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Natural Hydroclimatic Forcing Of Historical Lake Volume Fluctuations At Devils Lake, North Dakota (Usa), Paul E. Todhunter, Rhonda Fietzek-Devries

Geography & Geographic Information Science Faculty Publications

Devils Lake, a terminal saline lake in eastern North Dakota, has experienced catastrophic flooding over the past two decades producing direct damages in excess of $1 billion ($USD). We use three long-term datasets to examine the temporal coherence between historical lake fluctuations and basic hydroclimatic drivers. Monthly precipitation and mean monthly air temperature data are used to characterize long-term precipitation delivery and evaporative demand. Monthly water balance data for a representative location are used to assess basin soil moisture conditions. A lake volume time series documents lake volume fluctuation in response to long-term precipitation and regional soil moisture conditions. Three …