Virtual Watershed Model Simulations for Typified Prairie Watersheds in High Elevation Grasslands

GeoNetwork record: www.gwfnet.net/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/8c5e3982-7d59-42f5-90f8-6d5d688d6e94

The dataset is comprised of inputs to and outputs from the Cold Regions Hydrological Model (CRHM) when it was run as a virtual model of the High Elevation Grasslands class, as defined by Wolfe et al. (2019). These watersheds represented typified prairie watersheds based on physiogeography and coherent response to environmental change. Model parameters were informed by the results of Wolfe et al. (2019). The .prj files necessary to run the virtual models are included in the dataset. Climate forcing data are from the Adjusted and Homogenized Canadian Climate Dataset from a cohort of stations contained within each watershed class and cover a period from 1960-2006. There are a series of climate sensitivity scenarios that include applying a delta method to the original climate data (i.e., 1°C increments of warming, and -20%, +10%, +20% and +30% of precipitation). Model output includes hourly catchment outflow, rainfall, snowfall, snow sublimation and snow water equivalent for the baseline and each scenario.

Prairie Water is an interdisciplinary project that prioritizes research to address pressing water security challenges and knowledge gaps in order to enhance the resilience of prairie communities. The project’s objectives and research plans are informed by working with partners from governments, communities, non-profit organisations, and industry groups.

The dataset contributes to work packages 1.2, or A(i), under Phase II of Prairie Water, “analyzing future climate and land use change using Virtual Watershed modelling”. The dataset aims to assess hydrological sensitivity of Canadian Prairie catchments to climate with seven temperature scenarios and five precipitation scenarios, and contribute to our understanding of the hydrological, biogeochemical, and ecological response of prairie watersheds to climate and land management changes.

He, Z., Spence, C., Shook, K., Whitfield, C., Pomeroy, J., Wolfe, J. (2021). Virtual Watershed Model Simulations for Typified Prairie Watersheds in High Elevation Grasslands [Dataset]. Federated Research Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.20383/102.0517

Spence, C., He, Z., Shook, K. R., Mekonnen, B. A., Pomeroy, J. W., Whitfield, C. J., and Wolfe, J. D.: Assessing hydrological sensitivity of grassland basins in the Canadian Prairies to climate using a basin classification–based virtual modelling approach, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2021-186, in review, 2021.

Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Lacombe, Alberta, Canada
Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

This dataset is made available under a custom license. Some of the files are available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) License while others are available under the Open Government License – Canada. Please see the provided LICENSE.txt file (https://g-624536.53220.5898.data.globus.org/6/published/publication_512/submitted_data/LICENSE.txt) for the full terms of use.

Data can be downloaded from https://doi.org/10.20383/102.0517