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<br />frequency curve is about the same as for the upper basin western tributaries <br />(station 07083000 on fig. 95), which is less than the slopes of the other <br />plots on figure 95, except for station 07096000. Unlike station 07083000, <br />however, the seasonal distribution of monthly runoff (fig. 96) for station <br />07119500 does not account for much of the variation. The spring and summer <br />months have higher mean runoff, demonstrating the effects of the thunderstorm <br />runoff and irrigation-return flow. No snowmelt peak or recession is seen. <br />Minimum runoff in every month is about the same. The band showing one stand- <br />ard deviation about the mean goes to the bottom of the graph for much of the <br />year because the monthly standard deviation is greater than the mean monthly <br />runoff for those months. <br /> <br />Seve~al otner tributaries ente~ the ~rkansas River along its course on <br />the Great Plains. The headwaters of these tributaries are in the prairie, <br />and, in general, very little runoff Occurs whether they have large or small <br />drainage areas. Much of the runoff is a result of irrigation-return flow and <br />waste water, and these drainages only contribute their own runoff after heavy <br />precipitation events. Station 07134100 (Big Sandy Creek near Lamar) is the <br />largest of these tributaries, but it was selected as representative of all of <br />these smaller prairie tributaries. The runoff for this site is the lowest of <br />the six stations discussed (fig. 95). The probability of the monthly runoff <br />being less than or equal to 0.000020 in. is 1 percent, and the probability of <br />monthly runoff being greater than or equal to 0.020 in. is 1 percent. The <br />monthly distribution of runoff (fig. 96) also shows none of the characteris- <br />tics of any of the other stations. <br /> <br />The main stem of the Arkansas River downstream from Pueblo is a regulated <br />stream affected by reservoir storage, irrigation diversions, and return flows. <br />Although it is difficult to compare runoff from station to station, because <br />streamflow decreases as drainage area increases, the characteristics of sta- <br />tion 07133000 (Arkansas River at Lamar) are typical of those on the main-stem <br />river downstream from Pueblo. Runoff for station 07133000 is highly variable <br />(fig. 95), with a I-percent probability of the runoff heing less than or equal <br />to 0.000027 in. (0.47 ft)/s) and a I-percent probability that the runoff will <br />equal or exceed 0.66 in. (11,500 ft)/s). The monthly distribution of runoff <br />(fig. 96) shows that, in every month, a large range occurs from minimum to <br />maximum, and the standard deviation is greater than the mean monthly runoff. <br /> <br />Correlations of monthly mean discharge and annual mean discharge were <br />computed for every combination of pairs of stations. Because discharge <br />results from an areal distribution of precipitation or snowmelt, and because <br />many of the stations are downstream from one another on the same stream, dis- <br />charges at different stations tend to correlate very well. The best intersta- <br />tion correlation coefficient for the monthly means was 0.997. Of the stations <br />that had concurrent record, 9.0 percent of those correlations was greater than <br />0.95; another 7.4 percent was greater than 0.90; and an additional 8.7 percent <br />was greater than 0.80. The best correlation coefficient for the annual mean <br />discharge was 0.999. Of the stations that had concurrent record, 5.0 percent <br />of those correlation coefficients was greater than 0.95; another 6.6 percent <br />was greater than 0.90; and an additional 15.7 percent was greater than 0.80. <br />Selected classes of interstation correlation of monthly mean discharge for <br />every pair of stations is presented in the IISupplemental Information" section <br />at the end of the report. <br /> <br />65 <br />