Guo, XulinWestbrook, Cherie2010-01-262013-01-042011-01-282013-01-042009-122009-12December 2http://hdl.handle.net/10388/etd-01262010-181717The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North American contains millions of wetlands in shallow depressions that provide important hydrological and ecological functions. To assess and model these functions it is important to have accurate methods to quantify wetland water volume storage. Hayashi and van der Kamp (2000) developed equations suitable for calculating water volume in natural, regularly shaped wetlands when two coefficients are known. This thesis tested the robustness of their full and simplified volume (V) area (A) depth (h) methods to accurately estimate volume for the range of wetland shapes occurring across the PPR. Further, a digital elevation model (DEM) derived from light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data was used to extract the necessary data for applying the simplified V-A-h method at a broad spatial scale. Detailed topographic data were collected for 27 wetlands in the Smith Creek Research Basin and St. Denis National Wildlife Area, Saskatchewan that ranged in surface area shape. The full V-A-h method was found to accurately estimate volume (errorsen-UShydrologywetlandprairie pothole regionGISLiDARbathymetrywater storagedigital elevation modeltext