Regional‐scale mapping of groundwater discharge zones using thermal satellite imagery

Mapping groundwater discharge zones at broad spatial scales remains a challenge, particularly in data sparse regions. We applied a regional scale mapping approach based on thermal remote sensing to map discharge zones in a complex watershed with a broad diversity of geological materials, land cover and topographic variation situated within the Prairie Parkland of northern Alberta, Canada. We acquired winter thermal imagery from the USGS Landsat archive to demonstrate the utility of this data source for applications that can complement both scientific and management programs. We showed that the thermally determined potential discharge areas were corroborated with hydrological (spring locations) and chemical (conservative tracers of groundwater) data. This study demonstrates how thermal remote sensing can form part of a comprehensive mapping framework to investigate groundwater resources over broad spatial scales. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of spatial aggregation of soil spatial information on watershed hydrological modelling

Many researchers have examined the impact of detailed soil spatial information on hydrological modelling due to the fact that such information serves as important input to hydrological modelling, yet is difficult and expensive to obtain. Most research has focused on the effects at single scales; however, the effects in the context of spatial aggregation across different scales are largely missing. This paper examines such effects by comparing the simulated runoffs across scales from watershed models based on two different levels of soil spatial information: the 10‐m‐resolution soil data derived from the Soil‐Land Inference Model (SoLIM) and the 1:24000 scale Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) database in the United States. The study was conducted at three different spatial scales: two at different watershed size levels (referred to as full watershed and sub‐basin, respectively) and one at the model minimum simulation unit level. A fully distributed hydrologic model (WetSpa) and a semi‐distributed model (SWAT) were used to assess the effects. The results show that at the minimum simulation unit level the differences in simulated runoff are large, but the differences gradually decrease as the spatial scale of the simulation units increases. For sub‐basins larger than 10 km² in the study area, stream flows simulated by spatially detailed SoLIM soil data do not significantly vary from those by SSURGO. The effects of spatial scale are shown to correlate with aggregation effect of the watershed routing process. The unique findings of this paper provide an important and unified perspective on the different views reported in the literature concerning how spatial detail of soil data affects watershed modelling. Different views result from different scales at which those studies were conducted. In addition, the findings offer a potentially useful basis for selecting details of soil spatial information appropriate for watershed modelling at a given scale. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impacts of climate change on the Qingjiang Watershed’s runoff change trend in China

Qingjiang River, the second largest tributary of the Yangtze River in Hubei Province, has taken on the important tasks for power generation and flood control in Hubei Province. The Qingjiang River watershed has a subtropical monsoon climate and, as a result, has dramatic diversity in its water resources. Recently, global warming and climate change have seriously affected the Qingjiang watershed’s integrated water resources management. In this article, general circulation model (GCM) and watershed hydrological models were applied to analyze the impacts of climate change on future runoff of Qingjiang Watershed. To couple the scale difference between GCM and watershed hydrological models, a statistical downscaling method based on the smooth support vector machine was used to downscale the GCM’s large-scale output. With the downscaled precipitation and evaporation, the Xin-anjiang hydrological model and HBV model were applied to predict the future runoff of Qingjiang Watershed under A2 and B2 scenarios. The preformance of the one-way coupling approach in simulating the hydrological impact of climate change in the Qingjiang watershed is evaluated, and the change trend of the future runoff of Qingjiang Watershed under the impacts of climate change is presented and discussed.     

The role of science in setting water resource use limits: case studies from New Zealand

Abstract

Water resource use limits ensure protection of environmental values and define the availability and reliability of water supply for out-of-channel use. We examined how three types of scientific tools (environmental flow setting methods, hydrological analyses for setting total allocations and spatial frameworks) have been used to define limits across jurisdictional regions comprising multiple catchments in New Zealand. We found that recently developed minimum flow and total allocation setting tools are widely used. Spatial frameworks are increasingly used to discriminate and account for variation in environmental characteristics, thereby increasing the specificity of water resource use limits. The uptake of scientific tools has enabled improvements in the clarity of water management objectives and the transparency of limits defined by regional water management plans. We argue that more integrated use of scientific tools could improve the clarity and transparency of regional limits by explicitly demonstrating the trade-off between out-of-channel use and protection of environmental values.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Guest editor M. Acreman

Citation Snelder, T.H., Rouse, H.L., Franklin, P.A., Booker, D.J., Norton, N., and Diettrich, J., 2014. The role of science in setting water resource use limits: case studies from New Zealand. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 59 (3–4), 844–859.     

Climate change and consequences on the water cycle in the humid Xiangjiang River Basin,China

Anthropogenic activities have altered the climate and led to changes in the water cycle. Understanding the climate change and hydrological responses is critical to derive adaptive strategies for sustainable water resources management. In this study, we diagnosed the trends of primary climate elements and hydrological components during the past half century (1960–2009) for the humid Xiangjiang River Basin in central-south China at multiple temporal and spatial scales. The air temperature trend demonstrated an overall warming climate but with a quicker pace in recent years; however, the wind speed reduced significantly in the early period, and this downtrend had largely disappeared after the mid-1990s. Under such a shifting climate, the hydrological responses were not monotonic during the past 50 years: the evapotranspiration behaved in a decreasing trend in the early 35 years (1960–1994), followed by an uptrend in the later period (1995–2009). The stepwise analysis of soil water content and baseflow demonstrated a wetting trend followed by a drying one but with a steeper slope, indicating an accelerated drying trend which may cause a concern in stream water availability especially in the dry season. Spatial trend analysis showed that some areas experienced a downtrend (drying) in the dry season, but most areas had an uptrend (wetting) in the wet season for the whole study period. Overall, the analyses of temporal and spatial changes are useful for decision makers to deal with the continuing changes in climate and hydrology. This study also highlighted the necessity of climate change studies at multiple temporal and spatial scales.     

Riverine quality at the Anthropocene: Propositions for global space and time analysis,illustrated by the Seine River

The control of riverine quality (water, particulates) by human-related pressures is now a major feature of the Anthropocene era. A set of general typologies and approaches to address the complex relationships between pressures, environmental impacts and some of the related social responses is proposed here on the basis of various examples, among others the Seine basin. Riverine quality management is described through a dozen major types illustrated by river fluxes and riverine quality trends (>> 10 years). A successful restoration cycle, still seldom documented, is used as an example of the decomposition of the multiple social, societal and hydrological inertia and time lags, generally spanning several decades. Human impacts can also be described by finer temporal analysis, over hourly to year-on-year scales, and spatial analysis including classical longitudinal profiles, stream-order ranking and sediment pathways. The Seine river example illustrates the pressures from intensive agriculture, industrialisation, hydrological regulation and urbanisation with the impact of the World's second largest treated urban sewer discharge (from 8 million people in greater Paris). The impacts of the Paris megalopolis are much more widely spread than might be expected and include retro-impacts (in upstream reaches), distal (> 100 km) and external impacts (outside of watershed). They are illustrated by specific spatial distributions of indicators of each particular phenomenon (organic pollution, metal contamination, xenobiotic occurrence, nitrate pollution, eutrophication). Although not comprehensive (acidification and salinization are not addressed here), such typologies should facilitate the comparisons between basins and phenomena at the regional and global scales.     

湖泊富营养化响应与流域优化调控决策的模型研究进展

湖泊富营养化是全球水环境领域面临的长期挑战,富营养化响应与流域优化决策模型是制定经济和高效调控方案的关键.然而已有的模型研究综述主要集中于模型开发、案例应用、敏感性分析、不确定性分析等单一方面,而缺少针对非线性响应、生态系统长期演变等最新湖泊治理挑战的研究总结.本文对数据驱动的统计模型、因果驱动的机理模型和决策导向的优化模型进行了综述.其中,统计模型包含经典统计、贝叶斯统计和机器学习模型,常用于建立响应关系、时间序列特征分析以及预报预警;机理模型包含流域的水文与污染物输移模拟以及湖泊的水文、水动力、水质、水生态等过程的模拟,用于不同时空尺度的变化过程模拟,其中复杂机理模型的敏感性分析、参数校验、模型不确定性等需要较高的计算成本;优化模型结合机理模型形成“模拟优化”体系,在不确定性条件下衍生出随机、区间优化等多种方法,通过并行计算、简化与替代模型可一定程度上解决计算时间成本的瓶颈.本文识别了湖泊治理面临的挑战,包括:①如何定量表征外源输入的非线性叠加和湖泊氮、磷、藻变化的非均匀性?②如何提高优化调控决策和水质目标的关联与精准性?③如何揭示湖泊生态系统的长期变化轨迹与驱动因素?最后,本文针对这些挑战提出研究展望,主要包括:①基于多源数据融合与机器学习算法以提升湖泊的短期水质预测精度;②以生物量为基础的机理模型与行为驱动的个体模型的升尺度或降尺度耦合以表达多种尺度的物质交互过程;③机器学习算法与机理模型的直接耦合或数据同化以降低模拟误差;④时空尺度各异的多介质模拟模型融合以实现精准和动态的优化调控.     

Towards a world hydrological cycle observing system

Abstract

There are considerable difficulties in assembling global hydrological data sets in near real time, data that might be used for deciding investment for sustainable water resources development and management, for environmental protection and for studying global change. Several reasons exist for these difficulties, a new one is that many countries have recently been cutting back on hydrological networks and the services that operate them. This means that knowledge of the World's water resources is getting worse when the global demand for water is accelerating. By way of contrast, meteorologists have ready access to large volumes of global data, much of it in real time, principally through WMO's World Weather Watch (WWW). A World Hydrological Cycle Observing System (WHYCOS) is proposed to facilitate access to global data and support hydrological services in need. A world-wide network of about 1000 stations is planned for the largest rivers, together with associated data bases and products to meet the needs of users. WHYCOS would start in Africa with a 100-station network and be expanded to other regions. It is a necessary tool for averting the coming water crisis and essential to the drive towards sustainable development.     

Glacier changes and their impacts on the discharge in the past half-century in Tekes watershed,Central Asia

The glacier is an important and stable water supply in Central Asia. Monitoring the change of glacier and understanding the impacts of glacier change on river discharge are critical to predict the downstream water availability change in future. Glacier changes were discussed and their impacts on river discharge were evaluated by hydrological modeling with a distributed hydrological model SWAT under two land use and land cover scenarios (1970 and 2007) in Tekes watershed, the most important source of water discharge to the Ili River. Compared to the glacier area of 1511 km² in 1970s it decreased by 332 km² in 2007, which resulted in the contribution the discharge from precipitation in the glacier area to the average annual discharge of the watershed changing from 9.8% in the period 1966–1975 to 7.8% in the period 2000–2008. In the month scale, with the decrease of glacier area, the distribution of the contribution of monthly discharge from precipitation in the glacier area to the total of the watershed changed from bimodal pattern to unimodal pattern. By linking a hydrological model to remote sensing image analysis and Chinese glacier inventories to determine glacier area change our approach in quantifying the impacts of glacier changes on hydrology at different scales, will provide quantitative information for stakeholders in making decisions for water resource management.     

Impact of model development,calibration and validation decisions on hydrological simulations in West Lake Erie Basin

Watershed simulation models are used extensively to investigate hydrologic processes, landuse and climate change impacts, pollutant load assessments and best management practices (BMPs). Developing, calibrating and validating these models require a number of critical decisions that will influence the ability of the model to represent real world conditions. Understanding how these decisions influence model performance is crucial, especially when making science‐based policy decisions. This study used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model in West Lake Erie Basin (WLEB) to examine the influence of several of these decisions on hydrological processes and streamflow simulations. Specifically, this study addressed the following objectives (1) demonstrate the importance of considering intra‐watershed processes during model development, (2) compare and evaluated spatial calibration versus calibration at outlet and (3) evaluate parameter transfers across temporal and spatial scales. A coarser resolution (HUC‐12) model and a finer resolution model (NHDPlus model) were used to support the objectives. Results showed that knowledge of watershed characteristics and intra‐watershed processes are critical to produced accurate and realistic hydrologic simulations. The spatial calibration strategy produced better results compared to outlet calibration strategy and provided more confidence. Transferring parameter values across spatial scales (i.e. from coarser resolution model to finer resolution model) needs additional fine tuning to produce realistic results. Transferring parameters across temporal scales (i.e. from monthly to yearly and daily time‐steps) performed well with a similar spatial resolution model. Furthermore, this study shows that relying solely on quantitative statistics without considering additional information can produce good but unrealistic simulations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changes in streamflow regimes and their responses to different soil and water conservation measures in the Loess Plateau watersheds,China

Investigating the changes in streamflow regimes in response to various influencing factors contributes to our understanding of the mechanisms of hydrological processes in different watersheds and to water resource management strategies. This study examined streamflow regime changes by applying the indicators of hydrologic alteration method and eco-flow metrics to daily runoff data (1965–2016) from the Sandu, Hulu and Dali Rivers on the Chinese Loess Plateau, and then determined their responses to terracing, afforestation and damming. The Budyko water balance equation and the double mass curve method were used to separate the impacts of climate change and human activities on the mean discharge changes. The results showed that the terraced and dammed watersheds exhibited significant decreases in annual runoff. All hydrologic metrics indicated that the highest degree of hydrologic alteration was in the Sandu River watershed (terraced), where the monthly and extreme flows reduced significantly. In contrast, the annual eco-deficit increased significantly, indicating the highest reduction in streamflow among the three watersheds. The regulation of dams and reservoirs in the Dali River watershed has altered the flow regime, and obvious decreases in the maximum flow and slight increases in the minimum flow and baseflow indices were observed. In the Hulu River watershed (afforested), the monthly flow and extreme flows decreased slightly and were categorized as low-degree alteration, indicating that the long-term delayed effects of afforestation on hydrological processes. The magnitude of the eco-flow metrics varied with the alteration of annual precipitation. Climate change contributed 67.47% to the runoff reduction in the Hulu River watershed, while human activities played predominant roles in reducing runoff in the Sandu and Dali River watersheds. The findings revealed distinct patterns and causes of streamflow regime alteration due to different conservation measures, emphasizing the need to optimize the spatial allocation of measures to control soil erosion and utilize water resources on the Loess Plateau.     

Multi-objective optimization for sustainable groundwater resource management in a semiarid catchment

Abstract

Groundwater is an important water resource and its management is vital for integrated water resources development in semiarid catchments. The River Shiyang catchment in the semiarid area of northwestern China was studied to determine a sustainable multi-objective management plan of water resources. A multi-objective optimization model was developed which incorporated water supplies, groundwater quality, ecology, environment and economics on spatial and temporal scales under various detailed constraints. A calibrated groundwater flow model was supplemented by grey simulation of groundwater quality, thus providing two lines of evidence to use in the multi-objective water management. The response matrix method was used to link the groundwater simulation models and the optimization model. Multi-phase linear programming was used to minimize and compromise the objectives for the multi-period, conjunctive water use optimization model. Based on current water demands, this water use optimization management plan was able to meet ecological, environmental and economic objectives, but did not find a final solution to reduce the overall water deficit within the catchment.     

A study on the impact of climate change on streamflow at the watershed scale in the humid tropics

Abstract

Climate change is recognized to be one of the most serious challenges facing mankind today. Driven by anthropogenic activities, it is known to be a direct threat to our food and water supplies and an indirect threat to world security. Increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will certainly affect hydrological regimes. The consequent global warming is expected to have major implications on water resources management. The objective of this research is to present a general approach for evaluating the impacts of potential climate change on streamflow in a river basin in the humid tropical zone of India. Large-scale global climate models (GCMs) are the best available tools to provide estimates of the effect of rising greenhouse gases on rainfall and temperature. However the spatial resolution of these models (250 km?×?250 km) is not compatible with that of watershed hydrological models. Hence the outputs from GCMs have to be downscaled using regional climate models (RCMs), so as to project the output of a GCM to a finer resolution (50 km?×?50 km). In the present work, the projections of a GCM for two scenarios, A2 and B2 are downscaled by a RCM to project future climate in a watershed. Projections for two important climate variables, viz. rainfall and temperature are made. These are then used as inputs for a physically-based hydrological model, SWAT, in order to evaluate the effect of climate change on streamflow and vegetative growth in a humid tropical watershed.

Citation Raneesh, K. Y. & Santosh, G. T. (2011) A study on the impact of climate change on streamflow at the watershed scale in the humid tropics. Hydrol. Sci. J. 56(6), 946–965.     

A concerted research effort to advance the hydrological understanding of tropical páramos

Páramos, a neotropical alpine grassland-peatland biome of the northern Andes and Central America, play an essential role in regional and global cycles of water, carbon, and nutrients. They act as water towers, delivering water and ecosystem services from the high mountains down to the Pacific, Caribbean, and Amazon regions. Páramos are also widely recognized as a biodiversity and climate change hot spots, yet they are threatened by anthropogenic activities and environmental changes. Despite their importance for water security and carbon storage, and their vulnerability to human activities, only three decades ago, páramos were severely understudied. Increasing awareness of the need for hydrological evidence to guide sustainable management of páramos prompted action for generating data and for filling long-standing knowledge gaps. This has led to a remarkably successful increase in scientific knowledge, induced by a strong interaction between the scientific, policy, and (local) management communities. A combination of well-established and innovative approaches has been applied to data collection, processing, and analysis. In this review, we provide a short overview of the historical development of research and state of knowledge of the hydrometeorology, flux dynamics, anthropogenic impacts, and the influence of extreme events in páramos. We then present emerging technologies for hydrology and water resources research and management applied to páramos. We discuss how converging science and policy efforts have leveraged traditional and new observational techniques to generate an evidence base that can support the sustainable management of páramos. We conclude that this co-evolution of science and policy was able to successfully cover different spatial and temporal scales. Lastly, we outline future research directions to showcase how sustainable long-term data collection can foster the responsible conservation of páramos water towers.     

A process-based approach to attribution of historical streamflow decline in a data-scarce and human-dominated watershed

Human activities have resulted in rapid hydrological change around the world, in many cases producing shifts in the dominant hydrological processes, confounding predictions, and complicating effective management and planning. Identifying and characterizing such changes in hydrological processes is therefore a globally relevant problem, one that is particularly challenging in sparsely monitored environments. We develop a novel, process-based approach for attribution of hydrological change in such scenarios and apply the approach to the TG Halli watershed outside Bangalore, India, where streamflow has declined considerably over the last 50 years. The approach consists of (a) employing a range of field instrumentation and experiments to identify contemporary streamflow generation mechanisms, (b) using these observations to constrain our understanding and generate hypotheses pertaining to historical changes, and (c) evaluating these hypotheses with a range of evidence including proxies for historical hydrological processes. The body of evidence in the TG Halli watershed indicates the historical presence and subsequent loss of a shallow groundwater table that previously discharged to the stream, meaning that groundwater depletion is the most likely driver of streamflow decline. These findings present a viable path towards improved predictions of future water resources and sustainable water management within the watershed. Our process-based approach to attribution has the potential to improve understanding of human-driven hydrological change in regions with poor monitoring of hydrological systems.     

Spatial soil moisture scaling structure during Soil Moisture Experiment 2005

Soil moisture state and variability control many hydrological and ecological processes as well as exchanges of energy and water between the land surface and the atmosphere. However, its state and variability are poorly understood at spatial scales larger than the fields (i.e. 1 km²) as well as the ability to extrapolate field scale to larger spatial scales. This study investigates soil moisture profiles, their spatial organization, and physical drivers of variability within the Walnut Creek watershed, Iowa, during Soil Moisture Experiment 2005 and relates the watershed scale findings to previous field‐scale results. For all depths, the watershed soil moisture variability was negatively correlated with the watershed mean soil moisture and followed an exponential relationship that was nearly identical to that for field scales. This relationship differed during drying and wetting. While the overall time stability characteristics were improved with observation depth, the relatively wet and dry locations were consistent for all depths. The most time stable locations, capturing the mean soil moisture of the watershed within ± 0·9% volumetric soil moisture, were typically found on hill slopes regardless of vegetation type. These mild slope locations consistently preserve the time stability patterns from field to watershed scales. Soil properties also appear to impact stability but the findings are sensitive to local variations that may not be well defined by existing soil maps. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中国东南丘陵山区水质良好水库现状与天目湖保护实践

东南丘陵山区是我国水库分布最为集中的区域之一,这些水库在保障区域供水安全方面具有极其重要的作用,应该优先保护.然而,水库水环境保护正面临丘陵山区开发强度持续增加,开发方式和空间布局不合理,氮、磷污染及富营养化趋势严峻,缺乏完善监测和管理体系等众多问题.本文以2000年以来天目湖水库保护实践过程为例,从库体水环境治理、流域污染物削减和综合管理3个方面介绍天目湖沙河水库保护的措施和成效,在此基础上提出良好湖库优先保护的建议:建立具有部门协调能力的水库管理机构,实行基于湖库水生态目标的水质目标管理,治理丘陵山区茶果园的面源污染,注重流域生态系统整体的恢复,禁止上游水源涵养区和临湖地带的开发,划定生态保护红线,明确禁止和限制的开发类型与规模,加强湖库及流域的监测和预警,开展必要的水库水体治理工程,并针对性地制定湖库管理条例.天目湖十几年的保护实践中有效地解决了流域开发与水库水质保护之间的矛盾,使天目湖水质由快速恶化转为稳步好转,为东南丘陵山区经济发展过程中水库的环境保护探索了一条道路.     

E-monitoring the nature of water

ABSTRACT

The critical need for hydrological observations in support of water resources management, particularly during extreme events, has transformed traditional methods of hydrological data management. This transformation has given rise to a framework of e-monitoring the hydrological cycle, the aim of which is to improve understanding of the nature of water. New trends in data science, coupled with increasing technological evolution, make the new generation of data systems more agile and responsive to the needs and expectations for efficient and effective data sharing and service delivery. The WMO Hydrological Observing System was designed around the integration of observations, data exchange, research, data processing, modelling and forecasting, in such a way that societal needs for disaster risk reduction, improved sustainability of environmental resources, climate resilience and economic growth can be effectively met. With its implementation of conceptual functionalities for sustainable data management, the WHOS operational architecture is hydrology’s system for the future.     

洞庭湖近30a水位时空演变特征及驱动因素分析

洞庭湖地处北亚热带季风湿润气候区,水情时空变化尤为明显.为了探明洞庭湖水位时空演变特征,以洞庭湖6个水位站(城陵矶、鹿角、营田、杨柳潭、南咀、小河咀)、出入湖流量("三口"总入湖流量、"四水"总入湖流量、城陵矶出湖流量)和长江干流流量(宜昌、螺山)等1985-2014年逐日数据为基础,通过构建泰森多边形计算湖泊水位,运用Morlet小波分析、层次聚类分析和地统计理论研究湖泊水位的周期性变化规律及空间分布格局和自相关性.研究结果表明:洞庭湖水位变化具有典型的季节性,且年际变化具有28和22 a的多时间尺度特征;水位空间分布格局呈现出小河咀、南咀、杨柳潭(Group 1)以及城陵矶、鹿角、营田(Group 2)两种聚类,且在不同水文季节的空间自相关性依次表现为丰水期退水期涨水期枯水期.通过建立两类水位在不同水文季节与径流量的多元逐步回归模型揭示了洞庭湖水位时空演变的驱动因素,其中Group 1水位演变主要受长江干流水文情势的影响,Group 2水位演变由出入湖径流量和长江干流径流量共同作用,并随着不同水文季节江湖关系的改变以及湖泊自身水力联系的变化而变化.研究结果对于科学认识洞庭湖水位的时空演变规律以及湖泊生态系统保护和水资源的规划、管理与调控具有重要意义.