Controls of Variability in the Laurentian Great Lakes Terrestrial Water Budget

Abstract The land surface hydrology of the North American Great Lakes region regulates ecosystem water availability, lake levels, vegetation dynamics, and agricultural practices. In this study, we analyze the Great Lakes terrestrial water budget using the Noah‐MP land surface model to characterize t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Samar Minallah, Allison L. Steiner, Valeriy Y. Ivanov, Andrew W. Wood
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2023-10-01
Series:Water Resources Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2022WR033759
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850121236092289024
author Samar Minallah
Allison L. Steiner
Valeriy Y. Ivanov
Andrew W. Wood
author_facet Samar Minallah
Allison L. Steiner
Valeriy Y. Ivanov
Andrew W. Wood
author_sort Samar Minallah
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The land surface hydrology of the North American Great Lakes region regulates ecosystem water availability, lake levels, vegetation dynamics, and agricultural practices. In this study, we analyze the Great Lakes terrestrial water budget using the Noah‐MP land surface model to characterize the catchment hydrological regimes and identify the dominant quantities contributing to the variability in the land surface hydrology. We show that the Great Lakes domain is not hydrologically uniform and strong spatiotemporal differences exist in the regulators of the hydrological budget at daily, monthly, and annual timescales. Subseasonally, precipitation and soil moisture explain nearly all the terrestrial water budget variability in the southern basins, while the northern latitudes are snow‐dominated regimes. Seasonal assessments reveal greater differences among the basins. Precipitation, evaporation, and runoff are the dominant sources of variability at lower latitudes, while at higher latitudes, terrestrial water storage in the form of ground snowpack and soil moisture has the leading role. Differences in land cover categorizations, for example, croplands, forests, or urban zones, further induce spatial differences in the hydrological characteristics. This quantification of variability in the terrestrial water cycle embedded at different temporal scales is important to assess the impacts of changes in climate and land cover on catchment sensitivities across the diverse hydroclimate of the Great Lakes region.
format Article
id doaj-art-3bbdb38feca74a2c8ea2f28e37cafcba
institution OA Journals
issn 0043-1397
1944-7973
language English
publishDate 2023-10-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series Water Resources Research
spelling doaj-art-3bbdb38feca74a2c8ea2f28e37cafcba2025-08-20T02:35:08ZengWileyWater Resources Research0043-13971944-79732023-10-015910n/an/a10.1029/2022WR033759Controls of Variability in the Laurentian Great Lakes Terrestrial Water BudgetSamar Minallah0Allison L. Steiner1Valeriy Y. Ivanov2Andrew W. Wood3Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI USADepartment of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI USADepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI USAClimate and Global Dynamics Laboratory National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder CO USAAbstract The land surface hydrology of the North American Great Lakes region regulates ecosystem water availability, lake levels, vegetation dynamics, and agricultural practices. In this study, we analyze the Great Lakes terrestrial water budget using the Noah‐MP land surface model to characterize the catchment hydrological regimes and identify the dominant quantities contributing to the variability in the land surface hydrology. We show that the Great Lakes domain is not hydrologically uniform and strong spatiotemporal differences exist in the regulators of the hydrological budget at daily, monthly, and annual timescales. Subseasonally, precipitation and soil moisture explain nearly all the terrestrial water budget variability in the southern basins, while the northern latitudes are snow‐dominated regimes. Seasonal assessments reveal greater differences among the basins. Precipitation, evaporation, and runoff are the dominant sources of variability at lower latitudes, while at higher latitudes, terrestrial water storage in the form of ground snowpack and soil moisture has the leading role. Differences in land cover categorizations, for example, croplands, forests, or urban zones, further induce spatial differences in the hydrological characteristics. This quantification of variability in the terrestrial water cycle embedded at different temporal scales is important to assess the impacts of changes in climate and land cover on catchment sensitivities across the diverse hydroclimate of the Great Lakes region.https://doi.org/10.1029/2022WR033759Great Lakesland surface hydrologyterrestrial water budgetprincipal component analysisland surface modelpartial least squares regression
spellingShingle Samar Minallah
Allison L. Steiner
Valeriy Y. Ivanov
Andrew W. Wood
Controls of Variability in the Laurentian Great Lakes Terrestrial Water Budget
Water Resources Research
Great Lakes
land surface hydrology
terrestrial water budget
principal component analysis
land surface model
partial least squares regression
title Controls of Variability in the Laurentian Great Lakes Terrestrial Water Budget
title_full Controls of Variability in the Laurentian Great Lakes Terrestrial Water Budget
title_fullStr Controls of Variability in the Laurentian Great Lakes Terrestrial Water Budget
title_full_unstemmed Controls of Variability in the Laurentian Great Lakes Terrestrial Water Budget
title_short Controls of Variability in the Laurentian Great Lakes Terrestrial Water Budget
title_sort controls of variability in the laurentian great lakes terrestrial water budget
topic Great Lakes
land surface hydrology
terrestrial water budget
principal component analysis
land surface model
partial least squares regression
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2022WR033759
work_keys_str_mv AT samarminallah controlsofvariabilityinthelaurentiangreatlakesterrestrialwaterbudget
AT allisonlsteiner controlsofvariabilityinthelaurentiangreatlakesterrestrialwaterbudget
AT valeriyyivanov controlsofvariabilityinthelaurentiangreatlakesterrestrialwaterbudget
AT andrewwwood controlsofvariabilityinthelaurentiangreatlakesterrestrialwaterbudget