GIS spatial modeling of river flow and precipitation in the Oak Ridges Moraine area, Ontario

The spatial pattern of storm runoff volume is of interest in many environmental concerns and storm runoff is an important component in the hydrologic cycle because of its relationship to issues such as flooding and water quality. The isolation of the groundwater component allows the net effect of meteorology to stream flow rate. Hence, the time lag for the stream in respond to the precipitation event depends mainly on the physical and hydrological characteristics of the drainage basins such as land use, topography and geometry of the drainage basins. This paper uses different types of statistical and GIS techniques in an attempt to relate the meteorological data to the hydrological data, showing the spatial pattern of different respond time for different watersheds in Oak Ridges Moraine Area in the southern part of Ontario, Canada. The results were then related to the different physical properties of the watersheds delineated by GIS software. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.