Elevation: a major influence on the hydrology of New Hampshire and Vermont, USA / L'altitude exerce une influence importante sur l'hydrologie du New Hampshire et du Vermont, Etats-Unis

Abstract

Much of New Hampshire and Vermont (combined area = 50 000 km2) has hilly to mountainous topography. Elevations range from 0 to 1900 m a.s.l. (average = 360 m), and many peaks exceed 1200 m. Mean annual precipitation increases strongly with elevation (adjusted for additional orographic effects and distance from moisture sources), as do mean monthly precipitation, snow depth, and snow water equivalents. Mean monthly temperatures decrease with elevation, largely masking latitudinal effects, and can be used with other information to show how potential evapotranspiration changes with elevation. These effects combine to produce strong elevational increases in mean annual streamflow and, more surprisingly, cause streamflow variability, both short term and annual, to decrease with mean drainage basin elevation. Low flows for a given exceedance probability increase markedly as mean basin elevation increases above 340 m. Flood peaks for a given return period also increase with mean basin elevation. Slope and aspect affect the timing of snowmelt runoff, but otherwise appear to have only second order effects on hydrology. The effect of elevation is so dominant in the region that it can be used as the single independent variable in predicting many streamflow parameters. © 1981 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.