Modeling basin-scale hydrology in support of physical climate and global biogeochemical studies: An example using the Zambezi River

Human activity is an important agent defining the contemporary hydrologic cycle. We have documented the potential impacts of impoundment, land use change and climate change on the Zambezi River system in southern Africa and found that they can be substantial. A full analysis requires construction and parameterization of a simulation for the entire catchment. This paper develops a strategy for implementing catchment-scale models of the major hydrologic processes operating within the basin. A coherent data set for calibrating the models has also been assembled. The algorithms consist of a Water Balance (WBM) and a Water Transport (WTM) operating at 1/2^o spatial scale and at monthly timesteps. These models transform complex patterns of regional climatology into estimates of soil water, evapotranspiration, runoff, and discharge through rivers of various size. The models are dependent on the characteristics of the terrestrial surface, principally soil texture and land cover. A simulated river network is also required. Additional tabular data sets are essential for model testing and calibration. These include subcatchment areas; observed river discharge at selected points; flooding, storage and loss characteristics of major wetlands; floodwave translation; and, volume, surface area, withdrawal and evaporative losses from impoundments. An important design consideration for the numerous impoundments in the Zambezi requires an understanding of the seasonal variation in discharge, in particular how it might respond to climate and land use change. The research strategy offered here lays a framework for addressing such issues. Although the primary focus of this work is hydrologic, we discuss how the model can be extended to consider constituent transport and biogeochemical cycling issues at the continental scale.     

Style and evolution of salt pillows and related structures in the northern part of the Northeast German Basin

The northern part of the Northeast German Basin contains a large number of Late Permian (Zechstein) salt pillows, whereas diapiric structures are almost completely absent. This lack of diapirs facilitated the study of early stages of salt movement in the basin. Salt pillows and related structures were investigated in terms of distribution, geometry and time of initiation of salt flow within the regional geological context. The primary Zechstein thickness in the study area was reconstructed to gain more insight into the relationship between the geometry of the salt layer and the style of the salt-related structures. In this study, no clear spatial relationship between the salt structures and basement faults has been found and the location of the salt structures in this area appears to be highly independent of the underlying structural grain. The overburden is affected by minor faulting. We propose that buckling of the overburden due to regional compression significantly contributed to the initiation of the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous salt structures in the basin. Reverse faulting of the Gardelegen and Haldensleben Faults is related to inversion tectonics and exerted a compression on the basin fill. During the deformation, the Late Permian salt layer acted as an efficient detachment and led to a marked decoupling of the Mesozoic overburden from the underlying pre-Zechstein rocks.     

Landscape transform and spatial metrics for mapping spatiotemporal land cover dynamics using Earth Observation data-sets

Analysis of Earth observation (EO) data, often combined with geographical information systems (GIS), allows monitoring of land cover dynamics over different ecosystems, including protected or conservation sites. The aim of this study is to use contemporary technologies such as EO and GIS in synergy with fragmentation analysis, to quantify the changes in the landscape of the Rajaji National Park (RNP) during the period of 19 years (1990–2009). Several statistics such as principal component analysis (PCA) and spatial metrics are used to understand the results. PCA analysis has produced two principal components (PC) and explained 84.1% of the total variance, first component (PC1) accounted for the 57.8% of the total variance while the second component (PC2) has accounted for the 26.3% of the total variance calculated from the core area metrics, distance metrics and shape metrics. Our results suggested that notable changes happened in the RNP landscape, evidencing the requirement of taking appropriate measures to conserve this natural ecosystem.     

Shaping of Planetary Nebulae by Dust Driven AGB Winds

We have investigated the interacting winds model (IWM) in which the shapes of elliptical Planetary Nebulae (PNe) can be explained by the asymmetric mass loss produced by a rotating AGB star. The mass loss mechanism is based on a dust driven wind calculated for stationary situations. Already for small rotation rates of the AGB star we get a significantly angle-dependent mass loss which is concentrated towards the equatorial plane. This pole to equator density variation in the space surrounding the star influences the shape of the later developed PN. We compare these theoretical shapes with observed PNe and for some objects with well known quantities our model can fit the observations quite well. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Observation of Filterable Bromine Variabilities During Arctic Tropospheric Ozone Depletion Events in High (1hour) Time Resolution

The halogen ions Br^- and Cl^- together with NO₃ ^-, SO₄ ⁼, MSA^- (methane sulfonate), Na⁺ and NH₄ ⁺ were analysed by ion chromatography in extracts of more than 800 aerosol cellulose filter samples taken at Ny Ålesund, Svalbard (79°N, 12°E) in spring 1996 (March 27 - May 16) within the European Union project ARCTOC (Arctic Tropospheric Ozone Chemistry). Anticorrelated variations between f-Br (filterable bromine, i.e. water soluble bromine species that can be collected by aerosol filters) and ozone within the arctic troposphere were evaluated at a resolution of 1 or 2 hours for periods with depleted ozone and 4 hours at normal ozone. A mean f-Br concentration of 11 ng m^-3 (0.14 nmol m^-3) was observed for the whole campaign, while maximum concentrations of 80 ng m^-3 (1 nmol m^-3) were detected during two total O₃-depletion events (O₃ drop to mixing ratios below the detection limit of < 2 ppb). Anticorrelation between f-Br and O₃ was also seen during minor O₃-depletion episodes (sudden drop in O₃ by at least 10 ppb, but O₃ still exceeding the detection limit) and even for ozone variations near its background level (40-50 ppb). A time lag of about 10 hours between the change of ozone and of f-Br concentrations could only be found during a total ozone depletion event, when f-Br reached its maximum values several hours after ozone was totally destroyed. Bromine oxide (BrO) concentrations, measured by DOAS (Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy), and f-Br showed a coincident variability during almost the entire campaign (except in the case of total O₃-loss). Frequently enhanced anthropogenic nitrate and sulphate concentrations were observed during O₃-depletion periods. At O₃ concentrations < 10 ppb sulphate and nitrate exceed their typical mean level by 54% and 77%, respectively. This may indicate a possible connection between acidity and halogen release.     

Water source characterization through spatiotemporal patterns of major,minor and trace element stream concentrations in a complex,mesoscale German catchment

The link between spatiotemporal patterns of stream water chemistry and catchment characteristics for the mesoscale Dill catchment (692 km²) in Germany is explored to assess the catchment scale controls on water quality and to characterize water sources. In order to record the spatiotemporal pattern, ‘snapshot sampling’ was applied during low, mean and high flow, including 73 nested sites throughout the catchment. Water samples were analysed for the elements Li, B, Na, Mg, Al, K, Ca, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Mo, Ba, Pb and U using inductively‐coupled‐plasma mass spectrometry, and for electric conductivity and pH. Principle component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were used to find typical element associations and to group water samples according to their hydrochemical fingerprints. This revealed regional hydrochemical patterns of water quality which were subsequently related to catchment attributes to draw conclusions about the controls on stream chemistry. It was found that various lithologic signals and anthropogenic point source inputs controlled the base flow hydrochemistry. During increased flows, stream waters were diluted causing additional hydrochemical variability in response to heterogeneous precipitation inputs and differences in aquifer storage capacities. The hydrochemical patterns further displayed in‐stream mixing of waters. This implied, that stream waters could be apportioned to the identified water sources throughout the catchment. The basin‐wide hydrochemical variability has the potential to outrange the tracer signatures typically inferred in studies at the hillslope scale and is able to strongly influence the complexity of the catchment output. Both have to be considered for further catchment scale tracer and modelling work. Despite the likelihood of non‐conservative behaviour, the minor and trace elements enhanced the rather qualitative discrimination of the various groundwater types, as the major cations were strongly masked by point source inputs. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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