast winter precipitation for any of the
five basins studied from information derived from one of the
basins. At the present time the model developed is not
capable of dealing with the comlexities of the duration and
direction of the storm movement. Thus the application of the
present model is limited to single basins. The technique
is, however, not limited to the internal basins described
but could be used in any closed lake where ice forms during
the winter months.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Degree
Master of Science (M.Sc.)
Department
Geography
Program
Geography