Articles | Volume 26, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1801-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1801-2022
Research article
 | 
11 Apr 2022
Research article |  | 11 Apr 2022

Assessing hydrological sensitivity of grassland basins in the Canadian Prairies to climate using a basin classification-based virtual modelling approach

Christopher Spence, Zhihua He, Kevin R. Shook, Balew A. Mekonnen, John W. Pomeroy, Colin J. Whitfield, and Jared D. Wolfe

Data sets

Virtual Watershed Model Simulations for Typified Prairie Watersheds in High Elevation Grasslands Z. He, C. Spence, K. R. Shook, C. J. Whitfield, J. W. Pomeroy, and J. D. Wolfe https://doi.org/10.20383/102.0517

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Short summary
We determined how snow and flow in small creeks change with temperature and precipitation in the Canadian Prairie, a region where water resources are often under stress. We tried something new. Every watershed in the region was placed in one of seven groups based on their landscape traits. We selected one of these groups and used its traits to build a model of snow and streamflow. It worked well, and by the 2040s there may be 20 %–40 % less snow and 30 % less streamflow than the 1980s.