Detecting changing river temperatures in England and Wales

Changes in water temperature can have important consequences for aquatic ecosystems, with some species being sensitive even to small shifts in temperature during some or all of their life cycle. While many studies report increasing regional and global air temperatures, evidence of changes in river water temperature has, thus far, been site specific and often from sites heavily influenced by human activities that themselves could lead to warming. Here we present a tiered assessment of changing river water temperature covering England and Wales with data from 2773 locations. We use novel statistical approaches to detect trends in irregularly sampled spot measurements taken between 1990 and 2006. During this 17‐year period, on average, mean water temperature increased by 0.03 °C per year (±0.002 °C), and positive changes in water temperature were observed at 2385 (86%) sites. Examination of catchments where there has been limited human influence on hydrological response shows that changes in river flow have had little influence on these water temperature trends. In the absence of other systematic influences on water temperature, it is inferred that anthropogenically driven climate change is driving some of this trend in water temperature. © 2014 The Authors. Hydrological Processes published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Water and nitrogen movement through a semiarid dryland agricultural catchment: Seasonal and decadal trends

Water and nutrient budgets in dryland agroecosystems are difficult to manage for efficiency and water quality. This is particularly true where complex terrain and soilscapes interact with pronounced hydrologic seasonality. The purpose of this research was to understand water and hydrologic nitrogen (N) export from a hillslope dryland agroecosystem in a semiarid region where most precipitation occurs outside the growing season. We studied 13 years (2001–2013) of records of water and N inputs and outputs from a 12 ha no‐till artificially drained catchment in the semiarid Palouse Basin of eastern Washington State, USA. Fall‐ and winter‐dominated annual precipitation averaged 462 mm. About 350 mm went to evapotranspiration; crops used ~160 mm from stored soil water during the summer dry‐down season. Soil water replenishment after crop senescence, during the fall wet‐up season, delayed the threshold onset of the high‐discharge season until December. Winter‐dominated drainage fluxes averaged 111 mm or 24% of annual precipitation. Nitrate export in drainage averaged 15 kg·N·ha^?1·year^?1, which was about 10 times the average rate of dissolved organic N export and 15% of the average rate of N application in chemical fertilizer. Fertilizer applications to the catchment were reduced, due to cropping changes, by 1/3 during the last 5 years of the study; however, no corresponding reduction was observed in the nitrate export flux. This lack of change could not be attributed to mineralization of the soil‐organic N legacy of fertilization nor to hydrologic lag of the catchment. Likeliest explanations are (a) despite the reduction, N application continued to exceed crop uptake and accumulation in organic matter; (b) seasonal and interannual variability of catchment connectivity resulted in year‐to‐year field‐scale nitrate storage and carryover. Water and N use efficiencies observed here may be near maximum obtainable for existing crops in this climate. Substantial improvements that would also address multiple environmental issues associated with the N cascade may involve shifts to perennial systems and/or rotations in which N is fixed biologically.     

Spectral studies of geomagnetic pulsations with periods between 20 and 120 sec,and their relationship to the plasmapause region

Digital spectrograms have been computed for 18 days of geomagnetic pulsation activity at three UK Earth current stations (L = 2.6?3.6).Three main conclusions are drawn: (1) There are days when the period of the dominant spectral amplitude is ordered according to the observatory latitude. The most frequently observed large amplitude spectral peaks are centred on 80, 60 and 45s for South Uist (L = 3.6), Eskdalemuir (L = 3.1) and East Anglia (L = 2.6). respectively. (2) There are other days when the period of the dominant spectral amplitude is the same at all the observatories. (3) When Pc 3 and 4 period waves have been detected together, the latitude dependence of the amplitudes supports the theory that the shorter period pulsation is enhanced in the plasmatrough while the longer period wave is enhanced within the plasmasphere.     

Orbital timing of the Indian,East Asian and African boreal monsoons and the concept of a ‘global monsoon’

Our understanding of monsoon circulation timing’s at the orbital scale is currently a matter of debate. Here, we compare previous and recently published results of Indian, East Asian, West African and East African monsoon variability. We note different timings between the East African, West African, Indian and East-Asian monsoon systems for the most recent 45 ka, where the age models are constrained by AMS dating. On this basis, we construct different orbital forcing “reference curves” and apply them to the 200 ka time period for the different monsoon systems. Our results indicate that the ‘global monsoon’ concept at the orbital scale is a misnomer. We find real regional differences in the timing of the monsoon response to orbital forcing and differences in the weight of precession and obliquity in the monsoon records. This work highlights the necessity of studies aimed at understanding the underlying physics of these regional response patterns. This is crucial to a better understanding of monsoon dynamics and improved climate model simulations and comparisons with proxy data.     

Locating the Pc 1 generation region by a statistical analysis of ground based observations

A statistical study using data from four geomagnetic recording stations with McIlwain parameters from L = 2.5 to 6.6, suggests that the general source location of Pc 1 micropulsations lies close to the plasmapause.For each station a contour plot of the number of Pc 1 events occurring at specific K_p, and LT intervals is constructed and a curve representing the plasmapause being overhead at this station is superimposed. The relative positions of the plasmapause curve and the contour maxima are taken to indicate the position of the Pc 1 source location.     

The use of a model current wedge in the determination of the position of substorm current systems

We present a technique for determination of the position and extent of the current systems present during substorm breakup. The parameters of a three-dimensional model of the currents are determined by fitting the model to data from the SAMNET magnetometer array, a midlatitude array of seven stations. The model used is a fully 3D current wedge aligned along dipolar field lines, the parameters being the meridians of upward and downward field-aligned currents (FACs), the latitude of the auroral electrojet and the magnitude of current growth over the observation interval. The method is novel in that the three geometrical parameters are first determined with the fourth arrived at via a secondary process. It has been applied to a number of events and appears to make estimates of the longitudes of the FACs consistent with the predictions of previous methods. Since the method employs a fully 3D model of the substorm current wedge as opposed to an idealised 2D model, it is reasonable to place more reliance on the results so obtained. Moreover, the method also has the additional benefit of a prediction of the latitude of the substorm electrojet and the nature of the current growth through the wedge at substorm onset.     

Coarse bedload transport in a mountain river

Coarse bedload transport dynamics are investigated utilizing hydrodynamic and sediment transport data obtained in an extensively instrumented study reach located in Squaw Creek, Montana, USA. During 1991 and 1992, a number of discrete bedload transport events associated with the daily rise and fall in stream discharge were investigated. Data show that initiation of sediment transport was accompanied by a reduction in bed roughness and by changes in bulk hydraulic parameters. For larger discharges, coarser fractions of the bed material mobilized, and bedload transport rates and average hydraulic parameters stabilized. As discharge reduced, mobile coarse particles became less frequent and deposited fine particles were removed, resulting in an increase in bed roughness. These observations are attributed to the downstream translation of bar sediments during the passage of a hydrograph. Bedload pulses were aperiodic but spatially variable. Flow turbulence and velocity profile data obtained during low flows allowed comparison between average bed shear stress and apparent bed roughness estimates obtained using different approaches. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.