RESEARCH ARTICLE
Hydrologic Mechanisms for 2022 Yellowstone River Flood and Comparisons to Recent Historic Floods
Jeremy Giovando,
Wyatt Reis,
Wei Zhang,
Nancy A. Barth,
Corresponding Author
Jeremy Giovando
Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Engineering Research and Development Center, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
Correspondence:
Jeremy Giovando ([email protected])
Search for more papers by this authorWyatt Reis
Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Engineering Research and Development Center, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
Search for more papers by this authorWei Zhang
Department of Plants, Soils and Climate and Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA
Search for more papers by this authorNancy A. Barth
U.S. Geological Survey, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center, Helena, Montana, USA
Search for more papers by this authorJeremy Giovando,
Wyatt Reis,
Wei Zhang,
Nancy A. Barth,
Corresponding Author
Jeremy Giovando
Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Engineering Research and Development Center, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
Correspondence:
Jeremy Giovando ([email protected])
Search for more papers by this authorWyatt Reis
Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Engineering Research and Development Center, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
Search for more papers by this authorWei Zhang
Department of Plants, Soils and Climate and Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA
Search for more papers by this authorNancy A. Barth
U.S. Geological Survey, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center, Helena, Montana, USA
Search for more papers by this authorFunding: This study was funded by Post-Wildfire Research and Development Program's Rain-on-Snow Work Unit, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineering Research and Development Center.
ABSTRACT
In June 2022, a historic flood event occurred in the headwaters of the Yellowstone River Basin. The flood resulted in millions of dollars in damages and substantial interruptions to Yellowstone National Park. The 2022 flood event was substantially higher in magnitude than other high-peak flow events over the last 30 years. The high discharge was primarily due to the combination of hydrologic mechanisms initiated by rain-on-snow, including a high-elevation snowpack that peaked later than average. However, the contributions of each hydrologic driver, rain and snow, have not been quantified and could be important for understanding future flood events in the region. The contribution of snowmelt to the total terrestrial water input (TWI) varied throughout the area, yet was concentrated in the headwaters of the Yellowstone, Stillwater, and Boulder rivers, along with the headwaters of Rock Creek in Wyoming and Montana. The primary atmospheric contributions to the TWI during the 2022 event were precipitation from moisture transported from the Pacific Ocean that converged over the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA) and snowmelt from residual snowpack in the northeast part of Yellowstone National Park.
Open Research
Data Availability Statement
The input data, along with the code used to generate figures in this study, is publicly available on HydroShare and can be obtained from http://www.hydroshare.org/resource/09a8985a138f4cabb2eed6b7eef4e2a5 (Reis 2024).
Supporting Information
| Filename | Description |
|---|---|
| hyp70099-sup-0001-Supinfo.docxWord 2007 document , 2.1 MB |
Data S1. Supporting Information. |
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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