# Peace-Athabaska 158 Year Lake Level Reconstructions #----------------------------------------------------------------------- # World Data Service for Paleoclimatology, Boulder # and # NOAA Paleoclimatology Program # National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) #----------------------------------------------------------------------- # Template Version 3.0 # Encoding: UTF-8 # NOTE: Please cite Publication, and Online_Resource and date accessed when using these data. # If there is no publication information, please cite Investigators, Title, and Online_Resource and date accessed. # # Online_Resource: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/25210 # Description: NOAA Landing Page # Online_Resource: https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/treering/reconstructions/peace-athabasca/athabasca1973lakelevel.txt # Description: NOAA location of the template # # Original_Source_URL: # Description: # # Description/Documentation lines begin with # # Data lines have no # # # Archive: Lake Level Reconstruction # # Dataset DOI: # # Parameter_Keywords: #-------------------- # Contribution_Date # Date: 1995-11-28 #-------------------- # File_Last_Modified_Date # Date: 2018-09-21 #-------------------- # Title # Study_Name: Peace-Athabaska 158 Year Lake Level Reconstructions #-------------------- # Investigators # Investigators: Stockton, C.W.; Fritts, H.C. #-------------------- # Description_Notes_and_Keywords # Description: Peace-Athabaska Lake Level Reconstructions, in feet above mean sea level, for 3 intervals of time within the season: # May 21-30, July 11-20, and Sep 21-30. Reconstructions based on tree-ring data from 1810-1967 CE. Original format data file located at: # https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/treering/reconstructions/peace-athabasca/peace-athabasca_dat.txt #-------------------- # Publication # Authors: Charles W. Stockton, Harold C. Fritts # Published_Date_or_Year: 1973-10-01 # Published_Title: Long-term reconstruction of water level changes for Lake Athabasca by analysis of tree rings # Journal_Name: Water Resources Bulletin # Volume: 9 # Edition: # Issue: 5 # Pages: 1006-1027 # Report_Number: # DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1973.tb05826.x # Online_Resource: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1752-1688.1973.tb05826.x # Full_Citation: # Abstract: The fact that dendrochronology can be a useful tool in water resources management is demonstrated by a study of past changes in lake levels. The study was necessitated by the recent (1967) closure of the gates on the W.A.C. Bennett Dam on the Peace River in British Columbia, causing a drop in water levels of Lake Athabasca, the lake levels control water level undulations in a series of smaller lakes which lie in the 1.5 million acre delta area along its western edge in Alberta. The W.A.C. Bennett Dam has by its regulation of the Peace River affected the river's historical role of creating a hydraulic dam during early summer flood stages thereby preventing outflow from Lake Athabasca and inducing annual inundation of the delta area. Because the ecololgy of the lake and adjacent delta region has depended on the now attenuated snow-melt flooding from the Upper Peace River Basin, it became necessary to consider some means of artificially inducing this annual inundation. It was not known, however, what the long-term water level changes were around which the present ecology had developed. Continuous historical lake level records exist only for the period 1935-1967. Was this period one of anomalously high or low water levels? Relatively old white spruce trees growing along natural levees of the channels in the delta region were found to contain tree-ring records that reflected the water stages in the channels. Because the water levels in the channels could be correlated with lake levels, it was possible to use the three-ring series to extend the known 33-year record of lake level changes to 158 years. By using canonical analysis and 10-day mean lake levels for three different subperiods in the 33-year period of calibration, along with tree-ring series from appropriately chosen stands of white spruce, reconstructions were made of the long-term record for late May, early July, and late September. The reconstructed record shows that the May 21-30 lake levels have been three times as variable in the past as in the period of historical record (1935-1967), the July 11-20 levels twice as variable, and the September 21-30 levels 10% less variable. However, the mean water level for each of the three subperiods for the long-term record is very close to the means for the period of historical record. The reconstructed record shows that, before the dam gates were closed, there was only one three-year period (1866-1868) in which the lake levels were as low as they have been since closure of the gates (that is, 1967-1970). (Levels were nearly as low, however, during the period 1942-1945. #------------------ # Funding_Agency # Funding_Agency_Name: # Grant: #------------------ # Site_Information # Site_Name: Lake Athabasca # Location: North America>Canada>Saskatchewan # Country: Canada # Northernmost_Latitude: 59.1 # Southernmost_Latitude: 59.1 # Easternmost_Longitude: -109.2 # Westernmost_Longitude: -109.2 # Elevation: 213 m #------------------ # Data_Collection # Collection_Name: Athabasca1973LakeLevel # Earliest_Year: 1810 # Most_Recent_Year: 1967 # Time_Unit: CE # Core_Length: # Notes: #------------------ # Chronology_Information # Chronology: # #---------------- # Variables # # Data variables follow are preceded by "##" in columns one and two. # Data line variables format: one per line, shortname-tab-variable components (what, material, error, units, seasonality, data type,detail, method, C or N for Character or Numeric data, free text) # ## age_CE age, , , years CE, , , , ,N, ## LLMay lake level, , , feet above sea level, May 21-30,lake level reconstruction,,tree-ring reconstruction,N, ## LLJuly lake level, , , feet above sea level, July 11-20,lake level reconstruction,,tree-ring reconstruction,N, ## LLSept lake level, , , feet above sea level, September 21-30,lake level reconstruction,,tree-ring reconstruction,N, # #---------------- # Data: # Data lines follow (have no #) # Data line format - tab-delimited text, variable short name as header # Missing Values: # age_CE LLMay LLJuly LLSept 1810 681.371 684.587 685.257 1811 687.486 690.644 689.678 1812 682.795 687.248 682.088 1813 688.411 689.714 689.363 1814 684.14 686.609 684.401 1815 689.061 685.474 686.885 1816 684.795 683.956 684.011 1817 681.4 682.113 680.581 1818 683.572 686.155 683.884 1819 685.432 686.096 684.753 1820 684.015 688.919 685.506 1821 689.191 693.187 689.274 1822 687.788 689.681 684.657 1823 687.895 690.333 686.347 1824 686.227 690.029 685.897 1825 686.185 689.182 684.631 1826 686.037 691.721 687.558 1827 687.978 692.183 687.071 1828 688.751 693.551 687.663 1829 690.264 693.771 688.61 1830 690.32 692.771 687.638 1831 688.274 690.346 686.318 1832 687.895 691.769 686.909 1833 687.391 691.727 686.797 1834 688.142 691.664 686.775 1835 688.666 691.206 687.178 1836 687.57 690.592 686.328 1837 685.867 688.434 684.802 1838 686.262 689.652 685.811 1839 685.286 687.499 684.314 1840 685.944 687.373 685.946 1841 684.953 688.368 685.954 1842 685.566 688.747 685.629 1843 686.052 685.885 684.834 1844 685.395 687.54 685.973 1845 683.363 684.524 682.353 1846 684.375 684.94 684.561 1847 686.622 687.412 685.892 1848 684.806 686.659 684.879 1849 684.7 687.178 685.61 1850 686.259 687.464 685.713 1851 685.755 688.312 686.057 1852 686.893 688.605 685.552 1853 685.29 690.431 686.422 1854 687.684 689.064 687.025 1855 687.8 689.483 687.732 1856 685.825 685.389 683.274 1857 686.137 688.471 686.147 1858 686.806 688.458 685.425 1859 685.757 688.927 686.313 1860 685.267 688.766 685.573 1861 686.352 689.507 685.493 1862 688.017 690.875 687.512 1863 687.038 689.266 686.241 1864 685.434 687.013 684.082 1865 685.684 685.848 685.306 1866 684.289 685.66 683.812 1867 684.558 684.479 684.381 1868 680.877 681.299 679.717 1869 684.041 683.608 685.201 1870 683.194 685.457 684.171 1871 684.272 688.36 685.662 1872 687.043 688.824 686.416 1873 686.426 687.936 686.297 1874 684.326 686.344 684.056 1875 684.025 686.103 684.046 1876 683.198 685.31 683.733 1877 683.675 686.027 684.364 1878 683.729 686.076 684.34 1879 684.14 686.435 683.54 1880 683.445 686.242 682.6 1881 686.754 690.131 687.996 1882 685.69 690.152 686.17 1883 686.896 689.453 686.03 1884 685.555 688.439 685.423 1885 685.661 689.569 685.638 1886 686.815 690.498 685.961 1887 686.652 689.433 685.831 1888 684.443 686.88 683.755 1889 683.696 687.216 684.737 1890 684.856 689.211 686.381 1891 685.121 689.322 686.007 1892 686.363 690.319 686.673 1893 687.863 691.006 686.227 1894 687.763 691.256 686.545 1895 687.831 691.344 686.348 1896 687.78 692.384 687.38 1897 687.447 690.974 686.433 1898 687.423 689.682 685.909 1899 687.786 691.241 687.322 1900 690.051 694.427 689.4 1901 689.191 693.946 687.983 1902 688.281 691.179 686.608 1903 688.202 691.257 687.912 1904 688.608 692.415 688.135 1905 688.017 691.279 687.399 1906 686.709 688.947 685.958 1907 686.737 689.537 686.746 1908 688.893 693.755 688.745 1909 689.443 693.116 687.761 1910 688.298 693.042 687.281 1911 688.148 691.098 686.244 1912 685.989 689.516 686.363 1913 686.925 690.866 687.303 1914 686.65 689.524 686.151 1915 685.168 687.153 684.364 1916 685.15 689.206 686.182 1917 684.734 687.486 684.379 1918 685.404 687.987 686.044 1919 683.562 687.668 684.447 1920 684.827 687.74 685.261 1921 686.977 693.201 689.838 1922 688.469 692.48 688.106 1923 688.971 691.204 688 1924 688.619 692.295 688.377 1925 686.819 689.073 685.152 1926 686.117 687.73 686.103 1927 684.813 688.213 685.097 1928 684.633 686.544 684.342 1929 683.885 687.155 684.67 1930 685.107 686.264 685.298 1931 683.281 685.485 684.222 1932 683.986 687.304 684.987 1933 684.088 688.445 685.387 1934 686.594 690.185 687.653 1935 685.193 693.128 689.314 1936 688.822 691.705 688.772 1937 686.182 687.558 685.741 1938 683.736 685.376 683.098 1939 684.861 687.318 685.694 1940 635.22 687.073 684.406 1941 685.861 686.725 684.056 1942 684.374 686.756 684.652 1943 684.711 688.005 684.734 1944 684.212 685.83 683.175 1945 683.906 684.872 682.703 1946 683.663 685.31 683.227 1947 685.302 687.729 684.84 1948 685.117 688.208 685.537 1949 685.344 687.403 684.852 1950 685.019 686.908 684.234 1951 685.782 687.883 685.201 1952 685.376 688.703 685.171 1953 684.541 685.381 682.592 1954 685.034 687.917 685.494 1955 685.752 687.717 685.313 1956 685.004 686.911 684.277 1957 684.89 687.606 685.821 1958 685.737 687.41 684.996 1959 685.762 689.316 687.105 1960 684.874 688.621 686.467 1961 685.799 689.146 686.53 1962 686.789 690.554 688.086 1963 686.919 689.53 686.491 1964 685.616 690.087 689.205 1965 687.054 690.057 687.603 1966 685.245 689.425 687.782 1967 685.69 689.723 686.963