U.B.C. WATERSHED MODEL / Le modèle du bassin versant U.C.B

Abstract

The U.B.C. Watershed Model is being used operationally for forecasting daily streamflows in 13 sub-basins of the Fraser River system which is subject to snowmelt floods from the mountain snow-packs of the Coast, Columbia and Rocky Mountains in British Columbia. The model has also been tested and adopted by the Prairie Provinces Water Board for mountain snowmelt forecasting in the Saskatchewan River system headwaters. The model estimates snowpack accumulation and depletion and operates entirely from meteorological inputs of daily maximum and minimum temperatures and precipitation. Account is kept of soil moisture, groundwater and evapotranspiration. Facilities are available in the model for lake storages and lake routing. The model has also been used in planning studies for the Peace River system. A 30-year sequence of missing streamflow data has been generated by the model from the measured meteorological data. Snow-packs were estimated by the model from measured valley precipitation. The model was tested against a 12-year period of measured flows and correlation coefficients of 0.95 were achieved for monthly flows.