Characterising groundwater–surface water interactions in idealised ephemeral stream systems

Transmission losses from the beds of ephemeral streams are thought to be a widespread mechanism of groundwater recharge in arid and semi-arid regions and support a range of dryland hydro-ecology. Dryland areas cover ~40% of the Earth's land surface and groundwater resources are often the main source of freshwater. It is commonly assumed that where an unsaturated zone exists beneath a stream, the interaction between surface water and groundwater is unidirectional and that groundwater does not exert a significant feedback on transmission losses. To test this assumption, we conducted a series of numerical model experiments using idealised two-dimensional channel-transects to assess the sensitivity and degree of interaction between surface and groundwater for typical dryland ephemeral stream geometries, hydraulic properties and flow regimes. We broaden the use of the term ‘stream–aquifer interactions’ to refer not just to fluxes and water exchange but also to include the ways in which the stream and aquifer have a hydraulic effect on one another. Our results indicate that deep water tables, less frequent streamflow events and/or highly permeable sediments tend to result in limited bi-directional hydraulic interaction between the stream and the underlying groundwater which, in turn, results in high amounts of infiltration. With shallower initial depth to the water table, higher streamflow frequency and/or lower bed permeability, greater ‘negative’ hydraulic feedback from the groundwater occurs which in turn results in lower amounts of infiltration. Streambed losses eventually reach a constant rate as initial water table depths increase, but only at depths of 10s of metres in some of the cases studied. Our results highlight that bi-directional stream–aquifer hydraulic interactions in ephemeral streams may be more widespread than is commonly assumed. We conclude that groundwater and surface water should be considered as connected systems for water resource management unless there is clear evidence to the contrary.     

Bidirectional stream–groundwater flow in response to ephemeral and intermittent streamflow and groundwater seasonality

It is often assumed that the net groundwater flow direction is towards the channel in headwater streams in humid climates, with magnitudes dependent on flow state. However, studies that characterize stream–groundwater interactions in ephemeral and intermittent streams in humid landscapes remain sparse. Here, we examined seasonally driven stream–groundwater interactions in response to temporary streamflow on the basis of field observations of streamflow and groundwater on an adjacent hillslope. The direction of hydraulic head gradients between the stream and groundwater shifted seasonally. The stream gained water (head gradients were towards the stream) when storage state was high. During this period, streamflow was persistent. The stream lost water to the groundwater system (head gradients were away from the stream) when storage state was low. During this period, streamflow only occurred in response to precipitation events, and head gradients remained predominantly away from the stream during events. This suggested that mechanisms other than deep groundwater contributions produced run‐off when storage was low, such as surface and perched subsurface flowpaths above the water table. Analysis of the annual water balance for the study period showed that the residual between precipitation inputs and streamflow and evapotranspiration outputs, which were attributed to the loss of water to the deeper, regional groundwater system, was similar in magnitude to streamflow. This, coupled with results that showed bidirectionality in stream–groundwater head gradients, indicated that headwaters composed of temporary (e.g., ephemeral and intermittent) streams can be important focal areas for regional groundwater recharge, and both contribute to and receive water, solutes, and materials from the groundwater system.     

Simulation of Groundwater Level in Ephemeral Streams with an Improved Groundwater Hydraulics Model

As a component of arid ecosystems, groundwater plays an important role in plant growth; therefore, it is essential to use deterministic models to reconstruct the process of groundwater level change. Typically, the linearized solution of the one-dimensional (1-D) Boussinesq equation yields acceptable performance in simulating transient conditions over short recharge periods in ephemeral stream systems, but the ability of this solution to simulate multiyear changes in groundwater levels is limited. In this study, an improved groundwater hydraulics (GH-D2) model is built based on the groundwater hydraulics (GH) solution of the 1-D Boussinesq equation to simulate multiyear changes in the groundwater level in ephemeral stream systems. The model is validated in the lower reaches of the Tarim River to simulate groundwater level fluctuations within the scope of influence of the river (300, 500, 750, 1050 m) over a 16-year period (2000 to 2015). To evaluate the performance of the models, the bias, mean absolute error, root mean squared error, Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), and coefficient of determination (R²) are calculated. The results show that the improved GH-D2 model, which considers ephemeral streamflow, unsteady flow theory and the delayed response effect of groundwater level changes, performs well in simulating multiyear changes in the groundwater level in the ephemeral stream system. The observed and simulated values of the groundwater level at different river distances are consistent, and the model provides a new basis for multiyear simulations of groundwater level fluctuations in ephemeral stream systems.     

Accuracy of crowdsourced streamflow and stream level class estimates

ABSTRACT

Streamflow data are important for river management and the calibration of hydrological models. However, such data are only available for gauged catchments. Citizen science offers an alternative data source, and can be used to estimate streamflow at ungauged sites. We evaluated the accuracy of crowdsourced streamflow estimates for 10 streams in Switzerland by asking citizens to estimate streamflow either directly, or based on the estimated width, depth and velocity of the stream. Additionally, we asked them to estimate the stream level class by comparing the current stream level with a picture that included a virtual staff gauge. To compare the different estimates, the stream level class estimates were converted into streamflow. The results indicate that stream level classes were estimated more accurately than streamflow, and more accurately represented high and low flow conditions. Based on this result, we suggest that citizen science projects focus on stream level class estimates instead of streamflow estimates.     

Hydrometric and natural tracer (oxygen-18, silica,tritium and sulphur hexafluoride) evidence for a dominant groundwater contribution to Pukemanga Stream,New Zealand

Pukemanga is a small (3 ha) steep headwater catchment at the Whatawhata Research Station near Hamilton, New Zealand. The water balance (1996–2002) shows average annual rainfall of 1640 mm producing annual runoff of 440 mm (baseflow 326 mm, stormflow 114 mm) and ‘deep seepage’ loss of 450 mm (i.e. 450 mm of water not appearing in the stream). Oxygen-18 (¹⁸O) concentrations were measured at weekly intervals for 8–15 months at six sites, ranging from Pukemanga Stream baseflow through wetland seepage to ephemeral streams and surface runoff. The first two showed no significant ¹⁸O variations. Inferred mean residence times within the catchment ranged from at least 4 years (for the stream baseflow and seepage) to a few weeks (for the ephemeral flows and surface runoff). Silica concentrations could also be used to distinguish deep flowpath water from near-surface flowpath water. Tritium concentrations gave an estimated mean residence time of 9 years for Pukemanga Stream baseflow. Sulphur hexafluoride tended to give younger ages, while the chlorofluorocarbon ages were older, but are not considered as reliable for dating streamflow in this time range. These results show that deep pathways predominate with over 74% of runoff deriving from deep hillslope flowpaths via the wetland, and 87% of total drainage (baseflow and deep seepage) travelling via deep hillslope flowpaths. Our conception of the deep drainage process is that there is a large volume of slowly moving water in the system (above and below the water table), which reaches the wetland and stream via an unconfined groundwater system. Subsurface water equivalents are estimated to be 2·9 m for drainage at the weir and 4·1 m for drainage bypassing the weir, giving a total of 7 m depth over the catchment. The unsaturated zone plays an important role in storing water for long periods (about 4 years), while linking the surface with the groundwater water table to contribute to the fast streamflow response to rainfall. A schematic model of the various pathways with indicative residence times is given. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Observed hydrographs: on their ability to infer a time‐invariant hydrological transfer function for flow prediction in ungauged basins

Streamflow measurements provide information about the flow generation characteristics of land surfaces as well as the flow transferring nature of the channel network. In this study, such flow transferring properties of the channel network that were obtained from downstream flow observations were used for predicting flow in ungauged basins. A temporally averaged transfer function (ATF) of the channel segments of Kentucky River Basin (KRB) in Kentucky, USA, was extracted from observed hydrographs in a time‐invariant system as a function of drainage area. The ATF was regionalized through multiple regression analysis for 194 combinations of drainage areas that differ in topography, terrain, and geology. The application of ATF for flow prediction in ungauged basins was performed for Goose Creek, a subbasin of KRB by integrating ATF with the TOPMODEL. In addition, the ATF was shown to be capable of providing calibration and validation data for ungauged basins in a backward technique from a measured stream gauge downstream, with minimal data requirement of drainage area. The applicability of ATF was illustrated across a range of streamflow conditions from watersheds that varied greatly in their terrain and geology. Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency of the proposed method, as a function of drainage areas of the corresponding basins, to predict daily streamflow from ungauged basins ranged from 0.83 to 0.92. The results of the study concluded that the ATF obtained from measured streamflow thus proved to be a quick and simple tool for assessment of streamflow in both operational and modeling hydrology. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulated response of an intermittent stream to rainfall frequency patterns

The response of intermittent catchments to rainfall is complex and difficult to model. This study uses the spatially distributed CATchment HYdrology (CATHY) model to explore how the frequency of daily rainfall (λ) can affect the hydrologic regime of intermittent catchments. After a multi-objective calibration and validation of CATHY against experimental measurements of streamflow and groundwater levels in a catchment used as a pasture, the role of λ in affecting streamflow characteristics was explored using different scenarios. With different values of λ for the dry and wet periods of the year, CATHY showed that a series of frequent rainfall events was often associated with incipient streamflow, independent of the season. Activation of streamflow during the wet season was related to multiple factors and was not often associated with the shallow groundwater levels near the outlet of the catchment. The interplay between rainfall depth and intensity acted as the most important factor for the generation of streamflow. Using the difference between accumulated rainfall and evapotranspiration as a measure of wetness, saturated subsurface flow mechanism generated streamflow in simulations with wetness at least three times larger than mean wetness of other simulations. Although groundwater uprise near the outlet did not effectively contribute to streamflow in the initial days of flow, it strongly correlated with the magnitude of the runoff coefficient. Values of λ close or equal to the maximum value in the wet season can sustain the connectivity between groundwater and streamflow in the riparian zone. This connectivity increases the catchment wetness, which consequently results in an increase of the generated streamflow. Our study showed that rainfall regimes characterized by different λ were able to identify distinct flow regimes typical of either intermittent, ephemeral, or nonflowing catchments. Decrease of λ in the wet season is likely associated with a reduction of streamflow, with a shift of flow regime from intermittent to ephemeral or no-flow.     

Numerical modelling of stream–aquifer interaction: Quantifying the impact of transient streambed permeability and aquifer heterogeneity

Stream–aquifer interaction plays a vital role in the water cycle, and a proper study of this interaction is needed for understanding groundwater recharge, contaminants migration, and for managing surface water and groundwater resources. A model‐based investigation of a field experiment in a riparian zone of the Schwarzbach river, a tributary of the Rhine River in Germany, was conducted to understand stream–aquifer interaction under alternative gaining and losing streamflow conditions. An equivalent streambed permeability, estimated by inverting aquifer responses to flood waves, shows that streambed permeability increased during infiltration of stream water to aquifer and decreased during exfiltration. Aquifer permeability realizations generated by multiple‐point geostatistics exhibit a high degree of heterogeneity and anisotropy. A coupled surface water groundwater flow model was developed incorporating the time‐varying streambed permeability and heterogeneous aquifer permeability realizations. The model was able to reproduce varying pressure heads at two observation wells near the stream over a period of 55 days. A Monte Carlo analysis was also carried out to simulate groundwater flow, its age distribution, and the release of a hypothetical wastewater plume into the aquifer from the stream. Results of this uncertainty analysis suggest (a) stream–aquifer exchange flux during the infiltration periods was constrained by aquifer permeability; (b) during exfiltration, this flux was constrained by the reduced streambed permeability; (c) the effect of temporally variable streambed permeability and aquifer heterogeneity were found important to improve the accurate capture of the uncertainty; and (d) probabilistic infiltration paths in the aquifer reveal that such pathways and the associated prediction of the extent of the contaminant plume are highly dependent on aquifer heterogeneity.     

How informative are stream level observations in different geographic regions?

Simple runoff models with a low number of model parameters are generally able to simulate catchment runoff reasonably well, but they rely on model calibration, which makes their use in ungauged basins challenging. In a previous study it has been shown that a limited number of streamflow measurements can be quite informative for constraining runoff models. In practice, however, instead of performing such repeated flow measurements, it might be easier to install a stream level logger. Here, a dataset of 600+ gauged basins in the USA was used to study how well models perform when only stream level data, rather than streamflow data, are available. A runoff model (the HBV model) was calibrated assuming that only stream level observations were available, and the simulations were evaluated on the full observed streamflow record. The results indicate that stream level data alone can already provide surprisingly good model simulation results in humid catchments, whereas in arid catchments some form of quantitative information (e.g. a streamflow observation or a regional average value) is needed to obtain good results. These results are encouraging for hydrological observations in data scarce regions as level observations are much easier to obtain than streamflow measurements. Based on runoff modelling, it might even be possible to derive streamflow time series from the level data obtained from loggers, satellites or community‐based approaches. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flow depletion in a small stream caused by ground water abstraction from wells

The interaction between a gaining stream and a water-table aquifer is studied at an outwash plain. The aquifer is hydraulically well connected to the stream. Pumping tests were carried out in 1997 and 1998 in two wells 60 m from the stream, screening different depths of the aquifer. Drawdown was measured on both sides of the stream. Hydraulic head, drawdown, and stream depletion data were analyzed using numerical flow models. Similar models were fitted to each of two different data sets: Model A was fitted to steady-state hydraulic head and streamflow gain data not influenced by pumping; and model B was fitted to drawdown data measured during the 1998 pumping test. Each calibrated model closely fits its calibration data; however, predictions were biased if model A was used to predict the calibration data of model B, and vice versa. To further test the models, they were used to predict streamflow depletion during the two pumping tests as well as the drawdown during the 1997 test. Neither of these data were used for calibration. Model A predicted the measured depletions fairly accurately during both tests, whereas the predicted drawdowns in 1997 were significantly larger than actually measured. Contrary to this, the 1997 drawdowns predicted by model B were nearly unbiased; the predicted depletions deviate significantly from the measured depletions in 1997, but they compare well with the observations in 1998. Thus, although field work and analyses were extensive and done carefully to develop a ground water flow model that could predict both drawdown and streamflow depletion, the model predictions are biased. Analyses indicate that the deviations between model and data may be because of error in the models' representations of either the release of water from storage or of the hydrology in the riparian zone.     

Streamflow-base flow ratio in a lowland area of North-Eastern Romania

The ratio between streamflow and base flow for 3 catchments from lowland area of North-Eastern Romania were calculated with six different separation methods: the local minimum method, Talaksen filter, Chapman filter, recursive digital filter, WHAT model, and the Ekchardt filter. In agreement with an increase in precipitation levels in the past decades all filter-based methods indicate a slight increase in Base Flow Index (BFI) values throughout the study period (1981–2013). The Eckhardt filter associated with Chapman filter are the most appropriate methods to evaluate the ratio between streamflow and base flow for this area. Both methods suggest the identification of parameters a and BFI_max (a = 0.925, BFI_max = 0.5–0.7). Taking into account the highly variable hydrological regime throughout the year, and the fact that 35% of the hydrographic network displays ephemeral stream, the values obtained for the BFI based on these algorithms are the following: BFI = 0.58 for basins developed on porous aquifers with perennial stream (asuming a = 925 and BFI_max = 0.7) and BFI = 0.52 for basins developed on porous aquifers, but with ephemeral stream (asuming a = 925 and BFI_max = 0.5).     

Assimilation of streamflow and in situ soil moisture data into operational distributed hydrologic models: Effects of uncertainties in the data and initial model soil moisture states

We assess the potential of updating soil moisture states of a distributed hydrologic model by assimilating streamflow and in situ soil moisture data for high-resolution analysis and prediction of streamflow and soil moisture. The model used is the gridded Sacramento (SAC) and kinematic-wave routing models of the National Weather Service (NWS) Hydrology Laboratory’s Research Distributed Hydrologic Model (HL-RDHM) operating at an hourly time step. The data assimilation (DA) technique used is variational assimilation (VAR). Assimilating streamflow and soil moisture data into distributed hydrologic models is new and particularly challenging due to the large degrees of freedom associated with the inverse problem. This paper reports findings from the first phase of the research in which we assume, among others, perfectly known hydrometeorological forcing. The motivation for the simplification is to reduce the complexity of the problem in favour of improved understanding and easier interpretation even if it may compromise the goodness of the results. To assess the potential, two types of experiments, synthetic and real-world, were carried out for Eldon (ELDO2), a 795-km² headwater catchment located near the Oklahoma (OK) and Arkansas (AR) border in the U.S. The synthetic experiment assesses the upper bound of the performance of the assimilation procedure under the idealized conditions of no structural or parametric errors in the models, a full dynamic range and no microscale variability in the in situ observations of soil moisture, and perfectly known univariate statistics of the observational errors. The results show that assimilating in situ soil moisture data in addition to streamflow data significantly improves analysis and prediction of soil moisture and streamflow, and that assimilating streamflow observations at interior locations in addition to those at the outlet improves analysis and prediction of soil moisture within the drainage areas of the interior stream gauges and of streamflow at downstream cells along the channel network. To assess performance under more realistic conditions, but still under the assumption of perfectly known hydrometeorological forcing to allow comparisons with the synthetic experiment, an exploratory real-world experiment was carried out in which all other assumptions were lifted. The results show that, expectedly, assimilating interior flows in addition to outlet flow improves analysis as well as prediction of streamflow at stream gauge locations, but that assimilating in situ soil moisture data in addition to streamflow data provides little improvement in streamflow analysis and prediction though it reduces systematic biases in soil moisture simulation.     

Flood hydrograph reconstruction from the peak flow value in ephemeral streams using a simplified robust single‐parameter model

Flood hydrographs from ephemeral streams in arid areas provide valuable information for assessing run‐off and groundwater recharge. However, such data are often scarce or incomplete, especially in hyper‐arid regions. The hypothesis of this study was that it is possible to reconstruct a hydrograph of a specific point along an ephemeral stream with the knowledge of only the peak flow rate of a flood event at that point and that this can be done at almost every point along the stream. The feasibility of this approach lies in the shape of the recession stage of the flood hydrograph, which is known to be a repeating phenomenon. The recession stage comes immediately after the peak flow rate, when it begins its decline, and lasts until the flood is extinguished. A general shape of the flood recession stage can be provided. Because the recession stage represents ~80% of the duration of a flood event, it can provide a general idea of the flood hydrograph's shape. A simple model based on geometric progression is suggested to describe the repeating recession stage of a flood. The advantage of the proposed model is that it requires only one parameter: the recession characteristic at a fixed point along the ephemeral stream, termed recession coefficient q. By knowing the recession coefficient of a fixed point and the peak flow rate of a flood event at that point, one can plot the flood hydrograph. A good agreement is shown between the observed and computed values of the recession stage. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Insights on stream temperature processes through development of a coupled hydrologic and stream temperature model for forested coastal headwater catchments

Stream temperature controls a number of biological, chemical, and physical processes occurring in aquatic environments. Transient snow cover and advection associated with lateral throughflow inputs can have a dominant influence on stream thermal regimes for headwater catchments in the rain‐on‐snow zone. Most existing stream temperature models lack the ability to properly simulate these processes. We developed and evaluated a conceptual‐parametric catchment‐scale stream temperature model that includes the role of transient snow cover and lateral advection associated with throughflow. The model consists of routines for simulating canopy interception, snow accumulation and melt, hillslope throughflow runoff and temperature, and stream channel energy exchange processes. The model was used to predict discharge and stream temperature for a small forested headwater catchment near Vancouver, Canada, using long‐term (1963–2013) weather data to compute model forcing variables. The model was evaluated against 4 years of observed stream temperature. The model generally predicted daily mean stream temperature accurately (annual RMSE between 0.57 and 1.24 °C) although it overpredicted daily summer stream temperatures by up to 3 °C during extended low streamflow conditions. Model development and testing provided insights on the roles of advection associated with lateral throughflow, channel interception of snow, and surface–subsurface water interactions on stream thermal regimes. This study shows that a relatively simple but process‐based model can provide reasonable stream temperature predictions for forested headwater catchments located in the rain‐on‐snow zone.     

Climate Variability in NW Spain and its Relationship with Water Balance and Streamflow in a Small Headwater Catchment: Preliminary Results

This paper presents preliminary results from an analysis of hydrological variability of a catchment located in Galicia (NW Spain), with particular focus on the effects of climate variability (temperature and precipitation), using daily streamflow data for the period October 2004 to September 2009. The climate variability has been studied by means of data obtained in a meteorological station on the area. The analysis is based on the examination of statistical parameters, flow duration characteristics, baseflow separation and the relationship between measured streamflow and precipitation. The results show that daily, monthly and annual streamflow are highly variable in this catchment. At seasonal scale about 65% of the water flows in winter (33%) and spring (32%) months, although with significant differences between years. This seasonality essentially relates to distribution and characteristics of precipitation episodes. However, there is not a narrow relationship between precipitation and streamflow, because soil moisture conditions have an important role in the hydrological behaviour of the catchment. The baseflow contribution to total streamflow is quite high, with baseflow index values above 0.69, which is consistent with the characteristics of the study area, such as geology (dominated by schist), soils (Umbrisols and Cambisols), vegetation cover (over 65% forest area) and precipitation characteristics (heavy, long duration and low intensity). The flow duration analysis also reveals that the flow regime is dominated by baseflow, recording high flow peaks during a limited period of the year. The study reveals that the major cause of streamflow variability in this catchment is related to precipitation distribution and soil moisture conditions. The results suggest that the Corbeira stream undergoes a reduction in low streamflows and an increase in the frequency of high flows, hence producing an increase in the risks associated with these changes.     

Determining hydrologic pathways of streamflow using geochemical tracers in a claypan watershed

Despite the low permeability of claypan soils, groundwater has been heavily contaminated by nitrate in agricultural watersheds dominated by claypan soils. However, it is unclear how nitrate concentrations in groundwater affect stream water quality. In this study, streamflow pathways were investigated using natural geochemical tracers in the 73-km² Goodwater Creek Experimental Watershed in northeastern Missouri. Samples were collected from 2011 to 2017 from stream water (weekly-biweekly), precipitation (event-based), groundwater in 25 wells with screened depths varying from 2 to 16 m (bimonthly–seasonal) and interflow above the claypan in 7 shallow piezometers (weekly–monthly). The results of endmember mixing analysis using major ions indicate that streamflow was dominated by near-surface runoff (59 ± 20%), followed by interflow (25 ± 16%) and groundwater (16 ± 13%). Analysis of endmember distances using the mixing space defined by stream water chemistry suggests that groundwater contributions to streamflow came primarily from the intermediate to deep glacial till aquifer near and below 8 m. Near-surface runoff was persistent and dominant even after isolated precipitation events during a prolonged dry period. It is hypothesised that the alluvial aquifer near stream banks acts as a mixing zone to receive and store various source waters, resulting in persistent delivery of runoff to the stream. Groundwater, even though its contribution was limited, plays a significant role in regulating streamflow NO₃⁻ concentrations. This study significantly improves our understanding of claypan hydrology and will lead to the development of models and decision support tools for implementation of management practices that improve groundwater and stream water quality in restrictive layer watersheds.     

Climate and land cover effects on the temperature of Puget Sound streams

We apply an integrated hydrology‐stream temperature modeling system, DHSVM‐RBM, to examine the response of the temperature of the major streams draining to Puget Sound to land cover and climate change. We first show that the model construct is able to reconstruct observed historic streamflow and stream temperature variations at a range of time scales. We then explore the relative effect of projected future climate and land cover change, including riparian vegetation, on streamflow and stream temperature. Streamflow in summer is likely to decrease as the climate warms especially in snowmelt‐dominated and transient river basins despite increased streamflow in their lower reaches associated with urbanization. Changes in streamflow also result from changes in land cover, and changes in stream shading result from changes in riparian vegetation, both of which influence stream temperature. However, we find that the effect of riparian vegetation changes on stream temperature is much greater than land cover change over the entire basin especially during summer low flow periods. Furthermore, while future projected precipitation change will have relatively modest effects on stream temperature, projected future air temperature increases will result in substantial increases in stream temperature especially in summer. These summer stream temperature increases will be associated both with increasing air temperature, and projected decreases in low flows. We find that restoration of riparian vegetation could mitigate much of the projected summer stream temperature increases. We also explore the contribution of riverine thermal loadings to the heat balance of Puget Sound, and find that the riverine contribution is greatest in winter, when streams account for up to 1/8 of total thermal inputs (averaged from December through February), with larger effects in some sub‐basins. We project that the riverine impact on thermal inputs to Puget Sound will become greater with both urbanization and climate change in winter but become smaller in summer due to climate change. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The dynamics of natural pipe hydrological behaviour in blanket peat

Natural soil pipes are found in peatlands, but little is known about their hydrological role. This paper presents the most complete set of pipe discharge data to date from a deep blanket peatland in Northern England. In a 17.4‐ha catchment, we identified 24 perennially flowing and 60 ephemerally flowing pipe outlets. Eight pipe outlets along with the catchment outlet were continuously gauged over an 18‐month period. The pipes in the catchment were estimated to produce around 13.7% of annual streamflow, with individual pipes often producing large peak flows (maximum peak of 3.8 l s^?1). Almost all pipes, whether ephemerally or perennially flowing, shallow or deep (outlets > 1 m below the peat surface), showed increased discharge within a mean of 3 h after rainfall commencement and were dominated by stormflow, indicating good connectivity between the peatland surface and the pipes. However, almost all pipes had a longer period between the hydrograph peak and the return to base flow compared with the stream (mean of 23.9 h for pipes, 19.7 h for stream). As a result, the proportion of streamflow produced by the pipes at any given time increased at low flows and formed the most important component of stream discharge for the lowest 10% of flows. Thus, a small number of perennially flowing pipes became more important to the stream system under low‐flow conditions and probably received water via matrix flow during periods between storms. Given the importance of pipes to streamflow in blanket peatlands, further research is required into their wider role in influencing stream water chemistry, water temperature and fluvial carbon fluxes, as well as their role in altering local hydrochemical cycling within the peat mass itself. Enhanced piping within peatlands caused by environmental change may lead to changes in the streamflow regime with larger low flows and more prolonged drainage of the peat. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Oxygen‐18 dynamics in precipitation and streamflow in a semi‐arid agricultural watershed,Eastern Washington,USA

Understanding flow pathways and mechanisms that generate streamflow is important to understanding agrochemical contamination in surface waters in agricultural watersheds. Two environmental tracers, δ¹⁸O and electrical conductivity (EC), were monitored in tile drainage (draining 12 ha) and stream water (draining nested catchments of 6‐5700 ha) from 2000 to 2008 in the semi‐arid agricultural Missouri Flat Creek (MFC) watershed, near Pullman Washington, USA. Tile drainage and streamflow generated in the watershed were found to have baseline δ¹⁸O value of ?14·7‰ (VSMOW) year round. Winter precipitation accounted for 67% of total annual precipitation and was found to dominate streamflow, tile drainage, and groundwater recharge. ‘Old’ and ‘new’ water partitioning in streamflow were not identifiable using δ¹⁸O, but seasonal shifts of nitrate‐corrected EC suggest that deep soil pathways primarily generated summer streamflow (mean EC 250 µS/cm) while shallow soil pathways dominated streamflow generation during winter (EC declining as low as 100 µS/cm). Using summer isotopic and EC excursions from tile drainage in larger catchment (4700‐5700 ha) stream waters, summer in‐stream evaporation fractions were estimated to be from 20% to 40%, with the greatest evaporation occurring from August to October. Seasonal watershed and environmental tracer dynamics in the MFC watershed appeared to be similar to those at larger watershed scales in the Palouse River basin. A 0·9‰ enrichment, in shallow groundwater drained to streams (tile drainage and soil seepage), of δ¹⁸O values from 2000 to 2008 may be evidence of altered precipitation conditions due to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) in the Inland Northwest. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.