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Is ‘Centre of Volume’ a robust indicator of changes in snowmelt timing?
Author(s) -
Whitfield Paul H.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
hydrological processes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.222
H-Index - 161
eISSN - 1099-1085
pISSN - 0885-6087
DOI - 10.1002/hyp.9817
Subject(s) - snowmelt , streamflow , hydrograph , environmental science , hydrology (agriculture) , indicator value , streams , water year , volume (thermodynamics) , drainage basin , climatology , meteorology , snow , geology , computer science , geography , ecology , computer network , physics , cartography , geotechnical engineering , quantum mechanics , biology
The centre of volume (COV), or the hydrograph centroid, is a measure of streamflow timing that is a widely used indicator of the effects of warmer temperatures on the hydrology of snowmelt streams. The COV was originally developed as a measure of land‐use effects, and its response is affected by several factors other than temperature, particularly total run‐off. A ‘toy’ model is used to demonstrate some of these effects, and these effects are also shown for streamflow data from Canada's Reference Hydrologic Basin Network. These deficiencies indicate that COV is neither specific nor robust as an indicator. Although these effects might be overcome by streamflow decomposition, the use of COV as an indicator of snowmelt timing should be avoided. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.