Comparing Field Measured Runoff and Precipitation in Several Large Arctic Alaskan Rivers
Abstract
Precipitation and runoff (or water levels) are measured in several large basins in the central North Slope of Alaska. The Chandler, Anaktuvuk, Itkillik, Sagavanirktok, and Shaviovik Rivers have contributing areas in the mountainous Brooks Range to the south. The Kadleroshilik and Kuparuk have contributing areas in the foothills of these mountain ranges but a significant part of the basin lies in the low gradient northern coastal plain region. Typically spring snowmelt is the most important period for streamflow runoff in the Arctic, but some larger basins with contributing areas in the mountains, a combination of late snowmelt, summer precipitation, and/or glacial runoff may cause mid to late summer peak flow events. Summer precipitation is highest in the mountains (over 250 mm) and decreases to the northern regions of the Coastal Plain (80 mm on average). During the monitoring period in summer 2009, a combination of summer precipitation, later snowmelt in the mountains, and glacial melt caused high flow rates (or water levels) on the same order of magnitude as the snowmelt peak for the Anaktuvuk River and the Itkillik River; this is mainly due to the high percentage of the headwaters in the mountains. Rivers that do not drain from the mountains (Kuparuk and Kadleroshilik) showed relatively little runoff in response to summer precipitation. Localized summer storms caused summer flows to increase in smaller basins but in the larger basins without contributing areas in the mountains, such as the Kuparuk and the Kadleroshilik, little response to summer precipitation occurs.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2009
- Bibcode:
- 2009AGUFM.H53C0936Y
- Keywords:
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- 1833 HYDROLOGY / Hydroclimatology;
- 1836 HYDROLOGY / Hydrological cycles and budgets;
- 1848 HYDROLOGY / Monitoring networks;
- 1879 HYDROLOGY / Watershed