Updating the Canadian Reference Hydrometric Basin Network to detect climate-related trends in streamflow

Abstract

This thesis developed a new set of selection criteria to renew the Canadian Reference Hydrometric Basin Network (RHBN) and improve its coverage of non-atmospheric factors affecting streamflow such as geographic location, ecological factors as represented by ecoregions, and watershed characteristics (e.g., watershed size). This dataset was further analyzed to provide a national outlook on climate-related trends in streamflow. The usefulness of categorizing streamflows by ecoregion groups or major precipitation mechanism was confirmed. The development of a storage effect indicator that may be used to differentiate between stations with flows controlled by annual phenomena and those with significant carryover between years is an additional contribution.