Accuracy of two sampling methods used to estimate sediment concentrations in runoff from soil-loss plots

The use of a bottle sampler and a soil pipette to quickly and accurately sample soil-water mixtures of known sediment concentrations was tested. Both devices failed to sample adequately soil-water mixtures containing 1–187 gl^?1 of solid particles. Poor sampling ability was attributed to rapid settlement of larger particles and to innate deficiencies in the sediment trapping ability of the samplers. These sampling devices should not be used to estimate sediment loads in runoff from soil-loss plots, and erosion data from plot studies which have used a sediment sampling procedure should be treated with caution.     

A methodological approach for estimating turbidity in a river

During the operations of purging and disposal of sediments of a reservoir it is necessary to know the values of turbidity in the river downstream in natural condition,in the absence of dams or river training works.The paper shows that under these conditions the ratio of the average values of sediment discharge to the annual maximum value of water discharge is a function of the average annual turbidity.Turbidity can be considered as representative synthetic index of the climatic conditions,the lithological features and the land cover of the basin,and the geometric characteristics of the river network.The proposed relationship of sediment discharge as a function of water discharge were validated on the basis of data collected from different Italian regions that have very different morphological,geo-lithological and rainfall features and that are characterised by a basin area changing between a few dozen and thousands of square kilometres.The results can be considered satisfying.     

An evaluation of sediment rating curves for estimating suspended sediment concentrations for subsequent flux calculations

In the absence of actual suspended sediment concentration (SSC) measurements, hydrologists have used sediment rating (sediment transport) curves to estimate (predict) SSCs for subsequent flux calculations. Various evaluations of the sediment rating‐curve method were made using data from long‐term, daily sediment‐measuring sites within large (>1 000 000 km²), medium (<1 000 000 to >1000 km²), and small (<1000 km²) river basins in the USA and Europe relative to the estimation of suspended sediment fluxes. The evaluations address such issues as the accuracy of flux estimations for various levels of temporal resolution as well as the impact of sampling frequency on the magnitude of flux estimation errors. The sediment rating‐curve method tends to underpredict high, and overpredict low SSCs. As such, the range of errors associated with concomitant flux estimates for relatively short time‐frames (e.g. daily, weekly) are likely to be substantially larger than those associated with longer time‐frames (e.g. quarterly, annually) because the over‐ and underpredictions do not have sufficient time to balance each other. Hence, when error limits must be kept under ±20%, temporal resolution probably should be limited to quarterly or greater. The evaluations indicate that over periods of 20 or more years, errors of <1% can be achieved using a single sediment rating curve based on data spanning the entire period. However, somewhat better estimates for the entire period, and markedly better annual estimates within the period, can be obtained if individual annual sediment rating curves are used instead. Relatively accurate (errors <±20%) annual suspended sediment fluxes can be obtained from hydrologically based monthly measurements/samples. For 5‐year periods or longer, similar results can be obtained from measurements/samples collected once every 2 months. In either case, hydrologically based sampling, as opposed to calendar‐based sampling is likely to limit the magnitude of flux estimation errors. Published in 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An evaluation of visual and measurement-based methods for estimating deposited fine sediment

A wide range of methods are commonly used to measure deposited fine sediment and quantify substrate quality in rivers as part of bioassessment or monitoring programmes. In this laboratory-based experi-ment known amounts of three sediment types (sand, topsoil, peat) were added to mesocosms and four methods of measuring deposited fine sediment;turbidity, estimation of released sediment, Turner–Hillis deposited sediment sampler (DSS) and visual estimation of%surface cover were evaluated. The objective of the study was to evaluate which of these methods for estimating deposited sediment best dis-criminates between levels of deposited fine sediment added and assesses the effects of inter-observer variability between % surface cover estimations. While turbidity measurement and the resuspension method were strongly related to levels of added sediment, it proved difficult using the two methods to resolve differences between adjacent levels of added sediment e.g. 50 g and 100 g. Surface cover esti-mations were also strongly related to added sediment levels and were better able to distinguish between adjacent levels of added sediment. Furthermore, we found no significant differences between the %surface cover estimations between observers. Results from this laboratory experiment strongly endorse the use of visual estimation of surface cover in field studies. Further work evaluating the turbidity and re-suspension methods under field conditions would also be beneficial.     

Bayesian methods for estimating multi-segment discharge rating curves

This study explores Bayesian methods for handling compound stage–discharge relationships, a problem which arises in many natural rivers. It is assumed: (1) the stage–discharge relationship in each rating curve segment is a power-law with a location parameter, or zero-plane displacement; (2) the segment transitions are abrupt and continuous; and (3) multiplicative measurement errors are of equal variance. The rating curve fitting procedure is then formulated as a piecewise regression problem where the number of segments and the associated changepoints are assumed unknown. Procedures are developed for describing both global and site-specific prior distributions for all rating curve parameters, including the changepoints. Estimation and uncertainty analysis is evaluated using Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation (MCMC) techniques. The first model explored accounts for parameter and model uncertainties in the interpolated area, i.e. within the range of available stage–discharge measurements. A second model is constructed in an attempt to include the uncertainty in extrapolation, which is necessary when the rating curve is used to estimate discharges beyond the highest or lowest measurement. This is done by assuming that the rate of changepoints both inside and outside the measured area follows a Poisson process. The theory is applied to actual data from Norwegian gauging stations. The MCMC solutions give results that appear sensible and useful for inferential purposes, though the latter model needs further efforts in order to obtain a more efficient simulation scheme.     

Accuracy of the half-power bandwidth method with a third-order correction for estimating damping in multi-DOF systems

A third-order correction was recently suggested to improve the accuracy of the half-power bandwidth method in estimating the damping of single DOF systems.This paper analyzes the accuracy of the half-power bandwidth method with the third-order correction in damping estimation for multi-DOF linear systems.Damping ratios in a two-DOF linear system are estimated using its displacement and acceleration frequency response curves,respectively.A wide range of important parameters that characterize the shape of these response curves are taken into account.Results show that the third-order correction may greatly improve the accuracy of the half-power bandwidth method in estimating damping in a two-DOF system.In spite of this,the half-power bandwidth method may significantly overestimate the damping ratios of two-DOF systems in some cases.     

Fitting concentration and load rating curves with generalized linear models

Generalized linear models may be used as a systematic and flexible alternative to existing practices in fitting sediment or solute concentration and load rating curves. Through widely available statistical software they offer a one‐step solution to the common and awkward problem that a bias correction is needed when estimating total loads. In particular, using a logarithmic link function has an advantage over logarithmic transformation of concentration or load, as generalized linear models return predictions directly on the original measured scale; there is thus no need for back‐transformation or subsequent correction factors. Example analyses are given for suspended sediment concentration for an upland stream in the Northern Pennines and for phosphorus load for the Illinois River. General criteria for choosing models and good practice in the use of figures of model merit and of residual plots are also discussed in detail. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sediment loads response to climate change:A preliminary study of eight large Chinese rivers

Climate change characterized by increasing temperature is able to affect precipitation regime and thus surface hydrology.However,the manner in which river sediment loads respond to climate change is not well understood,and related assessment regarding the effect of climate change on sediment loads is lacking.We present a quantitative estimate of changes in sediment loads(from 1.5 Gt yr^-1 pre-1990 to 0.6 Gt yr^-1 from 1991-2007) in response to climate change in eight large Chinese rivers.Over the past decades,precipitation change coupled with rising temperatures has played a significant role in influencing the sediment delivery dynamics,although human activities, such as reservoir construction,water diversion,sand mining and land cover change,are still the predominant forces. Lower precipitation coupled with rising temperatures has significantly reduced sediment loads delivered into the sea in semi-arid climates（4-61%）.In contrast,increasingly warmer and wetter climates in subtropical zones has yielded more sediment（0.4-11%）,although the increase was offset by human impact.Our results indicate that,compared with mechanical retention by reservoirs,water reduction caused by climate change or human withdrawals has contributed more sediment reduction for the rivers with abundant sediment supply but limited transport capacity（e.g.,the Huanghe）.Furthermore,our results indicate that every 1%change in precipitation has resulted in a 1.3%change in water discharge and a 2%change in sediment loads.In addition,every 1%change in water discharge caused by precipitation has led to a 1.6%change in sediment loads,but the same percentage of water discharge change caused largely by humans would only result in a 0.9%change in sediment loads.These figures can be used as a guideline for evaluating the responses of sediment loads to climate change in similar climate zones because future global warming will cause dramatic changes in water and sediment in river basins worldwide at rates previously unseen.     

Daily variability of river concentrations and fluxes: indicators based on the segmentation of the rating curve

The variability of water chemistry on a daily scale is rarely addressed due to the lack of records. Appropriate tools, such as typologies and dimensionless indicators, which permit comparisons between stations and between river materials, are missing. Such tools are developed here for daily concentrations (C), specific fluxes or yields (Y) and specific river flow (q). The data set includes 128 long‐term daily records, for suspended particulate matter (SPM), total dissolved solids (TDS), dissolved and total nutrients, totalling 1236 years of records. These 86 river basins (10³–10⁶ km²) cover a wide range of environmental conditions in semi‐arid and temperate regions. The segmentation—truncation of C–q rating curves into two parts at median flows (q₅₀) generates two exponents (b_50inf and b_50sup) that are different for 66% of the analysed rating curves. After segmentation, the analysis of records results in the definition of nine major C–q types combining concentrating, diluting or stable patterns, showing inflexions, chevron and U shapes. SPM and TDS are preferentially distributed among a few types, while dissolved and total nutrients are more widely distributed. Four dimensionless indicators of daily variability combine median (C₅₀, Y₅₀), extreme (C₉₉, Y₉₉) and flow‐weighted (C*, Y*) concentrations and yields (e.g. C₉₉/C₅₀, Y*/Y₅₀). They vary over two to four orders of magnitude in the analysed records, discriminating stations and river material. A second set of four indicators of relative variability [e.g. (Y*/Y₅₀)/(q*/q₅₀)], takes into account the daily flow variability, as expressed by q*/q₅₀ and q₉₉/q₅₀, which also vary over multiple orders of magnitude. The truncated exponent b_50sup is used to describe fluxes at higher flows accounting for 75% (TDS) to 97% (SPM) of interannual fluxes. It ranges from ? 0·61 to + 1·86 in the database. It can be regarded as the key amplificator (positive b_50sup) or reductor (negative b_50sup) of concentrations or yields variability. C₅₀, Y₅₀, b_50sup can also be estimated in discrete surveys, which provides a new perspective for quantifying and mapping water quality variability at daily scale. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Review: The International Sediment Initiative case studies of sediment problems in river basins and their management

Management of sediment in river basins and waterways has been an important issue for water managers throughout history. The changing nature of sediment issues has meant that water managers today face many complex technical and environmental challenges in relation to sediment management. UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme(IHP) launched the International Sediment Initiative(ISI) in 2002.ISI aims to further advance sustainable sediment management on a global scale. This is achieved through the delivery of a decision support framework for sediment management that provides guidance on legislative and institutional solutions, applicable across a range of socio-economic and physiographic settings in the context of global change. ISI mobilizes international experience on sediment problems and their management through the compilation of a series of case studies representative of a broad range of physiographic and socio-economic conditions, which are made available as guidance for policy makers dealing with water and river basin management. Case studies prepared to date include the basins of the Nile, Mississippi, Rhine, Volga, Yellow, and Haihe and Liaohe rivers. Available in full from the ISI website,these detailed case studies are briefly introduced in this review articles.     

Estimation of suspended sediment loads and delivery in an incised upland headwater catchment,south‐eastern Australia

Historically upland headwater catchments in south‐eastern Australia have undergone extensive gully erosion that has removed large amounts of sediment to lowlands. Recent research suggests these upland areas may continue to dominate fine sediment loads in lowland rivers. Improved understanding of sediment transfer through upland headwater catchments may have implications for interpreting downstream sediment supply. In this study a nested catchment design was utilized to examine suspended sediment yields and delivery from a small tributary sub‐catchment (1·64 km²) to the study catchment outlet (53·5 km²). Monitoring of suspended sediment concentration and discharge was undertaken for a period of nearly two years and used to estimate suspended sediment loads. Estimated total suspended sediment exports over the period of monitoring were 24·16 t from the sub‐catchment and 550·3 t from the catchment, which are generally less than previous reported small catchment yields in south‐eastern Australia. The extent of sediment delivery was examined using between‐site ratios of specific sediment yield per unit area and incised channel length. Sediment delivery was high under average rainfall conditions, but seasonally dependent. Both suspended sediment yields and the extent of delivery peaked over spring months, supplemented by remobilization of sediment stored during summer months in the main catchment channel. The findings of this study suggest much of the suspended sediment exported from small incised upland sub‐catchments (1–2 km²) may be delivered to downstream reaches under average rainfall conditions, which, in conjunction with the findings of previous research supports the potential importance of contributions from these areas to suspended sediment loads in lowland rivers during high flow periods. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Key drivers of changes in the sediment loads of Chinese rivers discharging to the oceans

The magnitude and variation of the sediment loads transported by rivers have important implications for the functioning of river systems and changes in the sediment loads of rivers are driven by numerous factors. In this paper, the key drivers of changes in the sediment loads of the major rivers of China are identified by reviewing recent studies of changes in their sediment loads. Except for the Songhua River, which presents no clear tendency of change in runoff or sediment load, nearly all the major rivers of China are characterized by an apparent decline in annual sediment load. The total annual sediment load of major Chinese rivers transported to the coast decreased from 2.03 billion t/yr during the period 1955–1968 to 0.50 billion t/yr during the period 1997–2010. The primary drivers of changes in the sediment loads of the rivers are dam construction, implementation of soil and water conservation measures, catchment disturbance, agricultural practices, sand mining and climate change. Examples drawn from Chinese rivers are used to demonstrate the importance of these drivers. Construction of a large number of reservoirs in the Yangtze River basin represents the primary driver for the reduced sediment load of the Yangtze River. The implementation of soil and water conservation programmes is one of the key drivers for the sharp decline in the sediment load of the Yellow River. Catchment disturbance explains why the reduction of the sediment load of the Lancang-Mekong River at the Chiang Saen gauging station was much less than that at the Gajiu gauging station upstream. A reduction in sediment load resulting from the expansion of agricultural production may be the main driver for the reduced sediment load of the Huaihe River. The decrease in the sediment load of the Pearl River has been influenced by sand mining activities. Climate change is one of the key drivers responsible for the greatly reduced sediment load of the rivers in the Haihe River Basin.     

Analyses of trends and causes for variations in runoff and sediment load of the Yellow River

Due to the impacts of globe climate change and human activities, dramatic variations in runoff and sediment load were observed for the Yellow River. Analyses of nearly 65 years' data measured at main hydrologic-stations on the Yellow River from 1950 to 2014 indicated that, except for the Tangnaihai station in the head region, sharp downward trends existed in both the annual runoff and annual sedi-ment load according to the Mann–Kendal trend test;and their abrupt changes occurred in 1986 and in 1980, respectively, according to the rank sum test. Factors affecting the changes in the runoff and sediment load were very complicated. Results indicated that the reducing precipitation and the increasing water consumption were the main causes for the runoff decline, while the impoundment of the Longyangxia Reservoir and its combined operation with the Liujiaxia Reservoir exerted a direct bearing on the abrupt change in the annual runoff. In addition to the sediment load decrease associated with the runoff reduction, the reduced storm intensity, the conducted soil erosion control, and the constructed dam buildings all played an important role in the trends and abrupt changes of sediment load decline.     

洱海主要污染物允许排放总量的控制分配

基于环境流体动力学模型EFDC(Environmental Fluid Dynamic Code),建立了洱海湖泊及湖湾的三维水动力水质模型.利用洱海2001 2011年连续11年的水动力水质监测数据对模型进行了率定和验证,模拟结果与实测资料吻合度较好,表明水动力水质模型计算结果较为合理.在考虑水质环境背景浓度的前提下,通过水质模型量化各个入湖排污口对水质控制点的贡献率,并对各水质控制点和入湖排污口的浓度进行约束限制,最终利用单纯形法求解得到各入湖排污口的允许排污量.计算结果表明,北区三条河流弥苴河、永安江、罗时江本身流量相对较大,所以允许排放总量也较大,总氮、总磷和COD_Mn的允许排放总量分别占到整个洱海允许排放量的47%、53%和49%.洱海主要污染物允许排放总量的控制分配研究对于洱海流域的环境综合整治具有十分重要的意义.     

Accuracy and precision of different sampling strategies and flux integration methods for runoff water: comparisons based on measurements of the electrical conductivity

Because of their fast response to hydrological events, small catchments show strong quantitative and qualitative variations in their water runoff. Fluxes of solutes or suspended material can be estimated from water samples only if an appropriate sampling scheme is used. We used continuous in‐stream measurements of the electrical conductivity of the runoff in a small subalpine catchment (64 ha) in central Switzerland and in a very small (0·16 ha) subcatchment. Different sampling and flux integration methods were simulated for weekly water analyses. Fluxes calculated directly from grab samples are strongly biased towards high conductivities observed at low discharges. Several regressions and weighted averages have been proposed to correct for this bias. Their accuracy and precision are better, but none of these integration methods gives a consistently low bias and a low residual error. Different methods of peak sampling were also tested. Like regressions, they produce important residual errors and their bias is variable. This variability (both between methods and between catchments) does not allow one to tell a priori which sampling scheme and integration method would be more accurate. Only discharge‐proportional sampling methods were found to give essentially unbiased flux estimates. Programmed samplers with a fraction collector allow for a proportional pooling and are appropriate for short‐term studies. For long‐term monitoring or experiments, sampling at a frequency proportional to the discharge appears to be the best way to obtain accurate and precise flux estimates. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A wavelet-neural network hybrid modelling approach for estimating and predicting river monthly flows

Abstract

A wavelet-neural network (WNN) hybrid modelling approach for monthly river flow estimation and prediction is developed. This approach integrates discrete wavelet multi-resolution decomposition and a back-propagation (BP) feed-forward multilayer perceptron (FFML) artificial neural network (ANN). The Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm and the Bayesian regularization (BR) algorithm were employed to perform the network modelling. Monthly flow data from three gauges in the Weihe River in China were used for network training and testing for 48-month-ahead prediction. The comparison of results of the WNN hybrid model with those of the single ANN model show that the former is able to significantly increase the prediction accuracy.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor H. Aksoy

Citation Wei, S., Yang, H., Song, J.X., Abbaspour, K., and Xu, Z.X., 2013. A wavelet-neural network hybrid modelling approach for estimating and predicting river monthly flows. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (2), 374–389.     

Comparison of derivative-free optimization methods for groundwater supply and hydraulic capture community problems

Management decisions involving groundwater supply and remediation often rely on optimization techniques to determine an effective strategy. We introduce several derivative-free sampling methods for solving constrained optimization problems that have not yet been considered in this field, and we include a genetic algorithm for completeness. Two well-documented community problems are used for illustration purposes: a groundwater supply problem and a hydraulic capture problem. The community problems were found to be challenging applications due to the objective functions being nonsmooth, nonlinear, and having many local minima. Because the results were found to be sensitive to initial iterates for some methods, guidance is provided in selecting initial iterates for these problems that improve the likelihood of achieving significant reductions in the objective function to be minimized. In addition, we suggest some potentially fruitful areas for future research.     

Stable channel analysis with sediment transport for rivers in Malaysia: A case study of the Muda,Kurau, and Langat rivers

Assessments of a stable channel were done to evaluate the conditions of three rivers in Malaysia,using an analytical method that modifies the stable channel flowchart developed by Chang(1988) and Ariffin(2004).The analytical approach was selected to calculate the suitable dimensions for a stable channel,using equations that describe the physical relation of sediment transport,flow resistance,and dynamic equilibrium.Measured field data were used as the input data for the stable channel program,wh...