Hammond Hill Research Catchment: Supporting hydrologic investigations of rooting zone and vegetation water dynamics under climate change

The Hammond Hill Research Catchment (HH) is a small (120 ha), temperate, second order tributary to Six Mile Creek, Cayuga Lake, and the Great Lakes (42.42°, −76.32°). The HH has been monitored since January 2017 for the purpose of understanding how recent infiltration mixes with antecedent soil water on hillslope forest floors and the spatial and temporal patterns of Root Water Uptake (RWU) by temperate northeastern US tree species (eastern hemlock [Tsuga canadensis], American beech [Fagus grandifolia], and sugar maple [Acer saccharum]). These data are informing us about the hydrologic consequences of anticipated tree species composition change and supporting the development of more refined ecohydrological models. The glaciated catchment is underlain by a shallow confining siltstone layer (1–1.5 m depth) and densely covered with an approximately 60 year old regrowth mixed species forest of hemlock, beech, and other deciduous tree species common to the northeastern US. Current datasets from the HH include precipitation snow water equivalent, discharge, and associated isotopic water compositions, δ²H & δ¹⁸O. Measurements of (top 10 cm) soil water content, as well as bulk soil water and hemlock and beech xylem isotopic compositions are made at several locations across a topographic wetness gradient. The near-term role of the HH is to support an understanding of the environmental and ecological drivers of plant RWU competition. All data from the HH are publicly available.     

Shenandoah Watershed Study-Virginia Trout Stream Sensitivity Study (SWAS-VTSSS): Stream water quality and hydrologic monitoring data for mid-Appalachian headwater streams

The Shenandoah Watershed Study (established in 1979) and the Virginia Trout Stream Sensitivity Study (established in 1987) serve to increase understanding of hydrological and biogeochemical changes in western Virginia mountain streams that occur in response to acidic deposition and other ecosystem stressors. The SWAS-VTSSS program has evolved over its 40+ year history to consist of a temporally robust and spatially stratified monitoring framework. Currently stream water is sampled for water quality bi-hourly during high-flow events at three sites and weekly at four sites within Shenandoah National Park (SHEN), and quarterly at 72 sites and on an approximately decadal frequency at ~450 sites within the wider western Virginia Appalachian region. Stream water is evaluated for pH, acid neutralizing capacity (ANC), base cations (calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium ion), acid anions (sulphate, nitrate and chloride), silica, ammonium, and conductivity with a subset of samples evaluated for monomeric aluminium and dissolved organic carbon. Hourly stream discharge (four sites) and in-situ measurements of conductivity, water and air temperature (three sites) are also measured within SHEN. Here we provide an overview and timeline of the SWAS-VTSSS stream water monitoring program, summarize the field and laboratory methods, describe the water chemistry and hydrologic data sets, and document major watershed disturbances that have occurred during the program history. Website links and instructions are provided to access the stream chemistry and time-series monitoring data in open-access federal databases. The purpose of this publication is to promote awareness of these unique, long-term data sets for wider use in catchment studies. The water chemistry and hydrologic data can be used to investigate a wide range of biogeochemical research questions and provide key inputs for models of these headwater stream ecosystems. SWAS-VTSSS is an ongoing program and quality assured data sets are uploaded to the databases annually.     

Streambed restoration to remove fine sediment alters reach‐scale transient storage in a low‐gradient fifth‐order river,Indiana, USA

Hyporheic restoration is of increasing interest given the role of hyporheic zones in supporting ecosystem services and functions. Given the prevalence of sediment pollution to waterways, an emerging restoration technique involves the removal of sediment from the interstices of gravel‐bed streams. Here, we document streambed sediment removal following a large, accidental release of fine sediment into a gravel‐bed river. We use this as a natural experiment to assess the impact of fine sediment removal on reach‐scale measures of transient storage and to document the responses of reaches with contrasting morphology (restored vs. unrestored) to changing discharge one‐field season. We conducted a series of conservative solute tracer experiments in each reach, interpreting both summary statistics for the recovered in‐stream solute tracer time series. Additionally, we applied the transient storage model to interpret the results via model parameters, including a Monte Carlo analysis to measure parameter identifiability and sensitivity in each experiment. Despite the restoration effort resulting in an open matrix gravel bed in the restored reach, we did not find the significant differences in most time series metrics describing reach‐scale transport and transient storage. We hypothesize that this is due to enhanced vertical exchange with the gravel bed in the restored reach replacing lateral exchange with macrophyte beds in the unrestored reach, developing a conceptual model to explain our findings. Consequently, we found that the impact of reach‐scale removal of fine sediment is not measureable using reach‐scale solute tracer studies. We offer recommendations for future studies seeking to measure the impacts of stream restoration at the reach scale.     

Political orientation and climate concern shape visual attention to climate change

Despite the scientific consensus, there is widespread public controversy about climate change. Previous explanations focused on interpretations hampered by political bias or insufficient knowledge of climate facts. We propose that public views of climate change may also be related to an attentional bias at a more basic level of cognitive processing. We hypothesized that selective visual attention towards or away from climate-related information would be associated with climate concern. To test prioritization of climate-related stimuli under conditions of limited attention, we asked participants to identify climate-related and neutral words within a rapid stream of stimuli. Undergraduate students attended to climate-related words more readily than neutral words. This attentional prioritization correlated with self-rated climate concern. We then examined this relationship in a more diverse community sample. Principal component analysis of survey data in the community sample revealed a component indexing a relationship between climate concern and political orientation. That component was correlated with the degree of selective inattention to climate-related words. Our findings suggest that climate-related communications may be most effective if tailored in a manner accounting for how attentional priorities differ between audiences—particularly those with different political orientations.     

Potential impacts of climate change on storage conditions for commercial agriculture: an example for potato production in Michigan

Climate change is anticipated to influence all parts of agricultural production systems. However, the potential impacts on crop storage have rarely been assessed, even though storage is an important component of a grower’s marketing strategy and is essential for the continuous supply of a commodity for processors, exporters, and consumers. The Michigan chip-processing potato industry provides an example of the importance of crop storage. Michigan is the largest producer of chip-processing potatoes in the USA, and potatoes are stored on farms from September to June. We use an ensemble of climate projections developed for three future time slices (early, mid, and late century) from 16 climate models forced by three greenhouse gas concentration pathways to assess future changes in potato storage conditions. Our findings indicate an increased future demand for ventilation and/or refrigeration immediately after harvest and again in spring and early summer, even for the early-century time slice. Furthermore, the period of reliably cold storage temperatures during winter is anticipated, when averaged across all models, to shorten by 11–17 days in Michigan’s primary production area and 14–20 days in the more southern secondary area by mid-century, and by 15–29 days and 31–35 days, respectively, for the northern and southern production areas by late century. The level of uncertainty, as indicated by the ensemble range, is large, although the sign of the projected changes in storage parameters is consistent. This case study provides an example of the potentially large effects of climate change on the storage conditions for agricultural commodities.     

Mercury emission from terrestrial background surfaces in the eastern USA. Part I: Air/surface exchange of mercury within a southeastern deciduous forest (Tennessee) over one year

This study focused on the development of a seasonal data set of the Hg air/surface exchange over soils associated with low Hg containing surfaces in a deciduous forest in the southern USA. Data were collected every month for 11 months in 2004 within Standing Stone State Forest in Tennessee using the dynamic flux chamber method. Mercury air/surface exchange associated with the litter covered forest floor was very low with the annual mean daytime flux being 0.4 ± 0.5 ng m⁻² h⁻¹ (n = 301). The daytime Hg air/surface exchange over the year oscillated between emission (81% of samples with positive flux) and deposition (19% of samples with negative flux). A seasonal trend of lower emission in the spring and summer (closed canopy) relative to the fall and winter (open canopy) was observed. Correlations were found between the air/surface exchange and certain environmental factors on specific days sampled but not collectively over the entire year. The very low magnitude of Hg air/surface exchange as observed in this study suggests that an improved methodology for determining and reporting emission fluxes is needed when the values of fluxes and chamber blanks are both very low and comparable. This study raises questions and points to a need for more research regarding how to scale the Hg air/surface exchange for surfaces with very low emissions.     

Preliminary availability assessment to support single-frequency SBAS development in the Korean region

Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBASs) enhance the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) to support all phases of flight by providing required accuracy, integrity, continuity, and availability. The Korean SBAS program was recently initiated to develop a single-frequency SBAS aiming to provide Approach Procedure with Vertical guidance (APV)-I Safety-of-Life (SoL) service to aviation users by 2022 within the Korean region. We assess the preliminary availability of the single-frequency SBAS which will be deployed in the Korean peninsula. The resulting system performance shall be used as a baseline to design system components and specifications. The fundamental components of SBAS architecture, SBAS monitor network, geostationary earth orbiting satellite parameters, and ionospheric grid point mask, are defined and their effects on system performance are investigated. Ionospheric correction and integrity algorithm parameters including an ionospheric irregularity threat model are determined using data collected from the Korean GNSS network. The coverage of 99.9 % availability for APV-I service increases from approximately 70 % for the baseline case to 100 % when SBAS monitor stations are expanded to overseas. Even with the expanded monitor network, however, 90 % and less than 95 % availability for LPV-200 service can be achieved only in a very limited region.