A recharge model for high altitude,arid, Andean aquifers

Evidence for groundwater recharge in arid zones is mounting, despite early ideas that recharge was unlikely where evaporation greatly exceeded precipitation. The mechanisms and magnitude of groundwater recharge in the Andes and Atacama Desert are not well known but the subject of current research. Diffuse recharge is expected to be limited to high altitude areas with coarse‐grained soils devoid of vegetation. A recharge model for this environment is developed based on a simple soil moisture budgeting technique and the calculation of actual evaporation based on empirical studies. The model is run with data for the Linzor basins, over 4000 m elevation at 22·2°S on the west slope of the Andes. It is checked against independent estimates based on the chloride mass balance (CMB) method and flood events measured downstream in the Río Salado and found to provide robust and reliable results. The results indicate that irregular and volumetrically limited amounts of diffuse recharge occur at high elevations in half of all years, with a tendency to cluster during La Niña episodes. For the Linzor Basins, mean annual recharge is found to be equivalent to 28 mm a^?1, although no recharge occurs in years with precipitation less than 120 mm, and increases proportionately with annual rainfall amounts above this limit. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison of varied complexity models simulating recharge at the field scale

Numerical models are frequently used for the regional quantification of groundwater recharge. However there is a wide range of potential models available that represent the land surface with varying degrees of complexity, but which are rarely tested against observations at the field scale. We compared four models that simulate potential recharge at four intensively monitored sites with different vegetation and soil types in two adjacent catchments. These models were: Penman–Grindley, UN Food and Agricultural Organization, SPAtial Distributed Evaporation and Joint UK Land Environment Simulator. Standardized, unoptimized land surface datasets and pertinent literature were used for parameterization to reflect practice in regional water resource management and planning in the UK. The models were validated against soil moisture observations at all sites, as well as observed transpiration and interception and calculated total evaporation over a year at a woodland site. Soil moisture observations were generally reproduced well, but there were significant differences in how the models apportioned precipitation through the hydrological cycle. This demonstrates that soil moisture data alone are not a good diagnostic for groundwater recharge models. Significant differences in potential recharge were produced by models at both grassland sites, although simulated average annual potential recharge varied by only 15% at the grassland site on permeable soil. At the woodland sites, soil moisture contents were reproduced least accurately, and there were large differences in potential recharge at both woodland sites. This predominantly resulted from varied and inaccurate simulation of evaporation, particularly in the form of interception losses where this was explicitly represented in models. Differences in model structure, such as runoff representation, and parameter selection also influenced all results. Hydrological Processes © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaporation and land surface energy budget at the Salar de Atacama, Northern Chile

Playa systems are driven by evaporation processes, yet the mechanisms by which evaporation occurs through playa salt crusts are still poorly understood. In this study we examine playa evaporation as it relates to land surface energy fluxes, salt crust characteristics, groundwater and climate at the Salar de Atacama, a 3000 km² playa in northern Chile containing a uniquely broad range of salt crust types. Land surface energy budget measurements were taken at eight representative sites on this playa during winter (August 2001) and summer (January 2002) seasons. Measured values of net all-wave radiation were highest at vegetated and rough halite crust sites and lowest over smooth, highly reflective salt crusts. Over most of the Salar de Atacama, net radiation was dissipated by means of soil and sensible heat fluxes. Dry salt crusts tended to heat and cool very quickly, whereas soil heating and cooling occurred more gradually at wetter vegetated sites. Sensible heating was strongly linked to wind patterns, with highest sensible heat fluxes occurring on summer days with strong afternoon winds. Very little energy available at the land surface was used to evaporate water. Eddy covariance measurements could only constrain evaporation rates to within 0.1 mm d⁻¹, and some measured evaporation rates were less than this margin of uncertainty. Evaporation rates ranged from 0.1 to 1.1 mm d⁻¹ in smooth salt crusts around the margin of the salar and from 0.4 to 2.8 mm d⁻¹ in vegetated areas. No evaporation was detected from the rugged halite salt crust that covers the interior of the salar, though the depth to groundwater is less than 1 m in this area. These crusts therefore represent a previously unrecorded end member condition in which the salt crusts form a practically impermeable barrier to evaporation.     

The effects of possible future climate change on evaporation losses from four contrasting UK water catchment areas

Evaporation losses from four water catchment areas under different land uses and climatic conditions were calculated using formulations developed from small plot studies. These formulations, dependent on rainfall inputs, potential evaporation and air temperature, were extrapolated to the catchment scale using land classifications based on analysing remotely sensed imagery. The approach adopted was verified by comparing the estimated annual evaporation losses with catchment water use, given by the difference between rainfall inputs and stream flow outputs, allowing for changes in soil moisture. This procedure was repeated using modified values of rainfall, potential evaporation and air temperature, as given by a climate change scenario. The computed evaporation losses were used in annual water balances to calculate stream flow losses under the climate change scenario. It was found that, in general, stream flow from areas receiving high rainfall would increase as a result of climate change. For low rainfall areas, a decrease in stream flow was predicted. The largest actual changes in stream flow were predicted to occur during the winter months, although the largest percentage changes will occur during the summer months. The implications of these changes on potable water supply are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

鄱阳湖夏季水面蒸发与蒸发皿蒸发的比较

水面蒸发是湖泊水量平衡要素的重要组成部分.基于传统蒸发皿观测蒸发不能代表实际水面蒸发,而实际水面蒸发特征仍不清楚.本研究基于涡度相关系统观测的鄱阳湖水体实际水面蒸发过程,在小时和日尺度分析了水面蒸发的变化规律及其主要影响因子,并与蒸发皿蒸发进行比较.研究表明,实际水面蒸发日变化波动剧烈,变化范围在0~0.4 mm/h之间.水面蒸发的日变化特征主要受风速的影响.鄱阳湖8月份日水面蒸发量与蒸发皿蒸发量在总体趋势上具有很好的一致性.8月份平均日水面蒸发速率(5.90 mm/d)比蒸发皿蒸发速率(5.65 mm/d)高4.6%.水面日蒸发量与蒸发皿蒸发量的比值在8月上、中、下旬平均值分别为1.24、1.00、0.92,呈现下降的趋势.鄱阳湖夏季水面日蒸发量与风速和相对湿度相关性显著,而蒸发皿蒸发与净辐射、气温、饱和水汽压差和相对湿度均呈显著相关.这是由于蒸发皿水体容积小,与湖泊相比其水体热存储能力小,因此更容易受到环境因子的影响.     

Anomalous trend in soil evaporation in a semi-arid,snow-dominated watershed

Soil evaporation in arid and semi-arid regions is generally moisture-limited. Evaporation in these regions is expected to increase monotonically with increase in precipitation. In contrast, model simulations in a snow-dominated, semi-arid Reynolds Mountain East (RME) watershed point to the existence of an anomalous trend in soil evaporation. Results indicate that soil evaporation in snow-dominated watersheds first increases and then subsequently decreases with increasing precipitation. The anomalous variation is because of two competing evaporation controls: (a) higher soil moisture in wetter years which leads to larger evaporation, and (b) prolonged snow cover period in wetter years which shields the soil from the atmosphere, thus reducing soil evaporation. To further evaluate how the competition is mediated by meteorological and hydrogeological characteristics of the watershed, changes in the trend due to different watershed hydraulic conductivity, vegetation cover, and snowfall area fraction are systematically studied. Results show considerable persistence in the anomalous trend over a wide range of controls. The controlling factors, however, have significant influence both on the magnitude of the WY evaporation and the location of the inflection point in the trend curve.     

A COMPARISON OF EVAPORATION FROM SNOW AND SOIL SURFACES

ABSTRACT

During the spring of 1961, evaporation from snow and soil surfaces was measured in the central Rocky Mountains near Fraser, Colorado. Measurements were made in natural forest openings at 9,000 feet elevation. Evaporation from wet soil surfaces greatly exceeded evaporation from nearby snow. There was little evidence of transfer of vapor from soil to nearby patches of snow, but as areas of bare, wet soil increased and evaporation amounts from such surfaces increased, evaporation from snow decreased. It was concluded that, as greater amounts of water evaporated from soils, the vapor pressure of the air was raised sufficiently to reduce evaporation from snow. Since transfer of vapor from soil to snow appeared small at best, evaporation losses from snow and soil surfaces essentially constituted a total moisture loss from the area.     

Estimates of spatial variation in evaporation using satellite‐derived surface temperature and a water balance model

Evaporation dominates the water balance in arid and semi‐arid areas. The estimation of evaporation by land‐cover type is important for proper management of scarce water resources. Here, we present a method to assess spatial and temporal patterns of actual evaporation by relating water balance evaporation estimates to satellite‐derived radiometric surface temperature. The method is applied to a heterogeneous landscape in the Krishna River basin in south India using 10‐day composites of NOAA advanced very high‐resolution radiometer satellite imagery. The surface temperature predicts the difference between reference evaporation and modelled actual evaporation well in the four catchments (r² = 0·85 to r² = 0·88). Spatial and temporal variations in evaporation are linked to vegetation type and irrigation. During the monsoon season (June–September), evaporation occurs quite uniformly over the case‐study area (1·7–2·1 mm day^?1), since precipitation is in excess of soil moisture holding capacity, but it is higher in irrigated areas (2·2–2·7 mm day^?1). In the post‐monsoon season (December–March) evaporation is highest in irrigated areas (2·4 mm day^?1). A seemingly reasonable estimate of temporal and spatial patterns of evaporation can be made without the use of more complex and data‐intensive methods; the method also constrains satellite estimates of evaporation by the annual water balance, thereby assuring accuracy at the seasonal and annual time‐scales. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Potential and visible evaporation and its variations in European Russia over the recent 50 years by experimental data

Variations in pan evaporation in European Russia from 1951 to 2010 have been studied, and regions with specific variations of potential evaporation have been identified. It is shown that evaporation decseases all over the territory under consideration, and intensity of its decreasing up to the late 1970s was far in excess of that in the decades that followed. The decrease in the variations in evaporation may be regarded as an indicator of reduction of intensity of heat and moisture exchange between the underlying surface and the atmosphere. A new characteristic of the moisture regime of the territory, i.e., visible evaporation, was introduced to characterize, in this case, the amount of free moisture in the atmosphere that can be involved in the terrestrial water cycle. The humidity of the territory in the European Russia has shown to have increased since 1966. Regions where changes in the moisture regime show common patterns have been identified and the specific features of humidity distribution in different natural zones of European Russia have been assessed.     

Many-year variations of river runoff in the Selenga basin

Many-year variations of river runoff in the Selenga basin are analyzed along with precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, and basin water storages. Data of ground-based (1932–2015) and satellite observations, as well as the analysis of literature data suggest the presence of within-century cycles in the series of annual and minimum runoff. Compared with 1934–1975, the Selenga Basin shows a general tendency toward a decrease in the maximum (by 5–35%) and mean annual (up to 15%) runoff at an increase in the minimum runoff (by 30%), a decrease in the mean annual precipitation (by 12%), and an increase in potential evapotranspiration by 4% against the background of a decrease in evaporation because of lesser soil moisture content and an increase in moisture losses for infiltration because of permafrost degradation. The observed changes in water balance may have unfavorable environmental effects.     

A study of soil water movement combining soil water potential with stable isotopes at two sites of shallow groundwater areas in the North China Plain

In the shallow groundwater areas of the North China Plain (NCP), precipitation infiltration and evapotranspiration in the vertical direction are the main processes of the water cycle, in which the unsaturated zone plays an important role in the transformation process between precipitation and groundwater. In this paper, two typical sites in Cangzhou (CZ) and Hengshui (HS) of Hebei province with shallow water tables were selected to analyse the relationship among precipitation, soil water and groundwater. At each site, precipitation, soil water at depths 10, 20, 30, 50, 70, 100, 150, 200, 300 cm, and groundwater were sampled to analyse the stable isotope compositions of hydrogen and oxygen. The soil water potentials at the corresponding depths were observed. Although the climates at the two sites are similar, there are some differences in the infiltration process, soil water movement and groundwater recharge sources. Evaporation occurred at the upper depths, which led to the decrease of soil potential and the enrichment of heavy isotopes. At the CZ site, precipitation infiltrated with piston mode, and an obvious mixture effect existed during the infiltration process. Preferential flow may exist in the soil above 100 cm depth. However, at the HS site soil water moved in piston mode, and groundwater was mainly recharged by precipitation. When precipitation recharged the groundwater it experienced a strong evaporation effect. The results of the soil water movement mechanism provides the transformation relationship among precipitation, soil water and groundwater in the middle and eastern NCP. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Estimation of actual evaporation using precipitation and soil moisture records in arid climates

There is little knowledge available about infiltration and evaporation processes in wadi channels in arid regions. This work was conducted to determine the actual evaporation from bare soils in wadi channels in the south-western region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The estimation of soil evaporation is highly dependent on the availability of moisture in the upper layers of alluvial wadis, in which the areal rainfall, flood hydrograph and soil properties play a significant part. The study was conducted by estimating the actual evaporation using soil moisture data, precipitation and runoff depths in a representative basin. The results are compared with potential rates. The actual rates were 1.5 mm/day immediately after a rainy day and then decreased to 0.42 mm/day. The minimum rate was about 0.1–0.2 mm/day during the dry season. The potential rates were about 9.5 mm/day in June and July, decreasing to 3.5 mm/day in December and January.     

The influence of heat conduction on evaporation from sunken pans in hot, dry environment

Lateral heat conduction across a large circular sunken pan located in a hot, dry environment is evaluated using a numerical procedure. Heat flow across the sunken pan–adjacent soil boundary is calculated using a two-dimensional soil plane. Calculations show that a large temperature differential across the pan–substrate boundary develops during the entire diurnal cycle during January and July, leading to consistently positive heat flow from the soil towards the sunken pan. Heat conduction across the pan–substrate boundary represents 10 and 34% of net radiation over the sunken pan during July and January, respectively. This additional heat source, which is not available for shallow lakes, increases annual evaporation from the sunken pan by about 5–8% in July and January, respectively. In hot arid environments, a sunken pan will overestimate evaporation from a nearby shallow lake/dam due to a larger surface roughness and consistently positive conduction heat flow across the pan–substrate boundary.     

Water balance approach under extreme arid conditions — A case study of Tabalah Basin,Saudi Arabia

Quantification of water balance components, under arid conditions, is essential to the development of water management policies. This study demonstrates the application of the mass water balance approach for the assessment of water resources in a typical watershed located in the southwestern region of Saudi Arabia. The water balance approach was used, on an event basis, to express the amount of precipitation for 13 storms over a three year period, as a percentage of other hydrological components such as runoff, evaporation, and recharge. The study indicated that 63 per cent of precipitation is lost through evaporation from the water surface during flooding, and from the upper layers of the soil surface immediately after storms. Another 32 per cent is stored in the form of soil moisture in the unsaturated layers below the effective evaporation depth. Only 3 per cent of the precipitation was transformed into surface runoff; however, 75 per cent of this contributes towards groundwater recharge. This study has illustrated that the mass water balance approach can be used, with reasonable accuracy, to quantify the components of the hydrological processes under arid conditions, where a reliable data base is available. This, in turn, will help in the development of appropriate water management policies for arid regions.     

Applying modern methods of statistical physics to describe fluctuations of soil moisture reserve

The application of methods of modern theory of Brownian motion to the calculation of fluctuations of soil moisture reserve is considered. Analytical dependences of the correlation time of soil moisture reserve fluctuations and its mean on the characteristics of external stochastic and deterministic impacts are obtained for a nonlinear hydrological model of moisture reserve formation based on Langevin equation and generalized Langevin relationships. Variations of the low-frequency part of the spectrum of fast synoptic variables (the difference between precipitation and evaporation) because of interaction with moisture reserve fluctuations is examined. A new effect—an increase in the spectrum in the intermediate domain of time intervals between characteristic times—is explained by the time of variations of synoptic fluctuations and the time of variations of fluctuations of soil moisture reserve. The problem of determining a non-steady response of the mean soil moisture reserve to fluctuation of moistening regime is used to demonstrate the potentialities of a new apparatus of statistical physics-fluctuation theorems.     

A soil moisture monitoring network to assess controls on runoff generation during atmospheric river events

Soil moisture is a key modifier of runoff generation from rainfall excess, including during extreme precipitation events associated with Atmospheric Rivers (ARs). This paper presents a new, publicly available dataset from a soil moisture monitoring network in Northern California's Russian River Basin, designed to assess soil moisture controls on runoff generation under AR conditions. The observations consist of 2-min volumetric soil moisture at 19 sites and 6 depths (5, 10, 15, 20, 50, and 100 cm), starting in summer 2017. The goals of this monitoring network are to aid the development of research applications and situational awareness tools for Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations at Lake Mendocino. We present short analyses of these data to demonstrate their capability to characterize soil moisture responses to precipitation across sites and depths, including time series analysis, correlation analysis, and identification of soil saturation thresholds that induce runoff. Our results show strong inter-site Pearson's correlations (>0.8) at the seasonal timescale. Correlations are strong (>0.8) during events with high antecedent soil moisture and during drydown periods, and weak (<0.5) otherwise. High event runoff ratios are observed when antecedent soil moisture thresholds are exceeded, and when antecedent runoff is high. Although local heterogeneity in soil moisture can limit the utility of point source data in some hydrologic model applications, our analyses indicate three ways in which soil moisture data are valuable for model design: (1) sensors installed at 6 depths per location enable us to identify the soil depth below which evapotranspiration and saturation dynamics change, and therefore choose model soil layer depths, (2) time series analysis indicates the role of soil moisture processes in controlling runoff ratio during precipitation, which hydrologic models should replicate, and (3) spatial correlation analysis of the soil moisture fluctuations helps identify when and where distributed hydrologic modelling may be beneficial.     

Evaporative losses from soils covered by physical and different types of biological soil crusts

Evaporation of soil moisture is one of the most important processes affecting water availability in semiarid ecosystems. Biological soil crusts, which are widely distributed ground cover in these ecosystems, play a recognized role on water processes. Where they roughen surfaces, water residence time and thus infiltration can be greatly enhanced, whereas their ability to clog soil pores or cap the soil surface when wetted can greatly decrease infiltration rate, thus affecting evaporative losses. In this work, we compared evaporation in soils covered by physical crusts, biological crusts in different developmental stages and in the soils underlying the different biological crust types. Our results show that during the time of the highest evaporation (Day 1), there was no difference among any of the crust types or the soils underlying them. On Day 2, when soil moisture was moderately low (11%), evaporation was slightly higher in well‐developed biological soil crusts than in physical or poorly developed biological soil crusts. However, crust removal did not cause significant changes in evaporation compared with the respective soil crust type. These results suggest that the small differences we observed in evaporation among crust types could be caused by differences in the properties of the soil underneath the biological crusts. At low soil moisture (<6%), there was no difference in evaporation among crust types or the underlying soils. Water loss for the complete evaporative cycle (from saturation to dry soil) was similar in both crusted and scraped soils. Therefore, we conclude that for the specific crust and soil types tested, the presence or the type of biological soil crust did not greatly modify evaporation with respect to physical crusts or scraped soils. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamic factor analysis and artificial neural network for estimating pan evaporation at multiple stations in northern Taiwan

Abstract

Evaporation is an important reference for managers of water resources. This study proposes a hybrid model (BD) that combines back-propagation neural networks (BPNN) and dynamic factor analysis (DFA) to simultaneously precisely estimate pan evaporation at multiple meteorological stations in northern Taiwan through incorporating a large number of meteorological data sets into the estimation process. The DFA is first used to extract key meteorological factors that are highly related to pan evaporation and to establish the common trend of pan evaporation among meteorological stations. The BPNN is then trained to estimate pan evaporation with the inputs of the key meteorological factors and evaporation estimates given by the DFA. The BD model successfully inherits the advantages from the DFA and BPNN, and effectively enhances its generalization ability and estimation accuracy. The results demonstrate that the proposed BD model has good reliability and applicability in simultaneously estimating pan evaporation for multiple meteorological stations.

Citation Chang, F.J., Sun, W., and Chung, C.H., 2013. Dynamic factor analysis and artificial neural network for estimating pan evaporation at multiple stations in northern Taiwan. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (4), 813–825.     

Evaporation from seasonally frozen bare and vegetated ground at various groundwater table depths in the Ordos Basin,Northwest China

In cold climates, the process of freezing–thawing significantly affects the ground surface heat balance and water balance. To better understand the mechanism of evaporation from seasonally frozen soils, we performed field experiments at different water table depths on vegetated and bare ground in a semiarid region in China. Soil moisture and temperature, air temperature, precipitation, and water table depths were measured over a 5‐month period (November 1, 2016, to March 14, 2017). The evaporation, which was calculated by a mass balance method, was high in the periods of thawing and low in the periods of freezing. Increased water table depth in the freezing period led to high soil moisture in the upper soil layer, whereas lower initial groundwater levels during freezing–thawing decreased the cumulative evaporation. The extent of evaporation from the bare ground was the same in summer as in winter. These results indicate that a noteworthy amount of evaporation from the bare ground is present during freezing–thawing. Finally, the roots of Salix psammophila could increase the soil temperature. This study presents an insight into the joint effects of soil moisture, temperature, ground vegetation, and water table depths on the evaporation from seasonally frozen soils. Furthermore, it also has important implications for water management in seasonally frozen areas.     

Hydrological responses to climate shifts for a minimally disturbed mountainous watershed in northwestern China

Much attention has been focused on investigating the effects of precipitation and temperature changes on runoff; however, the influence of wind speed, relative humidity and total solar radiation on hydrological components needs to be studied further. Hydrological responses to climate variations in a minimally disturbed mountainous watershed in the period 1971–2012 are identified and evaluated by statistical analysis and hydrological simulation. The results indicate that the impact of climate component changes on the hydrological process cannot be discounted. The temperature and relative humidity exhibit significant upward trends, while the wind speed exhibits a clear downward trend. The potential and actual evapotranspiration dramatically increased, but the observed pan evaporation substantially decreased. The surface water, soil water, baseflow and water yield are positively correlated with precipitation and relative humidity but negatively correlated with the temperature, wind speed and solar radiation.