Winter Surficial Processes and Groundwater Recharge in the Southern Alberta Prairies

Abstract

In the Canadian prairies groundwater is an important resource for agriculture, industrial, and domestic use. Majority of groundwater originates as winter precipitation, however, recharge is a fraction of annual precipitation. Groundwater recharge in the West Nose Creek (WNC) watershed was largest in years when depression inundation resulted from both snowmelt runoff and large precipitation (>200 mm) in May-June, and smaller in years with only large May-June precipitation. However, the occurrence of snowmelt runoff without large May-June precipitation resulted in little to no groundwater recharge. The Versatile Soil Moisture Budget (VSMB) Upland-Depression model complex was tested against two numerically rigorous, widely distributed models for snow accumulation, snowmelt runoff, soil freeze-thawing processes, and groundwater recharge estimation in WNC watershed. Average RRMSE of SWE in VSMB was 0.47, snowmelt runoff matched observed data, and the soil thaw timing was consistently delayed. VMSB estimated groundwater recharge was comparable to observed data for three of the five years.