Internationale Vereinigung für theoretische und

angewandte Limnologie: Verhandlungen

ISSN: 0368-0770 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tinw19

Hydrology of Lake Ontario

D. F. Witherspoon

To cite this article: D. F. Witherspoon (1978) Hydrology of Lake Ontario, Internationale

Vereinigung für theoretische und angewandte Limnologie: Verhandlungen, 20:1, 276-279, DOI:
10.1080/03680770.1977.11896517

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03680770.1977.11896517

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 Verh. Internat. Verein. Limnol. Stuttgart, September 1978

Hydrology of Lake Ontario

D. F. WITHERSPOON

With 3 tables in the text

Since Lake Ontario has been regulated as a reservoir since 1960, knowledge of its
hydrology is basic to management of this water resource. When the Intemational Field
Year for the Great Lakes (IFYGL) was conceived, a study of the hydrology of the lake
became part of the IFYGL program. Since the other physical programs of the Field
Year would provide estimates of evaporation, the water balance of Lake Ontario from
which estimates of evaporation could be made was the technique used to study the
hydrology of the lake.
Lake Ontario lies between 43° and 44° north !atitude and between 76° and 80°
west longitude. The intemational boundary between the United States and Canada runs
through the lake dividing it so that about equal water area lies in each country. Lake
Ontario is roughly elliptical in shape with a maximum length of about 310 km and a
maximum width of about 85 km. The average surface elevation of the lake is about 75 m
above mean sea level. The maximum measured depth of the lake is about 244 m near
its east end and the average depth is 86 m. The lake level fluctuates annually about
0.76 m and has fluctuated slightly over 2 m between extreme water levels over the
period of record (1860--1976).
The area of Lake Ontario is about 19,700 sq.km (including the St. Lawrence River
to the outlet control at Comwall, Canada) and its local tributary basin is about
67,900 sq.km in area. As the most downstream of the Laurentian Great Lakes, its con-
nection with the upper Lakes Erie, Michigan-Huron and Superior is by the outlet of
Lake Erie - the Niagara River which discharges into Lake Ontario near the westerly
end. The drainage area contributing to the Niagara River flow is about 683,000 sq.km.
The upstream lakes contain about 90 per cent of the active water storage on the basin.
The outlet of Lake Ontario is the St. Lawrence River which extends about 800 km to
the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean.
The climate of the Lake Ontario basin is characterized by four distinct seasons
with a precipitation regime which, on the average, has little variation from month to
month. About 20 to 30 per cent of the precipitation occurs as snow from November
through April. Temperatures vary seasonally between extremes of --40 °C in the winter
to + 40 ° in summer. Seasonal differences from year to year depend upon the intensity
and frequency of synoptic scale storm systems.

Hydrology

The water supply to Lake Ontario is primarily dependent on the inflow

through the Niagara River from the upper Great Lakes. This can be demon-
strated by reference to Table l. By expressing the long term average of each
component of the water supply in terms of percentage of the outflow, their
importance can be readily understood. From Table l, it can be seen that the
inflow from the upstream lake (Lake Erie) is the largest component of the water
supply to Lake Ontario and provides 86 per cent of the outflow on the average.
 D. F. Witherspoon, Hydrology of Lake Ontario 277

Because of the large storage volume in the upstream lakes, this component of
the water supply shows long term persistence. High or low supplies persist for
several years and month by month variation is small.
The runoff from the local land basin is the second most important contribu-
tion ot the water supply to Lake Ontario. On the average, this amounts to 13
percentoftheoutflow. However, the amount varies considerable with the season.

Table l. Distribution of water supply to Lake Ontario in per cent of average outflow.

1950-1966 IFYGL 1972---1973

Inflow from upstream lake (I) + 86 +84
Precipitation on lake surface + 8 + 8
Evaporation from lake surface (E) -7 -5
Net(P-E) + l + 3
Runoff from land basin (RL) + 13 + 19
Groundwater flow to lake (GL) <l <l
TOTALS lOOpercent 106 per cent0

'" IFYGL total does not equallOO because of mange in storage on the lake dwing the year.

It is lowest in the summer month of August. As the temperature declines in

the autumn, runoff from the land increases with decreasing evapotranspiration,
rising gradually until February. Snow accumulates from November through
February. Snowmelt begins on the more southerly parts of the basin in March
and the greatest snowmelt, which results in the major portion of the annual
runoff to the lake, occurs in April. Following this peak flow, the runoff declines
to the low in August. As a result of this variability, the lake water level rises
rapidly in response to this water supply contribution in the spring and then
declines untillate winter.
As shown in Table l, evaporation and precipitation are nearly in balance on
the average. Precipitation on the lake surface has little variability from month
to month. Evaporation has a wide variability by season, varying from near zero
or net condensation from April through June rising to a maximum in September
or October then decreasing as the lake cools during the winter. As a result,
precipitation contributes to the water supply of the lake during the months of
low evaporation.
The change in storage on Lake Ontario as manifest by the change in lake
level is an indicator of changes in water supply. When discussing the hydrology
of the lake for a year, it must be taken into account. Over a long period of
record it is near zero.
Table l also shows comparable figures for the IFYGL. These serve to demon-
strate that the IFYGL was a year of high precipitation which resulted in a rise
in the lake level during the year.
By way of summary of a description of the hydrology of Lake Ontario, we
can write the hydrologic or water balance equation to demonstrate the algebraic
relationship of the above factors,
278 11. Lakes. l. North America

I-0 +P+ RL + GL ± 6_S =E (l)

where I is the inflow to Lake Ontario from lake Erie,
o is the outflow from Lake Ontario by the St. Lawrence River,
p is the precipitation on the water surface of Lake Ontario,
RL is the runoff from the localland area tributary to Lake Ontario,
GL is the groundwater flow from the shores of Lake Ontario,
6_S is the mange in Lake Ontario,
E is the evaporation from the water surface of Lake Ontario.

Water balance
During the IFYGL, the components of the water balance equation (l) were
evaluated. Evaporation was calculated as a difference. Table 2 shows the month
by month variation which occurred from Aprill972 to March 1973 - the IFYGL.
The relative magnitude of the various components show the importance of the
inflow and outflow to the hydrology of the lake. Table 2 shows how the lake
level (change in storage) responds to the local runoff (RL). When the change in
storage is positive, the lake level is rising (April through June) and inflow to
the lake is in excess of outlow. These are also the months of higher local runoff
to the lake (RL). When the storage change is negative, the lake level is falling
and outflow exceeds inflow in the months of July through October. These are
the months of low runoff from the tributary land area and evaporation is in-
creasing. As the lake levels increase, the outflow also is increased. These changes
result in the total outflow exceeding the water supply to Lake Ontario with the
result that the lake level declines. Table 3 shows the elements of the water
balance as calculated during IFYGL and based on the errors estimated during
IFYGL by measurement and from the literature. These errors are listed at the
bottom of Table 3. A comparison of the evaporation estimates as differences in
Table 2 and 3 show the consequences of small errors in the major components
of the water balance. Although the errors have a small effect in the months

Table 2. Lake water balance- IFYGL 1972-1973.

I o + p + RL + GL 6,S = E
1972 Apr. 877 1040 64 399 l + 293 lO
May 953 80 287 287 l + 146 43
June 926 1130 119 196 l + 76 41
July 953 1210 78 206 l - 6 38
Aug. 933 1210 93 82 l -162 66
Sept. 884 1160 66 45 l -256 89
Oct. 926 1170 90 78 l -207 127
Nov. 922 1110 112 199 l + 30 97
Dec. 984 1050 103 257 l + 226 66
1973 }an. 957 976 68 249 l + 192 107
Feb. 836 976 56 176 l + 40 51
Mar. 1020 1170 96 361 l + 308 -5
All units in mm on lake surface.
 D. F. Witherspoon, Hydrology of Lake Ontario 279

Table 3. Lake water balance- IFYGL 1972-1973 showing error effects on evaporation
estimates.

I" - O" + P" + GL + GL- !::,.S" = E"

1972 Apr. 861 1044 70 399 l + 293 1 -6
May 936 1138 88 287 l + 152 22
June 909 1131 131 196 l + 73 33
July 936 1212 86 206 l o 17
Aug. 916 1212 102 82 l -165 54
Sept. 868 1169 73 45 l -256 74
Oe t. 909 1180 99 78 l -216 123
Nov. 905 1112 123 199 l + 46 70
Dec. 966 1059 149 257 l + 244 70
1973 Jan. 940 981 99 249 l + 183 125
Feb. 821 981 81 176 l + 30 68
Mar. 997 1177 139 361 l + 3081 13

All units in mm on the lake surface.

" Errors assumed as follows:
I" Overestimated 1.8 per cent.
O" Underestimated 0.5 per cent.
P" Underestimated for liquid lO per cent- solid 45 per cent.
/::,.S" Computed by 19 gauges rather than 6 gauges used in Table 2.
E" Computed from water balance with assumed errors.
1 6-gauges-data only available.

of maximum evaporation, errors result in great variability in estimates of evapora-

tion when evaporation is low or near zero in spring and summer months.
From this analysis it can be concluded that, although Lake Ontario is a
large lake and because it has a large volume of flow through the lake, its local
basin has a relatively small effect on its water supply. Local hydrology is the
principal cause of water level fluctuations. The large volume flows into and out
of the lake, unless measured with great precision, can result in evaporation esti-
mates from the water balance which have large relative errors in the spring and
early summer months.

Author's address:
D. F. WITHERSPOON, Environmental Management Service, Inland Waters Direc-
torate, Department of Fisheries and Environment, Comwall, Ontario K6H 5R8,
Canada