Author(s): Jessica Heath; Chris J. Chafer; Tom Bishop
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Keywords: Wildfire; Water yield; Hydrological; Sydney; ANCOV
Abstract: Wildfire is a recurring event which has been acknowledged by various pieces of literature to impact the hydrological cycle of a catchment. This can have a significant impact on the water yield levels of a river system. Studies within Australia have been limited which is why the outer Sydney 2001/2002 wildfires provided the opportunity to investigate the impacts of wildfire on water yield. The overall aim of this study is to determine if there is a significant difference in the rainfall-water yield relationship between the pre-and post-wildfire periods, hence a significant difference in water yield. Four burnt sub-catchments and 3 control sub-catchments were assessed. An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was implemented into this study to account for differences in rainfall between the pre-and post-wildfire period. All burnt catchments experienced a significant difference in their water yield levels or in the case of the Erskine Creek and Nattai River sub-catchments there was a significant difference in their rainfall-water yield relationships. The control catchments experienced different results with Grose River catchment having no significant differences in water yield. Kedumba River sub-catchment encountered a significant difference in its water yield levels, whilst Kowmung River sub-catchment obtained a significant difference in its rainfall-water yield relationship.
Year: 2011