A ten-year water balance of a mountainous semi-arid watershed

Quantifying water balance components, which is particularly challenging in snow-fed, semi-arid regions, is crucial to understanding the basic hydrology of a watershed. In this study, a water balance was computed using 10 years of data collected at the Upper Sheep Creek Watershed, a 26-ha semi-arid mountainous sub-basin within the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed in southwest Idaho, USA. The approach computed a partial water balance for each of three landscape units and then computed an aggregated water balance for the watershed. Runoff and change in ground water storage were not distinguishable between landscape units. Precipitation, which occurs predominantly as snow, was measured within each landscape unit directly and adjusted for drifting. Spatial variability of effective precipitation was shown to be greater during years with higher precipitation. Evapotranspiration, which accounted for nearly 90% of the effective precipitation, was estimated using the Simultaneous Heat and Water (SHAW) Model and validated with measurements from Bowen ratio instruments. Runoff from the watershed was correlated to precipitation above a critical threshold of approximately 450 mm of precipitation necessary to generate runoff (r(2) = 0.52). The average water balance error was 46 mm, or approximately 10% of the estimated effective precipitation for the ten-year period. The error was largely attributed to deep percolation losses through fractures in the basalt underlying the watershed. Simulated percolation of the water beyond the root zone correlated extremely well with measured runoff (r(2) = 0.90), which is derived almost entirely from subsurface flow. Above a threshold of 50 mm, approximately 67% of the water percolating beyond the root zone produces runoff. The remainder was assumed to be lost to deep percolation through the basalt. This can have important ramifications in addressing subsurface flow and losses when applying a snowmelt runoff model to simulate runoff and hydrologic processes in the watershed. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.