Wolf Creek Research Basin water balance studies

Several classical water balance studies have been conducted in Wolf Creek. Most recently such work was carried out for the upper Wolf Creek basin to provide a comprehensive historical water balance assessment for all years of operation as part of the Northern Research Basins (NRB) water balance project. A closed annual water budget was obtained with a residual storage value of 19 mm. The relatively new CRHM model was applied to the upper Wolf Creek watershed for the 1995/1996 water year, with simulation for the remaining years ongoing. Of the past studies conducted for Wolf Creek forest environments, precipitation and evapotranspiration rates are similar in magnitude between studies. The recent CRHM water balance was carried out for higher elevation alpine and subalpine environments and yields evapotranspiration rates lower than those in forest environments, due to lower energy levels. Infiltration and runoff is variable within, and between, individual studies. In the upper Wolf Creek study, summer infiltration was simulated adequately; however, there are problems with snowmelt infiltration and runoff.