ter monthly average flows are less than 4 m3/s.
GENERAL HYDROLOGY
The White River basin is heterogeneous, but flows
OF THE BASIN
throughout are low and stable in winter. In this
The White River basin lies in an unglaciated
report we investigate the winter water balance of
part of the Missouri Plateau characterized by un-
the White River in eight subbasins. The water bal-
dulating uplands and wide floodplains along the
ance is written as a monthly average for river
larger streams. The location and basin maps for
reaches bounded by flow gages. The flow contri-
the White River given in Figure 1 indicate the
butions from subbasins and the water storage in
basin boundaries, the primary tributaries, the Little
the river due to ice production are computed for a
White River basin boundaries, and the U.S. Geo-
series of seven winters, from November 1974 to
logical Survey (USGS) stream gaging stations and
February 1981. Water going into or out of storage
meteorological data stations used in this study.
as ice or melt is calculated from an air tempera-
The streamflow gages on the main river and the
ture index model. The point estimate method
Little White River are listed in Table 1, along with
(PEM) of Rosenblueth (1975) (Appendix A) al-
the drainage area of each nested subbasin, the
lows us to apply deterministic relations for ice
annual and winter average discharges for the pe-
growth or melt, water storage as ice, and subbasin
riod of record, the gage datum, the approximate
water yield to the river while still accounting for
river location of each gage or length of the reach
uncertain or variable parameters in the calcula-
between gages, the average channel slope, and
tions and flow measurements. The PEM provides
the linear distance between gages. The winter av-
an expected value, variance, and estimated limits
erage discharge was obtained from November
of the probability distributions that characterize
the dependent variable in each of these calcula-
through February monthly averages. The chan-
tions. Our objective is to quantify the water yield
nels of the White and Little White Rivers are highly
mobile within the floodplain, and river location
from each subbasin to the river and, where pos-
is not published by the USGS. The approximate
sible, the riversubsurface flow exchange.
Table 1. Basin, flow, and river parameters corresponding to USGS gages on the White and Little White Rivers.
Gage
Gage
location
River/
Avg. discharge (m3/s)
datum
or reach
Approx.
Linear
linear
area
or elev.
length
river
distance
distance
(km2)
Location
Annual
Winter
Ratio
(m)
(km)
slope
(km)
ratio
White River
Crawford
810
0.57
0.59
1.04
1115.5
804.0
CrOg
4,890
0.96
0.06
--
196.0
0.0013
78.9
2.48
Oglala
5,700
1.53
0.53
0.35
869.8
608.0
OgKa
7,300
6.03
1.21
0.20
260.0
0.00086
118.5
2.19
Kadoka
13,000
7.56
1.74
0.23
646.8
348.0
Little White River
Martin
800
0.54
0.38
0.71
928.1
196.0
MaVe
700
0.99
0.69
0.70
62.0
0.0013
33.2
1.87
Vetal
1,500
1.53
1.07
0.70
847.6
134.0
VeRb
1,140
1.61
1.40
0.87
65.6
0.0022
37.6
1.74
Rosebud
2,640
3.14
2.47
0.79
699.5
68.4
RbWR
1,430
0.48
0.17
0.35
45.1
0.0026
32.5
1.39
White River
4,070
3.62
2.64
0.73
583.0
23.3
WRConfl
541.0
23.3
0.0018
White River
Ka+WR
17,070
11.2
4.37
0.39
KaWROa
9,330
3.7
0.90
--
KaOa
342.0
0.00066
158.0
2.16
Oacoma
26,400
14.9
3.47
0.23
419.8
6.0
2
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