Evaluation and bias correction of SNODAS snow water equivalent (SWE) for streamflow simulation in eastern Canadian basins

ABSTRACT

In snow-dominated basins, collection of snow data while capturing its spatio-temporal variability is difficult; therefore, integrating assimilation products could be a viable alternative for improving streamflow simulation. This study evaluates the accuracy of daily snow water equivalent (SWE) provided by the SNOw Data Assimilation System (SNODAS) of the National Weather Service at a 1-km² resolution for two basins in eastern Canada, where SWE is a critical variable intensifying spring runoff. A geostatistical interpolation method was used to distribute snow observations. SNODAS SWE products were bias-corrected by matching their cumulative distribution function to that of the interpolated snow. The corrected SWE was then used in hydrological modelling for streamflow simulation. The results indicate that the bias-correction method significantly improved the accuracy of the SNODAS products. Moreover, the corrected SWE improved the simulation performance of the peak values. Although the uncertainty of SNODAS estimates is high for eastern Canadian basins, they are still of great value for regions with few snow stations.     

Modelling daily streamflow at ungauged catchments: what information is necessary?

Rainfall–runoff modelling at ungauged catchments often involves the transfer of calibrated model parameters from ‘donor’ gauged catchments. However, in any rainfall–runoff model, some parameters tend to be more sensitive to the objective function, whereas others are insensitive over their entire feasible range. In this paper, we analyse the effect of selectively transferring sensitive versus insensitive parameters on streamflow predictability at ungauged catchments. We develop a simple daily time‐step rainfall–runoff model [exponential bucket hydrologic model (EXP‐HYDRO)] and calibrate it at 756 catchments within the continental USA. Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency of (NS) is used as the objective function. The model simulates satisfactorily at 323 catchments (NS > 0.6), most of which are located in the eastern part of the USA, along the Rocky Mountain Range, and near the western Pacific coast. Of the six calibration parameters, only three parameters are found to be sensitive to NS. Two of these parameters control the hydrograph recession behaviour of a catchment, and the third parameter controls the snowmelt rate. We find that when only sensitive parameters are transferred, model performance at ungauged catchments is almost at par with that of transferring all six parameters. Conversely, the transfer of only insensitive parameters results in a significant deterioration in model performance. Results suggest that streamflow predictability at ungauged catchments using rainfall–runoff models is largely dependent on the transfer of a small subset of parameters. We recommend that, in any modelling framework, such parameters should be identified and further characterized to better understand the information controlling streamflow predictability at ungauged catchments. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

长江经济带形成演变的地理基础

长江经济带从提出到上升为国家级重大区域发展战略,有着大河流域经济带形成的客观存在性与历史必然性。大河流域经济带往往都经历了“逐水而居的居住地—资源轴带(农牧业、矿业、水能)—交通轴带—工业产业带—城市密集轴带”的发展演变历程,其空间发展表现为“增长点”至“增长轴”,进而向“经济带”的转变,这种流域经济带的地理形态变化,蕴含着作为流域这一特殊而基本地理单元区域发展与空间演变的规律。由点至轴到带的空间演变,也推动着流域经济带由小规模到大规模,由低水平向高水平,空间上由点到面的演变过程。该演变不仅存在资源与区位等优势驱动,更有着生态环境承载力等的刚性约束,深刻反映出经济带发展中的地理环境载体的重要性。对长江经济带形成演变科学内涵与地理基础展开探讨,以期为新时期大河流域经济带绿色高质量发展提供借鉴。     

Lithospheric evolution of the Andean fold–thrust belt, Bolivia, and the origin of the central Andean plateau

We combine geological and geophysical data to develop a generalized model for the lithospheric evolution of the central Andean plateau between 18° and 20° S from Late Cretaceous to present. By integrating geophysical results of upper mantle structure, crustal thickness, and composition with recently published structural, stratigraphic, and thermochronologic data, we emphasize the importance of both the crust and upper mantle in the evolution of the central Andean plateau. Four key steps in the evolution of the Andean plateau are as follows. 1) Initiation of mountain building by 70 Ma suggested by the associated foreland basin depositional history. 2) Eastward jump of a narrow, early fold–thrust belt at 40 Ma through the eastward propagation of a 200–400-km-long basement thrust sheet. 3) Continued shortening within the Eastern Cordillera from 40 to 15 Ma, which thickened the crust and mantle and established the eastern boundary of the modern central Andean plateau. Removal of excess mantle through lithospheric delamination at the Eastern Cordillera–Altiplano boundary during the early Miocene appears necessary to accommodate underthrusting of the Brazilian shield. Replacement of mantle lithosphere by hot asthenosphere may have provided the heat source for a pulse of mafic volcanism in the Eastern Cordillera and Altiplano at 24–23 Ma, and further volcanism recorded by 12–7 Ma crustal ignimbrites. 4) After 20 Ma, deformation waned in the Eastern Cordillera and Interandean zone and began to be transferred into the Subandean zone. Long-term rates of shortening in the fold–thrust belt indicate that the average shortening rate has remained fairly constant (8–10 mm/year) through time with possible slowing (5–7 mm/year) in the last 15–20 myr. We suggest that Cenozoic deformation within the mantle lithosphere has been focused at the Eastern Cordillera–Altiplano boundary where the mantle most likely continues to be removed through piecemeal delamination.     

Determination of lunar surface ages from crater frequency—size distribution

Crater size-frequency distribution is one of the powerful techniques to estimate the ages of planetary surfaces, especially from remote sensing studies. This has been applied to images of the Moon obtained from Clementine mission in 1994. Simple techniques of measurement of the diameter of the craters (in pixels) are used and converted into linear dimensions. Among the several maria studied, the results of Mare Humorum and the central region of Mare Imbrium are reported. The results are compared with age estimates from other sources.     

Relative scales of time and effectiveness of climate in watershed geomorphology

Peak rainfalls and peak runoff rates per unit area are comparable over a worldwide spectrum of climates. However, while the magnitude of the external contribution of energy or force in diverse regions is similar, the impact on the landscape varies markedly between regions. Absolute magnitudes of climatic events and absolute time intervals between such events do not provide satisfactory measures of the geomorphic effectiveness of events of different magnitudes and recurrence intervals. Although geomorphic processes are driven by complex sets of interrelated climatic, topographic, lithologic, and biologic factors, the work done by individual extreme events can be scaled as a ratio to mean annual erosion and the effectiveness of such events in forming landscape features can be related to the rate of recovery of channel form or mass wasting scars following alteration by the extreme event. Thus, a time scale for effectiveness may relate the recurrence interval of an event to the time required for a landform to recover the form existing prior to the event. River channels in temperate regions widened by floods of recurrence intervals from 50 to more than 200 years may regain their original width in matters of months or years. In semi-arid regions, recovery of channel form depends not only upon flows but upon climatic determinants of the growth of bottomland vegetation resulting in variable rates of recovery, on the order of decades, depending upon coincidence of average flows and strengthened vegetation. In truly arid regions the absence of vegetation and flow precludes recovery and the width of channels increases in drainage areas up to 100 km² but remains relatively constant at larger drainage areas. Area as well as time controls the effectiveness of specific events inasmuch as the likelihood of simultaneous peak discharges or rainfalls and large areas is less, particularly in arid regions where events spanning areas of more than several thousand km² are extremely rare if experienced at all. To some extent a decrease in area in a humid region is comparable with a regional change from humid toward more arid climate reflected in the increase in importance of episodic as contrasted with more continuous processes. Exceedingly rare floods of extreme magnitudes, estimated recurrence intervals of 500 years or longer, may exceed thresholds of competence otherwise unattainable in the ‘normal’ record resulting in ‘irreparable’ transformations of valley landforms. Denudation of hillslopes by mass wasting during relatively rare events can also be related to mean rates of denudation and to recovery of hillslope surfaces after scarring by different kinds of landslides. Measured recovery times described in the literature vary from less than a decade for some tropical regions to decades or more in temperate regions. Recurrence intervals of high magnitude storms which trigger mass wasting range from 1 to 2 years in some tropical areas, to 3 or 4 per hundred years in some areas of seasonal rainfall and to 100 or more years in some temperate regions. The effectiveness of climatic events on both hillslopes and rivers is not separable from gradient, lithology or other variables which control both thresholds of activity and recovery rate.     

U–Pb detrital zircon ages of sediments from the Firgoun and Niamey areas (eastern border of West African Craton,West Niger)

This study uses field observations and new U–Pb ages of detrital zircon grains from three samples to question the stratigraphic position of the Firgoun and Niamey siliciclastic sediments, presumed to be Neoproterozoic in age. Sharing several lithological similarities with the Late Cryogenian “Triad” of the Taoudenni, Gourma, and Volta basins, the uppermost siliciclastic sediments of the Firgoun and Niamey areas were likely also deposited during this period. This is corroborated by matrix-supported diamictites with faceted or striated pebbles as well as by structures resembling cryoturbation processes. However, the detrital zircon U–Pb age record that we present here for the lowermost deposits of Firgoun and Niamey provides mainly Paleoproterozoic ages, and very few Archean ages, altogether in a range from 1822 ± 9 to 3392 ± 9 Ma. Therefore, the new data only show that the Firgoun and Niamey sediments were deposited before about 1800 Ma. Nevertheless, the U–Th–Pb zircon age data allows examining the possible provenance of the sediments. We show that the latter was likely in the westerly close vicinity of the studied areas. The Archean zircons are likely inherited, and possibly originating from a more westerly source. The nearby source of the Niamey and Firgoun sediments suggests that a high topographic relief was still existing in the south-central part of the West African Craton in the Mid Neoproterozoic.     

56Ma:华南岩石圈伸展和南海张开的重要转折时间

广东四会 吴川断裂带茂名、三水、河源、连平 南雄等盆地火山岩的年代学、岩石学和钕同位素资料表明 ,在 92～ 38Ma存在连续的火山作用 ,并在始新世早期 (约 5 6Ma)火山作用源区从下地壳突然转向上地幔 ,标志着华南岩石圈在这一时间出现大规模伸展减薄。这一重大转折事件与菲律宾海、南海等东亚边缘海盆的最早张开密切相关。     

中小流域防洪规划决策支持系统──Ⅰ系统研究

根据我国中小河流的基本特征,首先说明了我国中小流域防洪规划的目的、意义,然后阐述了我国中小流域防洪规划的主要内容和基本步骤,最后详细介绍了我国中小流域防洪规划决策支持系统的建立和使用.决策支持系统作为一种新型的研究方法与手段,它在防洪规划中的应用必将加强我国中小流域防洪规划的研究,简化防洪规划的过程,使得我国中小流域的防洪规划更加科学、准确.