Vulnerability rating of far north watersheds of Ontario

Stream flow statistics have been estimated for the full stream flow regime including frequency, magnitude, timing, and duration.  These stream flow statistics were combined and classified with climate statistics to create a vulnerability index for watersheds in Ontario’s far north region.  The vulnerability index is based on a matrix of flood, drought, climate change, watershed characteristics, precipitation, rain/snow ratio and water temperature.  The Ontario Flow Assessment Tool (OFAT), an online web-mapping application, was used to delineate watersheds and generate watershed characteristics. Environment Canada’s streamflow and climate station data were used to estimate the statistics.  The paper discusses the methodology used to estimate the vulnerability index and presents the results for the selected watersheds.