Hydrological modeling of storm runoff and snowmelt in Taunton River Basin by applications of HEC-HMS and PRMS models

Reliable predictions of storm runoff from rainfall and snowmelt are important for flood hazard mitigation and resilience. In this study, the HEC-HMS and PRMS hydrological models have been applied to simulate storm runoff in Taunton River Basin for the storm event in 2010 when maximum rainfall intensity reached approximate 5 in/day in March, and the snowfall reached about 11 inches in December. Model parameters were calibrated, and model performance was evaluated by comparing model-simulated daily stream flow with observations. For the rainstorm period during March–April, results indicate that both HEC-HMS and PRMS provide very good predictions of rainfall runoff with the correlation values above 0.95, and PRMS produces lower root-mean-square errors than those from HEC-HMS. Over the 12-month period including the snowfall in December, the time series of flow by PRMS match better with observations than those from the HEC-HMS. The 12-month overall correlation values for HEC-HMS and PRMS are 0.91 and 0.97 at Bridgewater Station, and 0.89 and 0.97 at Threemile Station, respectively. For an extreme storm scenario of the maximum historical 36.7-inch snowfall in early February in combination with the rainstorm in March–April of 2010, model simulations indicate that the flow would substantially increase by about 50% or more. Comparisons between HEC-HMS and RPMS models have been analyzed to provide references for storm runoff modeling.     

The 2010 Chilean Tsunami Off the West Coast of Canada and the Northwest Coast of the United States

The major (M _w = 8.8) Chilean earthquake of 27 February 2010 generated a trans-oceanic tsunami that was observed throughout the Pacific Ocean. Waves associated with this event had features similar to those of the 1960 tsunami generated in the same region by the Great (M _w = 9.5) 1960 Chilean Earthquake. Both tsunamis were clearly observed on the coast of British Columbia. The 1960 tsunami was measured by 17 analog pen-and-paper tide gauges, while the 2010 tsunami was measured by 11 modern digital coastal tide gauges, four NEPTUNE-Canada bottom pressure recorders located offshore from southern Vancouver Island, and two nearby open-ocean DART stations. The 2010 records were augmented by data from seven NOAA tide gauges on the coast of Washington State. This study examines the principal characteristics of the waves from the 2010 event (height, period, duration, and arrival and travel times) and compares these properties for the west coast of Canada with corresponding properties of the 1960 tsunami. Results show that the 2010 waves were approximately 3.5 times smaller than the 1960 waves and reached the British Columbia coast 1 h earlier. The maximum 2010 wave heights were observed at Port Alberni (98.4 cm) and Winter Harbour (68.3 cm); the observed periods ranged from 12 min at Port Hardy to 110–120 min at Prince Rupert and Port Alberni and 150 min at Bamfield. The open-ocean records had maximum wave heights of 6–11 cm and typical periods of 7 and 15 min. Coastal and open-ocean tsunami records revealed persistent oscillations that “rang” for 3–4 days. Tsunami energy occupied a broad band of periods from 3 to 300 min. Estimation of the inverse celerity vectors from cross-correlation analysis of the deep-sea tsunami records shows that the tsunami waves underwent refraction as they approached the coast of Vancouver Island with the direction of the incoming waves changing from an initial direction of 340° True to a direction of 15° True for the second train of waves that arrived 7 h later after possible reflection from the Marquesas and Hawaiian islands.     

Origin of major dissolved ions in groundwater within the Lower Pra Basin using groundwater geochemistry,source-rock deduction and stable isotopes of 2H and 18O

Hydrochemical and stable isotopes (¹⁸O and ²H) analyses of groundwater samples were employed to establish the origin of major dissolved ions in groundwater within the Lower Pra Basin. Results showed that, the major processes responsible for chemical evolution of groundwater include: silicate (SiO₄)^4? dissolutions, ion exchange reactions, sea aerosol spray and pyrite (FeS₂) and arsenopyrite (FeAsS) oxidations. The groundwater is strongly acidic to neutral, with pH generally range from 3.5 to 7.0 pH units and mean 5.9 (±0.5). Approximately 89 % of boreholes had pH values outside the World Heath Organization (WHO, Guidelines for drinking water quality, 2004) guideline value for drinking water due principally to natural biogeochemical processes and therefore, not suitable for potable purposes. Electrical conductivity (EC) range from 57.6 to 1,201 μS/cm with mean 279.3 (±198.8) μS/cm. Total dissolved solids (TDS) range from 32 to 661 mg/L with mean 151.7 (±106.8) mg/L, with 98.6 % of groundwater as fresh (TDS < 500 mg/L). The chemical constituents generally have low concentrations and are within the WHO (Guidelines for drinking water quality, 2004) guideline value for drinking water. The relative abundance of cations and anions is in the order: Na⁺ > Ca²⁺> Mg²⁺ > K⁺ and HCO₃ ^? > Cl^? > SO₄ ^2?, respectively. A plot of ?¹⁸O ‰ against ²H ‰ showed that, ground and surface waters clustered on or closely along the Global Meteoric Water Line, suggesting that, the waters emanated principally from meteoric source with evaporation playing an insignificant role on the infiltrating water.     

The application of GIS in the lands sector of a developing country: Challenges facing land administrators in Ghana

The Government of Ghana is about to take steps under its Land Administration Project to initiate the adoption of geographical information systems (GIS) in the administration of land. This paper identifies some of the challenges for Ghana's leading lands agency, the Lands Commission Secretariat, and highlights problems such as the paucity of reliable data sets and lack of standards. One of the major planning issues in Accra is that of building encroachments, for which no digital information is currently available. The paper reports on a pilot study to record encroachments on public land and demonstrates the type of inconsistencies that are apparent between the planning and cadastral data sets that do exist. The paper emphasizes that appropriate applications of GIS in Ghana's land sector are those that consider the political, social and institutional contexts within which GIS is to be operationalized.     

Submarine Ground Water Discharge Driven by Tidal Pumping in a Heterogeneous Aquifer

Submarine ground water discharge (SGD) is now recognized as an important water pathway between land and sea. It is difficult to quantitatively predict SGD owing to its significant spatial and temporal variability. This study focuses on quantitative estimation of SGD caused by tidally induced sea water recirculation and a terrestrial hydraulic gradient. A two-dimensional hydrogeological model was developed to simulate SGD from a coastal unconfined aquifer in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, where previous SGD studies were performed. A density-variable numerical code, SEAWAT2000, was applied to simulate SGD. To accurately predict discharge, various influencing factors such as heterogeneity in conductivity, uncertain boundary conditions, and tidal pumping were systematically assessed. The tidally influenced sea water recirculation zone and the fresh water–salt water mixing zone under various tidal patterns, tidal ranges, and water table heights were also investigated. The model was calibrated and validated from long-term, intensive measurements at the study site. The percentage of fresh SGD relative to total SGD ranged from 4% to 50% under normal conditions. Based on simulations of two field measurements in summer and spring, respectively, the fresh water ratios were 9% and 15%, respectively. These results support the hypothesis that the SGD induced by tidally driven sea water recirculation is much larger than terrestrial fresh ground water discharge at this site. The estimates of total and fresh SGD are at the low and high ends, respectively, of the estimation ranges obtained from geochemical tracers (e.g., ²²²Rn).     

A New Integrated Weighted Model in SNOW-V10: Verification of Continuous Variables

This paper presents the verification results of nowcasts of four continuous variables generated from an integrated weighted model and underlying Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. Real-time monitoring of fast changing weather conditions and the provision of short term forecasts, or nowcasts, in complex terrain within coastal regions is challenging to do with sufficient accuracy. A recently developed weighting, evaluation, bias correction and integration system was used in the Science of Nowcasting Olympic Weather for Vancouver 2010 project to generate integrated weighted forecasts (INTW) out to 6 h. INTW forecasts were generated with in situ observation data and background gridded forecasting data from Canadian high-resolution deterministic NWP system with three nested grids at 15-, 2.5- and 1-km horizontal grid-spacing configurations. In this paper, the four variables of temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and wind gust are treated as continuous variables for verifying the INTW forecasts. Fifteen sites were selected for the comparison of the model performances. The results of the study show that integrating surface observation data with the NWP forecasts produce better statistical scores than using either the NWP forecasts or an objective analysis of observed data alone. Overall, integrated observation and NWP forecasts improved forecast accuracy for the four continuous variables. The mean absolute errors from the INTW forecasts for the entire test period (12 February to 21 March 2010) are smaller than those from NWP forecasts with three configurations. The INTW is the best and most consistent performer among all models regardless of location and variable analyzed.     

Mapping Vulnerability and Risk of Ghana's Coastline to Sea Level Rise

Coastal erosion and flooding are major threats to coastal dwellers, and the situation is predicted to worsen as a result of the impacts of climate change and associated sea level rise. In order to identify the level of vulnerability of various sections of Ghana's coastline for planning and future hazard management, a coastal vulnerability index approach was adopted for the creation of the relative vulnerability map. The coastal vulnerability variables used include geomorphology, coastal elevation, geology, local subsidence, sea level rise, shoreline change rates, mean tidal range, mean wave height and population density of the coastal areas. Risk factors were assigned to the various variables, and all the factors were combined to calculate the coastal vulnerability for the coastal front of each administrative district along the coast. The outcome was used to produce a vulnerability index map of coastal districts in Ghana. The results revealed that parts of the central coast and the eastern coasts of Ghana were the most vulnerable. It was identified that about 50% of the 540km shoreline of Ghana is vulnerable. This assessment will facilitate the long-term adaptation planning and hazard mitigation to inform the management of Ghana's coast.