Title: Hydrologic Landscape Characterization for the Pacific Northwest, USA

Abstract

Abstract We update the Wigington et al . (2013) hydrologic landscape ( HL ) approach to make it more broadly applicable and apply the revised approach to the Pacific Northwest ( PNW ; i.e., Oregon, Washington, and Idaho). Specific changes incorporated are the use of assessment units based on National Hydrography Dataset Plus V2 catchments, a modified snowmelt model validated over a broader area, an aquifer permeability index that does not require preexisting aquifer permeability maps, and aquifer and soil permeability classes based on uniform criteria. Comparison of Oregon results for the revised and original approaches found fewer and larger assessment units, loss of summer seasonality, and changes in rankings and proportions of aquifer and soil permeability classes. Differences could be explained by three factors: an increased assessment unit size, a reduced number of permeability classes, and use of smaller cutoff values for the permeability classes. The distributions of the revised HL s in five groups of Oregon rivers were similar to the original HL s but less variable. The improvements reported here should allow the revised HL approach to be applied more often in situations requiring hydrologic classification and allow greater confidence in results. We also apply the map results tomore » the development of hydrologic landscape regions.« less

Authors:

Leibowitz, Scott G. ^[1]; Comeleo, Randy L. ^[1]; Wigington, Jr., Parker J. ^[1]; Weber, Marc H. ^[1]; Sproles, Eric A. ^[2]; Sawicz, Keith A. ^[3]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory Western Ecology Division U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 200 SW 35th St. Corvallis Oregon 97333
2. Center for Advanced Studies in Arid Zones University of La Serena La Serena Chile
3. Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education c/o USEPA National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory Western Ecology Division Corvallis Oregon 97333

Publication Date:

Fri Feb 19 00:00:00 EST 2016

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE

OSTI Identifier:

1401648

Resource Type:

Publisher's Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Journal of the American Water Resources Association

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: Journal of the American Water Resources Association Journal Volume: 52 Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 1093-474X

Publisher:

Wiley-Blackwell

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English