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Effects of Subbasin Size on Topographic Characteristics and Simulated Flow Paths in Sleepers River Watershed, VermontBy D.M. WolockAbstractThe effects of subbasin size on topographic characteristics and simulated flow paths were determined for the 111.5-kmî Sleepers River Research Watershed in Vermont using the watershed model TOPMODEL. Topography is parameterized in TOPMODEL as the spatial and statistical distribution of the index ln (a/tan B), where ln is the Napierian logarithm, a is the upslope area per unit contour length, and tan B is the slope gradient. The mean, variance, and skew of the ln (a/tan B) distribution were computed for several sets of nested subbasins (0.05 to 111.5 kmî) along streams in the watershed and used as input to TOPMODEL. In general, the statistics of the ln (a/tan B) distribution and the simulated percentages of overland flow in total streamflow increased rapidly for some nested subbasins and decreased rapidly for others as subbasin size increased from 0.05 to 1 kmî, generally increased up to a subbasin size of 5 kmî, and remained relatively constant at a subbasin size greater than 5 kmî. Differences in simulated flow paths among subbasins of all sizes (0.05 to 111.5 kmî) were caused by differences in the statistics of the ln (a/tan B) distribution, not by differences in the explicit spatial arrangement of ln (a/tan B) values within the subbasins. Analysis of streamflow chemistry data from the Neversink River watershed in southeastern New York supports the hypothesis that subbasin size affects flow-path characteristics. Additional information about Watershed Processes can be found at: http://ks.water.usgs.gov/studies/watershed/Wolock, D.M., 1995, Effects of subbasin size on topographic characteristics and simulated flow paths in Sleepers River watershed, Vermont: Water Resources Research, v. 31, no. 8, p. 1989-1997. To request a paper copy of this journal article, email: dwolock@.usgs.gov |
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
URL: /pubs/abstracts/dmw.wrr.v31n8.html
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The USGS has collected hydrologic information in Kansas since 1895 with the first USGS Cooperative
Water Program funding agreement for 6 streamflow gages with the Kansas Water Board. USGS collects streamflow
and gage-height data; reservoir content; water-quality and water-quantity data; suspended-sediment data;
and groundwater levels. Hydrologic studies are conducted on national, regional, statewide, and local levels.
The USGS in Kansas works cooperatively with 31 Federal, State, and local agencies, such as the Kansas Water Office, the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers, and the City of Wichita