bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The decreasing importance of acidification episodes with recovery from acidification: an analysis of the 30-year record from Birkenes, Norway
Authors: Wright R. F.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. The 30-year record 1975–2004 of weekly samples of streamwater chemistry from Birkenes, Norway, shows 106 acid episodes below the threshold of ANC –50 μeq l−1. The frequency, severity and duration of episodes have diminished since about 1990 due to chemical recovery following reduced deposition of sulphur. In particular SO4-driven episodes in the first runoff following drought have become less intense and less frequent, whereas episodes driven by climate (wind, high flow) continue. The data show significant empirical relationships between strength of the driver, degree of chemical recovery, and severity of ANC depression.
Recovery from episodic acidification delayed by drought and high sea salt deposition
Authors: Laudon H.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. For the prediction of episodic acidification large uncertainties are connected to climatic variability and its effect on drought conditions and sea-salt episodes. In this study data on 342 hydrological episodes in 25 Swedish streams, sampled over 10 years, have been analyzed using a recently developed episode model. The results demonstrate that drought is the most important factor modulating the magnitude of the anthropogenic influence on pH and ANC during episodes. These modulating effects are especially pronounced in southern and central Sweden, where the historically high acid deposition has resulted in significant S pools in catchment soils. The results also suggest that the effects of episodic acidification are becoming less severe in many streams, but this amelioration is less clear in coastal streams subject to high levels of sea-salt deposition. Concurrently with the amelioration of the effects of episodic acidification, regional climate models predict that temperatures will increase in Sweden during the coming decades, accompanied by reductions in summer precipitation and more frequent storms during fall and winter in large areas of the country. If these predictions are realized delays in streams' recovery from episodic acidification events can be expected.
Ecosystem effects of thermal manipulation of a whole lake, Lake Breisjøen, southern Norway (THERMOS project)
Authors: Lydersen E. , Aanes K. J. , Andersen S. , Andersen T. , Brettum P. , Baekken T. , Lien L. , Lindstrøm E. A. , Løvik J. E. , Mjelde M. , Oredalen T. J. , Solheim A. L. , Romstad R. , Wright R. F.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. We conducted a 3-year artificial deepening of the thermocline in the dimictic Lake Breisjøen, southern Norway, by means of a large submerged propeller. An adjacent lake served as untreated reference. The manipulation increased thermocline depth from 6 to 20 m, caused a significant increase in the heat content, and delayed ice-on by about 20 days. There were only minor changes in water chemistry. Concentrations of sulphate declined, perhaps due to greater reduction of sulphate at the sediment-water interface. Concentrations of particulate carbon and nitrogen decreased, perhaps due to increased sedimantation velocity. Water transparency increased. There was no significant change in concentration of phosphorus, the growth-limiting nutrient. There were few significant changes in principal biological components. Phytoplankton biomass and productivity did not change, although the chlorophyll-a concentration showed a small decrease. Phytoplankton species richness increased, and the species composition shifted. Growth of periphyton increased. There was no change in the macrophyte community. The manipulation did not affect the zooplankton biodiversity, but caused a significant shift in the relative abundance (measured as biomass) in the two major copepod species. The manipulation did not affect the individual density, but appeared to have changed the vertical distribution of zoobenthos. Fish populations were not affected. The lake is oligotrophic and clearwater and the manipulation did not change the supply of phosphorus, and thus there were only minor changes in lake chemistry and biology. Effects might be larger in eutrophic and dystrophic lakes in which internal processes are stronger.
An integrated model for the assessment of global water resources – Part 1: Input meteorological forcing and natural hydrological cycle modules
Authors: Hanasaki N. , Kanae S. , Oki T. , Masuda K. , Motoya K. , Shen Y. , Tanaka K.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. An integrated global water resources model was developed consisting of six modules: land surface hydrology, river routing, crop growth, reservoir operation, environmental flow requirement estimation, and anthropogenic water withdrawal. It simulates both natural and anthropogenic water flow globally (excluding Antarctica) on a daily basis at a spatial resolution of 1°×1° (longitude and latitude). The simulation period is 10 years, from 1986 to 1995. This first part of the two-feature report describes the input meteorological forcing and natural hydrological cycle modules of the integrated model, namely the land surface hydrology module and the river routing module. The input meteorological forcing was provided by the second Global Soil Wetness Project (GSWP2), an international land surface modeling project. Several reported shortcomings of the forcing component were improved. The land surface hydrology module was developed based on a bucket type model that simulates energy and water balance on land surfaces. Simulated runoff was compared and validated with observation-based global runoff data sets and observed streamflow records at 32 major river gauging stations around the world. Mean annual runoff agreed well with earlier studies at global, continental, and continental zonal mean scales, indicating the validity of the input meteorological data and land surface hydrology module. In individual basins, the mean bias was less than ±20% in 14 of the 32 river basins and less than ±50% in 24 of the basins. The performance was similar to the best available precedent studies with closure of energy and water. The timing of the peak in streamflow and the shape of monthly hydrographs were well simulated in most of the river basins when large lakes or reservoirs did not affect them. The results indicate that the input meteorological forcing component and the land surface hydrology module provide a framework with which to assess global water resources, with the potential application to investigate the subannual variability in water resources. GSWP2 participants are encouraged to re-run their model using this newly developed meteorological forcing input, which is in identical format to the original GSWP2 forcing input.
An integrated model for the assessment of global water resources – Part 2: Anthropogenic activities modules and assessments
Authors: Hanasaki N. , Kanae S. , Oki T. , Shirakawa N.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. To assess global water resources from the perspective of subannual variation in water resources and water use, an integrated water resources model was developed. In a companion report, we presented the global meteorological forcing input used to drive the model and two natural hydrological cycle modules, namely, the land surface hydrology module and the river routing module. Here, we present the remaining four modules, which represent anthropogenic activities: a crop growth module, a reservoir operation module, an environmental flow requirement module, and an anthropogenic withdrawal module. In addition, we discuss the results of a global water resources assessment using the integrated model. The crop growth module is a relatively simple model based on heat unit theory and potential biomass and harvest index concepts. The performance of the crop growth module was examined extensively because agricultural water comprises approximately 70% of total water withdrawal in the world. The estimated crop calendar showed good agreement with earlier reports for wheat, maize, and rice in major countries of production. The estimated irrigation water withdrawal also showed fair agreement with country statistics, but tended to underestimate countries in the Asian monsoon region. In the reservoir operation module, 452 major reservoirs with more than 1 km³ each of storage capacity store and release water according to their own rules of operation. Operating rules were determined for each reservoir using an algorithm that used currently available global data such as reservoir storage capacity, intended purposes, simulated inflow, and water demand in the lower reaches. The environmental flow requirement module was newly developed based on case studies from around the world. The integrated model closes both energy and water balances on land surfaces. Global water resources were assessed on a subannual basis using a newly devised index that locates water-stressed regions that were undetected in earlier studies. These regions, which are indicated by a gap in the subannual distribution of water resources and water use, include the Sahel, the Asian monsoon region, and southern Africa. The integrated model is applicable to assess various global environmental projections such as climate change.
Vegetation composition and soil microbial community structural changes along a wetland hydrological gradient
Authors: Balasooriya W. K. , Denef K. , Peters J. , Verhoest N. E. C. , Boeckx P.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. Fluctuations in wetland hydrology create an interplay between aerobic and anaerobic conditions, controlling vegetation composition and microbial community structure and activity in wetland soils. In this study, we investigated the vegetation composition and microbial community structural and functional changes along a wetland hydrological gradient. Two different vegetation communities were distinguished along the hydrological gradient; \\textit{Caricetum gracilis} at the wet depression and \\textit{Arrhenatherum elatioris} at the drier upper site. Microbial community structural changes were studied by a combined in situ 13CO2 pulse labeling and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) based stable isotope probing approach, which identifies the microbial groups actively involved in assimilation of newly photosynthesized, root-derived C in the rhizosphere soils. Gram negative bacterial communities were relatively more abundant in the surface soils of the drier upper site than in the surface soils of the wetter lower site, while the lower site and the deeper soil layers were relatively more inhabited by gram positive bacterial communities. Despite their large abundance, the metabolically active proportion of gram positive bacterial and actinomycetes communities was much smaller at both sites, compared to that of the gram negative bacterial and fungal communities. This suggests much slower assimilation of root-derived C by gram positive and actinomycetes communities than by gram negative bacteria and fungi at both sites. Ground water depth showed a significant effect on the relative abundance of several microbial communities. Relative abundance of gram negative bacteria was significantly decreased with increasing ground water depth while the relative abundance of gram positive bacteria and actinomycetes at the surface layer increased with increasing ground water depth.
Prognostic simulation and analysis of the impact of climate change on the hydrological dynamics in Thuringia, Germany
Authors: Krause P. , Hanisch S.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. The impact of predicted climate change on the hydrological dynamics and long term hydrological balance in the federal German state Thuringia was investigated and analysed. For this study the prognostic climate data, provided by the statistical regionalisation approach WETTREG, which is based on results of the global climate model ECHAM5/MPI-OM, was used. This regional climate model provides synthetic climate time series for the existent precipitation and climate station in Germany from 2000 to 2100. This data was processed with the hydrological model J2000g which we used for the regionalisation of the climatological time series data and for the computation of potential and actual evapotranspiration, runoff generation and groundwater recharge. In this study we analysed the two emission scenarios A2 and B1, defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and their impact on the temporal and spatial distribution of temperature, precipitation, evapotranspiration and runoff generation for the time frame 2071–2100 for the entire area of the German state of Thuringia. For this purpose we compared simulation with the scenario data with simulation results based on reference data from 1971–2000. The comparison showed an increase of the mean annual temperature of 1.8 (B1) to 2.2 (A2) °C which is much more distinct during winter. The mean annual precipitation is decreasing only slightly but, the seasonal spatio-temporal rainfall distribution which has major impact on the hydrological water balance is changing significantly. This pattern change results in more precipitation during winter and less in summer. Actual evapotranspiration was computed higher for both scenarios compared to the evapotranspiration of the reference period 1971–2000. As a follow up a decrease in the runoff generation was simulated which was again very variable in space and time. The overall trends worked out in this study showed that it is likely that the extremes of flooding in winter and dry spells in summer might occur more often in Thuringia because of the changing weather conditions due to climate change.
On the measurement of solute concentrations in 2-D flow tank experiments
Authors: Konz M. , Ackerer P. , Meier E. , Huggenberger P. , Zechner E. , Gechter D.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. In this study we describe and compare photometric and resistivity measurement methodologies to determine solute concentrations in porous media flow tank experiments. The first method is the photometric method, which directly relates digitally measured intensities of a tracer dye to concentrations without previously converting the intensities to optical densities. This enables an effective processing of a large amount of images to compute concentration time series at various points of the flow tank. Perturbations of the measurements are investigated and both lens flare effects and the image resolution turned out to be the major sources of error. An attached mask is able to minimize the lens flare effects. The second method for in situ measurement of salt concentrations in porous media experiments is the resistivity method. The resistivity measurement system uses two different input voltages at gilded electrode sticks to enable the measurement of salt concentrations from 0 to 300 g/l. Power laws are used to relate apparent resistivity values and salt concentrations. However, due to the unknown measurement volume of the electrodes, we consider the image analysis method more appropriate for intermediate scale laboratory benchmark experiments to evaluate numerical codes.
Assessment of hydrological and seasonal controls over the nitrate flushing from a forested watershed using a data mining technique
Authors: Rusjan S. , Mikoš M.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. A data mining, regression tree algorithm M5 was used to review the understanding of mutual hydrological and seasonal settings which control the streamwater nitrate flushing during hydrological events within a forested watershed in the southwestern part of Slovenia, characterized by distinctive flushing, almost torrential hydrological regime. The basis for the research presented an extensive dataset of continuous, high frequency measurements of seasonal meteorological conditions, watershed hydrological responses and streamwater nitrate concentrations. The dataset contained 16 recorded hydrographs occurring in different seasonal and hydrological conditions. Based on predefined regression tree pruning criteria, a comprehensible regression tree model was obtained in the sense of the domain knowledge, which was able to adequately describe most of the streamwater nitrate concentration variations (RMSE=1.02 mg/l-N; r=0.91). The attributes which were found to be the most descriptive in the sense of streamwater nitrate concentrations were the antecedent precipitation index (API) and air temperatures in the preceding periods. The model was most successful in describing streamwater concentrations in the range 1–4 mg/l-N, covering large proportion of the dataset. The model performance was poorer during the periods of high streamwater nitrate concentration oscillations (up to 7 mg/l-N during the summer hydrographs and 14 mg/l-N during the extreme November hydrograph) related to highly variable hydrological conditions, which would require a less robust regression tree model.
Behaviors of extreme water level in the Pearl River Delta and possible impacts from human activities
Authors: Chen Y. D. , Zhang Q. , Yang T. , Xu C. , Chen X. , Jiang T.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. Trends and variations of the extreme water levels defined as exceeding/falling below certain thresholds (mean ± std) across the Pearl River Delta (PRD) are systematically explored using the linear regression method. Research results indicate that: 1) The upper PRD is dominated by the significant decreasing low water level, and significant increasing low water level can be identified in the lower PRD. The variations of the relative frequency of the high water level are characterized by the decreasing variability in the middle PRD. However more stations show significant changes of the relative frequency of the low water level across the PRD. No confirmative changing patterns of the relative frequency of the low water level can be detected in the middle PRD; 2) When it comes to the seasonal variations of the high/low water level in JJA (high flow periods in the PRD), stations located closer to the estuary tend to exhibit increasing high/low water level. However stations located closer to the upper PRD tend to show decreasing high/low water level. Similar patterns can be identified in the high/low water level in DJF (low flow periods in the PRD); 3) The changes of the water level in the PRD are heavily affected by human interferences, e.g. in-channel dredging, sand mining and the construction of levees. The stations dominated by decreasing water level are mostly located along the river channels featured by highly-intensive dredging. The stations along the coastal regions show significant increasing extreme high/low water level. The coastal regions are not influenced by in-channel dredging, and furthermore, sediment loads from upper and middle PRD are deposited in the river mouths and which will tend to raise the water level in the estuary of the PRD. The findings of this paper may be helpful for local water resource management.
Fluvial organic carbon flux from an eroding peatland catchment, southern Pennines, UK
Authors: Pawson R. R. , Rothwell J. J. , Daniels S. , Lord D. R. , Evans M. G. E. , Allott T. E. H.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. This study investigates for the first time the relative importance of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and particulate organic carbon (POC) in the fluvial carbon flux from an actively eroding peatland catchment in the southern Pennines, UK. Event scale variability in DOC and POC was examined and the annual flux of fluvial organic carbon was estimated for the catchment. At the event scale, both DOC and POC were found to increase with discharge, with event based POC export accounting for 95% of flux in only 8% of the time. On an annual cycle, 40.8 t organic carbon (OC) is exported from the catchment, which represents an areal value of 107 gC m−2 a−1. POC was the most significant form of organic carbon export, accounting for ~82% of the estimated flux. This suggests that more research is required on both the fate of POC and the rates of POC export in eroding peatland catchments.
Which spatial discretization for which distributed hydrological model?
Authors: Dehotin J. , Braud I.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. Distributed hydrological models are valuable tools to derive distributed estimation of water balance components or to study the impact of land-use or climate change on water resources and water quality. In these models, the choice of an appropriate spatial scale for the modelling units is a crucial issue. It is obviously linked to the available data and their scale, but not only. For a given catchment and a given data set, the "optimal" spatial discretization should be different according to the problem to be solved and the objectives of the modelling. Thus a flexible methodology is needed, especially for large catchments, to derive modelling units by performing suitable trade-off between available data, the dominant hydrological processes, their representation scale and the modelling objectives. In order to represent catchment heterogeneity efficiently according to the modelling goals, and the availability of the input data, we propose to use nested discretization, starting from a hierarchy of sub-catchments, linked by the river network topology. If consistent with the modelling objectives, the active hydrological processes and data availability, sub-catchment variability can be described using a finer nested discretization. The latter takes into account different geophysical factors such as topography, land-use, pedology, but also suitable hydrological discontinuities such as ditches, hedges, dams, etc. For small catchments, the landscape features such as agricultural fields, buildings, hedges, river reaches can be represented explicitly, as well as the water pathways between them. For larger catchments, such a representation is not feasible and simplification is necessary. For the sub-catchments discretization in these large catchments, we propose a flexible methodology based on the principles of landscape classification, using reference zones. These principles are independent from the catchment size. They allow to keep suitable features which are required in the catchment description in order to fulfil a specific modelling objective. The method leads to unstructured and homogeneous areas within the sub-catchments, which can be used as modelling units. It avoids map smoothing by suppressing the smallest units, the role of which can be very important in hydrology, and provides a confidence map (the distance map) for the classification. The confidence map can be used for further uncertainty analysis of modelling results. The final discretization remains consistent with the scale of input data and that of the source maps. We present an illustration of the method using available data from the upper Saône catchment (11 700 km2) in France. We compare the results with more traditional mapping approach, according to the landscape representation and input data scale.
Towards a hydrological classification of European soils: preliminary test of its predictive power for the base flow index using river discharge data
Authors: Schneider M. K. , Brunner F. , Hollis J. M. , Stamm C.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. Predicting discharge in ungauged catchments requires knowledge on the distribution and spatial heterogeneity of hydrological soil properties. Because hydrological soil information is not available on a European scale, we reclassified the Soil Geographical Database of Europe (SGDBE) in a hydrological manner by adopting the Hydrology Of Soil Types (HOST) system developed in the UK. The HOST classification describes dominant pathways of water movement through soil and was related to the base flow index (BFI) of a catchment (the long-term proportion of base flow on total stream flow). In the original UK study, a linear regression of the coverage of HOST classes in a catchment explained 79% of BFI variability. We found that a hydrological soil classification can be built based on the information present in the SGDBE. The reclassified SGDBE and the regression coefficients from the original UK study were used to predict BFIs for 103 catchments spread throughout Europe. The predicted BFI explained around 65% of the variability in measured BFI in catchments in Northern Europe, but the explained variance decreased from North to South. We therefore estimated new regression coefficients from the European discharge data and found that these were qualitatively similar to the original estimates from the UK. This suggests little variation across Europe in the hydrological effect of particular HOST classes, but decreasing influence of soil on BFI towards Southern Europe. Our preliminary study showed that pedological information is useful for characterising soil hydrology within Europe and the long-term discharge regime of catchments in Northern Europe. Based on the results, we draft a roadmap for a refined hydrological classification of European soils.
A method to determine plant water source using transpired water
Authors: Menchaca L. B. , Smith B. M. , Connolly J. , Conrad M. , Emmett B.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. A method to determine the stable isotope ratio of a plant's water source using the plant's transpired water is proposed as an alternative to standard xylem extraction methods. The method consists of periodically sampling transpired waters from shoots or leaves enclosed in sealed, transparent bags which create a saturated environment, preclude further evaporation and allow the progressive mixing of evaporated transpired water and un-evaporated xylem water. The method was applied on trees and shrubs coexisting in a non-irrigated area where stable isotope ratios of local environmental waters are well characterized. The results show Eucalyptus globulus (tree) and Genista monspessulana (shrub) using water sources of different isotopic ratios congruent with groundwater and soil water respectively. In addition, tritium concentrations indicate that pine trees (Pinus sylvestris) switch water source from soil water in the winter to groundwater in the summer. The method proposed is particularly useful in remote or protected areas and in large scale studies related to water management, environmental compliance and surveillance, because it eliminates the need for destructive sampling and greatly reduces costs associated with laboratory extraction of xylem waters from plant tissues for isotopic analyses.
Controls on runoff generation and scale-dependence in a distributed hydrologic model
Authors: Vivoni E. R. , Entekhabi D. , Bras R. L. , Ivanov V. Y.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. Hydrologic response in natural catchments is controlled by a set of complex interactions between storm properties, basin characteristics and antecedent wetness conditions. This study investigates the transient runoff response to spatially-uniform storms of varying properties using a distributed model of the coupled surface-subsurface system, which treats heterogeneities in topography, soils and vegetation. We demonstrate the control that the partitioning into multiple runoff mechanisms (infiltration-excess, saturation-excess, perched return flow and groundwater exfiltration) has on nonlinearities in the rainfall-runoff transformation and its scale-dependence. Antecedent wetness imposed through a distributed water table position is varied to illustrate its effect on runoff generation. Results indicate that transitions observed in basin flood response (magnitude, timing and volume) can be explained by shifts in the surface-subsurface partitioning. An analysis of the spatial organization of runoff production also shows that multiple mechanisms have specific catchment niches and can occur simultaneously in the basin. In addition, catchment scale plays an important role in the distribution of runoff production as basin characteristics (soils, vegetation, topography and initial wetness) are varied with basin area. For example, we illustrate how storm characteristics and antecedent wetness play a dramatic role in the scaling properties of the catchment runoff ratio.
On the comparison between the LISFLOOD modelled and the ERS/SCAT derived soil moisture estimates
Authors: Laguardia G. , Niemeyer S.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. In order to evaluate the reliability of the soil moisture product obtained by means of the LISFLOOD hydrological model (De Roo et al., 2000), we compare it to soil moisture estimates derived from ERS scatterometer data (Wagner et al., 1999). Once calculated the root mean square error and the correlation between the two soil moisture time series on a pixel basis, we assess the fraction of variance that can be explained by a set of input parameter fields that vary from elevation and soil depth to rainfall statistics and missing or snow covered ERS images. The two datasets show good agreement over large regions, with 90% of the area having a positive correlation coefficient and 66% having a root mean square error minor than 0.5. Major inconsistencies are located in mountainous regions such as the Alps or Scandinavia where both the methodologies suffer from insufficiently resolved land surface processes at the given spatial resolution, as well as from limited availability of satellite data on the one hand and the uncertainties in meteorological data retrieval on the other hand.
A generic system dynamics model for simulating and evaluating the hydrological performance of reconstructed watersheds
Authors: Keshta N. , Elshorbagy A. , Barr A.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. The mining of oil sands in northern Alberta, Canada, involves the stripping and salvage of surface soil layers to gain access to the oil mines. The oil sands industry has committed to reconstructing these disturbed watersheds to replicate the performance of the natural soil horizons and to reproduce the various functions of natural watersheds. The selection of the texture and thickness of the reconstructed soil cover layers is based primarily on the concept that all covers must have sufficient moisture for vegetation over the growing season. Assessment of the hydrological performance of the reconstructed soil covers is crucial to select the best cover alternative. A generic system dynamics watershed (GSDW) model is developed, based on the existing site-specific SDW model, and applied to five reconstructed watersheds located in the Athabasca mining basin, Alberta, Canada; and one natural watershed (boreal forest) located in Saskatchewan, Canada; to simulate the various hydrological processes; in particular, soil moisture patterns and actual evapotranspiration, in reconstructed and natural watersheds. The model is capable of capturing the dynamics of the water balance components in both reconstructed and natural watersheds. The developed GSDW model provides a vital tool, which enables the investigation of the utility of different soil cover alternative designs and evaluation of their performance. Moreover, the model can be used to conduct short- and long- term predictions under different climate scenarios.
Robust estimation of hydrological model parameters
Authors: Bárdossy A. , Singh S. K.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. The estimation of hydrological model parameters is a challenging task. With increasing capacity of computational power several complex optimization algorithms have emerged, but none of the algorithms gives an unique and very best parameter vector. The parameters of hydrological models depend upon the input data. The quality of input data cannot be assured as there may be measurement errors for both input and state variables. In this study a methodology has been developed to find a set of robust parameter vectors for a hydrological model. To see the effect of observational error on parameters, stochastically generated synthetic measurement errors were applied to observed discharge and temperature data. With this modified data, the model was calibrated and the effect of measurement errors on parameters was analysed. It was found that the measurement errors have a significant effect on the best performing parameter vector. The erroneous data led to very different optimal parameter vectors. To overcome this problem and to find a set of robust parameter vectors, a geometrical approach based on the half space depth was used. The depth of the set of N randomly generated parameters was calculated with respect to the set with the best model performance (Nash-Sutclife efficiency was used for this study) for each parameter vector. Based on the depth of parameter vectors, one can find a set of robust parameter vectors. The results show that the parameters chosen according to the above criteria have low sensitivity and perform well when transfered to a different time period. The method is demonstrated on the upper Neckar catchment in Germany. The conceptual HBV model was used for this study.
Investigating possible changes of extreme annual rainfall in Zimbabwe
Authors: Mazvimavi D.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. There is increasing concern about the perceived decline in rainfall which is sometimes attributed to global warming. Some studies have concluded that average rainfall in Zimbabwe has declined by 10% or 100 mm/yr during the last 100 yrs. This paper investigates the validity of the assumption that rainfall is declining in Zimbabwe. Time series of annual rainfall, and total rainfall for a) the early party of the rainy season, October-November-December (OND), and b) the mid to end of the rainy season, January-February-March (JFM) are analysed for the presence of trends using the Mann-Kendall test, and changes in extreme rainfall using quantile regression analysis. The analysis has been done for 40 rainfall stations with records starting during the 1892–1940 period and ending in 2000, and representative of the major rainfall regions. The Mann-Kendal test did not identify a significant trend at all the 40 stations, and therefore there is no proof that the average rainfall at each of these stations has changed. Quantile regression analysis revealed a decline in annual rainfall less than the tenth percentile at only one station, and increasing rainfall for rainfall greater than the ninetieth percentile at another station. All the other stations revealed no changes over time in both the extreme low and high rainfall at the annual interval. Therefore, there is no evidence that the frequency and severity of droughts has changed during the 1892 to 2000 period. The general perception about declining rainfall is likely shaped by a comparison of the recent drought years (1980's–1990's) to recent wet periods (1970's). There have however been periods with similar dry years beyond the recallable memory, e.g. 1926–1936, 1940's. Crop failures and livestock losses attributed to declining rainfall are most likely due to poor agricultural practices such as production of crops in unsuitable climatic regions, degradation of rangelands partly due to increasing livestock populations. Rainfall in Zimbabwe has high inter-annual variability, and currently any change due to global warming is not yet statistically detectable. The annual renewal rate of water resources from rainfall has therefore not changed, and an adaptive water resources management approach is called to overcome problems arising from increasing water demand, and variability of available water resources.
A multi-objective optimization tool for the selection and placement of BMPs for pesticide control
Authors: Maringanti C. , Chaubey I. , Arabi M. , Engel B.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. Pesticides (particularly atrazine used in corn fields) are the foremost source of water contamination in many of the water bodies in Midwestern corn belt, exceeding the 3 ppb MCL established by the U.S. EPA for drinking water. Best management practices (BMPs), such as buffer strips and land management practices, have been proven to effectively reduce the pesticide pollution loads from agricultural areas. However, selection and placement of BMPs in watersheds to achieve an ecologically effective and economically feasible solution is a daunting task. BMP placement decisions under such complex conditions require a multi-objective optimization algorithm that would search for the best possible solution that satisfies the given watershed management objectives. Genetic algorithms (GA) have been the most popular optimization algorithms for the BMP selection and placement problem. Most optimization models also had a dynamic linkage with the water quality model, which increased the computation time considerably thus restricting them to apply models on field scale or relatively smaller (11 or 14 digit HUC) watersheds. However, most previous works have considered the two objectives individually during the optimization process by introducing a constraint on the other objective, therefore decreasing the degree of freedom to find the solution. In this study, the optimization for atrazine reduction is performed by considering the two objectives simultaneously using a multi-objective genetic algorithm (NSGA-II). The limitation with the dynamic linkage with a distributed parameter watershed model was overcome through the utilization of a BMP tool, a database that stores the pollution reduction and cost information of different BMPs under consideration. The model was used for the selection and placement of BMPs in Wildcat Creek Watershed (located in Indiana, for atrazine reduction. The most ecologically effective solution from the model had an annual atrazine concentration reduction of 30%, from the baseline with a BMP implementation cost of $18 million. The pareto-optimal fronts generated between the two optimized objective functions can be used to achieve desired water quality goals with minimum BMP implementation cost for the watershed.
Sensitivity analysis of Takagi-Sugeno-Kang rainfall-runoff\\ fuzzy models
Authors: Jacquin A. P. , Shamseldin A. Y.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. This paper is concerned with the sensitivity analysis of the model parameters of the Takagi-Sugeno-Kang fuzzy rainfall-runoff models previously developed by the authors. These models are classified in two types of fuzzy models, where the first type is intended to account for the effect of changes in catchment wetness and the second type incorporates seasonality as a source of non-linearity. The sensitivity analysis is performed using two global sensitivity analysis methods, namely Regional Sensitivity Analysis and Sobol's variance decomposition. The data of six catchments from different geographical locations and sizes are used in the sensitivity analysis. The sensitivity of the model parameters is analysed in terms of several measures of goodness of fit, assessing the model performance from different points of view. These measures include the Nash-Sutcliffe criteria, volumetric errors and peak errors. The results show that the sensitivity of the model parameters depends on both the catchment type and the measure used to assess the model performance.
Significance of tree roots for preferential infiltration in stagnic soils
Authors: Lange B. , Luescher P. , Germann P. F.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. It is generally believed that roots have an effect on infiltration. In this study we analysed the influence of tree roots from Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst), silver fir (Abies alba Miller) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) on preferential infiltration in stagnic soils in the northern pre-Alps in Switzerland. We conducted irrigation experiments (1 m2) and recorded water content variations with time domain reflectrometry (TDR). A rivulet approach was applied to characterise preferential infiltration. Roots were sampled down to a depth of 0.5 to 1 m at the same position where the TDR-probes had been inserted and digitally measured. The basic properties of preferential infiltration, film thickness of mobile water and the contact length between soil and mobile water in the horizontal plane are closely related to fine root densities. An increase in root density resulted in an increase in contact length, but a decrease in film thickness. We modelled water content waves based on fine root densities and identified a range of root densities that lead to a maximum volume flux density and infiltration capacity. These findings provide convincing evidence that tree roots improve soil structure and thus infiltration.
A space-time hybrid hourly rainfall model for derived flood frequency analysis
Authors: Haberlandt U. , Ebner von Eschenbach A.-D. , Buchwald I.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. For derived flood frequency analysis based on hydrological modelling long continuous precipitation time series with high temporal resolution are needed. Often, the observation network with recording rainfall gauges is poor, so stochastic precipitation synthesis is a good alternative. Here, a hybrid two step procedure is proposed to provide suitable space-time precipitation fields as input for hydrological modelling. First, a univariate alternating renewal model is presented to simulate independent hourly precipitation time series for several locations. In the second step a multi-site resampling procedure is applied on the synthetic point rainfall event series to reproduce the spatial dependence structure of rainfall. The alternating renewal model describes wet spell durations, dry spell durations and wet spell amounts using univariate frequency distributions separately for two seasons. The dependence between wet spell amount and duration is accounted for by 2-copulas. For disaggregation of the wet spells into hourly intensities a predefined profile is used. In the second step resampling is carried out successively on all synthetic event series using simulated annealing with an objective function considering three bivariate spatial rainfall characteristics. In a case study synthetic precipitation is generated for two mesoscale catchments in the Bode river basin of northern Germany and applied for derived flood frequency analysis using the hydrological model HEC-HMS. The results show good performance in reproducing average and extreme rainfall characteristics as well as in reproducing observed flood frequencies. However, they also show that it is important to consider the same rainfall station network for calibration of the hydrological model with observed data as for application using synthetic rainfall data.
Salt intrusion in the Pungue estuary, Mozambique: effect of sand banks as a natural temporary salt intrusion barrier
Authors: Graas S. , Savenije H. H. G.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. This paper presents a salt intrusion model for the Pungue estuary with the aim to determine the minimum discharge required to prevent the salt intrusion from reaching the water intake situated 82 km from the estuary mouth. The Pungue river is shared between Zimbabwe and Mozambique and has a large variation in precipitation and runoff. The mean monthly discharge can be as low as 8 m3/s and as high as 893 m3/s. The second largest city of Mozambique, Beira, relies on the Pungue for its water supply. In the dry season it frequently occurs that the water intake has to be ceased because the salinity of the Pungue is too high. The salt intrusion model used in this paper is based on a fully analytical and predictive theory which is confronted with measurements of salt intrusion and estuary topography. The paper presents the collection of estuary characteristics and the salt water intrusion measurements that were obtained by field measurements in 1993 and 2002. Using these data the salt intrusion model has successfully been applied. During salinity intrusion measurements in the dry season of 1993 it was observed that sand banks in the middle zone of the estuary prevented the salt water from intruding further upstream, resulting in lower salinity levels upstream than the theoretical salt water intrusion model predicts. This effect occurs during ebb of neap and average tides and can reduce the salt water intrusion by 10 km. The model indicates that in a natural situation a minimum monthly discharge of 12 m3/s is required to maintain acceptable salinity levels during high water and spring tide near the water intake. The actual water discharge upstream of the water intake has to be higher, since this minimum discharge does not take into account the water abstracted for irrigation and/or urban water supply. Current water abstractions lead to salt water intrusion near the water intake at approximately 10% of the time. The model indicates that an additional water abstraction of 5 m3/s will lead to an increase in salt water reaching the intake at 10% of the time. During neap tide the sand banks act as a temporary natural salt intrusion barrier reducing the chance of salt water reaching the water intake.
Spatial and temporal dynamics of stream chemistry in a forested watershed impacted by atmospheric deposition
Authors: Piatek K. B. , Christopher S. F. , Mitchell M. J.
Published: April 2010

Abstract. We analyzed spatial and temporal dynamics of solute chemistry in a forest watershed impacted by atmospheric deposition in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State, USA. Spatial dynamics of solute chemistry and natural abundance isotopes of nitrate (15N and 18O) were examined in 6 locations and the watershed outlet in 2001 and 2002. Temporal dynamics were examined during 5 discharge periods: winter, snowmelt, spring, summer, and fall, which were based on discharge levels at the outlet. Solute concentrations were statistically significantly different (p≤0.05) among stream sampling locations and discharge periods, with no interaction effects. Groundwater sources located in upper watershed controlled stream chemistry at higher elevations with highest pH, Ca2+, sum of base cations, Si, NO3-, total N, and SO42- and lowest Al concentrations. Two low elevation wetlands had a substantial influence over stream chemistry at those locations contributing lowest NO3-, total N, and highest DOC and DON. Snowmelt exhibited among the lowest pH, sum of base cations, and SO42-, and highest NO3-, total N, DON, and total Al; snowmelt appeared to dilute groundwater, and flush stored soil-derived solutes. Summer discharge, composed mainly of groundwater, exhibited the lowest flow, among the highest Mg2+, Ca2+, and lowest DON, DOC, and total Al concentrations. Isotopic analysis together with patterns of NH4+ versus NO3- dynamics indicated that NO3- was microbial, generated in fall and accumulated in winter in upper watershed soils, and flushed to stream during high discharge events. Highest discharge in snowmelt 2001, a summer drought in 2002, and fall storms following the drought were further evaluated for their specific effects on stream chemistry. Snowmelt 2001 had the lowest pH and highest NO3-, base flow during summer drought had the lowest total Al, and storms in fall 2002 had highest SO42- of all periods, but all other solute concentrations were comparable to other discharge periods in this study. Depending on objectives, watershed outlet alone may sufficiently represent solute dynamics in the watershed, and high-discharge events may sufficiently describe solute fluxes for the watershed.