Two-dimensional power series solution for non-axisymmetrical transport in a radially convergent tracer test with scale-dependent dispersion

It has been known for many years that dispersivity increases with solute travel distance in a subsurface environment. The increase of dispersivity with solute travel distance results from the significant variation of hydraulic properties of heterogeneous media and was identified in the literature as scale-dependent dispersion. This study presents an analytical solution for describing two-dimensional non-axisymmetrical solute transport in a radially convergent flow tracer test with scale-dependent dispersion. The power series technique coupling with the Laplace and finite Fourier cosine transform has been applied to yield the analytical solution to the two-dimensional, scale-dependent advection–dispersion equation in cylindrical coordinates with variable-dependent coefficients. Comparison between the breakthrough curves of the power series solution and the numerical solutions shows excellent agreement at different observation points and for various ranges of scale-related transport parameters of interest. The developed power series solution facilitates fast prediction of the breakthrough curves at any observation point.     

Modelling of the groundwater flow and of tracer movement in the porous and fissured media: Chalk Aquifer (Northern part of Paris Basin,France)

A groundwater flow model has been developed in order to study the chalk aquifer of Paris Basin, based on most of the geological and hydrological available data. The numerical processes are intended to modelling the groundwater flow in the Senonian (Late Cretaceous) formations and to visualize the tracer movement in groundwater resources in the experimental site of LaSalle Beauvais (northern part Paris Basin). Both objectives were achieved as follows: (i) the comprehension of the spatial distribution of the hydraulic conductivity in the chalk aquifer taking into account the characteristics of the hydrogeological system and (ii) the use of the analytical solution for describing one‐dimensional to two‐dimensional solute transport in a unidirectional steady‐state flow tracer with scale‐dependent dispersion. Advection and diffusion mechanisms are taken into account. Comparison between the breakthrough curves of the analytical and the numerical solutions provided an excellent agreement for various ranges of scale‐related transport parameters of interest. The developed power series solution facilitates fast prediction of the breakthrough curves at each observation point. Thus, the derived new solutions are widely applicable and are very useful for the validation of numerical transport. The numerical approach is carried out by MT3DMS, a Modular 3‐D Multi‐Species Transport Model for Simulation of Advection, Dispersion, and Chemical Reactions of Contaminants in Groundwater Systems, and based on total variation‐diminishing method using the ULTIMATE algorithm. The estimation of the infected surface could constitute an approach in water management and allows to prevent the risks of pollution and to manage the groundwater resource from a durable development perspective. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influence of injection conditions on field tracer experiments

Calibration of ground water transport models is often performed using results of field tracer experiments. However, little attention is usually paid to the influence, on resulting breakthrough curves, of injection conditions and well-aquifer interactions, more particularly of the influence of the possible trapping of the tracer in the injection wellbore. Recently, a new mathematical and numerical approach has been developed to model injection conditions and well-aquifer interactions in a very accurate way. Using an analytical solution derived from this model, a detailed analysis is made of the evolution of the tracer input function in the aquifer. By varying injection conditions from one simulation to another, synthetic breakthrough curves are generated with the SUFT3D ground water flow and transport finite-element simulator. These tests show clearly that the shape of the breakthrough curves can be dramatically affected by injection conditions. Using generated breakthrough curves as "actual" field results, a calibration of hydrodispersive parameters is performed, neglecting the influence of injection conditions. This shows that neglecting the influence of actual injection conditions can lead to (1) errors on fitted parameters and (2) misleading identification of the active transport processes. Conclusions and guidelines are drawn in terms of proposed methodologies for better controlling the tracer injection in the field, in order to minimize risk of misinterpretation of results.     

Analytical solutions for transport of decaying solutes in rivers with transient storage

Analytical solutions are presented for solute transport in rivers including the effects of transient storage and first order decay. The solute transport model considers an advection–dispersion equation for transport in the main channel linked to a first order mass exchange between the main channel and the transient storage zones. In case of a conservative tracer, it is shown that different analytical solutions presented in the literature are mathematically identical. For non-conservative solutes, first order decay reactions are considered with different reaction rate coefficients in the main river channel and in the dead zones. New analytical solutions are presented for different boundary conditions, i.e. instantaneous injection in an infinite river reach, and variable concentration time series input in a semi-infinite river reach. The correctness and accuracy of the analytical solutions is verified by comparison with the OTIS numerical model. The results of analytical and numerical approaches compare favourably and small differences can be attributed to the influence of boundary conditions. It is concluded that the presented analytical solutions for solute transport in rivers with transient storage and solute decay are accurate and correct, and can be usefully applied for analyses of tracer experiments and transport characteristics in rivers with mass exchange in dead zones.     

Sensitivity analysis of conservative and reactive stream transient storage models applied to field data from multiple-reach experiments

The transient storage model (TSM) has been widely used in studies of stream solute transport and fate, with an increasing emphasis on reactive solute transport. In this study we perform sensitivity analyses of a conservative TSM and two different reactive solute transport models (RSTM), one that includes first-order decay in the stream and the storage zone, and a second that considers sorption of a reactive solute on streambed sediments. Two previously analyzed data sets are examined with a focus on the reliability of these RSTMs in characterizing stream and storage zone solute reactions. Sensitivities of simulations to parameters within and among reaches, parameter coefficients of variation, and correlation coefficients are computed and analyzed. Our results indicate that (1) simulated values have the greatest sensitivity to parameters within the same reach, (2) simulated values are also sensitive to parameters in reaches immediately upstream and downstream (inter-reach sensitivity), (3) simulated values have decreasing sensitivity to parameters in reaches farther downstream, and (4) in-stream reactive solute data provide adequate data to resolve effective storage zone reaction parameters, given the model formulations. Simulations of reactive solutes are shown to be equally sensitive to transport parameters and effective reaction parameters of the model, evidence of the control of physical transport on reactive solute dynamics. Similar to conservative transport analysis, reactive solute simulations appear to be most sensitive to data collected during the rising and falling limb of the concentration breakthrough curve.     

Analysis of solute transport with a hyperbolic scale-dependent dispersion model

An empirical hyperbolic scale-dependent dispersion model, which predicts a linear growth of dispersivity close to the origin and the attainment of an asymptotic dispersivity at large distances, is presented for deterministic modelling of field-scale solute transport and the analysis of solute transport experiments. A simple relationship is derived between local dispersivity, which is used in numerical simulations of solute transport, and effective dispersivity, which is estimated from the analysis of tracer breakthrough curves. The scale-dependent dispersion model is used to interpret a field tracer experiment by nonlinear least-squares inversion of a numerical solution for unsaturated transport. Simultaneous inversion of concentration-time data from several sampling locations indicates a linear growth of the dispersion process over the scale of the experiment. These findings are consistent with the results of an earlier analysis based on the use of a constant dispersion coefficient model at each of the sampling depths.     

A spreadsheet program for two-well tracer test data analysis

Two-well tracer tests are often conducted to investigate subsurface solute transport in the field. Analyzing breakthrough curves in extraction and monitoring wells using numerical methods is nontrivial due to highly nonuniform flow conditions. We extended approximate analytical solutions for the advection-dispersion equation for an injection-extraction well doublet in a homogeneous confined aquifer under steady-state flow conditions for equal injection and extraction rates with no transverse dispersion and negligible ambient flow, and implemented the solutions in Microsoft Excel using Visual Basic for Application (VBA). Functions were implemented to calculate concentrations in extraction and monitoring wells at any location due to a step or pulse injection. Type curves for a step injection were compared with those calculated by numerically integrating the solution for a pulse injection. The results from the two approaches are similar when the dispersivity is small. As the dispersivity increases, the latter was found to be more accurate but requires more computing time. The code was verified by comparing the results with published-type curves and applied to analyze data from the literature. The method can be used as a first approximation for two-well tracer test design and data analysis, and to check accuracy of numerical solutions. The code and example files are publicly available.     

Analytical model for fully three‐dimensional radial dispersion in a finite‐thickness aquifer

Analytical solutions for contaminant transport in a non‐uniform flow filed are very difficult and relatively rare in subsurface hydrology. The difficulty is because of the fact that velocity vector in the non‐uniform flow field is space‐dependent rather than constant. In this study, an analytical model is presented for describing the three‐dimensional contaminant transport from an area source in a radial flow field which is a simplest case of the non‐uniform flow. The development of the analytical model is achieved by coupling the power series technique, the Laplace transform and the two finite Fourier cosine transform. The developed analytical model is examined by comparing with the Laplace transform finite difference (LTFD) solution. Excellent agreements between the developed analytical model and the numerical model certificate the accuracy of the developed model. The developed model can evaluate solution for Peclet number up to 100. Moreover, the mathematical behaviours of the developed solution are also studied. More specifically, a hypothetical convergent flow tracer test is considered as an illustrative example to demonstrate the three‐dimensional concentration distribution in a radial flow field. The developed model can serve as benchmark to check the more comprehensive three‐dimensional numerical solutions describing non‐uniform flow contaminant transport. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exact analytical solutions for two-dimensional advection-dispersion equation in cylindrical coordinates subject to third-type inlet boundary condition

Exact analytical solutions for two-dimensional advection-dispersion equation (ADE) in cylindrical coordinates subject to the third-type inlet boundary condition are presented in this study. The finite Hankel transform technique in combination with the Laplace transform method is adopted to solve the two-dimensional ADE in cylindrical coordinates. Solutions are derived for both continuous input and instantaneous slug input. The developed analytical solutions are compared with the solutions for first-type inlet boundary condition to illustrate the influence of the inlet condition on the two-dimensional solute transport in a porous medium system with a radial geometry. Results show significant discrepancies between the breakthrough curves obtained from analytical solutions for the first-type and third-type inlet boundary conditions for large longitudinal dispersion coefficients. The developed solutions conserve the solute mass and are efficient tools for simultaneous determination of the longitudinal and transverse dispersion coefficients from a laboratory-scale radial column experiment or an in situ infiltration test with a tracer.     

A stream tracer technique employing ionic tracers and specific conductance data applied to the Maimai catchment,New Zealand

The stream tracer technique and transient storage models (TSMs) have become common tools in stream solute and hyporheic exchange studies. The expense and logistics associated with water sample collection and analysis often results in limited temporal resolution of stream tracer breakthrough curves (BTCs). Samples are often collected without a priori or real‐time knowledge of BTC information, which can result in poor sample coverage of the critical shoulder (initial rise) and tail (post‐steady state fall) of the BTC. We illustrate the use of specific conductance (SC) measurements as a surrogate for conservative dissolved tracer (Br⁻) samples. The advantages of collecting SC data for use in the TSM are (1) cost, (2) ease of data collection, and (3) well‐defined breakthrough curves, which strengthen TSM parameter optimization. This method is based on developing an ion concentration (IC)–SC relationship from limited discrete tracer solute samples. SC data can be collected on a more frequent basis at no additional analysis cost. TSM simulations can then be run for the conservative tracer data derived from SC breakthrough curves and the IC–SC relationship. This technique was tested in a 120 m reach of stream (2–60 m subreaches) in the Maimai M15 catchment, New Zealand during baseflow recession. Dissolved LiBr was injected for 12·92 h, with Br⁻ as the conservative ion of interest. Four TSM simulations using the OTIS model are optimized using UCODE to fit (1) Br⁻ data derived from the Br⁻–SC relationship (n = 1307 observations at each of two stream sampling sites), (2) all stream Br⁻ data collected (n = 58 in upper reach, n = 60 in lower reach), (3) half of the stream Br⁻ data collected, and (4) 20 stream Br⁻ samples from each site. No two simulations resulted in the same optimal parameter values. Results suggest that the greater the frequency of observations, the greater the confidence in estimated parameter values. Br⁻–SC simulations resulted in the best overall model fits to the data, with the lowest calculated error variance of 6·37, narrowest 95% parameter estimate confidence intervals, and the highest correlation coefficient of 0·99 942, among the four simulations. This is largely due to the improved representation of the shoulder and tail of the BTC with this method. The IC–SC correlation method is robust in situations in which (1) changes in background SC data can be accounted for, and (2) the data used to define the IC–SC relationship are representative of the range of data collected. This method provides more efficient sample analysis, improved data resolution, and improved model results compared to the alternative stream tracer data gathering methods presented. Additionally, we describe a new parameterization of the cross‐sectional area of the stream during flow recession, as a function of discharge, based on a stream hydraulic geometry relationship. This variant of the OTIS model provides a more realistic representation of stream dynamics during unsteady discharge. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contaminant transport in one‐dimensional single fractured media: semi‐analytical solution for three‐member decay chain with pulse and Heaviside input sources

A semi‐analytical solution of the one‐dimensional transport for considering a three‐member decay chain in a single fracture with pulse and Heaviside input sources has been studied using the Laplace transform and its numerical inversion. The results reveal that breakthrough curves of dimensionless concentration for the decay chain of Np‐237, U‐233, and Th‐229 in the fracture can be well demonstrated in the temporal and spatial domains. The conditions with and without retardation effects are also compared. During the preliminary screening phase the solutions are suitable for performance assessment on radioactive waste disposal sites under a one‐dimensional single fracture condition. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lattice Boltzmann Models for Flow and Transport in Saturated Karst

Flow and transport simulation in karst aquifers remains a significant challenge for the ground water modeling community. Darcy's law–based models cannot simulate the inertial flows characteristic of many karst aquifers. Eddies in these flows can strongly affect solute transport. The simple two-region conduit/matrix paradigm is inadequate for many purposes because it considers only a capacitance rather than a physical domain. Relatively new lattice Boltzmann methods (LBMs) are capable of solving inertial flows and associated solute transport in geometrically complex domains involving karst conduits and heterogeneous matrix rock. LBMs for flow and transport in heterogeneous porous media, which are needed to make the models applicable to large-scale problems, are still under development. Here we explore aspects of these future LBMs, present simple examples illustrating some of the processes that can be simulated, and compare the results with available analytical solutions. Simulations are contrived to mimic simple capacitance-based two-region models involving conduit (mobile) and matrix (immobile) regions and are compared against the analytical solution. There is a high correlation between LBM simulations and the analytical solution for two different mobile region fractions. In more realistic conduit/matrix simulation, the breakthrough curve showed classic features and the two-region model fit slightly better than the advection-dispersion equation (ADE). An LBM-based anisotropic dispersion solver is applied to simulate breakthrough curves from a heterogeneous porous medium, which fit the ADE solution. Finally, breakthrough from a karst-like system consisting of a conduit with inertial regime flow in a heterogeneous aquifer is compared with the advection-dispersion and two-region analytical solutions.     

Composite analytical solutions for a soil vapour extraction system

Soil vapour extraction (SVE) is a common remediation technique for cleaning up unsaturated soils contaminated by volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Analytical solutions, which result from simple mathematical models, can allow the fast approximation of the time‐dependent effluent concentration and the gaining of insight into the processes that take place during soil remediation. Deriving the analytical solutions to advection–dispersion equations that simultaneously take into account the mechanical dispersion and molecular diffusion is very difficult because of the variable dependence of governing equations' coefficients. In this study, we first present two simplified analytical solutions that only consider mechanical dispersion or molecular diffusion. The two developed analytical solutions are compared with the numerical solution that simultaneously considers both mechanical dispersion and molecular diffusion to examine the applicability of the two simplified analytical solutions and distinguishes the individual contribution of the mechanical dispersion and molecular diffusion to total VOCs transport in an SVE system. Results show that dispersion plays an important role during SVE decontamination and neither the diffusion‐dominated solution nor the dispersion‐dominated solution can agree well with the numerical solution when both mechanical dispersion and molecular diffusion have significant contributions to the total VOCs transport flux. A composite analytical solution that linearly couples the diffusion‐ and dispersion‐dominated analytical solutions, which is proposed herein to eliminate the discrepancy between the analytical solutions and the numerical solution. Results indicate that the proposed composite analytical solution agrees well with the numerical solution and is an effective tool for quickly and accurately evaluating the time‐dependent effluent concentration for parameters of the different ranges of interest in an SVE remedial system. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multitracer test approach to characterize reactive transport in karst aquifers

A method to estimate reactive transport parameters as well as geometric conduit parameters from a multitracer test in a karst aquifer is provided. For this purpose, a calibration strategy was developed applying the two-region nonequilibrium model CXTFIT. The ambiguity of the model calibration was reduced by first calibrating the model with respect to conservative tracer breakthrough and later transferring conservative transport parameters to the reactive model calibration. The reactive transport parameters were only allowed to be within a defined sensible range to get reasonable calibration values. This calibration strategy was applied to breakthrough curves obtained from a large-scale multitracer test, which was performed in a karst aquifer of the Swabian Alb, Germany. The multitracer test was conducted by the simultaneous injection of uranine, sulforhodamine G, and tinopal CBS-X. The model succeeds to represent the tracer breakthrough curves (TBCs) of uranine and sulforhodamine G and verifies that tracer-rock interactions preferably occur in the immobile fluid region, although the fraction of this region amounts to only 3.5% of the total water. However, the model failed to account for the long tailing observed in the TBC of tinopal CBS-X. Sensitivity analyses reveal that model results for the conservative tracer transport are most sensitive to average velocity and volume fraction of the mobile fluid region, while dispersion and mass transfer coefficients are least influential. Consequently, reactive tracer calibration allows the determination of sorption sites in the mobile and immobile fluid region at small retardation coefficients.     

Analysis of solute transport in a divergent flow tracer test with scale‐dependent dispersion

It has been known for many years that dispersivities increase with solute displacement distance in a subsurface. The increase of dispersivities with solute travel distance results from significant variation in hydraulic properties of porous media and was identified in the literature as scale‐dependent dispersion. In this study, Laplace‐transformed analytical solutions to advection‐dispersion equations in cylindrical coordinates are derived for interpreting a divergent flow tracer test with a constant dispersivity and with a linear scale‐dependent dispersivity. Breakthrough curves obtained using the scale‐dependent dispersivity model are compared to breakthrough curves obtained from the constant dispersivity model to illustrate the salient features of scale‐dependent dispersion in a divergent flow tracer test. The analytical results reveal that the breakthrough curves at the specific location for the constant dispersivity model can produce the same shape as those from the scale‐dependent dispersivity model. This correspondence in curve shape between these two models occurs when the local dispersivity at an observation well in the scale‐dependent dispersivity model is 1·3 times greater than the constant dispersivity in the constant dispersivity model. To confirm this finding, a set of previously reported data is interpreted using both the scale‐dependent dispersivity model and the constant dispersivity model to distinguish the differences in scale dependence of estimated dispersivity from these two models. The analytical result reveals that previously reported dispersivity/distance ratios from the constant dispersivity model should be revised by multiplying these values by a factor of 1·3 for the scale‐dependent dispersion model if the dispersion process is more accurately characterized by scale‐dependent dispersion. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparative modeling study of a dual tracer experiment in a large lysimeter under atmospheric conditions

In this paper, five model approaches with different physical and mathematical concepts varying in their model complexity and requirements were applied to identify the transport processes in the unsaturated zone. The applicability of these model approaches were compared and evaluated investigating two tracer breakthrough curves (bromide, deuterium) in a cropped, free-draining lysimeter experiment under natural atmospheric boundary conditions. The data set consisted of time series of water balance, depth resolved water contents, pressure heads and resident concentrations measured during 800 days. The tracer transport parameters were determined using a simple stochastic (stream tube model), three lumped parameter (constant water content model, multi-flow dispersion model, variable flow dispersion model) and a transient model approach. All of them were able to fit the tracer breakthrough curves. The identified transport parameters of each model approach were compared. Despite the differing physical and mathematical concepts the resulting parameters (mean water contents, mean water flux, dispersivities) of the five model approaches were all in the same range. The results indicate that the flow processes are also describable assuming steady state conditions. Homogeneous matrix flow is dominant and a small pore volume with enhanced flow velocities near saturation was identified with variable saturation flow and transport approach. The multi-flow dispersion model also identified preferential flow and additionally suggested a third less mobile flow component. Due to high fitting accuracy and parameter similarity all model approaches indicated reliable results.     

An efficient space-fractional dispersion approximation for stream solute transport modeling

The success of transient storage (TS) modeling for natural streams depends, in part, on the ability to describe the dispersion process accurately. Evidence based on stream tracer data shows that solute transport processes often do not follow the classical second-order dispersion model (e.g., early breakthrough and faster than Fickian travel times were observed). While models based on space-fractional dispersion are a promising alternative, different definitions of fractional derivatives exist in the literature. Unlike integer-order derivatives, fractional derivatives represent convolutions of concentration with long-range spatial correlation and numerical approximations can produce dense matrices. Therefore issues of both accuracy and computational efficiency need to be examined to successfully identify model parameters for natural streams. In this paper, we first compare the performance of several numerical approaches for solving the space-fractional dispersion equation. We examine three different numerical approaches to approximate the space-fractional derivatives including: (a) a fully-implicit scheme based on the shifted Grünwald–Letnikov (GL) approximation (b) a three-point implicit representation based on the GL formula and (c) a three-point implicit scheme based on mass conservation and the Caputo definition of the fractional derivative. We then use an operator-splitting technique to evaluate a TS model based on space-fractional dispersion (the FSTS model) and test the model against analytical solutions and stream tracer data. A sequence acceleration method (Richardson extrapolation) significantly improves the performance of all schemes examined. Results indicate that the fully-implicit GL method with Richardson extrapolation produces the most accurate solutions while the three-point implicit GL scheme has a stringent time-step restriction to produce acceptable solutions. The three-point implicit scheme based on the Caputo derivative produces accurate solutions in a fraction of the time taken by the fully-implicit GL method and represents the best trade-off between accuracy and computational efficiency for practical applications. The scheme is suitable for parameter estimation and is used to successfully describe tracer data in a natural stream.     

A Method for Conducting Simultaneous Convergent Tracer Tests in Multilayered Aquifers

Forced gradient tracer tests between two boreholes can be used to study contaminant transport processes at the small field scale or investigate the transport properties of an aquifer. Full depth tests, in which tracer samples are collected just from the discharge of the abstraction borehole, often give rise to breakthrough curves with multiple peaks that are usually attributed to different flow paths through the aquifer that can rarely be identified from the test results alone. Tests in selected levels of the aquifer, such as those between packer‐isolated sections of the boreholes, are time consuming, expensive; and the identification of major transport pathways is not guaranteed. We present a method for simultaneously conducting multiple tracer tests covering the full depth of the boreholes, in which tracer sampling and monitoring is carried out by a novel multilevel sampling system allowing high frequency and cumulative sampling options. The method is applied to a tracer test using fluorescein conducted in the multilayered sandstone aquifer beneath the city of Birmingham, UK, producing six well‐defined tracer breakthrough curves.     

Analytical power series solutions to the two-dimensional advection–dispersion equation with distance-dependent dispersivities

As is frequently cited, dispersivity increases with solute travel distance in the subsurface. This behaviour has been attributed to the inherent spatial variation of the pore water velocity in geological porous media. Analytically solving the advection–dispersion equation with distance-dependent dispersivity is extremely difficult because the governing equation coefficients are dependent upon the distance variable. This study presents an analytical technique to solve a two-dimensional (2D) advection–dispersion equation with linear distance-dependent longitudinal and transverse dispersivities for describing solute transport in a uniform flow field. The analytical approach is developed by applying the extended power series method coupled with the Laplace and finite Fourier cosine transforms. The developed solution is then compared to the corresponding numerical solution to assess its accuracy and robustness. The results demonstrate that the breakthrough curves at different spatial locations obtained from the power series solution show good agreement with those obtained from the numerical solution. However, owing to the limited numerical operation for large values of the power series functions, the developed analytical solution can only be numerically evaluated when the values of longitudinal dispersivity/distance ratio e_L exceed 0·075. Moreover, breakthrough curves obtained from the distance-dependent solution are compared with those from the constant dispersivity solution to investigate the relationship between the transport parameters. Our numerical experiments demonstrate that a previously derived relationship is invalid for large e_L values. The analytical power series solution derived in this study is efficient and can be a useful tool for future studies in the field of 2D and distance-dependent dispersive transport. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seasonal variation in cascade‐driven hyporheic exchange,northern Honduras

A characterization of hyporheic exchange for dry and wet season baseflow, as well as partially dewatered discharge, was done in Prieta Creek, a first‐order cascade in northern Honduras. The cascade had discharges from 1 to 15 l s^?1, had average slopes of 12%, pool spacing of 3 m, and shallow substrate of sand and gravel. Tracer tests were conducted in a 15‐m sub‐reach, a length considered to be adequate for the experiment based on the DaI test, a ratio of exchange and transport processes. In the three tests, between 9 and 18% of tracer was not recovered, possibly due to entrainment in flowpaths passing beneath the downstream monitoring location. Tracer data were analysed by the one‐dimensional transport with inflow and storage (OTIS) transient storage model (TSM) to derive standard exchange parameters, and by the solute transport in rivers (STIR) model to examine hyporheic residence time distributions (RTDs). The best fit of the observed tracer breakthrough curves was obtained by using the STIR model with a combination of two exponential RTDs to represent hyporheic retention. With increasing discharge, the OTIS model predicted increasing storage exchange fluxes and exchange coefficients and decreasing storage zone areas and transient storage times, which are trends supported by riparian and streambed piezometric head data. Riparian water levels rose during the transition from the dry to wet season, which could constrict the hyporheic storage zone. Thirteen of the 19 streambed piezometers recorded seasonal changes in hydraulic gradients and flux direction, with fewer yet stronger upwelling zones during higher discharges. The MODFLOW model missed the observed seasonal changes, possibly due to subtle changes in the seasonal change in water surface profiles. We conclude that partially dewatered dry season exchange, compared to wet season exchange, was initiated and terminated with smaller pressure gradients and, in different streambed locations, was smaller in volume, had longer residence times, and may connect with deeper and longer flow paths. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.