Analytical investigation of the exact groundwater divide between rivers beyond the Dupuit–Forchheimer approximation

The groundwater divide is a key feature of river basins and significantly influenced by subsurface hydrological processes. For an unconfined aquifer between two parallel rivers or ditches, it has long been defined as the top of the water table based on the Dupuit–Forchheimer approximation. However, the exact groundwater divide is subject to the interface between two local flow systems transporting groundwater to rivers from the infiltration recharge. This study contributes a new analytical model for two-dimensional groundwater flow between rivers of different water levels. The flownet is delineated in the model to identify groundwater flow systems and the exact groundwater divide. Formulas with two dimensionless parameters are derived to determine the distributed hydraulic head, the top of the water table and the groundwater divide. The locations of the groundwater divide and the top of the water table are not the same. The distance between them in horizontal can reach up to 8.9% of the distance between rivers. Numerical verifications indicate that simplifications in the analytical model do not significantly cause misestimates in the location of the groundwater divide. In contrast, the Dupuit–Forchheimer approximation yields an incorrect water table shape. The new analytical model is applied to investigate groundwater divides in the Loess Plateau, China, with a Monte Carlo simulation process taking into account the uncertainties in the parameters.     

Hydrological trends and the evolution of catchment research in the Alptal valley,central Switzerland

When the observation of small headwater catchments in the pre-Alpine Alptal valley (central Switzerland) started in the late 1960s, the researchers were mainly interested in questions related to floods and forest management. Investigations of geomorphological processes in the steep torrent channels followed in the 1980s, along with detailed observations of biogeochemical and ecohydrological processes in individual forest stands. More recently, research in the Alptal has addressed the impacts of climate change on water supply and runoff generation. In this article, we describe, for the first time, the evolution of catchment research at Alptal, and present new analyses of long-term trends and short-term hydrologic behaviour. Hydrometeorological time series from the past 50 years show substantial interannual variability, but only minimal long-term trends, except for the ~2°C increase in mean annual air temperature over the 50-year period, and a corresponding shift towards earlier snowmelt. Similar to previous studies in larger Alpine catchments, the decadal variations in mean annual runoff in Alptal's small research catchments reflect the long-term variability in annual precipitation. In the Alptal valley, the most evident hydrological trends were observed in late spring and are related to the substantial change in the duration of the snow cover. Streamflow and water quality are highly variable within and between hydrological events, suggesting rapid shifts in flow pathways and mixing, as well as changing connectivity of runoff-generating areas. This overview illustrates how catchment research in the Alptal has evolved in response to changing societal concerns and emerging scientific questions.     

Beaver dam analogues drive heterogeneous groundwater–surface water interactions

Beaver dam analogues (BDAs) are a cost-effective stream restoration approach that leverages the recognized environmental benefits of natural beaver dams on channel stability and local hydrology. Although natural beaver dams are known to exert considerable influence on the hydrologic conditions of a stream system by mediating geomorphic processes, nutrient cycling, and groundwater–surface water interactions, the impacts of beaver-derived restoration methods on groundwater–surface water exchange are poorly characterized. To address this deficit, we monitored hyporheic exchange fluxes and streambed porewater biogeochemistry across a sequence of BDAs installed along a central Wyoming stream during the summer of 2019. Streambed fluxes were quantified by heat tracing methods and vertical hydraulic gradients. Biogeochemical activity was evaluated using major ion porewater chemistry and principal component analysis. Vertical fluxes of approximately 1.0 m/day were observed around the BDAs, as was the development of spatially heterogeneous zones of nitrate production, groundwater upwelling, and anaerobic reduction. Strong contrasts in hyporheic zone processes were observed across BDAs of differing sizes. This suggests that structures may function with size-dependent behaviour, only altering groundwater–surface water interactions after a threshold hydraulic step height is exceeded. Patterns of hyporheic exchange and biogeochemical cycling around the studied BDAs resemble those around natural beaver dams, suggesting that BDAs may provide comparable benefits to channel complexity and near-stream function over a 1-year period.     

Time–space fractional governing equations of transient groundwater flow in confined aquifers: Numerical investigation

In order to model non‐Fickian transport behaviour in groundwater aquifers, various forms of the time–space fractional advection–dispersion equation have been developed and used by several researchers in the last decade. The solute transport in groundwater aquifers in fractional time–space takes place by means of an underlying groundwater flow field. However, the governing equations for such groundwater flow in fractional time–space are yet to be developed in a comprehensive framework. In this study, a finite difference numerical scheme based on Caputo fractional derivative is proposed to investigate the properties of a newly developed time–space fractional governing equations of transient groundwater flow in confined aquifers in terms of the time–space fractional mass conservation equation and the time–space fractional water flux equation. Here, we apply these time–space fractional governing equations numerically to transient groundwater flow in a confined aquifer for different boundary conditions to explore their behaviour in modelling groundwater flow in fractional time–space. The numerical results demonstrate that the proposed time–space fractional governing equation for groundwater flow in confined aquifers may provide a new perspective on modelling groundwater flow and on interpreting the dynamics of groundwater level fluctuations. Additionally, the numerical results may imply that the newly derived fractional groundwater governing equation may help explain the observed heavy‐tailed solute transport behaviour in groundwater flow by incorporating nonlocal or long‐range dependence of the underlying groundwater flow field.     

Evaluation of the temporal variations of groundwater storage and its interactions with climatic variables using GRACE data and hydrological models: A study from Turkey

Monitoring of the fluctuations of groundwater storage is particularly important in arid and semi-arid regions where water scarcity brings about various challenges. Remote sensing data and techniques play a preponderant role in developing solutions to environmental problems. The launch of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites has eased the remote monitoring and evaluation of groundwater resources with an unprecedented precision over large scales. Within the scope of the current study, the latest release (RL06) of GRACE mass concentrations (Mascons) from Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) dataset as well as Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) models of Noah and Catchment Land Surface Model (CLSM) were used to provide Groundwater Storage Anomalies (GWSA) over Turkey. The temporal interactions of the estimated GWSA with the climatic variables of precipitation and temperature (derived from the reanalysis datasets of CHELSA [Climatologies at High resolution for the Earth's Land Surface Areas] and FLDAS [the Famine Early Warning Systems Network Land Data Assimilation System], respectively) were investigated statistically. The results suggest that there is a descending trend (from 2003 to 2016) for Terrestrial Water Storage Anomalies (TWSA) and GWSA over Turkey with a total loss of 11 and 6 cm of water, respectively. The statistical analysis results also indicate that the monthly variations of GWSA over Turkey are highly correlated with precipitation and temperature at 2-month lag. The analysis of the climatology (long-term) values of monthly GWSA, precipitation and temperature also revealed high agreement between the variables.     

Predicting quantiles of water quality from catchment characteristics

Water quality is often highly variable both in space and time, which poses challenges for modelling the more extreme concentrations. This study developed an alternative approach to predicting water quality quantiles at individual locations. We focused on river water quality data that were collected over 25 years, at 102 catchments across the State of Victoria, Australia. We analysed and modelled spatial patterns of the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles of the concentrations of sediments, nutrients and salt, with six common constituents: total suspended solids (TSS), total phosphorus (TP), filterable reactive phosphorus (FRP), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), nitrate-nitrite (NO_x), and electrical conductivity (EC). To predict the spatial variation of each quantile for each constituent, we developed statistical regression models and exhaustively searched through 50 catchment characteristics to identify the best set of predictors for that quantile. The models predict the spatial variation in individual quantiles of TSS, TKN and EC well (66%–96% spatial variation explained), while those for TP, FRP and NO_x have lower performance (37%–73% spatial variation explained). The most common factors that influence the spatial variations of the different constituents and quantiles are: annual temperature, percentage of cropping land area in catchment and channel slope. The statistical models developed can be used to predict how low- and high-concentration quantiles change with landscape characteristics, and thus provide a useful tool for catchment managers to inform planning and policy making with changing climate and land use conditions.     

自然和自然贡献情景模型研究综述

本文回顾了自然和自然贡献情景模型发展的背景、历史和内容,概括总结了自然和自然贡献情景模型的发展进程以及联合国生物多样性与生态系统服务政府间科学—政策平台(IPBES)情景模型的概念框架,讨论了自然和自然贡献情景模型存在的问题和发展方向。为了在全球层面解决现有综合集成模型存在的问题,根据地球表层建模基本定理和生态环境曲面建模基本定理,提出了具有中国原创特点的自然与自然贡献情景模型概念框架。     

景观生态分类与制图浅议

本文在查阅分析大量文献和前人研究的基础上 ,对目前景观生态分类和景观制图作了详细的对比分析 ,认为景观分类需要结合实际区域现状 ,采用逐级分类的方法 ;同时利用 ETM遥感影像为数据源 ,以天山北麓为示范区.研制其土地利用土地覆盖变化的景观类型图。