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I have been studying the Humber, Gander and Terra Nova rivers in Newfoundland. I have been given a table of discharges, and for the peak discharges I see:

  • Gander: around April and May (rougly from day 101 to day 141 if day 1 = January 1st)
  • Humber slightly after Gander
  • Terra Nova has a peak discharge around March, before the others

For the minimum discharges I see:

  • Terra Nova: around day 201 of the year
  • Gander: around day 211 (June/July)
  • Humber: January and February and then again slightly after Gander.

So clearly climate, both the precipitation of rain and snow affects this discharge but what is the cause behind the different times in max and min discharge of these three rivers?

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    $\begingroup$ Welcome to Earth Science. I have edited out 40% of unnecessary text. It would really help if you could edit the question some more, like providing consistent day numbers/dates/actual discharge amounts, and adding a Google Earth link that shows the terrain. $\endgroup$
    – Jan Doggen
    Commented Nov 14, 2016 at 16:26
  • $\begingroup$ Are you saying that the Humber actually has two minimums? $\endgroup$
    – Jan Doggen
    Commented Nov 14, 2016 at 16:28
  • $\begingroup$ what is missing here: which years? Maps? Graph of the discharge maybe? $\endgroup$
    – marsisalie
    Commented Nov 14, 2016 at 16:58

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All of the following parameters would affect seasonal maximum and minimum flow times. Differences between the river basins:

  • Size of drainage area
  • Average relief of topography within the drainage area
  • Amount of groundwater entering the river (near max)
  • Amount of water leaking into the local water table (near min),
  • Underlying differences in geology of the river basins
  • Water usage from each river
  • localized weather patterns
  • Sun exposure (for snow melt)

Careful and detailed geological and hydro-geological study of each river basin would need to be performed to determine exact cause of differences in timing of max and min flow times.

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