Storm runoff volume estimation in the Oak Ridges Moraine area, using GIS remote sensing techniques

The hydrological significance of the Oak Ridges Moraine area, Ontario, has been acknowledged for its ecological and economical concerns. It is important to study the stormwater component because precipitation events have major effects on underground aquifer systems (volume of groundwater discharge and groundwater chemistry) as well as the behaviors and volumes of the storm runoff above ground. This thesis investigates the relationship between the precipitation events and the stormwater components of various drainage basins by different statistical coefficients in the Oak Ridges Moraine area. These coefficients were then compared at different response times used in some rainfall-runoff models.; Beyond obtaining the statistical coefficients and generate a series of maps, this thesis also estimate the annual storm runoff volumes for all the watersheds across the Oak Ridges Moraine area spatially and temporally. These watersheds were derived using GIS techniques and Digital Elevation Model of the area. The computation of the storm runoff volume incorporates some spatial modeling techniques combining vector maps and raster maps created by satellite image. This method generates some important coefficients which could be used in future researches.; The final part of the thesis studies the relationship between the physical properties of the watersheds and the statistical coefficients as well as the storm runoff volumes. The physical properties include land cover, topography and basin geometry, each of these properties was studied for its relative importance to the time lags the stream flow rate respond to precipitation events and the storm runoff volumes.