Factors controlling seasonal groundwater and solute flux from snow‐dominated basins

Critical zone influences on hydrologic partitioning, subsurface flow paths and reactions along these flow paths dictate the timing and magnitude of groundwater and solute flux to streams. To isolate first‐order controls on seasonal streamflow generation within highly heterogeneous, snow‐dominated basins of the Colorado River, we employ a multivariate statistical approach of end‐member mixing analysis using a suite of daily chemical and isotopic observations. Mixing models are developed across 11 nested basins (0.4 to 85 km²) spanning a gradient of climatological, physical, and geological characteristics. Hydrograph separation using rain, snow, and groundwater as end‐members indicates that seasonal contributions of groundwater to streams is significant. Mean annual groundwater flux ranges from 12% to 33% whereas maximum groundwater contributions of 17% to 50% occur during baseflow. The direct relationship between snow water equivalent and groundwater flux to streams is scale dependent with a trend toward self‐similarity when basins exceed 5.5 km². We find groundwater recharge increases in basins of high relief and within the upper subalpine where maximum snow accumulation is coincident with reduced conifer cover and lower canopy densities. The mixing model developed for the furthest downstream site did not transfer to upstream basins. The resulting error in predicted stream concentrations points toward weathering reactions as a function of source rock and seasonal shifts in flow path. Additionally, the potential for microbial sulfate reduction in floodplain sediments along a low‐gradient, meandering portion of the river is sufficient to modify hillslope contributions and alter mixing ratios in the analysis. Soil flushing in response to snowmelt is not included as an end‐member but is identified as an important mechanism for release of solutes from these mountainous watersheds. End‐member mixing analysis used in combination with high‐frequency observations reveals important aspects of catchment hydrodynamics across scale.     

Proper orthogonal decomposition reduced model for mass transport in heterogenous media

Numerical models with fine discretization normally demand large computational time and space, which lead to computational burden for state estimations or model parameter inversion calculation. This article presented a reduced implicit finite difference scheme that based on proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) for two-dimensional transient mass transport in heterogeneous media. The reduction of the original full model was achieved by projecting the high-dimension full model to a low-dimension space created by POD bases, and the bases are derived from the snapshots generated from the model solutions of the forward simulations. The POD bases were extracted from the ensemble of snapshots by singular value decomposition. The dimension of the Jacobian matrix was then reduced after Galerkin projection. Thus, the reduced model can accurately reproduce and predict the original model’s transport process with significantly decreased computational time. This scheme is practicable with easy implementation of the partial differential equations. The POD method is illustrated and validated through synthetic cases with various heterogeneous permeability field scenarios. The accuracy and efficiency of the reduced model are determined by the optimal selection of the snapshots and POD bases.     

基于植被净初级生产力和水分利用效率的埃塞俄比亚土地退化趋势及驱动因素分析

土地退化对减缓和适应气候变化有重要影响,并威胁到全世界的可持续发展,造成一系列社会、经济和生态问题,是目前全球面临的最大环境挑战之一。基于2001—2020年埃塞俄比亚的归一化植被指数（NDVI）、气象数据及土地覆盖数据,通过CASA模型计算获得植被净初级生产力（NPP）和水分利用效率（WUE）,并使用Sen+MK趋势分析方法得到土地退化及其恢复趋势,同时采用多元逐步回归方法分析了土地退化及恢复的驱动因素。结果表明：2001—2020年,埃塞俄比亚土地退化整体呈现恢复趋势,恢复区域占全国面积的34.51%,主要分布在埃塞俄比亚西部以及索马里州;退化区域仅占全国面积的1.63%,主要分布在首都亚的斯亚贝巴。土地退化及恢复的主要驱动因素是人为与气候共同因素和人为单因素。土地退化的主要因素为人口的快速增长以及城市的扩张,土地恢复则与20年来实施的森林景观恢复以及可持续土地管理措施和政策有关。     

Residence time control on hot moments of net nitrate production and uptake in the hyporheic zone

The retention capacity for biologically available nitrogen within streams can be influenced by dynamic hyporheic zone exchange, a process that may act as either a net source or net sink of dissolved nitrogen. Over 5 weeks, nine vertical profiles of streambed chemistry (NO₃^? and NH₄⁺) were collected above two beaver dams along with continuous high‐resolution vertical hyporheic flux data. The results indicate a non‐linear relation of net NO₃^? production followed by net uptake in the hyporheic zone as a function of residence time. This Lagrangian‐based relation is consistent through time and across varied morphology (bars, pools, glides) above the dams, even though biogeochemical and environmental factors varied. The empirical continuum between net NO₃^? production and uptake and residence time is useful for identifying two crucial residence time thresholds: the transition to anaerobic respiration, which corresponds to the time of peak net nitrate production, and the net sink threshold, which is defined by a net uptake in NO₃^? relative to streamwater. Short‐term hyporheic residence time variability at specific locations creates hot moments of net production and uptake, enhancing NO₃^? production as residence times approach the anaerobic threshold, and changing zones of net NO₃^? production to uptake as residence times increase past the net sink threshold. The anaerobic and net sink thresholds for beaver‐influenced streambed morphology occur at much shorter residence times (1.3 h and 2.3 h, respectively) compared to other documented hyporheic systems, and the net sink threshold compares favorably to the lower boundary of the anaerobic threshold determined for this system with the new oxygen Damkohler number. The consistency of the residence time threshold values of NO₃^? cycling in this study, despite environmental variability and disparate morphology, indicates that NO₃^? hot moment dynamics are primarily driven by changes in physical hydrology and associated residence times. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lapse Rate Adjustments of Gridded Surface Temperature Normals in an Area of Complex Terrain: Atmospheric Reanalysis versus Statistical Up-Sampling

The applicability of elevation-regression based interpolation methods for long-term temperature normals, for example the Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM), becomes increasingly limited in data sparse, complex terrain such as that found in mountainous British Columbia (BC), Canada. Recent methods to improve both the resolution and accuracy of interpolation models have focused on the development of “up-sampling” algorithms based on local lapse rate adjustments to the original interpolated surfaces. Lapse rates can be derived from statistical models (e.g., elevation-based polynomial regression equations) or dynamical models (e.g., vertical temperature profiles from numerical weather prediction (NWP) models). This study compares a widely used statistical up-sampling algorithm, ClimateBC, with two NWP reanalysis products, the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Reanalysis 1 (NCEP1) and the more modern European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Reanalysis Interim (ERA-Interim). Thirty-year climate normals for maximum and minimum temperatures were calculated using statistical up-sampling and NWP lapse rate adjustments to existing PRISM-based climate normals at a subset of stations in BC. Specifically, up-sampling model evaluation was performed using 1951–80 climate normals from an independent set of 54 surface stations (1 m to 2347 m) which were not included in the PRISM interpolation or assimilated into the NWP reanalysis products. All models performed similarly for minimum temperature, which showed only a slight improvement over PRISM. For maximum temperature, ClimateBC, NCEP1 and ERA-Interim all performed significantly better than PRISM, in particular during spring and summer. The ERA-Interim reanalysis outperformed NCEP1 in almost all months. The results suggest that lapse rate adjustment algorithms based on reanalysis products will have greater potential as progress continues on developing NWP components.

R ésumé ?[Traduit par la rédaction] L'application des techniques d'interpolation par régression en fonction de l'altitude pour les normales de température à long terme, comme le Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM), devient très difficile dans les régions accidentées pour lesquelles on dispose de données insuffisantes, par exemple les secteurs montagneux de la Colombie-Britannique (C.-B.) au Canada. Les toutes dernières méthodes destinées à augmenter le degré de résolution des modèles d'interpolation et leur précision reposent sur la conception d'algorithmes d’échantillonnage vertical fondés sur l'ajustement des surfaces interpolées originales au moyen du gradient vertical local. Nous pouvons établir les gradients verticaux à partir de modèles statistiques (p. ex., des équations de régression polynomiales en fonction de l'altitude) ou de modèles dynamiques (p. ex., des profils verticaux de température à partir de modèles de prévision numérique du temps (PNT)). Dans la présente étude, nous comparons un algorithme d’échantillonnage vertical statistique communément utilisé, le programme ClimateBC, à deux produits de réanalyse de PNT, celle des National Centres for Environmental Prediction/National Corporation for Atmospheric Research Reanalysis 1 (NCEP1), et la réanalyse provisoire (ERA-Interim) du Centre européen pour les prévisions météorologiques à moyen terme (ECMWF). Les normales climatiques de trente ans pour les températures maximums et minimums ont été calculées en appliquant la méthode d’échantillonnage vertical statistique et l'ajustement du gradient obtenu par PNT aux normales climatiques établies à partir du PRISM pour un sous-ensemble de stations en Colombie-Britannique. Plus particulièrement, nous avons procédé à l’évaluation du modèle d’échantillonnage vertical en nous servant des normales climatiques (1951–1980), pour un ensemble de 54 stations d'observation en surface indépendantes (1?m à 2347?m), exclues du modèle d'interpolation PRISM et des produits de réanalyse de PNT. Pour tous les modèles, nous avons obtenu des résultats comparables pour la température minimum, soit une légère amélioration seulement par rapport au PRISM. Pour la température maximum, nous avons obtenu avec ClimateBC, NCEP1 et ERA-Interim, des résultats nettement plus probants qu'avec PRISM, notamment au printemps et en été. Les réanalyses ERA-Interim ont donné de meilleurs résultats que NCEP1 pour pratiquement tous les mois. D'après ces résultats, le potentiel des algorithmes d'ajustements des gradients verticaux de température, établis à partir de produits de réanalyse se renforcera à mesure que les composantes de PNT se développeront.     

Placing dots in dot maps

Dot mapping is a cartographic representation method to visualise discrete absolute values and their spatial distribution. To achieve this, dots equal in size and represented value are used. According to the dot value, a certain number of dots are used to depict a data value. These dots usually form dot clusters. The data value needs to be rounded to a multiple of the dot value. It is possible to roughly determine the visualised data value by counting the dots and multiplying this number with the dot value. As there are many parameters – dot size, dot value, map scale – to consider when designing a dot map, the manual way is very complex and time consuming. This paper presents a method to automatically create a dot representation of a dot map from given statistical data that needs no cartographic expertise. The dot representation may be combined with other elements, such as a topographic background, to form a complete map. So the algorithm can easily be integrated into the map design process. The paper refines the basic approach of automated dot mapping published earlier. The dot placement and arrangement have been improved compared to the basic method.     

Long-term transit timing monitoring and homogenous study of WASP-32

We report new photometric observations of the transiting exoplanetary system WASP-32 made by using CCD cameras at Yunnan Observatories and Ho Koon Nature Education cum Astronomical Centre, China from 2010 to 2012. Following our usual procedure, the observed data are corrected for systematic errors according to the coarse decorrelation and SYSREM algorithms so as to enhance the signal of the transit events. Combined with radial velocity data presented in the literature, our newly observed data and earlier photometric data in the literature are simultaneously analyzed to derive the physical parameters describing the system by employing the Markov chain Monte Carlo technique. The derived parameters are consistent with the result published in the original paper about WASP-32b, but the uncertainties of the new parameters are smaller than those in the original paper. Moreover, our modeling result supports a circular orbit for WASP-32b. Through the analysis of all available mid-transit times, we have refined the orbital period of WASP-32b; no evident transit timing variation is found in these transit events.     

Experimental study and mathematical modelling of soluble chemical transfer from unsaturated/saturated soil to surface runoff

A one‐dimensional, two‐layer solute transport model is developed to simulate chemical transport process in an initially unsaturated soil with ponding water on the soil surface before surface runoff starts. The developed mathematical model is tested against a laboratory experiment. The infiltration and diffusion processes are mathematically lumped together and described by incomplete mixing parameters. Based on mass conservation and water balance equations, the model is developed to describe solute transport in a two‐zone layer, a ponding runoff zone and a soil mixing zone. The two‐zone layer is treated as one system to avoid describing the complicated chemical transport processes near the soil surface in the mixing zone. The proposed model was analytically solved, and the solutions agreed well with the experimental data. The developed experimental method and mathematical model were used to study the effect of the soil initial moisture saturation on chemical concentration in surface runoff. The study results indicated that, when the soil was initially saturated, chemical concentration in surface runoff was significantly (two orders of magnitude) higher than that with initially unsaturated soil, while the initial chemical concentrations at the two cases were of the same magnitude. The soil mixing depth for the initially unsaturated soil was much larger than that for the initially saturated soil, and the incomplete runoff mixing parameter was larger for the initially unsaturated soil. The higher the infiltration rate of the soil, the greater the infiltration‐related incomplete mixing parameter. According to the quantitative analysis, the soil mixing depth was found to be sensitive for both initially unsaturated and saturated soils, and the incomplete runoff mixing parameter was sensitive for initially saturated soil but not for the initially unsaturated soil; the incomplete infiltration mixing parameter behaved just the opposite. Some suggestions are made for reducing chemical loss from runoff. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.