What about reservoirs? Questioning anthropogenic and climatic interferences on water availability

Water resources in semi-arid regions like the Mediterranean Basin are highly vulnerable because of the high variability of weather systems. Additionally, climate change is altering the timing and pattern of water availability in a region where growing populations are placing extra demands on water supplies. Importantly, how reservoirs and dams have an influence on the amount of water resources available is poorly quantified. Therefore, we examine the impact of reservoirs on water resources together with the impact of climate change in a semi-arid Mediterranean catchment. We simulated the Susurluk basin (23.779-km²) using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. We generate results for with (RSV) and without reservoirs (WRSV) scenarios. We run simulations for current and future conditions using dynamically downscaled outputs of the MPI-ESM-MR general circulation model under two greenhouse gas relative concentration pathways (RCPs) in order to reveal the coupled effect of reservoir and climate impacts. Water resources were then converted to their usages – blue water (water in aquifers and rivers), green water storage (water in the soil) and green water flow (water losses by evaporation and transpiration). The results demonstrate that all water resources except green water flow are projected to decrease under all RCPs compared to the reference period, both long-term and at seasonal scales. However, while water scarcity is expected in the future, reservoir storage is shown to be adequate to overcome this problem. Nevertheless, reservoirs reduce the availability of water, particularly in soil moisture stores, which increases the potential for drought by reducing streamflow. Furthermore, reservoirs cause water losses through evaporation from their open surfaces. We conclude that pressures to protect society from economic damage by building reservoirs have a strong impact on the fluxes of watersheds. This is additional to the effect of climate change on water resources.     

Effect of soil amendments on phytoextraction potential of Brassica juncea growing on sewage sludge

A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the influence of elemental sulfur, gypsum and chelating agent (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) on copper, zinc, nickel, cadmium, chromium and lead uptake by Brassica juncea from sewage sludge. Addition of sulphur acidified the sludge, which caused the pH decrease to 5.4 with an initial pH 6.7. The shoot and root biomass were increased with sulfur addition, while decreased with Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid addition. Applications of Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and sulfur resulted in a considerable increase in copper and lead concentrations in the plant. The highest root concentration of copper obtained to be 110?mg/kg?dw at Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid treatment. For sulfur treatment, lead concentrations in shoots indicated almost high concentrations 77?mg/kg, about twofold increases relative to roots (34?mg/kg). The Transportation Index of all studied metals were quite low (TI?<?0.5), whereas the Bioaccumulation Factor values were much higher, varied from 0.01 to 9.67. Furthermore, the plant showed better Bioaccumulation Factor for copper and lead metals in both shoot and root. The efficiency to remove copper and lead from sludge is high in this plant. As a result, elemental sulfur will be effective amendment for phytoextraction of heavy metals from sewage sludge.     

Quantification of the urban heat island under a changing climate over Anatolian Peninsula

The Anatolian Peninsula is located at the confluence of Europe, Asia, and Africa and houses 81 cities of which 79 of them have population over 100,000. We employed some criteria to select the cities from the 81 cities. After accomplishing all the criteria, eight cities were remaining for the study. Nonparametric Mann–Kendall test procedure was employed for the urban and rural stations of these cities to detect the long-term change in temperature trends. Statistical analysis of daily minimum temperatures for the period between 1965 and 2006 suggest that there is no statistically significant increase in rural areas. In contrast to the findings of the previous studies, however, all the urban sites and difference between urban and rural pairs show significant increase in temperatures, a strong indication for the existence of urban heat island (UHI) affect over the region. Regional Climate Model was also utilized to assess the changes in temperature by the end of century for the region. The findings suggest that an increase of up to 5°C is possible. Climate change effects enforced with UHI have the potential to cause serious problems for the entire region and hence needs to be studied thoroughly.     

Control of active faults and sea level changes on the distribution of shallow gas accumulations and gas-related seismic structures along the central branch of the North Anatolian Fault,southern Marmara shelf,Turkey

Detailed reviews of multichannel seismic reflection, sparker, chirp and multibeam data that were collected on the southern Marmara Sea shelf revealed various shallow gas indicators and related sedimentary structures, including enhanced reflections, seismic chimneys, acoustic blanking, bright spots, pockmarks, mound-like features and seeps. Seismic attribute analyses were applied to characterise the existence of gas-bearing sediments. The distribution of shallow gas indicators provides important insights into their origin and the geological factors that control them. Prominent gas accumulations and seeps are observed along the profiles that cross the branches of the central segment of the North Anatolian Fault Zone, which indicates that the gas seeps are controlled by active faulting. This indicates that the faults act as conduits through the sedimentary column. The dense occurrences of gas directly off the river mouths along the shallow bays provide clues about the organic-rich carbon content of the sediments and biogenic methane generation. In some areas, the gas-related acoustic anomalies are mostly located in the upper sediments below the marine unit, which indicates that the gas emissions in these areas were terminated as a result of the increased overburden pressure after the Holocene sea level rise and the deposition of the marine unit.     

GIS-based approach for flood analysis: case study of Keçidere flash flood event (Turkey)

The purpose of this study is to explain the formation mechanism of the floods which occurred in the Keçidere basin in 2009. In this study, discharge data in between 1981 and 2009, digital elevation model (DEM), satellite images and field works were used as a main data sources. LPT3 was applied to 29-year maximum flow data to produce different flood return periods such as 2, 5, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000-year flood. The DEM was created using 1:25,000 topographic contours with Topo to Raster interpolation techniques in geographical information systems (GIS). Land use and some geometric data were digitized using high resolution satellite images for hydraulic modelling purposes. Simulation of the 2009 flash flood event and different return periods flow data was done using one-dimensional hydraulic modelling with HEC-RAS. In the last phase, results obtained from the simulations and field works were compared based on fits statistics and mean absolute error in terms of extent and depth. An analysis of water extent and depth features observed during the highest flow ever measured in the basin revealed that the result overlapped with 500-year inundation extent. Overall, the results of the research indicate that GIS is an effective environment for floodplain mapping and analysis.     

Fuzzy logic algorithm for runoff-induced sediment transport from bare soil surfaces

Utilizing the rainfall intensity, and slope data, a fuzzy logic algorithm was developed to estimate sediment loads from bare soil surfaces. Considering slope and rainfall as input variables, the variables were fuzzified into fuzzy subsets. The fuzzy subsets of the variables were considered to have triangular membership functions. The relations among rainfall intensity, slope, and sediment transport were represented by a set of fuzzy rules. The fuzzy rules relating input variables to the output variable of sediment discharge were laid out in the IF-THEN format. The commonly used weighted average method was employed for the defuzzification procedure.The sediment load predicted by the fuzzy model was in satisfactory agreement with the measured sediment load data. Predicting the mean sediment loads from experimental runs, the performance of the fuzzy model was compared with that of the artificial neural networks (ANNs) and the physics-based models. The results of showed revealed that the fuzzy model performed better under very high rainfall intensities over different slopes and over very steep slopes under different rainfall intensities. This is closely related to the selection of the shape and frequency of the fuzzy membership functions in the fuzzy model.     

Field reconnaissance of the 2007 Niigata-Chuetsu Oki earthquake

As part of the 2007 Tri-Center Field Mission to Japan, a reconnaissance team comprised of fourteen graduate students and three faculty members from three U.S. earthquake engineering research centers, namely, Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER), Mid-America Earthquake Center (MAE), and Pacifi c Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER), undertook a reconnaissance visit to the affected area shortly after the 2007 Niigata- Chuetsu Oki earthquake. This mission provided an opportunity to review the nature of the earthquake damage that occurred, as well as to assess the signifi cance of the damage from an educational perspective. This paper reports on the seismological characteristics of the earthquake, preliminary fi ndings of geotechnical and structural damage, and the causes of the observed failures or collapses. In addition, economic and socio-economic considerations and experiences to enhance earthquake resilience are presented.     

Simulation of airflow around rain gauges: Comparison of LES with RANS models

Wind is responsible for systematic errors that affect rain gauge measurements. The authors investigate the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to calculate airflow around rain gauges by applying a high-resolution large eddy simulation (LES) model to determine the flow fields around a measuring system of two rain gauges. The simulated air flow field is characterized by the presence of massive separation which induces the formation and shedding of highly unsteady eddies in the detached shear layers and wakes. Parts of these detached structures occur over the orifice of the rain gauges and may substantially affect the dynamics of the raindrops in this critical region. Non-dissipative LES methods used with fine enough meshes can successfully predict these eddies and their associated fluctuations. The authors compare statistics from LES with steady-state Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations using the k–ε and shear stress transport k–ω turbulence models. They find that both RANS and LES models predict similar mean velocity distributions around the rain gauges. However, they determine the distribution of the resolved turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) to be strongly dependent on the RANS model used. Neither RANS model predictions of TKE are close to those of LES. The authors conclude that the failure of RANS to predict TKE is an important limitation, as TKE is needed to scale the local velocity fluctuations in stochastic models used to calculate the motion of raindrops in the flow field.     

Landslide susceptibility mapping using Bayesian approach in the Sultan Mountains (Akşehir,Turkey)

Landslides cause heavy damage to property and infrastructure, in addition to being responsible for the loss of human lives in many parts of the Turkey. The paper presents GIS-based spatial data analysis for landslide susceptibility mapping in the regions of the Sultan Mountains, West of Akşehir, and central part of Turkey. Landslides occur frequently in the area and seriously affect local living conditions. Therefore, spatial analysis of landslide susceptibility in the Sultan Mountains is important. The relationships between landslide distributions with the 19 landslide affecting parameters were analysed using a Bayesian model. In the study area, 90 landslides were observed. The landslides were randomly subdivided into 80 training landslides and 10 test landslides. A landslide susceptibility map was produced by using the training landslides. The test landslides were used in the accuracy control of the produced landslide susceptibility map. Approximately 9% of the study area was classified as high susceptibility zone. Medium, low and very low susceptibility zones covered 8, 23 and 60% of the study area, respectively. Most of the locations of the observed landslides actually fall into moderate (17.78%) and high (77.78. %) susceptibility zones of the produced landslide susceptibility map. This validates the applicability of proposed methods, approaches and the classification scheme. The high susceptibility zone is along both sides of the Akşehir Fault and at the north-eastern slope of the Sultan Mountains. It was determined that the surface area of the Harlak and Deresenek formations, which have attained lithological characteristics of clayey limestone with a broken and separated base, and where area landslides occur, possesses an elevation of 1,100–1,600 m, a slope gradient of 25°–35° and a slope aspect of 22.5°–157.5° facing slopes.