Net rainfall estimation by the inversion of a geomorphology-based transfer function and discharge deconvolution

The assessment of net rainfall, defined as the intermediate hydrological variable linked in between the hillslope and the river network, is a challenge. This paper presents a method for net rainfall estimation, using inverse modelling associated to a geomorphology-based transfer function. The analysis is carried out in semi-arid Tunisia, with a dataset from event discharges in a mesoscale dryland basin. A complete sensitivity analysis is developed, along with a discussion of validity limits for simplifying assumptions and the identification of paths for improvement. This work could be relevant for data-scarce areas, thanks to the use of simple dynamic conceptualization and being based on observable geomorphological features, adjusted to the available data and knowledge.     

Wood export prediction at the watershed scale

Wood export from a watershed is a function of peak annual discharge, but one hydrologic relationship alone does not fully explain observed variability. Consideration of physical processes that influence the amount of wood available for transport is needed. However, wood recruitment, storage, mobilization, breakage, and transport rates and processes remain difficult to quantify. A theoretical wood transport equation focused on variations in discharge was the motivation for investigation into watershed‐specific wood export rates. Herein, multiplicative coefficients categorized by water year type are developed, paired with the equation, and validated to provide a new method for prediction of wood export at the watershed scale. The coefficients are defined as representing a broad suite of watershed processes that encompass spatio‐temporally variable scales. Two complementary datasets from the 1097 km² mountainous North Yuba River, California watershed were used. Wood surveys above New Bullards Bar Reservoir yielded a wood availability estimate of 250 000–300 000 m³ along the channel network. Annual wood export into the reservoir was field‐surveyed in 2010, 2012 and 2013, and estimated in seven years via remotely sensed images over the 30 year study period of water years 1985–2014. Empirical, watershed‐scale wood export rates ranged from 0.3–5.6%. Comparison of predicted quantities using the new DVWP (discharge variations modified by watershed processes) wood export equation to observed wood export quantities resulted in an aggregate error rate of ±10%. When individual wood export quantities were compared, predicted to observed varied by 0.5–3.0 times. Total wood export of 59 000–71 000 m³ was estimated over the 30 year period, yielding a rate of 1.8 to 2.2 m³/year/km². Wood export predictive capabilities at the watershed scale may help water resource and regulatory agencies plan for wood transfers to augment downstream ecosystems. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monitoring gravel augmentation in a large regulated river and implications for process‐based restoration

The artificial gravel augmentation of river channels is increasingly being used to mitigate the adverse effects of river regulation and sediment starvation. A systematic framework for designing and assessing such gravel augmentations is still lacking, notably on large rivers. Monitoring is required to quantify the movement of augmented gravel, measure bedform changes, assess potential habitat enhancement, and reduce the uncertainty in sediment management. Here we present the results of an experiment conducted in the Rhine River (French and German border). In 2010, 23 000 m³ of sediments (approximately the mean annual bedload transport capacity) were supplied in a by‐passed reach downstream of the Kembs dam to test the feasibility of enhancing sediment transport and bedform changes. A 620‐m‐long and 12‐m‐wide gravel deposit was created 8 km downstream from the dam. Monitoring included topo‐bathymetric surveys, radio‐frequency particle tracking using passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags, bed grain size measurement, and airborne imagery. Six surveys performed since 2009 have been described (before and after gravel augmentation, and after Q₂ and Q₁₅ floods). The key findings are that (i) the augmented gravel was partially dispersed by the first flood event of December 2010 (Q₁); (ii) PIT tags were found up to 3200 m downstream of the gravel augmentation site after four years, but the effects of gravel augmentation could not be clearly distinguished from the effects of floods and internal remobilization on more than 3500 m downstream; (iii) linear and log‐linear relationships linking bedload transport, particle mobility, and grain size were established; and (iv) combined bathymetry and PIT tag surveys were useful for evaluating potential environmental risks and the first morpho‐ecological responses. This confirmed the complementary nature of such techniques in the monitoring of gravel augmentation in large rivers. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reach-scale bankfull channel types can exist independently of catchment hydrology

Reach-scale morphological channel classifications are underpinned by the theory that each channel type is related to an assemblage of reach- and catchment-scale hydrologic, topographic, and sediment supply drivers. However, the relative importance of each driver on reach morphology is unclear, as is the possibility that different driver assemblages yield the same reach morphology. Reach-scale classifications have never needed to be predicated on hydrology, yet hydrology controls discharge and thus sediment transport capacity. The scientific question is: do two or more regions with quantifiable differences in hydrologic setting end up with different reach-scale channel types, or do channel types transcend hydrologic setting because hydrologic setting is not a dominant control at the reach scale? This study answered this question by isolating hydrologic metrics as potential dominant controls of channel type. Three steps were applied in a large test basin with diverse hydrologic settings (Sacramento River, California) to: (1) create a reach-scale channel classification based on local site surveys, (2) categorize sites by flood magnitude, dimensionless flood magnitude, and annual hydrologic regime type, and (3) statistically analyze two hydrogeomorphic linkages. Statistical tests assessed the spatial distribution of channel types and the dependence of channel type morphological attributes by hydrologic setting. Results yielded 10 channel types. Nearly all types existed across all hydrologic settings, which is perhaps a surprising development for hydrogeomorphology. Downstream hydraulic geometry relationships were statistically significant. In addition, cobble-dominated uniform streams showed a consistent inverse relationship between slope and dimensionless flood magnitude, an indication of dynamic equilibrium between transport capacity and sediment supply. However, most morphological attributes showed no sorting by hydrologic setting. This study suggests that median hydraulic geometry relations persist across basins and within channel types, but hydrologic influence on geomorphic variability is likely due to local influences rather than catchment-scale drivers. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Video-monitoring of wood discharge: first inter-basin comparison and recommendations to install video cameras

Wood in rivers plays a major role both ecologically and morphologically. In recent decades, due to human activities in the river channels and along the riparian zone, wood obstruction and jamming has exacerbated flooding hazards and infrastructure damage. Therefore, it is necessary to quantify the wood flux and discharge in rivers to improve wood hazard management. Among the various methods for monitoring the wood flux in a river, the streamside videography technique is effective given its high temporal and spatial resolution. Previous work monitored the wood discharge (m³/s) using this technique in the Ain River (France) during three floods (MacVicar and Piégay, 2012), and the same method is implemented on the Isère River (France) to obtain the statistics of wood discharge for two floods. Comparison between the two sites supports the generalization of both the monitoring technique and the link between wood discharge and flood characteristics. We first show that the maximum wood discharge is observed at bankfull discharge, and we confirm the three stage model proposed by MacVicar and Piégay (2012). Additionally, transverse distributions of the number of wood pieces and corresponding wood length appear to be similar for different flood magnitudes on each site. As a technical contribution, the use of the same technique on two sites allows for recommendations on key decisions related to the location and implementation of the equipment. Both statistical and technical contributions can be used by decision makers to implement this monitoring technique, acquire the wood transport parameters, and evaluate the potential wood hazards at local scale or along a river. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interannual variability and predictability of African easterly waves in a GCM

The interannual variability of African Easterly Waves (AEWs) is assessed with the help of spatio-temporal spectral analysis (STSA) and complex empirical orthogonal functions methods applied to the results of ten-member multiyear ensemble simulations. Two sets of experiments were conducted with the Météo-France ARPEGE-Climat GCM, one with interactive soil moisture (control), and the other with soil moisture relaxed towards climatological monthly means calculated from the control. Composites of Soudano–Sahelian AEWs were constructed and associated physical processes and dynamics were studied in the frame of the waves. It is shown that the model is able to simulate realistically some interannual variability in the AEWs, and that this dynamical aspect of the West African climate is potentially predictable (i.e. signal can be extracted from boundary conditions relatively to internal error of the GCM), especially along the moist Guinean coast. Compared with ECMWF 15-year reanalysis (ERA15), the maximum activity of AEWs is located too far to the South and is somewhat too zonal, but the main characteristics of the waves are well represented. The major impact of soil moisture relaxation in the GCM experiments is to reduce the seasonal potential predictability of AEWs over land by enhancing their internal variability.     

Incorporating landscape features to obtain an object‐oriented landscape drainage network representing the connectivity of surface flow pathways over rural catchments

A topological representation of a rural catchment is proposed here in addition to the generally used topographic drainage network. This is an object‐oriented representation based on the identification of the inlets and outlets for surface water flow on each farmer's field (or plot) and their respective contributing areas and relationships. It represents the catchment as a set of independent plot outlet trees reaching the stream, while a given plot outlet tree represents the pattern of surface flow relationships between individual plots. In the present study, we propose to implement functions related to linear and surface elements of the landscape, such as hedges or road networks, or land use, to obtain what we call a landscape drainage network which delineates the effective contributing area to the stream, thus characterizing its topological structure. Landscape elements modify flow pathways and/or favour water infiltration, thus reducing the area contributing to the surface yield and modifying the structure of the plot outlet trees. This method is applied to a 4·4‐km² catchment area comprising 43 955 pixels and 312 plots. While the full set of 164 plot outlet trees, with an average of 7 plots per tree, covers 100% of the total surface area of the catchment, the landscape drainage network comprises no more than 37 plot outlet trees with an average of 2 plots per tree, accounting for 52 and 7% of the catchment surface area, when taking account of linear elements and land use, respectively. This topological representation can be easily adapted to changes in land use and land infrastructure, and provides a simple and functional display for intercomparison of catchments and decision support regarding landscape and water management. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changes of western European heat wave characteristics projected by the CMIP5 ensemble

Climate Dynamics - We investigate heat waves defined as periods of at least 3 consecutive days of extremely high daily maximum temperature affecting at least 30 % of western Europe. This...     

A one-dimensional modeling study of the diurnal cycle in the equatorial Atlantic at the PIRATA buoys during the EGEE-3 campaign

A one-dimensional model is used to analyze, at the local scale, the response of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean under different meteorological conditions. The study was performed at the location of three moored buoys of the Pilot Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic located at 10° W, 0° N; 10° W, 6° S; and 10° W, 10° S. During the EGEE-3 (Etude de la circulation océanique et de sa variabilité dans le Golfe de Guinee) campaign of May–June 2006, each buoy was visited for maintenance during 2 days. On board the ship, high-resolution atmospheric parameters were collected, as were profiles of temperature, salinity, and current. These data are used here to initialize, force, and validate a one-dimensional model in order to study the diurnal oceanic mixed-layer variability. It is shown that the diurnal variability of the sea surface temperatures is mainly driven by the solar heat flux. The diurnal response of the near-surface temperatures to daytime heating and nighttime cooling has an amplitude of a few tenths of degree. The computed diurnal heat budget experiences a net warming tendency of 31 and 27 W m⁻² at 0° N and 10° S, respectively, and a cooling tendency of 122 W m⁻² at 6° S. Both observed and simulated mixed-layer depths experience a jump between the nighttime convection phase and the well-stabilized diurnal water column. Its amplitude changes dramatically depending on the meteorological conditions occurring at the stations and reaches its maximum amplitude (~50 m) at 10° S. At 6° and 10° S, the presence of barrier layers is observed, a feature that is clearer at 10° S. Simulated turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) dissipation rates, compared to independent microstructure measurements, show that the model tracks their diurnal evolution reasonably well. It is also shown that the shear and buoyancy productions and the vertical diffusion of TKE all contribute to the supply of TKE, but the buoyancy production is the main source of TKE during the period of the simulation.