Laserfiche WebLink
<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />i <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />RESULTS <br /> <br />Discharge, water temperature, and water quality <br /> <br />During the 1995 water year, annual runoff volume in the Little Snake River <br />was 617,500 acre feet lCrowfoot et al. 1996). Winter baseflow prior to runoff <br />was 2 to 3 m3/sec from October through January. Runoff peaked at 165 m3/sec <br />on June 8 and decreased rapidly to a base flow that ranged from 1 to 2 m3/sec <br />from early-August through September (Figure 2). Localized rain events in <br />September caused three spates that temporarily increased discharge from base flow <br />to about 4 m3/sec and another spate that increased discharge to 13 m3/sec. <br /> <br />Water temperatures were probably influenced by water volume, ambient <br />temperature, and size and morphology of the river channel upstream. Daily water <br />temperatures was calculated as the arithmetic mean of 24, hourly temperatures. In <br />both the Little Snake and Yampa rivers, daily temperatures generally followed a <br />similar pattern of warming from May through August during runoff and baseflow, <br />followed by cooling in late September (Figure 3). Daily temperatures were similar <br />for both rivers during the last two weeks of May, but in June and July, daily <br />temperatures in the Little Snake River were warmer than those in the Yampa River. <br />In June, mean daily water temperature in the Little Snake River was 14 Oc <br />Is = 1 .9477) and one degree warmer than temperatures in the Yampa River <br />(x = 13 oc, s = 1.5201) and in July, the Little Snake River (x = 19 oc, 5 = 1.8141) <br />was two degrees warmer than the Yampa River (x = 17.2 oc, s = 2.1442). By <br />August, this rel~tionship reversed and the Little Snake River (x = 19.8 oc, <br />5=0.7176) was two degrees cooler than the Yampa River (x = 21.40C, <br />s = 1 .0928). The Little Snake River remained about two degrees cooler (x = 14.8 <br />oc, s = 3.1443) than the Yampa River Ix = 16.7 oc, s = 3.6399) through <br /> <br />9 <br />