Evaluating the effect of snow and ice melt in an Alpine headwater catchment and further downstream in the River Rhine

Abstract

The runoff regime of glacierized headwater catchments in the Alps is essentially characterized by snow and ice melt. High Alpine drainage basins influence distant downstream catchments of the Rhine River basin. In particular, during the summer months, low-flow conditions are probable with strongly reduced snow and ice melt under climate change conditions. This study attempts to quantify present and future contributions from snow and ice melt to summer runoff at different spatial scales. For the small Silvretta catchment (103 km²) in the Swiss Alps, with a glacierization of 7%, the HBV model and the glacio-hydrological model GERM are applied for calculating future runoff based on different regional climate scenarios. We evaluate the importance of snow and ice melt in the runoff regime. Comparison of the models indicates that the HBV model strongly overestimates the future contribution of glacier melt to runoff, as glaciers are considered as static components. Furthermore, we provide estimates of the current meltwater contribution of glaciers for several catchments downstream on the River Rhine during the month of August. Snow and ice melt processes have a significant direct impact on summer runoff, not only for high mountain catchments, but also for large transboundary basins. A future shift in the hydrological regime and the disappearance of glaciers might favour low-flow conditions during summer along the Rhine.

Citation Junghans, N., Cullmann, J. & Huss, M. (2011) Evaluating the effect of snow and ice melt in an Alpine headwater catchment and further downstream in the River Rhine. Hydrol. Sci. J. 56(6), 981–993.     

Identification of appropriate lags and temporal resolutions for low flow indicators in the River Rhine to forecast low flows with different lead times

The aim of this paper is to assess the relative importance of low flow indicators for the River Rhine and to identify their appropriate temporal lag and resolution. This is done in the context of low flow forecasting with lead times of 14 and 90 days. First, the Rhine basin is subdivided into seven sub‐basins. By considering the dominant processes in the sub‐basins, five low flow indicators were selected: precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, groundwater storage, snow storage and lake storage. Correlation analysis was then carried out to determine the relationship between observed low flows and preselected indicators with varying lags (days) and temporal resolutions (from 1 day to 7 months). The results show that the most important low flow indicators in the Alpine sub‐basins for forecasts with a lead time of 14 days are potential evapotranspiration with a large lag and temporal resolution, and lake levels with a small lag and temporal resolution. In the other sub‐basins groundwater levels with a small lag and temporal resolution are important in addition to potential evapotranspiration with a large lag and temporal resolution. The picture is slightly different for forecasts with a lead time of 90 days. The snow storage in the Alpine sub‐basins and the precipitation in the other sub‐basins also become relevant for low flows. Consequently, the most important low flow indicators in the Alpine sub‐basins for forecasts with a lead time of 90 days are potential evapotranspiration with a large lag and temporal resolution, lake levels with a small lag and temporal resolution and snow storage with a small lag and large temporal resolution. The resultant correlation maps provide appropriate lags and temporal resolutions for indicators to forecast low flows in the River Rhine with different lead times. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Quantification of parametric uncertainty of ANN models with GLUE method for different streamflow dynamics

This study describes the parametric uncertainty of artificial neural networks (ANNs) by employing the generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) method. The ANNs are used to forecast daily streamflow for three sub-basins of the Rhine Basin (East Alpine, Main, and Mosel) having different hydrological and climatological characteristics. We have obtained prior parameter distributions from 5000 ANNs in the training period to capture the parametric uncertainty and subsequently 125,000 correlated parameter sets were generated. These parameter sets were used to quantify the uncertainty in the forecasted streamflow in the testing period using three uncertainty measures: percentage of coverage, average relative length, and average asymmetry degree. The results indicated that the highest uncertainty was obtained for the Mosel sub-basin and the lowest for the East Alpine sub-basin mainly due to hydro-climatic differences between these basins. The prediction results and uncertainty estimates of the proposed methodology were compared to the direct ensemble and bootstrap methods. The GLUE method successfully captured the observed discharges with the generated prediction intervals, especially the peak flows. It was also illustrated that uncertainty bands are sensitive to the selection of the threshold value for the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency measure used in the GLUE method by employing the Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test.     

Suspended sediment dynamics in a large drainage basin: the River Rhine

The behaviour of suspended sediment in rivers is often a function of energy conditions, i.e. sediment is stored at low flow and transported under high discharge conditions. The timing of maximum sediment transport can, however, also be related to mixing and routing of water and sediment from different sources. In this study suspended sediment transport was studied in the River Rhine between Kaub and the German–Dutch border. As concentrations decrease over a runoff season and as the relationship between water discharge and suspended sediment concentrations during most floods is characterized by clockwise hysteresis, it is concluded that sediment depletion occurs during a hydrological year and during individual floods. However, analyses of the sediment contribution from the River Mosel indicate that clockwise hysteresis may result from sediment depletion as well as from early sediment supply from a tributary. Thus, although the suspended sediment behaviour in the downstream part of the River Rhine is partly a transport phenomenon related to energy conditions, mixing and routing of water from different sources also plays an important role. Suspended sediment transport during floods was modelled using a ‘supply‐based’ model. Addition of a sediment supply term to the sediment rating curve leads to a model that produces better estimates of instantaneous suspended sediment concentrations during high discharge events. A major constriction of the model is that it cannot be used to predict suspended sediment concentrations as long as the amount of sediment in storage and the timing of sediment supply are unknown. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydrological regime of remote catchments with extreme gradients under accelerated change: the Baker basin in Patagonia

Abstract

The Baker basin (27 000 km²) is located in one of the most pristine and remote areas of the planet. Its hydrological regime is poised to undergo dramatic changes in the near future due to hydropower development and climate change. The basin contains the second-largest lake in South America, and part of a major icefield. This study documents the natural baseline of the Baker River basin, discusses the main hydrological modes and analyses the potential for sustainable management. Annual precipitation varies several-fold from the eastern Patagonian steppes to the North Patagonian Icefield. The westernmost sub-basins are strongly governed by glacier melt with a peak discharge in the austral summer (January–March). The easternmost sub-basins have a much more seasonal response governed by quicker snowmelt in spring (November–December), while they exhibit low flows typical for semi-arid regions during summer and autumn. Topography, vegetation and wetlands may also influence streamflow. The strong spatio-temporal gradients and variability highlight the need for further monitoring, particularly in the headwaters, especially given the severe changes these basins are expected to undergo. The great diversity of hydrological controls and climate change pose significant challenges for hydrological prediction and management.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz

Citation Dussaillant, J.A., Buytaert, W., Meier, C., and Espinoza, F. 2012. Hydrological regime of remote catchments with extreme gradients under accelerated change: the Baker basin in Patagonia. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 57 (8), 1530–1542.     

Spatial variability in specific discharge and streamwater chemistry during low flows: Results from snapshot sampling campaigns in eleven Swiss catchments

Catchments consist of distinct landforms that affect the storage and release of subsurface water. Certain landforms may be the main contributors to streamflow during extended dry periods, and these may vary for different catchments in a given region. We present a unique dataset from snapshot field campaigns during low‐flow conditions in 11 catchments across Switzerland to illustrate this. The catchments differed in size (10 to 110 km²), varied from predominantly agricultural lowlands to Alpine areas, and covered a range of physical characteristics. During each snapshot campaign, we jointly measured streamflow and collected water samples for the analysis of major ions and stable water isotopes. For every sampling location (basin), we determined several landscape characteristics from national geo‐datasets, including drainage area, elevation, slope, flowpath length, dominant land use, and geological and geomorphological characteristics, such as the lithology and fraction of quaternary deposits. The results demonstrate very large spatial variability in specific low‐flow discharge and water chemistry: Neighboring sampling locations could differ significantly in their specific discharge, isotopic composition, and ion concentrations, indicating that different sources contribute to streamflow during extended dry periods. However, none of the landscape characteristics that we analysed could explain the spatial variability in specific discharge or streamwater chemistry in multiple catchments. This suggests that local features determine the spatial differences in discharge and water chemistry during low‐flow conditions and that this variability cannot be assessed a priori from available geodata and statistical relations to landscape characteristics. The results furthermore suggest that measurements at the catchment outlet during low‐flow conditions do not reflect the heterogeneity of the different source areas in the catchment that contribute to streamflow.     

Simulating Groundwater-Streamflow Connections in the Upper Colorado River Basin

In mountain, snow driven catchments, snowmelt is supposed to be the primary contribution to river streamflows during spring. In these catchments the contribution of groundwater is not well documented because of the difficulty to monitor groundwater in such complex environment with deep aquifers. In this study we use an integrated hydrologic model to conduct numerical experiments that help quantify the effect of lateral groundwater flow on total annual and peak streamflow in predevelopment conditions. Our simulations focus on the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB; 2.8 × 10⁵ km²) a well-documented mountain catchment for which both streamflow and water table measurements are available for several important sub-basins. For the simulated water year, our results suggest an increase in peak flow of up to 57% when lateral groundwater flow processes are included—an unexpected result for flood conditions generally assumed independent of groundwater. Additionally, inclusion of lateral groundwater flow moderately improved the model match to observations. The correlation coefficient for mean annual flows improved from 0.84 for the no lateral groundwater flow simulation to 0.98 for the lateral groundwater flow one. Spatially we see more pronounced differences between lateral and no lateral groundwater flow cases in areas of the domain with steeper topography. We also found distinct differences in the magnitude and spatial distribution of streamflow changes with and without lateral groundwater flow between Upper Colorado River Sub-basins. A sensitivity test that scaled hydraulic conductivity over two orders of magnitude was conducted for the lateral groundwater flow simulations. These results show that the impact of lateral groundwater flow is as large or larger than an order of magnitude change in hydraulic conductivity. While our results focus on the UCRB, we feel that these simulations have relevance to other headwaters systems worldwide.     

Factors controlling sediment yield in a major South American drainage basin: the Magdalena River,Colombia

The Magdalena River, a major fluvial system draining most of the Colombian Andes, has the highest sediment yield of any medium-sized or large river in South America. We examined sediment yield and its response to control variables in the Magdalena drainage basin based on a multi-year dataset of sediment loads from 32 tributary catchments. Various morphometric, hydrologic, and climatic variables were estimated in order to understand and predict the variation in sediment yield. Sediment yield varies from 128 to 2200 t km⁻² yr⁻¹ for catchments ranging from 320 to 59,600 km². The mean sediment yield for 32 sub-basins within the Magdalena basin is ∼690 t km⁻² yr⁻¹. Mean annual runoff is the dominant control and explains 51% of the observed variance in sediment yield. A multiple regression model, including two control variables, runoff and maximum water discharge, explains 58% of the variance. This model is efficient (ME=0.89) and is a valuable tool for predicting total sediment yield from tributary catchments in the Magdalena basin. Multiple correlations for those basins corresponding to the upper Magdalena, middle basin, Eastern Cordillera, and catchment areas greater than 2000 km², explain 75, 77, 89, and 78% of the variance in sediment yield, respectively. Although more variance is explained when dataset are grouped into categories, the models are less efficient (ME<0.72). Within the spatially distributed models, six catchment variables predict sediment yield, including runoff, precipitation, precipitation peakedness, mean elevation, mean water discharge, and relief. These estimators are related to the relative importance of climate and weathering, hillslope erosion, and fluvial transport processes. Time series analysis indicates that significant increases in sediment load have occurred over 68% of the catchment area, while 31% have experienced a decreasing trend in sediment load and thus yield. Land use analysis and increasing sediment load trends indicate that erosion within the catchment has increased over the last 10–20 years.     

Urban hydrologic trend analysis based on rainfall and runoff data analysis and conceptual model calibration

Urban stormwater is a major cause of urban flooding and natural water pollution. It is therefore important to assess any hydrologic trends in urban catchments for stormwater management and planning. This study addresses urban hydrological trend analysis by examining trends in variables that characterize hydrological processes. The original and modified Mann‐Kendall methods are applied to trend detection in two French catchments, that is, Chassieu and La Lechere, based on approximately 1 decade of data from local monitoring programs. In both catchments, no trend is found in the major hydrological process driver (i.e., rainfall variables), whereas increasing trends are detected in runoff flow rates. As a consequence, the runoff coefficients tend to increase during the study period, probably due to growing imperviousness with the local urbanization process. In addition, conceptual urban rainfall‐runoff model parameters, which are identified via model calibration with an event based approach, are examined. Trend detection results indicate that there is no trend in the time of concentration in Chassieu, whereas a decreasing trend is present in La Lechere, which, however, needs to be validated with additional data. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the original Mann‐Kendall method is not sensitive to a few noisy values in the data series.     

Multi-thread river channels: A perspective on changing European alpine river systems

Rivers are natural systems whose planform pattern in alluvial reaches reflects a balance between three fundamental ingredients: flow energy, sediment calibre and supply, and vegetation. Whilst early research on river channel classification emphasised flow (stream power) and sediment controls, the impact of vegetation is now recognised in increasingly detailed classification schemes. Different planform patterns are more or less sensitive to changes in these three fundamental ingredients, which in the absence of human interventions all respond to changes in climate, allowing different morphological configurations to evolve and in some cases shift from one planform style to another. Multi-thread, braided and transitional river channel styles are common in European regions where conditions for the development of these planform styles, notably high bed material supply and steep channel gradients, exist. However, widespread, intense human impacts on European river systems, particularly over recent centuries, have caused major changes in river styles. Human activities impact on all three major controls on channel pattern: flow regime, sediment regime, vegetation (both riparian and catchment-wide). Whilst the mix of human activities may vary greatly between catchments, research from across Europe on the historical evolution of river systems has identified consistent trends in channel pattern change, particularly within rivers draining the Alps. These trends involve periods of narrowing and widening, and also switching between multi-thread and single-thread styles. Although flow regulation is often the key focus of explanations for human-induced channel change, our review suggests that human manipulation of sediment supply is a major, possibly the dominant, causal factor. We also suggest that “engineering” by riparian trees can accelerate transitions in pattern induced by flow and sediment change and can also shift transition thresholds, offering a new perspective for interpretation of channel change in addition to the focus on flow and sediment regime within existing models. Whilst the development of planform classifications of increasing complexity have been crucial in developing terminology and highlighting the main factors that control channel styles, additional approaches are needed to understand, predict and manage European Alpine river systems. A combination of field, laboratory and numerical modeling approaches are needed to advance the process understanding that is necessary to anticipate river landscape, particularly planform, changes and thus to make ecologically sound management choices.     

Insights into agricultural influences and weathering processes from major ion patterns

Karst areas and their catchments pose a great challenge for protection because fast conduit flow results in low natural attenuation of anthropogenic contaminants. Studies of the hydrochemistry of karst sources and river solutes are an important tool for securing and managing water resources. A study of the geochemical downriver evolution of the Wiesent River and its tributaries, located in a typical karst terrain, revealed unexpected downstream decreases of nitrate with maximum mean values of 30 mg/L at the source to minimum values of 18 mg/L near the river mouth. This trend persisted over the length of the river even though increased agricultural activities are evident in the downstream section of the catchment. This pattern is caused by fertilizer inputs via diffusive and fast conduits flow from karst lithology in the upstream area that may have reached the river's source even from beyond the hydrological catchment boundaries. Further downstream, these influences became diluted by tributary inputs that drain subcatchments dominated by claystone and sandstone lithologies that increased potassium and sulphate concentrations. Our findings indicate that bedrock geology remains the dominant control on the major ion chemistry of the Wiesent River and that agricultural influences are strongest near the headwaters despite increased land use further downstream, due to long‐term storage and accumulation in karst aquifers. This feature may not be unique to the Wiesent River system, as carbonates cover significant portions of the Earth's surface and subsequent work in other river systems could establish whether such patterns are ubiquitous worldwide.     

Characterization of contrasting flow and thermal regimes in two adjacent subarctic alpine headwaters in Northwest Canada

Alpine headwaters in subarctic regions are particularly sensitive to climate change, yet there is little information on stream thermal regimes in these areas and how they might respond to global warming. In this paper, we characterize and compare the hydrological and thermal regimes of two subarctic headwater alpine streams within an empirical framework. The streams investigated are located within two adjacent catchments with similar geology, size, elevation and landscape, Granger Creek (GC) and Buckbrush Creek (BB), which are part of the Wolf Creek Research Basin in the Yukon Territory, Canada. Hydrometeorological and high-resolution stream temperature data were collected throughout summer 2016. Both sites exhibited a flow regime typical of cold alpine headwater catchments influenced by frozen ground and permafrost. Comparatively, GC was characterized by a flashier response with more extreme flows, than BB. In both sites, stream temperature was highly variable and very responsive to short-term changes in climatic conditions. On average, stream temperature in BB was slightly higher than in GC (respectively 5.8 and 5.7°C), but less variable (average difference between 75th and 25th quantiles of 1.6 and 2.0°C). Regression analysis between mean daily air and stream temperature suggested that a greater relative (to stream flow) groundwater contribution in BB could more effectively buffer atmospheric fluctuations. Heat fluxes were derived and utilized to assess their relative contribution to the energy balance. Overall, non-advective fluxes followed a daily pattern highly correlated to short-wave radiation. G1enerally, solar radiation and latent heat were respectively the most important heat source and sink, while air–water interface processes were major factors driving nighttime stream temperature fluctuations.     

Influence of afforestation on water regime in Jizera Catchments,Czech Republic

This paper studies the influence of afforestation on the water regime in two catchments in the Jizera Mountains that are similar in size and altitude but have different afforestation pattern. In this paper a range of different modelling tools is used to establish whether the differences in catchment water regime can be quantified and attributed to differences in catchment characteristics. Frequency analysis of low and high flows and a number and duration of flows over a threshold value are used to look for the differences in flow regime in both catchments. Low flow conditions are modelled using the Wittenberg nonlinear store approach. A rainfall-runoff process is modelled using a Data Based Mechanistic approach. The results indicate that the differences in the catchment response to external climatic factors outweigh the influence of land use apart from the low flows, where the changes in the response might be attributed to afforestation.     

Modelling floodplain sedimentation using particle tracking

Both climate change and river rehabilitation projects induce changes in floodplain sedimentation. Notably along the lower River Rhine, the sediment deposition patterns and rates are subject to change. To assess the magnitude of these changes, we developed the MoCSED model, a floodplain sedimentation model within a geographical information system for the lower Rhine River. We based MoCSED on the ‘method of characteristics’ (MoC), a particle tracking method that minimizes numerical dispersion. We implemented the MoCSED model in the PCRaster dynamic modelling language. The model input comprises initial suspended sediment concentrations, water levels, flow velocities, and longitudinal and transverse dispersivities. We used a combination of the Krone and Chen concepts to calculate the subsequent sedimentation (SED routine). We compared the model results with sediment trap data for the Bemmel floodplain along the Dutch Waal River during the 2003 inundation. This comparison showed that MoCSED was able to simulate the pattern of sediment deposition. In addition, the model proved to be an improvement in comparison with a conventional raster‐based floodplain sedimentation model for the lower River Rhine. In future, MoCSED may serve well to study the impact of a changing discharge regime due to climate change and floodplain rehabilitation plans on deposition of sediments. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unsupervised hydrologic classification of rivers: Watershed controls on natural and anthropogenic flow regimes,Alabama, USA

Watershed hydrology has often focused on modelling studies of individual watersheds, which consider each river system as unique. Classification is an alternative approach that instead focuses on the similarities among different watersheds. Although both supervised and unsupervised hydrologic classifications have been developed, few previous studies have used classification to assess the degree of anthropogenic modification of hydrologic regime. Here, we conducted an unsupervised hydrologic classification of 189 U.S. Geological Survey gages, including 41 minimally impacted gages from the Hydro‐Climatic Data Network (HCDN), in the five major interstate river basins in the U.S. state of Alabama. For the natural classification, the most significant predictor variables for cluster membership were related to compressive strength of bedrock, bedrock depth, hydraulic conductivity, elevation, temperature, and soil texture, and several land‐cover variables were also significant in the anthropogenic classification. We then developed two random‐forest models: one based on all 189 gages using both natural and anthropogenic variables from the Stream‐Catchment (StreamCat) dataset and one based on the 41 HCDN gages using natural StreamCat variables only. We used the random‐forest models to predict natural and anthropogenic normative hydrologic class for over 158,000 National Hydrography Dataset Plus catchments in the study area. Catchments that changed their class between the natural and anthropogenic classifications can be identified as those that have a large amount of anthropogenic influences on their hydrologic regime, including many catchments on the coast, in the north‐western Coastal Plain, in the Interior Low Plateaus, and in the Piedmont. Using unsupervised hydrologic classifications is a promising approach for uncovering the physical processes that affect hydrologic regime. There are also potential applications in river management, including predicting the hydrologic behaviour of ungaged watersheds, identifying relatively unimpaired rivers to serve as conservation and restoration targets, and regionalization of environmental instream flow standards and climate‐change impacts.     

The identification of hydrological indices for the characterization of macroinvertebrate community response to flow regime variability

Abstract

The importance of flow regime variability for maintaining ecological functioning and integrity of river ecosystems has been firmly established in both natural and anthropogenically modified systems. River flow regimes across lowland catchments in eastern England are examined using 47 variables, including those derived using the Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA) software. A principal component analysis method was used to identify redundant hydrological variables and those that best characterized the hydrological series (1986–2005). A small number of variables (<6) characterized up to 95% of the statistical variability in the flow series. The hydrological processes and conditions that the variables represent were found to be significant in structuring the in-stream macroinvertebrate community Lotic-invertebrate Index for Flow Evaluation (LIFE) scores at both the family and species levels. However, hydrological variables only account for a relatively small proportion of the total ecological variability (typically <10%). The research indicates that a range of other factors, including channel morphology and anthropogenic modification of in-stream habitats, structure riverine macroinvertebrate communities in addition to hydrology. These factors need to be considered in future environmental flow studies to enable the characterization of baseline/reference conditions for management and restoration purposes.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Guest editor M. Acreman

Citation Worrall, T.P., Dunbar, M.J., Extence, C.A., Laizé, C.L.R., Monk, W.A., and Wood, P.J., 2014. The identification of hydrological indices for the characterization of macroinvertebrate community response to flow regime variability. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 59 (3–4), 645–658.     

Controls on modern alluvial fan processes in the central Alps,northern Italy

Alluvial fan development in Alpine areas is often affected by catastrophic sedimentary processes associated with extreme ?oods events, causing serious risks for people living on the fans. Hazard assessment in these areas depends on proper identi?cation of the dominant sedimentary processes on the fans. Data from a set of 209 alluvial fans from the central Alps of Italy are presented in this paper and analysed with the help of various statistical techniques (linear regression, principal components analysis, cluster analysis, discriminant analysis and logistic regression). First, we used modern sedimentary facies and historical records (?ood events since 15th century), to distinguish between the two dominant sedimentary processes on alluvial fans: debris ?ows and stream?ows. Then, in order to analyse the main controls on past and present fan processes, 36 morphological, geological and land‐use variables were analysed. As with observations for arid‐environment fans, catchment morphology is the most in?uential factor in the study area, whereas geology and land use are minor controls. The role of climatic change and landsliding within the catchments also seems to be very important and is discussed. Statistical techniques also help in differentiating groups of alluvial fans by sets of controlling factors, including stage and type of evolution. Finally, by using discriminant analysis and logistic regression, we classi?ed alluvial fans according to the dominant sedimentary process, with a success rate ranging between 75 and 92 per cent. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Which baseflow metrics should be used in assessing flow regimes of urban streams?

Determining the impact of urbanisation on baseflow is complex because of the multiplicity of factors that govern subsurface flows. Although many metrics are available to quantify the baseflow regime, the lack of consensus on which metrics need to be used for baseflow characterisation limit their practical application for stormwater management. We performed principal component and correlation analyses on a set of 32 baseflow metrics to identify a subset of non‐redundant metrics for baseflow characterisation. We compared the results for streamflow time series from natural and urban catchments. We found that a subset of five metrics, including at least one metric from each of the four ecologically significant flow characteristic groups (i.e. magnitude, duration, frequency, and timing), explained most of the variability in baseflow regime for both natural and urban catchments. In addition, we analysed the relationship between this set of metrics and some low flow percentiles obtained from flow duration curves. Flow percentiles were only highly correlated to the magnitude and duration metrics, confirming that flow duration curves could be satisfactorily used for baseflow characterisation, but in combination with metrics representing frequency and timing. Metrics based on integration of the flow duration curve, however, cannot simply substitute the consideration of a suite of metrics. We discuss the practicality of our results with a regional regression study; the analyses show how the metrics can be used to quantify the alterations to baseflow caused by urbanisation, and to determine baseflow restoration objectives for urbanised catchments based on pre‐development baseflow regime. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydrological responses to rainfall events including the extratropical cyclone Gloria in two contrasting Mediterranean headwaters in Spain; the perennial font del Regàs and the intermittent Fuirosos

Catchment hydrological responses to precipitation inputs, particularly during exceptionally large storms, are complex and variable, and our understanding of the associated runoff generation processes during those events is limited. Hydrological monitoring of climatically and hydrologically distinct catchments can help to improve this understanding by shedding light on the interplay between antecedent soil moisture conditions, hydrological connectivity, and rainfall event characteristics. This knowledge is urgently needed considering that both the frequency and magnitude of extreme precipitation events are increasing worldwide as a consequence of climate change. In autumn 2018, we installed water level sensors to monitor stream water and near-stream groundwater levels at two Mediterranean forest headwater catchments with contrasting hydrological regimes: Font del Regàs (sub-humid climate, perennial flow regime) and Fuirosos (semi-arid climate, intermittent flow regime). Both catchments are located in northeastern Spain, where the extratropical cyclone Gloria hit in January 2020 and left in ca. 65 h outstanding accumulated rainfalls of 424 mm in Font del Regàs and 230 mm in Fuirosos. During rainfall events of low mean intensity, hydrological responses to precipitation inputs at the semi-arid Fuirosos were more delayed and more variable than at the sub-humid Font del Regàs. We explain these divergences by differences in antecedent soil moisture conditions and associated differences in catchment hydrological connectivity between the two catchments, which in this case are likely driven by differences in local climate rather than by differences in local topography. In contrast, during events of moderate and high mean rainfall intensities, including the storm Gloria, precipitation inputs and hydrological responses correlated similarly in the two catchments. We explain this convergence by rapid development of hydrological connectivity independently of antecedent soil moisture conditions. The data set presented here is unique and contributes to our mechanistic understanding on how streams respond to rainfall events and exceptionally large storms in catchments with contrasting flow regimes.