scholarly journals Rainfall Thresholds for Flow Generation in Desert Ephemeral Streams

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (12) ◽  
pp. 9935-9950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie K. Kampf ◽  
Joshua Faulconer ◽  
Jeremy R. Shaw ◽  
Michael Lefsky ◽  
Joseph W. Wagenbrenner ◽  
...  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Serrano-Notivoli ◽  
Alberto Martínez-Salvador ◽  
Rafael García-Lorenzo ◽  
David Espín-Sánchez ◽  
Carmelo Conesa-García

Abstract. Ephemeral streams are highly dependent on rainfall and terrain characteristics and, therefore, very sensitive to minor changes in these environments. Western Mediterranean area exhibits a highly irregular precipitation regime with a great variety of rainfall events driving the flow generation on intermittent watercourses, and future climate change scenarios depict a lower magnitude and higher intensity of precipitation in this area, potentially leading to severe changes in flows. We explored the rainfall-runoff relationships in two semiarid watersheds in southern Spain (Algeciras and Upper Mula) to model the different types of rainfall events required to generate new flow in both intermittent streams. We used a nonlinear approach through Generalized Additive Models at event scale in terms of magnitude, duration, and intensity, contextualizing resulting thresholds in a long-term perspective through the calculation of return periods. Results showed that the average ~ 1.2-day and <1.5 mm event was not enough to create new flows. At least a 4-day event ranging from 4 to 20 mm, depending on the watershed was needed to ensure new flow at a high probability (95 %). While these thresholds represented low return periods (from 4 to 10 years), the great irregularity of annual precipitation and rainfall characteristics, makes prediction highly uncertain. Almost a third part of the rainfall events resulted in similar or lower flow than previous day, emphasizing the importance of lithological and terrain characteristics that lead to differences in flow generation between the watersheds.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 775-789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elise Monsieurs ◽  
Olivier Dewitte ◽  
Alain Demoulin

Abstract. Rainfall threshold determination is a pressing issue in the landslide scientific community. While major improvements have been made towards more reproducible techniques for the identification of triggering conditions for landsliding, the now well-established rainfall intensity or event-duration thresholds for landsliding suffer from several limitations. Here, we propose a new approach of the frequentist method for threshold definition based on satellite-derived antecedent rainfall estimates directly coupled with landslide susceptibility data. Adopting a bootstrap statistical technique for the identification of threshold uncertainties at different exceedance probability levels, it results in thresholds expressed as AR = (α±Δα)⋅S(β±Δβ), where AR is antecedent rainfall (mm), S is landslide susceptibility, α and β are scaling parameters, and Δα and Δβ are their uncertainties. The main improvements of this approach consist in (1) using spatially continuous satellite rainfall data, (2) giving equal weight to rainfall characteristics and ground susceptibility factors in the definition of spatially varying rainfall thresholds, (3) proposing an exponential antecedent rainfall function that involves past daily rainfall in the exponent to account for the different lasting effect of large versus small rainfall, (4) quantitatively exploiting the lower parts of the cloud of data points, most meaningful for threshold estimation, and (5) merging the uncertainty on landslide date with the fit uncertainty in a single error estimation. We apply our approach in the western branch of the East African Rift based on landslides that occurred between 2001 and 2018, satellite rainfall estimates from the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA 3B42 RT), and the continental-scale map of landslide susceptibility of Broeckx et al. (2018) and provide the first regional rainfall thresholds for landsliding in tropical Africa.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 489-493
Author(s):  
Grace P. Ahlqvist ◽  
Eileen G. Burke ◽  
Jeremiah A. Johnson ◽  
Timothy F. Jamison

Herein we describe the development of a reactor for the continuous flow generation and use of dimethyldioxirane (DMDO) and its application to the low-level epoxidation of unsaturated polymers.


Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 316
Author(s):  
Andy Banegas-Medina ◽  
Isis-Yelena Montes ◽  
Ourania Tzoraki ◽  
Luc Brendonck ◽  
Tom Pinceel ◽  
...  

Intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES) are increasingly studied because of their often-unique aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity, biogeochemical processes and associated ecosystem services. This study is the first to examine the hydrological, physicochemical and taxonomic variability during the dry-wet transition of an intermittent river in the Chilean Mediterranean Zone. Based on 30-years of river monitoring data and the TREHS tool, the hydrology of the river was characterised. Overall, the river shows a significant reduction in streamflow (−0.031 m3/s per year) and a substantial increase of zero flow days (+3.5 days per year). During the transition of hydrological states, variations were observed in the environmental conditions and invertebrate communities. During the drying phase, abundance, richness, and diversity were highest, while species turn-over was highest during base flow conditions. The disconnected pools and the flow resumption phases were characterised by high proportions of lentic taxa and non-insects, such as the endemic species of bivalves, gastropods, and crustaceans, highlighting the relevance of disconnected pools as refuges. Future climatic change scenarios are expected to impact further the hydrology of IRES, which could result in the loss of biodiversity. Biomonitoring and conservation programmes should acknowledge these important ecosystems.


Author(s):  
José D. Henao Casas ◽  
Fritz Kalwa ◽  
Marc Walther ◽  
Randolf Rausch

AbstractTo cope with water scarcity in drylands, stormwater is often collected in surface basins and subsequently stored in shallow aquifers via infiltration. These stormwater harvesting systems are often accompanied by high evaporation rates and hygiene problems. This is commonly a consequence of low infiltration rates, which are caused by clogging layers that form on top of the soil profile and the presence of a thick vadose zone. The present study aims to develop a conceptual solution to increase groundwater recharge rates in stormwater harvesting systems. The efficiency of vadose-zone wells and infiltration trenches is tested using analytical equations, numerical models, and sensitivity analyses. Dams built in the channel of ephemeral streams (wadis) are selected as a study case to construct the numerical simulations. The modelling demonstrated that vadose-zone wells and infiltration trenches contribute to effective bypassing of the clogging layer. By implementing these solutions, recharge begins 2250–8100% faster than via infiltration from the bed surface of the wadi reservoir. The sensitivity analysis showed that the recharge rates are especially responsive to well length and trench depth. In terms of recharge quantity, the well had the best performance; it can infiltrate up to 1642% more water than the reservoir, and between 336 and 825% more than the trench. Moreover, the well can yield the highest cumulative recharge per dollar and high recharge rates when there are limitations to the available area. The methods investigated here significantly increased recharge rates, providing practical solutions to enhance aquifer water storage in drylands.


Heliyon ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. e01994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgio Rosatti ◽  
Daniel Zugliani ◽  
Marina Pirulli ◽  
Marta Martinengo

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