Understanding the hydrological system dynamics of a glaciated alpine catchment in the Himalayan region using the J2000 hydrological model

This paper provides the results of hydrological modelling in a mesoscale glaciated alpine catchment of the Himalayan region. In the context of global climate change, the hydrological regime of an alpine mountain is likely to be affected, which might produce serious implications for downstream water availability. The main objective of this study was to understand the hydrological system dynamics of a glaciated catchment, the Dudh Kosi River basin, in Nepal, using the J2000 hydrological model and thereby understand how the rise in air temperature will affect the hydrological processes. The model is able to reproduce the overall hydrological dynamics quite well with an efficiency result of Nash–Sutcliffe (0.85), logarithm Nash–Sutcliffe (0.93) and coefficient of determination (0.85) for the study period. The average contribution from glacier areas to total streamflow is estimated to be 17%, and snowmelt (other than from glacier areas) accounts for another 17%. This indicates the significance of the snow and glacier runoff in the Himalayan region. The hypothetical rise in temperature scenarios at a rate of +2 and +4 °C indicated that the snowmelt process might be largely affected. An increase in snowmelt volume is noted during the premonsoon period, whereas the contribution during the monsoon season is significantly decreased. This occurs mainly because the rise in temperature will shift the snowline up to areas of higher altitude and thereby reduce the snow storage capacity of the basin. This indicates that the region is particularly vulnerable to global climate change and the associated risk of decreasing water availability to downstream areas. Under the assumed warming scenarios, it is likely that in the future, the river might shift from a ‘melt‐dominated river’ to a ‘rain‐dominated river’. The J2000 model should be considered a promising tool to better understand the hydrological dynamics in alpine mountain catchments of the Himalayan region. This understanding will be quite useful for further analysis of ‘what‐if scenarios’ in the context of global climate and land‐use changes and ultimately for sustainable Integrated Water Resources Management in the Himalayan region. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of uncertainties in the hydrological response of a model‐based climate change impact assessment in a subcatchment of the Spree River,Germany

Climate change impact assessments form the basis for the development of suitable climate change adaptation strategies. For this purpose, ensembles consisting of stepwise coupled models are generally used [emission scenario → global circulation model → downscaling approach (DA) → bias correction → impact model (hydrological model)], in which every item is affected by considerable uncertainty. The aim of the current study is (1) to analyse the uncertainty related to the choice of the DA as well as the hydrological model and its parameterization and (2) to evaluate the vulnerability of the studied catchment, a subcatchment of the highly anthropogenically impacted Spree River catchment, to hydrological change. Four different DAs are used to drive four different model configurations of two conceptually different hydrological models (Water Balance Simulation Model developed at ETH Zürich and HBV‐light). In total, 452 simulations are carried out. The results show that all simulations compute an increase in air temperature and potential evapotranspiration. For precipitation, runoff and actual evapotranspiration, opposing trends are computed depending on the DA used to drive the hydrological models. Overall, the largest source of uncertainty can be attributed to the choice of the DA, especially regarding whether it is statistical or dynamical. The choice of the hydrological model and its parameterization is of less importance when long‐term mean annual changes are compared. The large bandwidth at the end of the modelling chain may exacerbate the formulation of suitable climate change adaption strategies on the regional scale. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identification of groundwater mean transit times of precipitation and riverbank infiltration by two‐component lumped parameter models

Groundwater transit time is an essential hydrologic metric for groundwater resources management. However, especially in tropical environments, studies on the transit time distribution (TTD) of groundwater infiltration and its corresponding mean transit time (mTT) have been extremely limited due to data sparsity. In this study, we primarily use stable isotopes to examine the TTDs and their mTTs of both vertical and horizontal infiltration at a riverbank infiltration area in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD), representative of the tropical climate in Asian monsoon regions. Precipitation, river water, groundwater, and local ponding surface water were sampled for 3 to 9 years and analysed for stable isotopes (δ¹⁸O and δ²H), providing a unique data set of stable isotope records for a tropical region. We quantified the contribution that the two sources contributed to the local shallow groundwater by a novel concept of two‐component lumped parameter models (LPMs) that are solved using δ¹⁸O records. The study illustrates that two‐component LPMs, in conjunction with hydrological and isotopic measurements, are able to identify subsurface flow conditions and water mixing at riverbank infiltration systems. However, the predictive skill and the reliability of the models decrease for locations farther from the river, where recharge by precipitation dominates, and a low‐permeable aquitard layer above the highly permeable aquifer is present. This specific setting impairs the identifiability of model parameters. For river infiltration, short mTTs (<40 weeks) were determined for sites closer to the river (<200 m), whereas for the precipitation infiltration, the mTTs were longer (>80 weeks) and independent of the distance to the river. The results not only enhance the understanding of the groundwater recharge dynamics in the VMD but also suggest that the highly complex mechanisms of surface–groundwater interaction can be conceptualized by exploiting two‐component LPMs in general. The model concept could thus be a powerful tool for better understanding both the hydrological functioning of mixing processes and the movement of different water components in riverbank infiltration systems.     

The other's perception of a streamflow sample: From a bottle of water to a data point

In scientific communication, ambiguities in term usage can go unnoticed due not only to the distance between reader and writer but also to the existence of highly specialized scientific subcommunities. This commentary therefore aims at raising awareness about the use of terms that have different meanings within different hydrological subcommunities such as field hydrology, hydrological modelling, or statistical hydrology. To do so, we discuss the use of the following commonly used hydrological terms: sample, runoff, discharge, and streamflow. We performed three types of analyses to provide evidence of term usage and understanding, including both qualitative and quantitative approaches: a drawing exercise, a survey, and a literature corpus analysis. These analyses allow for a comparison of spontaneous definitions and the actual use of these terms in scientific publications. Our various information sources revealed that the dialogue between hydrologists within and across subdisciplines is substantially influenced by personal conceptualizations of terms that are not always shared across conversational partners. The terms discussed and illustrated in this commentary have to be seen as a small sample used to demonstrate the need for a thoughtful use of hydrological terms when communicating research, not only to a general audience but even across subdisciplines within hydrology.     

Application of semi‐distributed hydrological model for basin level water balance of the Ken basin of Central India

In the present study, a semi‐distributed hydrological model soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) has been employed for the Ken basin of Central India to predict the water balance. The entire basin was divided into ten sub basins comprising 107 hydrological response units on the basis of unique slope, soil and land cover classes using SWAT model. Sensitivity analysis of SWAT model was performed to examine the critical input variables of the study area. For Ken basin, curve number, available water capacity, soil depth, soil evaporation compensation factor and threshold depth of water in the shallow aquifer (GWQ_MN) were found to be the most sensitive parameters. Yearly and monthly calibration (1985–1996) and validation (1997–2009) were performed using the observed discharge data of the Banda site in the Ken basin. Performance evaluation of the model was carried out using coefficient of determination, Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency, root mean square error‐observations standard deviation ratio, percent bias and index of agreement criterion. It was found that SWAT model can be successfully applied for hydrological evaluation of the Ken basin, India. The water balance analysis was carried out to evaluate water balance of the Ken basin for 25 years (1985–2009). The water balance exhibited that the average annual rainfall in the Ken basin is about 1132 mm. In this, about 23% flows out as surface run‐off, 4% as groundwater flow and about 73% as evapotranspiration. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

GIS research to address tensions in geography

The rise of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies has been producing powerful tools for spatial data processing, management, analysis, modeling, and visualization. While supporting many tasks, GIS technologies have evoked new thinking and advanced intellectual inquiries in geography. Technological advances in other fields often stimulate new research questions and lead to revolutionary discoveries. The Hubble telescope revolutionizes our understanding of the universe, and 3D digital microscopes transform our knowledge of the coordination among biological, neurological, and physiological systems in living organisms. Can GIS claim similar revolutionary effects on geography? The answer is much up for debate. With GIS technologies, geographic studies can explore a broader extent across multiple scales in space and time and tackle problems through increasingly complex spatial statistics, visual analytics, computation, simulation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Both the Hubble telescope and 3D digital microscope were built based on scientific research that subserves the technological advances for inquiries into space and life systems. Likewise, GIScience research innovates GIS methods that enable novel geographic investigations and therefore contribute to geographic knowledge production. For the sake of simplicity, the term GIS used here represents both GIScience and GIS technologies. This essay attempts to clarify the intellectual contributions of GIS to geography on the following two questions: (1) What novel geographic thinking is driven by GIS? (2) How may GIS provoke new geographic inquiries and knowledge? Building on Nystuen's notion of four tensions that trigger geographic questions, the essay discusses how GIS innovations mediate historical tension, space‐time tension, dimensional tension and scale tensions.     

顾及时间效应的周围人口与视频监控对街头抢劫者作案地选择的影响研究

作案地选择是犯罪地理学的研究主题,但以往研究侧重考虑建成环境和社会环境的影响,缺乏研究周围人口与视频监控的作用。为弥补这一不足,论文以中国ZG市为例,利用离散空间选择模型,检验周围人口和视频监控对街头抢劫者作案地选择的影响,并尝试验证其时间效应。结果表明：① 周围人口与视频监控对街头抢劫者作案地选择均存在显著负影响,但两者的作用强度有所差异,即它们均能抑制街头抢劫的发生,但周围人口的监护作用大于视频监控的威慑作用;② 在周内日变化上,周围人口和视频监控的监护作用具有时间平稳性;但在日内时变化上,周围人口的影响呈现出时间波动性,而视频监控的影响却保持时间稳定特性。研究结果对警务防控和犯罪研究具有重要的参考意义,如：① 开展社会治安视频监控系统防控效果的实验评估,并对其布设位置进行动态优化与调整;② 在城市规划或城市更新时安排适量的混合功能用地,以在规划或管理上加强对周围人口的适度调节;③ 未来时间效应研究应重点关注日变化规律。     

碳酸氢钠冷却结晶动力学

碳酸氢钠(NaHCO_3)俗称小苏打,其产品质量取决于颗粒的大小,晶体的形貌和样品的纯度等诸多因素。本论文基于连续稳态MSMPR结晶器原理,研究了不同停留时间下,碳酸氢钠从碳酸钠溶液中冷却结晶过程动力学。利用实验数据建立了NaHCO_3的结晶动力学操作模型。实验和计算结果表明,随停留时间的增加,NaHCO_3过饱和度降低,晶体生长速率和成核速率均减小,相应的平均粒径增加,细颗粒含量减小;适当延长停留时间是制取高品质小苏打产品的有效途径。冷却结晶过程可有效增加小苏打产量,小苏打收率维持在55%左右。此外,一定Na_2CO_3存在下冷却结晶碳酸氢钠晶体形态由细长的针状变为规整的片状。     

高速公路、市场潜力与人力资本空间分布研究

基于我国2000年、2010年250个城市数据,通过高速公路网测算城市间时间距离以刻画城市的国内和国外市场潜力,控制城市教育水平、内部市场规模、产业结构、行政级别等。考虑空间自相关,采用空间计量模型研究不同空间尺度市场潜力对人力资本空间分布的差异化影响。结果发现:高速公路网的基本建成使得市场潜力显著影响城市的人力资本积累,城市越靠近国内市场中心则人力资本水平越低,越靠近国外市场则人力资本水平越高。考虑规模效应和竞争效应布局城市交通网络,加强教育投入,能够有效提高城市人力资本水平。