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2003 hydrology Preprints

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hydrology ice transpiration regional climatology gravity and gravity exploration permafrost surface waters soil sciences and food sciences soil science soil biochemistry soil physics microclimatology hydrography geography bioremediation informatics snow geohydrology geophysics climatology (global change) climate change impacts and adaptation solid-earth and geophysics volcanology quality of water + show more keywords
erosion (water) precipitation geochemistry environmental management agricultural biotechnology geomorphology physical climatology sedimentology soil morphology and genesis agricultural limnology physical geography organic geochemistry biology meteorology geothermal processes and energy geology biological sciences environmental sciences information and computing sciences other biological sciences environmental geology soil moisture other agricultural hydrometeorology atmospheric sciences environmental biogeochemistry glaciology veterinary evaporation groundwater engineering geology
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Please note: These are preprints and have not been peer reviewed. Data may be preliminary.
Temperature loggers capture intraregional variation of inundation timing for intermit...
Kerry Lynn Gendreau
Valerie Buxton

Kerry Lynn Gendreau

and 3 more

August 12, 2021
Hydroperiod, or the amount of time a lentic waterbody contains water, shapes communities of aquatic organisms. Precise measurement of hydroperiod features such as inundation timing and duration can help predict community dynamics and ecosystem stability. In areas defined by high spatial and temporal variability, fine-scale temporal variation in inundation timing and duration may drive community structure, but that variation may not be captured using common approaches including remote sensing technology. Here, we provide methods to accurately capture inundation timing by fitting hidden Markov models to measurements of daily temperature standard deviation collected from temperature loggers. We describe a rugged housing design to protect loggers from physical damage and apply our methods to a group of intermittent ponds in southeastern Arizona, showing that initial pond inundation timing is highly variable across a small geographic scale (~50km2). We also compare a 1-logger (pond only) and 2-logger (pond + control) design and show that, although a single logger may be sufficient to capture inundation timing in most cases, a 2-logger design can increase confidence in results. These methods are cost-effective and show promise in capturing variation in intraregional inundation timing that may have profound effects on aquatic communities, with implications for how these communities may respond to hydroperiod alteration from a changing climate.
Hypnos Board: A Low-Cost All-In-One Solution for Environment Sensor Power Management,...
Bryson Goto
Bao Nguyen

Bryson Goto

and 3 more

July 20, 2021
Open source in-situ environmental sensor hardware continues to expand across the geosphere to a variety of applications. These systems typically perform three fundamental tasks: sample sensors at a specified time or period, save data onto retrievable media, switch power to components on and off in between sample cycles to conserve battery energy and increase field operation time. This is commonly accomplished through integrating separate off-the-shelf components into the desired system such as: power relays, SD card hardware, Real-Time Clocks (RTCs), and coin cell batteries. To enable faster prototyping, the Openly Published Environmental Sensing Lab abstracted all of these requirements into a single PCB that can be dropped into any project to achieve these commonly-required capabilities. The hardware is laid out in a “Feather” form factor, a popular configuration in the open-source hardware community, to easily mate with other industry standard products. The onboard RTC acts as an alarm clock that wakes a user-attached micro controller from low-power sleep modes in between sample cycles. By integrating all these components into a single PCB, we save cost while significantly reducing physical system size. The design as well as a suite of code functions that enable the user to configure all the Hypnos board features are detailed. For more information, please visit open-sensing.org/projects.
Improving groundwater storage change estimates using time-lapse gravimetry with Gravi...
Landon James Szasz Halloran

Landon James Szasz Halloran

February 11, 2022
Time-lapse gravimetry (repeat microgravity measurement) is a powerful tool for monitoring temporal mass distribution variations, including seasonal and long-term groundwater storage changes (GWSC). This geophysical method for measuring changes in gravity (Δg) is potentially applicable to any groundwater system. Here, I present Gravi4GW, a Python tool for the site-adapted calculation of β, the conversion factor between Δg and GWSC (also known as “topographic admittance”). Alpine catchments, in particular, are ideal target sites as they are highly sensitive to climate variations and can experience significant GWSC, while often lacking groundwater monitoring infrastructure. Therefore, to illustrate the usage of Gravi4GW, I investigate a detailed example of an alpine catchment and examine spatial variations and the effects of depth assumptions. This novel and accessible tool is designed to be useful in both the planning and data processing stages of time-lapse gravimetric field studies.
Three-dimensional clustering in the characterization of spatiotemporal drought dynami...
Vitali Diaz
Gerald Augusto Corzo Perez

Vitali Diaz

and 3 more

November 18, 2021
In its three-dimensional (3-D) characterization, drought is approached as an event whose spatial extent changes over time. Each drought event has an onset and end time, a location, a magnitude, and a spatial trajectory. These characteristics help to analyze and describe how drought develops in space and time, i.e., drought dynamics. Methodologies for 3-D characterization of drought include a 3-D clustering technique to extract the drought events from the hydrometeorological data. The application of the clustering method yields small ‘artifact’ droughts. These small clusters are removed from the analysis with the use of a cluster size filter. However, according to the literature, the filter parameters are usually set arbitrarily, so this study concentrated on a method to calculate the optimal cluster size filter for the 3-D characterization of drought. The effect of different drought indicator thresholds to calculate drought is also analyzed. The approach was tested in South America with data from the Latin American Flood and Drought Monitor (LAFDM) for 1950–2017. Analysis of the spatial trajectories and characteristics of the most extreme droughts is also included. Calculated droughts are compared with information reported at a country scale and a reasonably good match is found.
Fuzzy-Committees of Conceptual distributed Models
Mostafa Farrag
Mostafa Farrag

Mostafa Farrag

and 3 more

November 22, 2021
Conceptual hydrological models imply a simplification of the complexity of the hydrological system; however, it lacks the flexibility in reproducing a wide range of the catchment responses. Usually, a trade-off is done to sacrifice the accuracy of a specific aspect of the system behavior in favor of the accuracy of other aspects. This study evaluates the benefit of using a modular approach, “The fuzzy committee model” of building specialized models (same structure associated with different parameter realization) to reproduce specific responses (high and low flow response) of the catchment. The study also assesses the applicability of using predicted runoff from both specialized models with certain weights based on a fuzzy membership function to form a fuzzy committee model. This research continues to explore the fuzzy committee models first presented by [Solomatine, 2006] and further developed by [Fenicia et al., 2007; Kayastha et al., 2013]. In this paper, weighting schemes with power parameter values are investigated. A thorough study is conducted on the relation between the fuzzy committee variables (the membership functions and the weighting schemes), and their effect on the model performance. Furthermore, the Fuzzy committee concept is applied on a conceptual distributed model with two cases, the first with lumped catchment parameters and the latter with distributed parameters. A comparison between different combinations of the fuzzy committee variables showed the superiority of all Fuzzy Committee models over single models. Fuzzy committee of distributed models performed well, especially in capturing the highest peak in the calibration data set; however, it needs further study of the effect of model parameterization on the model performance and uncertainty.
Sinking CO2 in supercritical reservoirs
Victor Vilarrasa
Francesco Parisio

Victor Vilarrasa

and 1 more

November 13, 2020
Geologic carbon storage is required for achieving negative CO2 emissions to deal with the climate crisis. The classical concept of CO2 storage consists in injecting CO2 in geological formations at depths greater than 800 m, where CO2 becomes a dense fluid, minimizing storage volume. Yet, CO2 has a density lower than the resident brine and tends to float, challenging the widespread deployment of geologic carbon storage. Here, we propose for the first time to store CO2 in supercritical reservoirs to reduce the buoyancy-driven leakage risk. Supercritical reservoirs are found at drilling-reachable depth in volcanic areas, where high pressure (p>21.8 MPa) and temperature (T>374 ºC) imply CO2 is denser than water. We estimate that a CO2 storage capacity in the range of 50-500 Mt yr-1 could be achieved for every 100 injection wells. Carbon storage in supercritical reservoirs is an appealing alternative to the traditional approach.
Impact of textural patterns on rock weathering rates and size distribution of weather...
Yoni Israeli
Eyal Salhov

Yoni Israeli

and 2 more

September 13, 2020
Rock texture has a critical influence on the way rocks weather. The most important textural factors affecting weathering are grain size and the presence of cracks and stylolites. These discontinuities operate as planes of mechanical weakness at which chemical weathering is enhanced. However, it is unclear how different rock textures impact weathering rates and the size of weathered grains. Here, we use a numerical model to simulate weathering of rocks possessing grain boundaries, cracks, and stylolites. We ran simulations with either synthetic or natural patterns of discontinuities. We found that for all patterns, weathering rates increase with discontinuity density. When the density was <~25%, the weathering rate of synthetic patterns followed the order: grid >honeycomb >Voronoi >brick-wall. For higher values, all weathering rates were similar. We also found that weathering rates decreased as the tortuosity of the pattern increased. Moreover, we show that textural patterns strongly impact the size distributions of detached grains. Rocks with an initial monomodal grain size distribution produce weathered fragments that are normally distributed. In contrast, rocks with an initial log-normal size distribution produce weathered grains that are log-normally distributed. For the natural patterns, weathering produced lower modality distributions.
Carbon supplementation and bioaugmentation to improve denitrifying woodchip bioreacto...
Gary Feyereisen
Hao Wang

Gary Feyereisen

and 9 more

September 13, 2022
Cold temperatures limit nitrate-N load reductions of woodchip bioreactors in higher-latitude climates. This two-year, on-farm (Willmar, Minnesota, USA) study was conducted to determine whether field-scale nitrate-N removal of woodchip bioreactors can be improved by the addition of cold-adapted, locally isolated bacterial denitrifying strains (bioaugmentation) or dosing with a carbon (C) source (biostimulation). In Spring 2017, biostimulation removed 66% of the nitrate-N load, compared to 21% and 18% for bioaugmentation and control, respectively. The biostimulation nitrate-N removal rate (NRR) was also significantly greater, 15.0 g N m-1 d-1, versus 5.8 and 4.4 g N m-1 d-1, for bioaugmentation and control, respectively. Bioclogging of the biostimulation beds limited dosing for the remainder of the experiment; NRR was greater for biostimulation in Fall 2017, but in Spring 2018 there were no differences among treatments. Carbon dosing did not increase outflow dissolved organic C concentration. The abundance of one of the inoculated strains, Cellulomonas sp. strain WB94, increased over time, while another, Microvirgula aerodenitrificans strain BE2.4, increased briefly, returning to background levels after 42 days. Eleven days after inoculation in Spring 2017, outflow nitrate-N concentrations of bioaugmentation were sporadically reduced compared to the control for two weeks but were insignificant over the study period. The study suggests that biostimulation and bioaugmentation are promising technologies to enhance nitrate removal during cold conditions. A means of controlling bioclogging is needed for biostimulation, and improved means of inoculation and maintaining abundance of introduced strains is needed for bioaugmentation. In conclusion, biostimulation showed greater potential than bioaugmentation for increasing nitrate removal in a woodchip bioreactor, whereas both methods need improvement before implementation at the field scale.
Evaluating changes in the degree of saturation in excavation disturbed zones using a...
Yota Togashi
Kazuki Mizuo

Yota Togashi

and 4 more

September 30, 2021
Deformation characteristics of sedimentary rocks significantly changed with the water content during drying. In tunnel construction, extremely small displacements such as geological disposal, are allowed. Therefore, the proper evaluation of such drying deformation phenomena is critical. In such scenarios, it is also essential to accurately assess water content changes in the rock masses. Furthermore, the excavation disturbed zone (EDZ) spreads around the tunnel owing to the excavation process. EDZ has a higher hydraulic conductivity than an intact rock mass. Therefore, it is essential to predict water content changes in EDZ within the scope of the drying deformation phenomena. In this study, we derived the exact solution to the Richards’ equation at the Neumann boundary, which can be used to describe the drying phenomena in sedimentary rocks. Using Japanese tuff, we conducted a permeability test and a mercury intrusion porosimetry test to obtain the water diffusion coefficient and verify whether their drying behavior can be described using the exact solution. Using the verified exact solution, we proposed a new stochastic differential equation that could be used to explain the local decrease in permeability and the increase in variations in EDZ, and applied the stochastic differential equation to 2D tunnel problem.
Temporal and Spatial Evaluation of Drought in Agricultural Stability Zones in Syria b...
Giath Eskedar DOUN
Ahmad NAMAN

Giath Eskedar DOUN

and 3 more

April 23, 2021
This study used data of 165 rain stations for mapping SPI index for winter season at the base of 7 months period (from November to next April). For compensating the lost measurements in stations, we used the Kriging method in ArcGIS10.1 for producing precipitation maps for each period of the year. We used a simple equation for calculating SPI 7 , and modeled the process by using Model Maker tool within the ERDAS 2014. The application of this model over the period from 1992 to 2018 produced twenty-seven annual maps of the SPI 7 in Syria. By plotting the general trend of precipitation changes according to this index, we observed that the entire study area is stable on a normal climatic state close to the annual average during the most of years. By analyzing precipitation and SPI maps using statistical zonal methods, based on agricultural stabilization zones, we found different behaviors of drought in every zone and between these zones.
Using Sediment Texture to Estimate Infiltration Rates at a Managed Aquifer Recharge S...
Raymond J Hess
Jennifer Lee Pensky

Raymond J Hess

and 2 more

February 18, 2022
UCSC GEOPATHS is an NSF-supported initiative to improve undergraduate success in the geosciences, driven by a desire to broaden academic engagement. One component of the program is a funded undergraduate summer program that provides authentic, professional experiences – across all employment sectors – to increase commitment in the geoscience pipeline. Many hydrologic basins rely on groundwater to supply domestic, municipal, and agricultural demand, but resources are increasingly stressed by rising demand, changes in land use, and a shifting climate. Consequences of groundwater overdraft include drying surface water systems, land subsidence, and seawater intrusion. Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) can help improve groundwater resources by increasing infiltration of excess surface water. We are part of a research team assessing hydrologic conditions during MAR on an active vineyard in Central California, through diversion of high flows from an adjacent river, a strategy known as “flood-MAR.” Our team collected soil samples from the upper 100 cm below ground surface at 24 locations across the 785-acre field site. We analyzed samples for soil texture at 10-cm spacing using a particle size analyzer based on laser light scattering. Preliminary analysis of fractions of sand, silt, and clay-sized particles indicate some lateral continuity from site to site. The northern part of the field area appears to be finer grained, on average, consistent with regional soil maps, but there is also considerable variability with depth. These data will be used to assess variations in expected infiltration rates by combining soil texture (to estimate infiltration capacity) and potential flood and saturation depths (to bracket vertical head gradients). Studies of this kind are helpful for assessing the efficacy of flood-MAR as a strategy to improve groundwater supplies and quality.
The frost heave characteristics of a volcanic coarse-grained soil quantified by parti...
Junping Ren
Shoulong Zhang

Junping Ren

and 4 more

June 01, 2022
The increasing use of the seasonally frozen and permafrost regions for civil engineering constructions and the effects of global warming on these regions have stimulated research on the behaviors of frozen soils. In the present study, the frost heave characteristics of a coarse-grained soil with volcanic nature was experimentally investigated. A large soil tank model was established in laboratory for this purpose. The effects of temperature boundary, external water supply, and water transfer type on the frost heave characteristics of the volcanic soil were studied, through a series of frost heave tests. The particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique was used to quantify the full field deformation of the soil specimen. The results suggest that temperature gradient inside the soil specimen is the driving force for the migration of pore water and vapor. The largest increment in water content generally agrees well with the frost penetration depth. The contribution of vapor to the frost heave of the Komaoka soil specimen is typically small. The applied seeding method, selected subset size, image-object space calibration, and calculation processes ensured accurate PIV results. Discussions regarding the presented experimental investigation and the employment of PIV technique for quantifying frozen soil deformation are summarized. These findings and discussions can provide valuable insights into the frost heave behavior of the studied soil in particular, as well as promote the application of PIV for frozen soil engineering.
Extending Height Above Nearest Drainage to Model Multiple Fluvial Sources in Flood In...
Fernando Aristizabal
Fernando Salas

Fernando Aristizabal

and 9 more

September 27, 2022
Height Above Nearest Drainage (HAND), a drainage normalizing terrain index, is a means able of producing flood inundation maps (FIMs) from the National Water Model (NWM) at large scales and high resolutions using reach-averaged synthetic rating curves. We highlight here that HAND is limited to producing inundation only when sourced from its nearest drainage line, thus lacks the ability to source inundation from multiple fluvial sources. A version of HAND, known as Generalized Mainstems (GMS), is proposed that discretizes a target stream network into segments of unit Horton-Strahler stream order known as level paths (LP). The FIMs associated with each independent LP are then mosaiced together, effectively turning the stream network into discrete groups of homogeneous unit stream order by removing the influence of neighboring tributaries. Improvement in mapping skill is observed by significantly reducing false negatives at river junctions when the inundation extents are compared to FIMs from that of benchmarks. A more marginal reduction in the false alarm rate is also observed due to a shift introduced in the stage-discharge relationship by increasing the size of the catchments. We observe that the improvement of this method applied at 4-5% of the entire stream network to 100% of the network is about the same magnitude improvement as going from no drainage order reduction to 4-5% of the network. This novel contribution is framed in a new open-source implementation that utilizes the latest combination of hydro-conditioning techniques to enforce drainage and counter limitations in the input data.
Relative Permeability Variation Depending on Viscosity Ratio and Capillary Number
Natanael Suwandi
Fei Jiang

Natanael Suwandi

and 2 more

March 22, 2022
The relative roles of parameters governing relative permeability, a crucial property for two-phase fluid flows, are incompletely known. To characterize the influence of viscosity ratio (M) and capillary number (Ca), we calculated relative permeabilities of nonwetting fluids (knw) and wetting fluids (kw) in a 3D model of Berea sandstone under steady-state condition using the lattice Boltzmann method. We show that knw increases and kw decreases as M increases due to the lubricating effect, locally occurred pore-filling behavior, and instability at fluid interfaces. We also show that knw decreases markedly at low Ca (log Ca < −1.25), whereas kw undergoes negligible change with changing Ca. An M–Ca–knw correlation diagram, displaying the simultaneous effects of M and Ca, shows that they cause knw to vary by an order of magnitude. The color map produced is useful to provide accurate estimates of knw in reservoir-scale simulations and to help identify the optimum properties of the immiscible fluids to be used in a geologic reservoir.
Logjams and channel morphology influence sediment storage, transformation of organic...
Nicholas A Sutfin
Ellen Wohl

Nicholas A Sutfin

and 4 more

January 08, 2021
The flow of organic matter (OM) along rivers and its retention within floodplains are fundamental to the function of aquatic and riparian ecosystems and are significant components of terrestrial carbon storage and budgets. Carbon storage and ecosystem processing of OM largely depends upon hydrogeomorphic characteristics of streams and valleys. To examine the role of channel complexity on carbon dynamics in mountain streams, we (1) quantify organic carbon (OC) storage in sediment and wood along 24 forested stream reaches in the Rocky Mountains of CO, U.S.A., (2) employ six years of logjam surveys and examine related morphological factors that regulate sediment and carbon storage, and (3) utilize fluorescence spectroscopy to examine how the composition of OM in surface water and floodplain soil leachates is influenced by valley and channel morphology. We find that lower-gradient stream reaches in unconfined valley segments at high elevations store more OC per area than higher-gradient reaches in more confined valleys, and those at lower elevations. We find that limited storage of fine sediment and increased mineralization of OC in multithread channel reaches decrease storage per area compared to simpler single-thread channel reaches. Results suggest that the positive feedbacks between channel complexity and persistent channel-spanning logjams that force multiple channels to flow across valley bottoms limit the aggradation of floodplain fine sediment, and promote hotspots for the transformation of OM. These multithread hotspots likely increase ecosystem productivity and ecosystem services by filtering dissolved organic carbon with potential to decrease contaminants associated with organic matter from surface water.
The Importance of Lake Emergent Aquatic Vegetation for Estimating Arctic-Boreal Metha...
Ethan Kyzivat
Laurence Smith

Ethan Kyzivat

and 17 more

May 19, 2022
Areas of lakes that support emergent aquatic vegetation emit disproportionately more methane than open water but are under-represented in upscaled estimates of lake greenhouse gas emissions. These shallow areas are typically less than ~1.5 m deep and can be estimated through synthetic aperture radar (SAR) mapping. To assess the importance of lake emergent vegetation (LEV) zones to landscape-scale methane emissions, we combine airborne SAR mapping with field measurements of vegetated and open-water methane flux. First, we use Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle SAR (UAVSAR) data from the NASA Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) to map LEV in 4,572 lakes across four Arctic-boreal study areas and find it comprises ~16% of lake area, exceeding previous estimates, and exhibiting strong regional differences (averaging 59 [50–68]%, 22 [20-25]%, 1.0 [0.8-1.2]%, and 7.0 [5.0-12]% of lake areas in the Peace-Athabasca Delta, Yukon Flats, and northern and southern Canadian Shield, respectively). Next, we account for these vegetated areas through a simple upscaling exercise using paired methane fluxes from regions of open water and LEV. After excluding vegetated areas that could be accounted for as wetlands, we find that inclusion of LEV increases overall lake emissions by 21 [18-25]% relative to estimates that do not differentiate lake zones. While LEV zones are proportionately greater in small lakes, this relationship is weak and varies regionally, underscoring the need for methane-relevant remote sensing measurements of lake zones and a consistent criterion for distinguishing wetlands. Finally, Arctic-boreal lake methane upscaling estimates can be improved with more measurements from all lake zones.
Revisiting Subglacial Hydrology as an Origin for Mars' Valley Networks
Jacob Buffo
L Ojha

Jacob Buffo

and 4 more

May 07, 2021
Although the nature of the early Martian climate is a matter of considerable debate, the presence of valley networks (VN) provides unambiguous evidence for the presence of liquid water on Mars’ surface. A subaerial fluvial origin of VN is at odds with the expected phase instability of near-surface water in the cold, dry Late Noachian climate. Furthermore, many observed geomorphometric properties of VN are inconsistent with surface water flow. Conversely, subglacial channels exhibit many of these characteristics and could have persisted beneath ice sheets even in a cold climate. Here we model basal melting beneath a Late Noachian Icy Highlands ice sheet and map subglacial hydrological flow paths to investigate the distribution and geomorphometry of subglacial channels. We show that subglacial processes produce enough melt water to carve Mars’ VN; that predicted channel distribution is consistent with observations; and corroborate geomorphometric measurements of VN consistent with subglacial formation mechanisms. We suggest that subglacial hydrology may have played a key role in the surface modification of Mars.
Observed Changes in Daily Precipitation Intensity in the United States
Ryan D. Harp
Daniel Horton

Ryan D. Harp

and 1 more

July 20, 2022
The characterization of changes over the full distribution of precipitation intensities remains an overlooked and underexplored subject, despite their critical importance to hazard assessments and water resource management. Here, we aggregate daily in situ Global Historical Climatology Network precipitation observations within seventeen internally consistent domains in the United States for two time periods (1951-1980 and 1991-2020). We find statistically significant changes in wet day precipitation distributions in all domains – changes primarily driven by a shift from lower to higher wet day intensities. Patterns of robust change are geographically consistent, with increases in the mean (4.5-5.7%) and standard deviation (4.4-8.7%) of wet day intensity in the eastern U.S., but mixed signals in the western U.S. Beyond their critical importance to the aforementioned impact assessments, these observational results can also inform climate model performance evaluations.
Quantifying the Effects of Sea Level Rise on Estuarine Drainage Systems
Katrina Waddington
Lucy Amanda Marshall

Katrina Waddington

and 4 more

May 20, 2022
Constructed flood mitigation and drainage systems are integral to the development of many estuarine floodplains. These systems function throughout the tidal range, protecting from high water levels while draining excess catchment flows to the low water level. However, drainage can only be achieved under gravity when suitable water levels are available for discharge. Changes to the tidal range and symmetry that occur throughout estuarine waters mean that the window of opportunity for gravity discharge will vary dynamically within and between different catchments. It will also be affected by sea level rise (SLR). Concerns regarding the impacts of SLR have focussed on the acute effects of higher water levels, but SLR will affect the full tidal range and drainage systems will be particularly vulnerable to changes in the low tide. This study introduces the concept of the “drainage window”; to assess how the tidal regime may influence the drainage of estuarine floodplains, and particularly the potential impact of changing tidal regimes under SLR. The results of applying the drainage window to two different estuaries indicate that SLR may substantially reduce the opportunity for discharging many estuarine floodplain drainage systems. Additionally, measures proposed to mitigate flood risks may exacerbate drainage risks. Reduced drainage creates a host of chronic problems that may necessitate changes to existing land uses. A holistic assessment of future changes to all water levels (including low tide water levels) is required to inform strategic land use planning and management.
The potential use of geophysical methods to identify cavities, sinkholes and pathways...
Yawar Hussain
Rogério Uagoda

Yawar Hussain

and 8 more

June 26, 2020
The use of geophysical characterization of karst systems can provide an economical and non-invasive alternative for extracting information about cavities, sinkholes, pathways for water infiltration as well as the degree of karstification of underlying carbonate rocks. In the present study, three geophysical techniques, namely, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) and Very Low Frequency Electromagnetic (VLFEM) were applied at three different and appropriate locations in fluvial karst of a listed environmentally sensitive area of the Rio Vermelho, Mambaí, Goiás, Brazil. In the data acquisition phase, the GPR, direct-current (DC) resistivity and VLFEM profiles were obtained at three different locations in the area. Data were analyzed using commonly adopted processing workflows. Different radar typologies have been assigned to soil and rock typse. The GPR results showed a well-defined lithology of the site based on the amplitude of the signal. On the other hand, the inverted resistivity cross-sections showed a three-layered stratigraphy, pathways of water infiltration and the weathered structures in carbonate (Bambui group). The interpretation of VLFEM as contours of current density resulted from Fraser and Karous-Hjelt filters, indicate the presence of conductive structures (high apparent current density) that may be linked with the weathered carbonate and other conductive and resistive anomalies may be associated with the water-filled and dry cavities (cave). The results encourage the integrated application of geophysical techniques as the reconnaissance for further detailed characterization of the karst areas.
Uncertainty in Seasonal Runoff Forecasts Affects Water Management Decisions
Timbo Stillinger
Christopher Costello

Timbo Stillinger

and 3 more

August 31, 2020
Heterogeneous snow accumulation in the mountains introduces uncertainty to water-supply forecasting in much of the world. Water managers’ awareness of the challenge may account for forecast errors in management decisions. We assess the impact of uncertainty in seasonal-water-supply forecasts on reservoir management using the western slope of the Sierra Nevada of California as a case study. We find that higher forecast uncertainty decreases the volume of water released from reservoirs between April and July, suggesting that water managers hedge against the possibility of lower-than-expected runoff. We modeled April-July water releases as a function of corresponding runoff forecasts, their reported uncertainty, and available storage capacity. An unbalanced (n=416) panel data model with fixed effects suggests that if uncertainty goes up by 10 units, water managers reduce releases by about 6 units, even holding the mean forecast constant. The forecast volume, its uncertainty, available storage capacity, and the interaction between forecasted volume and uncertainty were all statistically significant predictors (p < 0.005) of releases. Increased forecast uncertainty and increased available storage were significantly and inversely associated with April-July release volume, whereas forecast volume and the interaction between forecast uncertainty and forecast volume were significantly and positively associated with release volume. These results support the hypothesis that water managers behave as if they are risk-averse with respect to the possibility of less runoff than forecasted. Thus, reducing operational forecast uncertainty may result in more water being released, without the need for direct coordination with water managers.
Impacts of Degradation on Water, Energy, and Carbon Cycling of the Amazon Tropical Fo...
Marcos Longo
Lee White

Marcos Longo

and 18 more

May 29, 2020
Selective logging, fragmentation, and understory fires directly degrade forest structure and composition. However, studies addressing the effects of forest degradation on carbon, water, and energy cycles are scarce. Here, we integrate field observations and high-resolution remote sensing from airborne lidar to provide realistic initial conditions to the Ecosystem Demography Model (ED–2.2) and investigate how disturbances from forest degradation affect gross primary production (GPP), evapotranspiration (ET), and sensible heat flux (H). We used forest structural information retrieved from airborne lidar samples (13,500 ha) and calibrated with 817 inventory plots (0.25 ha) across precipitation and degradation gradients in the Eastern Amazon as initial conditions to ED-2.2 model. Our results show that the magnitude and seasonality of fluxes were modulated by changes in forest structure caused by degradation. During the dry season and under typical conditions, severely degraded forests (biomass loss ≥ 66%) experienced water-stress with declines in ET (up to 34%) and GPP (up to 35%), and increases of H (up to 43%) and daily mean ground temperatures (up to 6.5°C) relative to intact forests. In contrast, the relative impact of forest degradation on energy, water, and carbon cycles markedly diminishes under extreme, multi-year droughts, as a consequence of severe stress experienced by intact forests. Our results highlight that the water and energy cycles in the Amazon are not only driven by climate and deforestation, but also the past disturbance and changes of forest structure from degradation, suggesting a much broader influence of human land use activities on the tropical ecosystems.
Model choice impacts the quantification of seasonal hyporheic exchange depths and flu...
Lara-Maria Schmitgen
Reinhard Bierl

Lara-Maria Schmitgen

and 2 more

April 30, 2021
Direction and depths of hyporheic exchange fluxes at the groundwater - surface water interface are drivers of biogeochemical processes influencing nutrient cycling and water quality. Model concepts on the dynamic relationship between hyporheic exchange fluxes and exchange depth are typically based on the assumption of a linear relationship between both measures. Here, we quantify seasonal and episodic variations of hyporheic exchange fluxes and hyporheic exchange depths with methods of heat tracing. Numerically (FLUX-BOT) and analytically (VFLUX; method based on temperature amplitude dampening developed by Hatch et al., 2006) working program scripts were used to solve the one-dimensional conduction-advection-dispersion equation and compute hyporheic flux rates from three vertical sediment water temperature profiles recorded continuously in a small low mountain creek between 2011 and 2017. By comparing the behavior of two differing water temperature-based modelling approaches, dissimilarities in the sensitivity to sediment thermal properties were identified. These differences in parameter responsivity explain deviating behavior of the models regarding exchange flux and depth calculations. We show that the vertical extension of hyporheic exchange depth has a distinctive seasonal pattern over seven years, which differs between the chosen models. Surface water levels, groundwater levels and stream discharges show significant correlations with both flux direction and hyporheic zone extension. In contrast to the numerical modelling approach, analytically derived flux data allowed for establishing a significant relationship between the hydraulic gradient observed at a nearby groundwater well and simulated hyporheic exchange depths.
Glacial runoff buffers drought through the 21st century---but models disagree on the...
Lizz Ultee
Sloan Coats

Lizz Ultee

and 1 more

July 20, 2020
Global climate model projections suggest that 21st century climate change will bring significant drying in the midlatitudes. Recent glacier modeling suggests that runoff from glaciers will continue to provide substantial freshwater in many drainage basins, though the supply will generally diminish throughout the century. In the absence of dynamic glacier ice within global climate models (GCMs), a comprehensive picture of future basin-scale water availability for human and ecosystem services has been elusive. Here, we leverage the results of existing GCMs and a global glacier model to compute the effect of glacial runoff on the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), an indicator of basin-scale water availability. We find that glacial runoff tends to increase mean SPEI and reduce interannual variability, even in basins with relatively little glacier cover. However, in many basins we find inter-GCM spread comparable to the amplitude of the ensemble mean glacial effect, which suggests considerable structural uncertainty.
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