3.

0 Water Balance

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Water Balance approach

modeling framework for simplifying, describing & quantifying the hydrological budget of water
inputs & outputs of components of the hydrological cycle

specific to an area (e.g., region, watershed) and time interval (e.g., annual, monthly, weekly.) ultimately, water balance is climate driven via variations in precipitation (M) & temperature (E)
other local factors (vegetation, soils, land use, seasonality)
GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011 D.L. Peters

Water Balance Equation

Amount of water entering & leaving a control volume during a time period (t) as: inflow (I) outflow (O) = change in storage (S)

I O = S or
(balance eqn)

dS I O S = and i o = t t t dt
(difference eqn) (differential eqn)

Assumption: density taken as constant (1000 kg m-3) express as volume (m3) Conservation of mass

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Water Balance Equation

In a drainage basin, each portion of the budget is a specific process/component of the cycle,

P + G Q + ET + G = S in out 4 3 123 14 244 outflow ,O inflow ,I

what dimensions/units could be used?
depth (L) over area (L2) = volume (L3) over time rate of water movement (LT-1 or L3T-1) e.g., mm P per month, m3 s-1 for river discharge

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Water Balance Equation If assume continuity

storage change S = 0, inputs = outputs from year to year (average over long time e.g. 30 years) assumes no significant climate changes, surficial changes, anthropogenic impacts, or major storage Time averaging applied to develop conservation equation

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Water Balance Equation But - Temporal Variability

Inputs, storages, and outputs are all distributed variables Quantities can vary with time Thus concept of time variability is inherent to ch concept of the system

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Water Balance Equation But - Spatial Variability

Rates of Inputs and outputs and many other hydrologically relevant properties vary spatially over geographic region (e.g, watershed) Description of spatial variability notable precipitation are based on measurements made over time at discrete points (precipitaion gauges)

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Space & Time Scales Hydrologic Processes

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Applications of the Water Balance Equation

accounting of major inputs, outputs & delayed components over specific spatial & temporal scale annual water budget from monthly climate averages
determine times of moisture use, deficit, recharge, surplus water supply/recharge planning assessing human impacts

why is this useful?

e.g. why are wetlands drying up in northern Alberta
GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011 D.L. Peters

Limitations of the water balance equation

Very difficult to model accurately

..one of the most challenging Rubik Cubes of nature, one in which the squares change colours, shapes and sizes as they are being moved around by the different forces, and in which even the structural setup changes with time
Klemes (1988), A hydrological perspective

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Example: Evaporation pan

Water balance components? P E = S (mm) E = P - S (mm)

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Water Balance of Jemis Lake

QF + PO + PS + EO +G = ds/dt
(including snow/ice growth and melt)

DEM Jemis
Fieldwork to Validate Algorithms
Evaporation & Precipitation Groundwater Flow

0.80 m deep when full Low relief - little surface runoff to lake
GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011 D.L. Peters

Example: Lake Athabasca

What are the water balance components of this system?

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Example : Global Water Balance Model

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Watershed balance model

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Thornthwaite Monthly Water Balance

The Thornthwaite water balance (Thornthwaite, 1948; Mather, 1978; 1979) uses an accounting procedure to analyze the allocation of water among various components of the hydrologic system. Inputs to the model are monthly temperature and precipitation. Outputs include monthly potential and actual evapotranspiration, soil moisture storage, snow storage, surplus, and runoff.

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Precipitation inputs
Precipitation from local climate station, Rain & Snow
When monthly temperature is < or = 0oC all P is considered to be snow and PET is set to zero. Snow accumulates until mean monthly temperature exceeds 0oC. SNOWm = (1 Fm) Pm Fm is a melt factor see handout for calculation monthly temperature > 0oC, P is considered to be liquid (RAIN) and snowmelt occurs. RAINm = Fm Pm Pm as monthly water inputs (Wm) Wm = W total water inputs, m define as time interval Wm = RAINm (rain or snow) + MELTm (delayed delivery) MELTM = FM (PACKM-1 + SNOWM)

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Evapotransipiration Output
Combined water loss as vapour via evaporation (E) & transpiration (T) from plants ET depends on:
potential ET or PETm = (surface air temp, daylength, solar azimuth)

e* (Ta ) PETm = 924 D a Ta + 273.2

ETm = Wm + SOILm-1 - SOILm

Hamon (1963)

actual ETm = (PETm, available moisture from SOILm, veg)

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Soil moisture
Key source or sink of moisture for ET process
controls available water for AETm via both evaporation from land surfaces and plant transpiration

SOILm = min {[(Wm PETm) + SOILm-1]

or SOILmax}

SOILmax = FC (Zrz) 100mm for topsoil in other words SOILm will be the lesser of values in argument

SOILm = SOILm-1{1 exp[(PETm Wm)/SOILmax]}

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Soil moisture deficit

Soil moisture deficit (-SOIL) loss of SOIL water to satisfy ET (utilization)
when Wm < PETm deficit conditions result as PETm > ETm (i.e., DEFICm = PETm - ETm) unsatisfied PETm demand is withdrawn from SOILm to reach ETm ETm = Wm + SOILm and is limited by SOILmax (e.g., 100 mm)

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Soil moisture recharge

Soil moisture recharge (+SOILm) input of water to SOIL
when Wm > PETm SOIL is recharged first(up to e.g., 100 mm)

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Soil moisture surplus

Excess surplus moisture is termed runoff and in the water balance equation is assumed to become streamflow (Q)
excess as runoff, Qm = Wm - ETm - SOILm

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Thornthwaite Water Balance Model Victoria Airport

ANNUAL WATER BALANCE FOR [click to INSERT LOCATION] by: [click to INSERT NAME, STUDENT #]
160 P PACK 140 W SOIL ET 120 SURP PET DEFIC 100 AMOUNT (mm)

80

60

40

20

0 jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug sep oct nov dec MONTH

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Thornthwaite Water Balance Model Montreal

ANNUAL WATER BALANCE FOR [click to INSERT LOCATION] by: [click to INSERT NAME, STUDENT #]
450 P PACK W SOIL ET SURP PET DEFIC

400

350

300 AMOUNT (mm)

250

200

150

100

50

0 jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug sep oct nov dec MONTH

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters

Thornthwaite Water Balance Model Florida

ANNUAL WATER BALANCE FOR [click to INSERT LOCATION] by: [click to INSERT NAME, STUDENT #]
300 P PACK W 250 SOIL ET SURP PET 200 AMOUNT (mm) DEFIC

150

100

50

0 jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug sep oct nov dec MONTH

GEOG370 Hydrology Spring 2011

D.L. Peters