Simplified Volume-Area-Depth Method for Estimating Water Storage of Prairie Potholes

• DOI: 10.1007/s13157-010-0044-8
• Publication Date: 2010-05-03T12:50:57Z
• Authors: Adam G. Minke; Cherie J. Westbrook; Garth van der Kamp
• Keywords: Water storage

The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North American contains millions of wetlands that provide important hydrological and ecological functions. Modeling these processes relies on relationships that relate wetland water depth to volume. Methods suitable for investigating water storage in regularly shaped wetlands have already been developed when two coefficients are known. We tested the robustness of the full and simplified volume (V) area (A) depth (h) methods to accurately estimate volume for the range of wetland shapes occurring across the PPR. The full V-A-h method was found to accurately estimate volume (errors ≤5%) across wetlands of various shapes, and is therefore suitable for calculating water storage in the variety of wetland shapes found in the PPR. Analysis of the simplified V-A-h method showed that <10% volume error can be achieved with concurrent measures of surface area and depth in the spring when water levels are ∼70% of hmax, and also in late summer prior to water levels dropping below 10 cm. Applying the simplified V-A-h method according to the guidelines presented herein will allow for accurate, time effective water storage estimates for multiple wetlands, thereby allowing hydrological and ecological functions to be modeled.