Spatial evolution of an AMD stream in the Iberian Pyrite Belt: process characterization and control factors on the hydrochemistry

ABSTRACT

This paper presents hydrochemical data of an AMD stream, Poderosa Creek, in the Iberian Pyrite Belt, obtained between its source, in the Poderosa Mine portal, and its confluence with the Odiel River. The main objective is to establish potential interdependent relationships between sulphate and metal loads and the following physico-chemical variables: pH, electrical conductivity (EC), redox potential (EH) and dissolved oxygen (DO). All the parameters show an overall increasing tendency from the tunnel exit to the confluence at the Odiel River. The TDS and EC are two relevant exceptions. They behave similarly, showing a decreasing trend and a strong inflection that describes a minimum immediately after the discharging point. Spatial analysis combined with statistical tools reveal typical AMD processes and the respective physico-chemical implications. Inputs with distinctive hydrochemical signatures impose relevant modifications in the Poderosa Creek waters. This indicates low hydrochemical inertia and high vulnerability to external stimuli.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor not assigned     

Coupling two radar backscattering models to assess soil roughness and surface water content at farm scale

Abstract

Remote sensing techniques are useful for agro-hydrological monitoring at the farm scale because the availability of spatially and temporally distributed data improves agricultural models for irrigation and crop yield optimization under water scarcity conditions. This research focuses on the surface water content retrieval using active microwave data. Two semi-empirical models were chosen as these showed the best performances in simulating cross and co-polarized backscatter. Thus, these models were coupled to obtain reliable assessments of both soil water content and soil roughness. The use of the coupled model enables one to avoid using roughness measured in situ. Remote sensing images and in situ data were collected between April and July 2006 within the European Space Agency-funded project AgriSAR 2006. The images data set includes L-band in HH, VV and VH polarizations acquired from the airborne E-SAR sensor, operated by the German Aerospace Centre. Results were validated using in situ soil water content and roughness measurements. The results show that reliable assessment of both soil roughness (r ² up to ?0.8) and soil water content (r ² ? 0.9) can be retrieved in fields characterized by low fractional coverage.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor C. Onof

Citation Capodici, F., Maltese, A., Ciraolo, G., La Loggia, G., and D’Urso, G., 2013. Coupling two radar backscattering models to assess soil roughness and surface water content at the farm scale. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (8), 1677–1689.     

Critical analysis of thermal inertia approaches for surface soil water content retrieval

Abstract

The “thermal inertia” method to retrieve surface soil water content maps on bare or sparsely-vegetated soils is analysed. The study area is a small experimental watershed, where optical and thermal images (in day and night time) and in situ data were simultaneously acquired. The sensitivity of thermal inertia to the phase difference between incoming radiation and soil temperature is demonstrated. Thus, to obtain an accurate value of the phase difference, the temporal distance between thermographs using a three-temperature approach is evaluated. We highlight when a cosine correction of the temperature needs to be applied, depending on whether the thermal inertia formulation includes two generic acquisition times, or not. Finally, the deviation in soil water content retrieval is quantifies for given values of each parameter by performing a sensitivity analysis on the basic parameters of the thermal inertia method that are usually affected by calibration errors.

Citation Maltese, A., Bates, P.D., Capodici, F., Cannarozzo, M., Ciraolo, G., and La Loggia, G., 2013. Critical analysis of thermal inertia approaches for surface soil water content retrieval. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (5), 1144–1161.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor D. Hughes     

Climate models and hydrological parameter uncertainties in climate change impacts on monthly runoff and daily flow duration curve of a Mediterranean catchment

ABSTRACT

Climate models and hydrological parameter uncertainties were quantified and compared while assessing climate change impacts on monthly runoff and daily flow duration curve (FDC) in a Mediterranean catchment. Simulations of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model using an ensemble of behavioural parameter sets derived from the Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE) method were approximated by feed-forward artificial neural networks (FF-NN). Then, outputs of climate models were used as inputs to the FF-NN models. Subsequently, projected changes in runoff and FDC were calculated and their associated uncertainty was partitioned into climate model and hydrological parameter uncertainties. Runoff and daily discharge of the Chiba catchment were expected to decrease in response to drier and warmer climatic conditions in the 2050s. For both hydrological indicators, uncertainty magnitude increased when moving from dry to wet periods. The decomposition of uncertainty demonstrated that climate model uncertainty dominated hydrological parameter uncertainty in wet periods, whereas in dry periods hydrological parametric uncertainty became more important.

Editor M.C. Acreman; Associate editor S. Kanae     

Why do people not learn from flood disasters? Evidence from Vietnam’s northwestern mountains

This article explores how the causes and impacts of a flood event as perceived by local people shape immediate responses and future mitigation efforts in mountainous northwest Vietnam. Local flood perception is contrasted with scientific perspectives to determine whether a singular flood event will trigger adjustments in mitigation strategies in an otherwise rarely flood-affected area. We present findings from interdisciplinary research drawing on both socioeconomic and biophysical data. Evidence suggests that individual farmers?? willingness to engage in flood mitigation is curbed by the common perception that flooding is caused by the interplay of a bundle of external factors, with climatic factors and water management failures being the most prominent ones. Most farmers did not link the severity of flooding to existing land use systems, thus underlining the lack of a sense of personal responsibility among farmers for flood mitigation measures. We conclude that local governments cannot depend on there being a sufficient degree of intrinsic motivation among farmers to make them implement soil conservation techniques to mitigate future flooding. Policy makers will need to design measures to raise farmers?? awareness of the complex interplay between land use and hydrology and to enhance collective action in soil conservation by providing appropriate incentives and implementing coherent long-term strategies.     

Study on daily surface evapotranspiration with SEBS in Tibet Autonomous Region简

The estimation of surface evapotranspiration （ET） with satellite dataset is one of the main subjects in the understanding of climate change, disaster monitoring and the circulation of water vapor and energy in Tibet Autonomous Region （TAR）. This research selects satellite images on January 11, April 6, July 31 and October 19 in 2010 as the representative of winter, spring, summer and autumn respectively, estimates the distribution of daily surface ET based on the surface energy balance system （SEBS） along with potential evapotranspiration （PET） and ET derived from Penman-Monteith （P-M） method. The results are obtained as follows. （1） The seasonal distribution of ET and PET basically decreases from the southeast part to the northwest part of TAR. Although ET and PET have similar spatial distributions, there are still some differences to estimate the extreme values especially the maximum value in the middle and southeastern parts of TAR. No matter what kind of methods we adopted, the maximum value of ET and PET always appears in summer, followed by autumn or spring while that in winter is the smallest. （2） In order to better understand the accuracy of SEBS model in the estimation of ET, we compared the ET from SEBS and the ET obtained from P-M method. Results show that the ET from SEBS could estimates the variation trend of actual ET, but it slightly underestimates or overestimates the value of ET as a whole, especially for those areas with thick forest. （3） The spatial distribution of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index （NDVI） exhibits a decreasing trend from the southeast part to the northwest part of TAR which displays remarkable consistency of distributions between ET and vegetation index. ET is well positively related to NDVI, minimum, mean, maximum air temperature and sunshine duration in different seasons while negatively related to precipitation, relative humidity and wind speed in summer.     

Seasonal and Diurnal Ozone Variations: Observations and Modeling

Ozone mixing ratios observed by the Bordeaux microwave radiometer between 1995 and 2002 in an altitude range 25–75 km show diurnal variations in the mesosphere and seasonal variations in terms of annual and semi-annual oscillations (SAO) in the stratosphere and in the mesosphere. The observations with 10–15 km altitude resolution are presented and compared to photochemical and transport model results.Diurnal ozone variations are analyzed by averaging the years 1995–1997 for four representative months and six altitude levels. The photochemical models show a good agreement with the observations for altitudes higher than 50 km. Seasonal ozone variations mainly appear as an annual cycle in the middle and upper stratosphere and a semi-annual cycle in the mesosphere with amplitude and phase depending on altitude. Higher resolution (2 km) HALOE (halogen occultation experiment) ozone observations show a phase reversal of the SAO between 44 and 64 km. In HALOE data, a tendancy for an opposite water vapour cycle can be identified in the altitude range 40–60 km.Generally, the relative variations at all altitudes are well explained by the transport model (up to 54 km) and the photochemical models. Only a newly developed photochemical model (1-D) with improved time-dependent treatment of water vapour profiles and solar flux manages to reproduce fairly well the absolute values.     

Seasonal Variation of Gravity Wave Activity in the Lower Ionosphere in Central Europe

The seasonal variation of gravity wave activity at altitudes around 95 km is investigated using digital measurements of low-frequency nighttime radiowave absorption at Prhonice (50°N, 15°E) between 1989 and 1993. The analysis of 5 years of data allows two conclusions to be drawn: (1) under high solar activity conditions, there is no clearly detectable seasonal variation of gravity wave activity; (2) under medium solar activity conditions (1992, 1993), there is a tendency to a pronounced summer maximum.