Influence of a rock glacier spring on the stream energy budget and cold‐water refuge in an alpine stream

The thermal regimes of alpine streams remain understudied and have important implications for cold‐water fish habitat, which is expected to decline due to climatic warming. Previous research has focused on the effects of distributed energy fluxes and meltwater from snowpacks and glaciers on the temperature of mountain streams. This study presents the effects of the groundwater spring discharge from an inactive rock glacier containing little ground ice on the temperature of an alpine stream. Rock glaciers are coarse blocky landforms that are ubiquitous in alpine environments and typically exhibit low groundwater discharge temperatures and resilience to climatic warming. Water temperature data indicate that the rock glacier spring cools the stream by an average of 3 °C during July and August and reduces maximum daily temperatures by an average of 5 °C during the peak temperature period of the first two weeks in August, producing a cold‐water refuge downstream of the spring. The distributed stream surface and streambed energy fluxes are calculated for the reach along the toe of the rock glacier, and solar radiation dominates the distributed stream energy budget. The lateral advective heat flux generated by the rock glacier spring is compared to the distributed energy fluxes over the study reach, and the spring advective heat flux is the dominant control on stream temperature at the reach scale. This study highlights the potential for coarse blocky landforms to generate climatically resilient cold‐water refuges in alpine streams.     

Modelling river water temperature using deterministic,empirical, and hybrid formulations in a Mediterranean stream

River water temperature is a common target of water quality models at the watershed scale, owing to its principal role in shaping biogeochemical processes and in stream ecology. Usually, models include physically‐based, deterministic formulations to calculate water temperatures from detailed meteorological information, which usually comes from meteorological stations located far from the river reaches. However, alternative empirical approaches have been proposed, that usually depend on air temperature as master variable. This study explored the performance of a semidistributed water quality application modelling river water temperature in a Mediterranean watershed, using three different approaches. First, a deterministic approach was used accounting for the different heat exchange components usually considered in water temperature models. Second, an empirical approximation was applied using the equilibrium temperature concept, assuming a linear relationship with air temperature. And third, a hybrid approach was constructed, in which the temperature equilibrium concept and the deterministic approach were combined. Results showed that the hybrid approach gave the best results, followed by the empirical approximation. The deterministic formulation gave the worst results. The hybrid approach not only fitted daily river water temperatures, but also adequately modelled the daily temperature range (maximum–minimum daily temperature). Other river water features directly dependent on water temperature, such as river intrusion depth in lentic systems (i.e. the depth at which the river inflow plunges to equilibrate density differences with lake water), were also correctly modelled even at hourly time steps. However, results for the different heat fluxes between river and atmosphere were very unrealistic. Although direct evidence of discrepancies between meteorological drivers measured at the meteorological stations and the actual river microclimate was not found, the use of models including empirical or hybrid formulations depending mainly on air temperature is recommended if only meteorological data from locations far from the river reaches are available. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

River temperature regimes of England and Wales: spatial patterns,inter‐annual variability and climatic sensitivity

Identification of the most sensitive hydrological regions to a changing climate is essential to target adaptive management strategies. This study presents a quantitative assessment of spatial patterns, inter‐annual variability and climatic sensitivity of the shape (form) and magnitude (size) of annual river/stream water temperature regimes across England and Wales. Classification of long‐term average (1989–2006) annual river (air) temperature regime dynamics at 88 (38) stations within England and Wales identified spatially differentiable regions. Emergent river temperature regions were used to structure detailed hydroclimatological analyses of a subset of 38 paired river and air temperature stations. The shape and magnitude of air and water temperature regimes were classified for individual station‐years; and a sensitivity index (SI, based on conditional probability) was used to quantify the strength of associations between river and air temperature regimes. The nature and strength of air–river temperature regime links differed between regions. River basin properties considered to be static over the timescale of the study were used to infer modification of air–river temperature links by basin hydrological processes. The strongest links were observed in regions where groundwater contributions to runoff (estimated by basin permeability) were smallest and water exposure time to the atmosphere (estimated by basin area) was greatest. These findings provide a new large‐scale perspective on the hydroclimatological controls driving river thermal dynamics and, thus, yield a scientific basis for informed management and regulatory decisions concerning river temperature within England and Wales. © 2013 The Authors. Hydrological Processes published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A multi-technique approach to determine temporal and spatial variability of groundwater–stream water exchange

Characterizing the spatio-temporal distribution of groundwater–surface water (GW–SW) exchange fluxes is of paramount importance in understanding catchment behavior. A wide range of field-based techniques are available for such characterization. The objective of this study is to quantify the spatio-temporal distribution of the exchange fluxes along the Çakıt stream (Niğde, Turkey) through coupling a set of geophysical techniques and in-stream measurements in a hierarchical manner. First, geological and water quality information were combined at the catchment scale to determine key areas for reach-scale focus. Second, electromagnetic induction (EMI) surveys were conducted along the reach to pinpoint potential groundwater upwelling locations. EMI anomalies guided our focus to a 665 m-long reach of the stream. Along this selected reach, a fibre-optic distributed temperature sensing (FO-DTS) system was utilized to investigate streambed temperature profiles at fine spatial and temporal scales. Furthermore, vertical hydraulic gradients and exchange fluxes were investigated using nested piezometers and vertical temperature profiles, respectively, at two potential upwelling locations and a potential downwelling location identified by previous surveys. The results of the study reveal heterogeneity of vertical water-flow components with seasonal variability. The EMI survey was successful in identifying a localized groundwater upwelling location. FO-DTS measurements revealed a warm temperature anomaly during cold air temperature and low streamflow conditions at the same upwelling site. Our point-based methods, namely vertical temperature profiles and vertical hydraulic gradient estimates, however, did not always provide consistent results with each other and with EMI and FO-DTS measurements. This study, therefore, highlights the opportunities and challenges in incorporating multi-scale observations in a hierarchical manner in characterization of the GW–SW exchange processes that are known to be highly heterogeneous in time and space. Overall, a combination of different methods helps to overcome the limitations of each single method and increases confidence in the obtained results.     

Air‐stream temperature correlation in forested and urban headwater streams in the Southern Appalachians

Air temperature can be an effective predictor of stream temperature. However, little work has been done in studying urban impacts on air‐stream relationships in groundwater‐fed headwater streams in mountainous watersheds. We applied wavelet coherence analysis to two 13‐month continuous (1 hr interval) stream and air temperature datasets collected at Boone Creek, an urban stream, and Winkler Creek, a forest stream, in northwestern North Carolina. The main advantage of a wavelet coherence analysis approach is the ability to analyse non‐stationary dynamics for the temporal covariance between air and stream temperature over time and at multiple temporal scales (e.g. hours, days, weeks and months). The coherence is both time and scale‐dependent. Our research indicated that air temperature generally co‐varied with stream temperature at time scales greater than 0.5 day. The correlation was poor during the winter at the scales of 1 to 64 days and summer at the scales of 1.5 to 4 days, respectively. The empirical models that relate air temperature to stream temperature failed at these scales and during these periods. Finally, urbanization altered the air‐stream temperature correlation at intermediate time scales ranging from 2 to 12 days. The correlation at the urban creek increased at the 12‐day scale, whereas it decreased at scales of 2 to 7 days as compared with the forested stream, which is probably due to heated surface runoff during summer thunderstorms or leaking stormwater or wastewater collection systems. Our results provide insights into air‐stream temperature relationships over both time and scale domains. Identifying controls over time and scales are needed to predict water temperature to understand the future impacts that interacting climate and land use changes will have on aquatic ecosystem in river networks. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stream temperature dynamics in two hydrogeomorphically distinct reaches

The objective of this study was to analyse stream temperature variability during summer in relation to both surface heat exchanges and reach‐scale hydrology for two hydrogeomorphically distinct reaches. The study focused on a 1·5‐km wildfire‐disturbed reach of Fishtrap Creek located north of Kamloops, British Columbia. Streamflow measurements and longitudinal surveys of electrical conductivity and water chemistry indicated that the upper 750 m of the study reach was dominated by flow losses. A spring discharged into the stream at 750 m below the upper reach boundary. Below the spring, the stream was neutral to losing on three measurement days, but gained flow on a fourth day that followed a rain event. Continuous stream temperature measurements typically revealed a downstream warming along the upper 750 m of the study reach on summer days, followed by a pronounced cooling associated with the spring, with little downstream change below the spring. Modelled surface energy exchanges were similar over the upper and lower sub‐reaches, and thus cannot explain the differences in longitudinal temperature patterns. Application of a Lagrangian stream temperature model provided reasonably accurate predictions for the upper sub‐reach. For the lower sub‐reach, accurate prediction required specification of concurrent flow losses and gains as a hydrological boundary condition. These findings are consistent with differences in the hydrogeomorphology of the upper and lower sub‐reaches. The modelling exercise indicated that substantial errors in predicted stream temperature can occur by representing stream‐surface exchange as a reach‐averaged one‐directional flux computed from differences in streamflow between the upper and lower reach boundaries. Further research should focus on reliable methods for quantifying spatial variations in reach‐scale hydrology. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Landscape influence on small‐scale water temperature variations in a moorland catchment

We monitored temperatures in stream water, groundwater and riparian wetland surface water over 18 months in a 3.2‐km² moorland catchment in the Scottish Highlands. The stream occupies a glaciated valley, aligned east–west. It has three main headwater tributaries with a large north facing catchment, a south facing catchment and the smallest east facing headwater. The lower catchment sampling locations begin after the convalescence of all three headwaters. Much of the stream network is fringed by riparian peatlands. Stream temperatures are mainly regulated by energy exchanges at the air–water interface. However, they are also influenced by inflows from the saturated riparian zone, where surface water source areas are strongly connected with the stream network. Consequently, the spatial distribution of stream temperatures exhibits limited variability. Nevertheless, there are significant summer differences between the headwaters, despite their close proximity to each other. This is consistent with aspect (and incident radiation), given the south and east facing headwaters having higher temperatures. The largest, north‐facing sub‐catchment shows lower summer diurnal temperature variability, suggesting that lower radiation inputs dampen temperature extremes. Whilst stream water temperature regimes in the lower catchment exhibit little change along a 1‐km reach, they are similar to those in the largest headwater; probably reflecting size and comparable catchment aspect and hydrological flow paths. Our results suggest that different parts of the channel network and its connected wetlands have contrasting sensitivity to higher summer temperatures. This may be important in land management strategies designed to mitigate the impacts of projected climatic warming. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intercomparison across scales between remotely-sensed land surface temperature and representative equilibrium temperature from a distributed energy water balance model

Abstract

Quantifying the reliability of distributed hydrological models is an important task in hydrology to understand their ability to estimate energy and water fluxes at the agricultural district scale as well the basin scale for water resources management in drought monitoring and flood forecasting. In this context, the paper presents an intercomparison of simulated representative equilibrium temperature (RET) derived from a distributed energy water balance model and remotely-sensed land surface temperature (LST) at spatial scales from the agricultural field to the river basin. The main objective of the study is to evaluate the use of LST retrieved from operational remote sensing data at different spatial and temporal resolutions for the internal validation of a distributed hydrological model to control its mass balance accuracy as a complementary method to traditional calibration with discharge measurements at control river cross-sections. Modelled and observed LST from different radiometric sensors located on the ground surface, on an aeroplane and a satellite are compared for a maize field in Landriano (Italy), the agricultural district of Barrax (Spain) and the Upper Po River basin (Italy). A good ability of the model in reproducing the observed LST values in terms of mean bias error, root mean square error, relative error and Nash-Sutcliffe index is shown.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Associate editor D. Gerten     

Hydrogeologic controls on summer stream temperatures in the McKenzie River basin,Oregon

Stream temperature is a complex function of energy inputs including solar radiation and latent and sensible heat transfer. In streams where groundwater inputs are significant, energy input through advection can also be an important control on stream temperature. For an individual stream reach, models of stream temperature can take advantage of direct measurement or estimation of these energy inputs for a given river channel environment. Understanding spatial patterns of stream temperature at a landscape scale requires predicting how this environment varies through space, and under different atmospheric conditions. At the landscape scale, air temperature is often used as a surrogate for the dominant controls on stream temperature. In this study we show that, in regions where groundwater inputs are key controls and the degree of groundwater input varies in space, air temperature alone is unlikely to explain within-landscape stream temperature patterns. We illustrate how a geologic template can offer insight into landscape-scale patterns of stream temperature and its predictability from air temperature relationships. We focus on variation in stream temperature within headwater streams within the McKenzie River basin in western Oregon. In this region, as in other areas of the Pacific Northwest, fish sensitivity to summer stream temperatures continues to be a pressing environmental issue. We show that, within the McKenzie, streams which are sourced from deeper groundwater reservoirs versus shallow subsurface flow systems have distinct summer temperature regimes. Groundwater streams are colder, less variable and less sensitive to air temperature variation. We use these results from the western Oregon Cascade hydroclimatic regime to illustrate a conceptual framework for developing regional-scale indicators of stream temperature variation that considers the underlying geologic controls on spatial variation, and the relative roles played by energy and water inputs. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of spatial regression models for predicting summer river temperatures from landscape characteristics: Implications for land and fisheries management

There is increasing demand for models that can accurately predict river temperature at the large spatial scales appropriate to river management. This paper combined summer water temperature data from a strategically designed, quality controlled network of 25 sites, with recently developed flexible spatial regression models, to understand and predict river temperature across a 3,000 km² river catchment. Minimum, mean and maximum temperatures were modelled as a function of nine potential landscape covariates that represented proxies for heat and water exchange processes. Generalised additive models were used to allow for flexible responses. Spatial structure in the river network data (local spatial variation) was accounted for by including river network smoothers. Minimum and mean temperatures decreased with increasing elevation, riparian woodland and channel gradient. Maximum temperatures increased with channel width. There was greater between‐river and between‐reach variability in all temperature metrics in lower‐order rivers indicating that increased monitoring effort should be focussed at these smaller scales. The combination of strategic network design and recently developed spatial statistical approaches employed in this study have not been used in previous studies of river temperature. The resulting catchment scale temperature models provide a valuable quantitative tool for understanding and predicting river temperature variability at the catchment scales relevant to land use planning and fisheries management and provide a template for future studies.     

Above‐stream microclimate and stream surface energy exchanges in a wildfire‐disturbed riparian zone

Stream temperature and riparian microclimate were characterized for a 1·5 km wildfire‐disturbed reach of Fishtrap Creek, located north of Kamloops, British Columbia. A deterministic net radiation model was developed using hemispherical canopy images coupled with on‐site microclimate measurements. Modelled net radiation agreed reasonably with measured net radiation. Air temperature and humidity measured at two locations above the stream, separated by 900 m, were generally similar, whereas wind speed was poorly correlated between the two sites. Modelled net radiation varied considerably along the reach, and measurements at a single location did not provide a reliable estimate of the modelled reach average. During summer, net radiation dominated the surface heat exchanges, particularly because the sensible and latent heat fluxes were normally of opposite sign and thus tended to cancel each other. All surface heat fluxes shifted to negative values in autumn and were of similar magnitude through winter. In March, net radiation became positive, but heat gains were cancelled by sensible and latent heat fluxes, which remained negative. A modelling exercise using three canopy cover scenarios (current, simulated pre‐wildfire and simulated complete vegetation removal) showed that net radiation under the standing dead trees was double that modelled for the pre‐fire canopy cover. However, post‐disturbance standing dead trees reduce daytime net radiation reaching the stream surface by one‐third compared with complete vegetation removal. The results of this study have highlighted the need to account for reach‐scale spatial variability of energy exchange processes, especially net radiation, when modelling stream energy budgets. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Air/water/sediment temperature contrasts in small streams to identify groundwater seepage locations

The need to identify groundwater seepage locations is of great importance for managing both stream water quality and groundwater sourced ecosystems due to their dependency on groundwater‐borne nutrients and temperatures. Although several reconnaissance methods using temperature as tracer exist, these are subjected to limitations related to mainly the spatial and temporal resolution and/or mixing of groundwater and surface water leading to dilution of the temperature differences. Further, some methods, for example, thermal imagery and fiber optic distributed temperature sensing, although relative efficient in detecting temperature differences over larger distances, these are labor‐intensive and costly. Therefore, there is a need for additional cost‐effective methods identifying substantial groundwater seepage locations. We present a method expanding the linear regression of air and stream temperatures by measuring the temperatures in dual‐depth; in the stream column and at the streambed‐water interface (SWI). By doing so, we apply metrics from linear regression analysis of temperatures between air/stream and air/SWI (linear regression slope, intercept, and coefficient of determination), and the daily water temperature cycle (daily mean temperatures, temperature variance, and the mean diel temperature fluctuation). We show that using metrics from only single‐depth stream temperature measurements are insufficient to identify substantial groundwater seepage locations in a head‐water stream. Conversely, comparing the metrics from dual‐depth temperatures show significant differences; at groundwater seepage locations, temperatures at the SWI merely explain 43–75% of the variation opposed to ? 91% at the corresponding stream column temperatures. In general, at these locations at the SWI, the slopes ( < 0.25) and intercepts ( > 6.5 °C) are substantially lower and higher, respectively, while the mean diel temperature fluctuations ( < 0.98 °C) are decreased compared to remaining locations. The dual‐depth approach was applied in a post‐glacial fluvial setting, where metrics analyses overall corroborated with field measurements of groundwater fluxes and stream flow accretions. Thus, we propose a method reliably identifying groundwater seepage locations along streambeds in such settings.     

T‐NET,a dynamic model for simulating daily stream temperature at the regional scale based on a network topology

Currently, the distribution areas of aquatic species are studied by using air temperature as a proxy of water temperature, which is not available at a regional scale. To simulate water temperature at a regional scale, a physically based model using the equilibrium temperature concept and including upstream‐downstream propagation of the thermal signal is proposed. This model, called Temperature‐NETwork (T‐NET), is based on a hydrographical network topology and was tested at the Loire basin scale (10⁵ km²). The T‐NET model obtained a mean root mean square error of 1.6 °C at a daily time step on the basis of 128 water temperature stations (2008–2012). The model obtained excellent performance at stations located on small and medium rivers (distance from headwater <100 km) that are strongly influenced by headwater conditions (median root mean square error of 1.8 °C). The shading factor and the headwater temperature were the most important variables on the mean simulated temperature, while the river discharge influenced the daily temperature variation and diurnal amplitude. The T‐NET model simulates specific events, such as temperature of the Loire during the floods of June 1992 and the thermal regime response of streams during the heatwave of August 2003, much more efficiently than a simple point‐scale heat balance model. The T‐NET model is very consistent at a regional scale and could easily be transposed to changing forcing conditions and to other catchments. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A spatially distributed model for the assessment of land use impacts on stream temperature in small urban watersheds

Stream temperatures in urban watersheds are influenced to a high degree by changes in landscape and climate, which can occur at small temporal and spatial scales. Here, we describe a modelling system that integrates the distributed hydrologic soil vegetation model with the semi‐Lagrangian stream temperature model RBM. It has the capability to simulate spatially distributed hydrology and water temperature over the entire network at high time and space resolutions, as well as to represent riparian shading effects on stream temperatures. We demonstrate the modelling system through application to the Mercer Creek watershed, a small urban catchment near Bellevue, Washington. The results suggest that the model was able to produce realistic streamflow and water temperature predictions that are consistent with observations. We use the modelling construct to characterize impacts of land use change and near‐stream vegetation change on stream temperatures and explore the sensitivity of stream temperature to changes in land use and riparian vegetation. The results suggest that, notwithstanding general warming as a result of climate change over the last century, there have been concurrent increases in low flows as a result of urbanization and deforestation, which more or less offset the effects of a warmer climate on stream temperatures. On the other hand, loss of riparian vegetation plays a more important role in modulating water temperatures, in particular, on annual maximum temperature (around 4 °C), which could be mostly reversed by restoring riparian vegetation in a fairly narrow corridor – a finding that has important implications for management of the riparian corridor. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of river discharge on hyporheic exchange flows in salmon spawning areas of a large gravel‐bed river

The flow magnitude and timing from hydroelectric dams in the Snake River Basin of the Pacific north‐western US is managed in part for the benefit of salmon. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effects of Hells Canyon Dam discharge operations on hydrologic exchange flows between the river and riverbed in Snake River fall Chinook salmon spawning areas. Interactions between river water and pore water within the upper 1 m of the riverbed were quantified through the use of self‐contained temperature and water level data loggers suspended inside of piezometers. The data were recorded at 20 min intervals over a period of 200 days when the mean daily discharge was 218–605 m³ s^?1, with hourly stage changes as large as 1·9 m. Differences in head pressure between the river and riverbed were small, often within ± 2 cm. Measured temperature gradients in the riverbed indicated significant interactions between the surface and subsurface water. At the majority of sites, neither hydraulic nor temperature gradients were significantly affected by either short‐ or long‐term changes in discharge operations from Hells Canyon Dam. Only 2 of 14 study sites exhibited acute flux reversals between the river and riverbed resulting from short‐term, large magnitude changes in discharge. The findings suggest that local scale measurements may not be wholly explanatory of the hydrological exchange between the river and riverbed. The processes controlling surface water exchange at the study sites are likely to be bedform‐induced advective pumping, turbulence at the riverbed surface, and large‐scale hydraulic gradients along the longitudinal profile of the riverbed. By incorporating the knowledge of hydrological exchange processes into water management planning, regional agencies will be better prepared to manage the limited water resources among competing priorities that include salmon recovery, flood control, irrigation supply, hydropower production, and recreation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Study of stream temperature dynamics and corresponding heat fluxes within Miramichi River catchments (New Brunswick,Canada)

Water temperature is a key physical habitat determinant in lotic ecosystems as it influences many physical, chemical, and biological properties of rivers. Hence, a good understanding of the thermal regime of rivers and river heat fluxes is essential for effective management of water and fisheries resources. This study dealt with the modelling of river water temperature using a deterministic model. This model calculated the different heat fluxes at the water surface and from the streambed using different hydrometeorological conditions. The water temperature model was applied on two watercourses of different sizes and thermal characteristics, but within a similar meteorological region, namely, the Little Southwest Miramichi River and Catamaran Brook (New Brunswick, Canada). The model was also applied using microclimate data, i.e. meteorological conditions within the river environment (1–2 m above the water surface), for a better estimation of river heat fluxes. Water temperatures at different depths within the riverbed were also used to estimate the streambed heat fluxes. Results showed that microclimate data were essential to get accurate estimates of the surface heat fluxes. Results also showed that for larger river systems, the surface heat fluxes were generally the dominant component of the heat budget with a correspondingly smaller contribution from the streambed. As watercourses became smaller and groundwater contribution more significant, the streambed contribution became important. For instance, approximately 80% of the heat fluxes occurred at the surface for Catamaran Brook (20% from the streambed) whereas the Little Southwest Miramichi River showed values closer to 90% (10% from the streambed). As was reported in previous studies, the solar radiation input dominated the contribution to the heat gain at 63% for Catamaran Brook and 89% for Little Southwest Miramichi River. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Diurnal timing of warmer air under climate change affects magnitude,timing and duration of stream temperature change

Stream temperature will be subject to changes because of atmospheric warming in the future. We investigated the effects of the diurnal timing of air temperature changes – daytime warming versus nighttime warming – on stream temperature. Using the physically based model, Heat Source, we performed a sensitivity analysis of summer stream temperatures to three diurnal air temperature distributions of +4 °C mean air temperature: i) uniform increase over the whole day, ii) warmer daytime and iii) warmer nighttime. The stream temperature model was applied to a 37‐km section of the Middle Fork John Day River in northeastern Oregon, USA. The three diurnal air temperature distributions generated 7‐day average daily maximum stream temperatures increases of approximately +1.8 °C ± 0.1 °C at the downstream end of the study section. The three air temperature distributions, with the same daily mean, generated different ranges of stream temperatures, different 7‐day average daily maximum temperatures, different durations of stream temperature changes and different average daily temperatures in most parts of the reach. The stream temperature changes were out of phase with air temperature changes, and therefore in many places, the greatest daytime increase in stream temperature was caused by nighttime warming of air temperatures. Stream temperature changes tended to be more extreme and of longer duration when driven by air temperatures concentrated in either daytime or nighttime instead of uniformly distributed across the diurnal cycle. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Combined influences of irrigation diversions and associated subsurface return flows on river temperature in a semi-arid region

Irrigation activities alter water distribution and storage in arid and semi-arid regions worldwide. The removal of water from streams can drastically impact instream flows. However, irrigation water conveyance and application onto fields can create surface and subsurface hydrologic connections, or lateral inflows, that return some of this diverted water back to streams. Prior research has shown the impact of surface water diversions from streams on downstream warming that increases stress on aquatic species. However, the combined effects of flow depletion and irrigation-enhanced lateral inflows on stream temperature and river ecosystems remains poorly studied. To further understand these relationships, we combined intensive field monitoring over three irrigation seasons and thermal aerial imagery to identify irrigation-enhanced subsurface lateral inflow locations and evaluate their effects on stream flow and temperature patterns over a 2.5-km highly depleted study reach. Considering variable hydrology, weather, flow diversions, channel geometry and lateral inflows, we found irrigation-enhanced lateral inflows were the likely explanation for buffered longitudinal and diel warming patterns that prevented stressful or lethal thermal conditions for brown trout. These localized temperature effects were more pronounced in drier years, under high diversion rates and during high solar radiation intensity. We also found that lateral inflows corresponded with greater spatial variability of stream temperatures and potential thermal refugia. Study results illustrate the potential ecological consequences of reducing irrigation-enhanced lateral inflows and highlight the importance of hydrologic monitoring in irrigated arid river valleys. The role and preservation of these lateral inflows should be considered in water resources management related to irrigation efficiency and environmental flows.     

Long‐wave radiation and heat flux estimates within a small tributary in Catamaran Brook (New Brunswick,Canada)

River water temperature is an important water quality parameter that also influences most aquatic life. Physical processes influencing water temperature in rivers are highly complex. This is especially true for the estimation of river heat exchange processes that are highly dependent on good estimates of radiation fluxes. Furthermore, very few studies were found within the stream temperature dynamic literature where the different radiation components have been measured and compared at the stream level (at microclimate conditions). Therefore, this study presents results on hydrometeorological conditions for a small tributary within Catamaran Brook (part of the Miramichi River system, New Brunswick, Canada) with the following specific objectives: (1) to compare between stream microclimate and remote meteorological conditions, (2) to compare measured long‐wave radiation data with those calculated from an analytical model, and (3), to calculate the corresponding river heat fluxes. The most salient findings of this study are (1) solar radiation and wind speed are parameters that are highly site specific within the river environment and play an important role in the estimation of river heat fluxes; (2) the incoming, outgoing, and net long‐wave radiation within the stream environment (under the forest canopy) can be effectively calculated using empirical formula; (3) at the study site more than 80% of the incoming long‐wave radiation was coming from the forest; (4) total energy gains were dominated by solar radiation flux (for all the study periods) followed by the net long‐wave radiation (during some periods) whereas energy losses were coming from both the net long‐wave radiation and evaporation. Conductive heat fluxes have a minor contribution from the overall heat budget (<3·5%); (5) the reflected short‐wave radiation at the water surface was calculated on average as 3·2%, which is consistent with literature values. Results of this study contribute towards a better understanding of river heat fluxes and water temperature models as well as for more effective aquatic resources and fisheries management. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reducing monitoring gaps at the aquifer–river interface by modelling groundwater–surface water exchange flow patterns

This study investigates spatial patterns and temporal dynamics of aquifer–river exchange flow at a reach of the River Leith, UK. Observations of sub‐channel vertical hydraulic gradients at the field site indicate the dominance of groundwater up‐welling into the river and the absence of groundwater recharge from surface water. However, observed hydraulic heads do not provide information on potential surface water infiltration into the top 0–15 cm of the streambed as these depths are not covered by the existing experimental infrastructure. In order to evaluate whether surface water infiltration is likely to occur outside the ‘window of detection’, i.e. the shallow streambed, a numerical groundwater model is used to simulate hydrological exchanges between the aquifer and the river. Transient simulations of the successfully validated model (Nash and Sutcliff efficiency of 0·91) suggest that surface water infiltration is marginal and that the possibility of significant volumes of surface water infiltrating into non‐monitored shallow streambed sediments can be excluded for the simulation period. Furthermore, the simulation results show that with increasing head differences between river and aquifer towards the end of the simulation period, the impact of streambed topography and hydraulic conductivity on spatial patterns of exchange flow rates decreases. A set of peak flow scenarios with altered groundwater‐surface water head gradients is simulated in order to quantify the potential for surface water infiltration during characteristic winter flow conditions following the observation period. The results indicate that, particularly at the beginning of peak flow conditions, head gradients are likely to cause substantial increase in surface water infiltration into the streambed. The study highlights the potential for the improvement of process understanding of hyporheic exchange flow patterns at the stream reach scale by simulating aquifer‐river exchange fluxes with a standard numerical groundwater model and a simple but robust model structure and parameterization. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.