Fifty years of recorded hillslope runoff on seasonally frozen ground: the Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada, dataset

• Main Authors: A. E. Coles, J. J. McDonnell, B. G. McConkey
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2019-09-01
• Series: Earth System Science Data
• Online Access: https://www.earth-syst-sci-data.net/11/1375/2019/essd-11-1375-2019.pdf
• ISSN: 1866-3508; 1866-3516

<p>Long records of hillslope runoff and nutrient concentrations are rare – on seasonally frozen ground they are almost non-existent. The Swift Current hillslopes at the Swift Current Research and Development Centre on the Canadian Prairies provide such a long-term hydrological record. Runoff, runoff nutrient concentration, snowpack depth, density and water equivalent, soil moisture, and soil nutrient concentration were monitored on the three 5&thinsp;ha hillslopes over a 50-year period (1962–2011). Digital elevation data are available for the three hillslopes at a 2&thinsp;m horizontal resolution, and, for one of the hillslopes (Hillslope 2), at a 0.25&thinsp;m horizontal resolution. Runoff from the hillslopes was generated episodically during snowmelt and occasional rainfall events. Hillslope runoff was measured with a 0.61&thinsp;m H-flume. Daily runoff nutrient concentration data are available for nitrate–N (March 1971–April 2011), ammoniacal–N (February 1996–April 2011), and phosphate-P (March–April 1971; June 1991–April 2011). Snowpack data (snowpack depth, density, and water equivalent) were determined via manual snow surveys carried out several times each winter, between January and March, between 1965 and 2011. Gravimetric soil moisture content was measured in October and April each year between 1971 and 2011 at five depth intervals (0–15, 15–30, 30–60, 60–90, and 90–120&thinsp;cm) at nine points on each hillslope. We provide these hillslope data in two publicly available repositories: (1) 1962–2011 data on runoff, runoff nutrients, snowpack, soil moisture, soil nutrients, and crop and tillage practices at <a href="https://doi.org/10.23684/hhn5-rz52">https://doi.org/10.23684/hhn5-rz52</a> (McConkey and Thiagarajan, 2018); and (2) digital elevation data at <a href="https://doi.org/10.20383/101.0117">https://doi.org/10.20383/101.0117</a> (Coles et al., 2018). Complete climate data recorded at a Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorological station located 390&thinsp;m from the three hillslopes are publicly available at <span class="uri">http://climate.weather.gc.ca/</span> (last access: 30 August 2019).</p>