Hydrologic Landscape Classification to Estimate Bristol Bay, Alaska Watershed Hydrology

• Published in: JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association
• Main Authors: Todd, M. Jason, Wigington, Parker J., Sproles, Eric A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2017
• Subjects: glaciers; Alaska
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12544; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2F1752-1688.12544; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1752-1688.12544

Abstract Hydrologic landscapes ( HL s) have proven to be a useful tool for broad scale assessment and classification of landscapes across the United States as they help organize larger geographical areas into areas of similar hydrologic characteristics. We developed a HL classification for the Bristol Bay watershed of southwest Alaska that incorporates indices of annual climate and seasonality, terrain, geology, and the influences of large lakes and glaciers. A HL classification is particularly useful in this large watershed because of its hydrologic and landscape variability, important salmon fishery, variety of environmental and potential anthropogenic stressors, and lack of widespread hydrologic data. Following creation of Bristol Bay basin‐wide HL classes, we compared the HL distributions within watersheds grouped by two calculated runoff parameters derived from available long‐term streamflow records and found HL distributions within these groups provided predictive insight on hydrologic behavior. Using these developed runoff groups, we estimated expected hydrologic behavior in watersheds across the larger Bristol Bay watershed that lacked gauged streamflow records. The HL approach provides a scientific basis for estimating the first‐order hydrologic behavior of watersheds and landscapes that lack detailed hydrologic information.