scholarly journals Modeling Travel Time Distributions of Preferential Subsurface Runoff, Deep Percolation and Transpiration at A Montane Forest Hillslope Site

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 2396
Author(s):  
Jaromir Dusek ◽  
Tomas Vogel

Residence and travel times of water in headwater catchments, or their smaller spatial units, such as individual hillslopes, represent important descriptors of catchments’ hydrological regime. In this study, travel time distributions and residence times were evaluated for a montane forest hillslope site. A two-dimensional dual-continuum model, previously validated on water flow and oxygen-18 data, was used to simulate the seasonal soil water regime and selected major rainfall–runoff events observed at the hillslope site. The model was subsequently used to generate hillslope breakthrough curves of a fictitious conservative tracer applied at the hillslope surface in the form of the Dirac impulse. The simulated tracer breakthroughs allowed us to estimate the travel time distributions of soil water associated with the episodic subsurface stormflow, deep percolation and transpiration, thus yielding partial travel time distributions for the individual discharge processes. The travel time distributions determined for stormflow were dominated by the lateral component of preferential flow. The stormflow median travel times, calculated for nine selected rainfall–runoff events, varied considerably—ranging from 1 to 17 days. The estimated travel times were significantly affected by the temporal rainfall patterns and antecedent soil moisture distributions. The residence times of soil water, evaluated for three consecutive growing seasons, ranged from 29 to 37 days. The analysis reveals the interplay of soil water storage and discharge processes at the hillslope site of interest. The applied methodology can be used for the evaluation of runoff dynamics at the hillslope and catchment scales as well as for the quantification of biogeochemical transformations of dissolved chemicals.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaromir Dusek ◽  
Tomas Vogel

<p>Residence and travel times of water in headwater catchments and hillslopes represent important descriptors of hydrological regime. In this study, travel time distributions were evaluated for a montane forest hillslope site using a two-dimensional dual-continuum model. The model was used to simulate the seasonal soil water regime and selected major rainfall–runoff events observed at the hillslope site. In particular, it was used to generate hillslope breakthrough curves of a fictitious conservative tracer applied at the hillslope surface in the form of the Dirac impulse. The simulated tracer breakthroughs allowed us to estimate the travel time distributions of soil water associated with the episodic subsurface stormflow, deep percolation and transpiration, yielding partial travel time distributions for the individual discharge processes. The travel time distributions determined for stormflow were dominated by the lateral component of preferential flow. The event-based stormflow median travel times ranged from 1 to 17 days. The estimated travel times were significantly affected by the temporal rainfall patterns and antecedent soil moisture distributions. The applied modeling methodology can be used for the evaluation of runoff dynamics at the hillslope and catchment scales as well as for the quantification of biogeochemical transformations of dissolved chemicals.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Zuecco ◽  
Chiara Marchina ◽  
Ylenia Gelmini ◽  
Anam Amin ◽  
Ilja van Meerveld ◽  
...  

<p>Understanding discharge and solute responses is pivotal for water resources management and pollution mitigation measures. The few studies that have analysed concentration-discharge relations using high temporal resolution tracer data collected during rainfall-runoff events have shown that these relations may vary for different events and depend on season, event characteristics or antecedent wetness conditions. </p><p>In this study, we used hydrometric and tracer data (stable isotopes, major ions and electrical conductivity (EC)) to i) compare the concentration-discharge relations for different tracers, ii) characterize the hysteretic relations between discharge and tracer concentrations at the event timescale, and iii) determine whether the changes in hysteresis can be explained by event characteristics.</p><p>Data collection was carried out in the Ressi catchment, a 2-ha forested watershed in the Italian pre-Alps. The catchment is characterized by high seasonality in runoff response, due to the seasonality in rainfall (high in fall) and evapotranspiration (high in summer). Discharge and rainfall have been measured continuously since August 2012. Stream water, precipitation, shallow groundwater and soil water samples were collected for tracer analyses during 20 rainfall-runoff events between September 2015 and August 2018. All samples were analyzed for EC, isotopic composition (<sup>2</sup>H and <sup>18</sup>O) and major ion concentrations. To investigate the possible controls on concentration-discharge relations, we determined the main characteristics (e.g., total event rainfall, rainfall intensities, antecedent soil moisture and depth to water table, runoff coefficient) for each selected rainfall-runoff event.</p><p>The EC, calcium, magnesium, sodium and sulfate concentrations in stream water decreased during rainfall events, due to the dilution by rain water. The concentration-discharge relations for these tracers with a dilution behavior were stronger and more significant than for the tracers that were mobilized during the event. Interestingly, nitrate, potassium and chloride, concentrations sometimes increased at the onset of events, likely due to a rapid flushing of solutes from the dry parts of the stream channel and the riparian area, and then decreased during the event. These temporal dynamics in solute concentrations resulted in different hysteretic relations with discharge. Clockwise loops (i.e., discharge peaked later than the tracer concentrations) were common for the isotopes, chloride and potassium, whereas anti-clockwise hysteresis loops were more typical for EC, magnesium, calcium, sulfate, sodium and nitrate. A preliminary correlation analysis suggests that event characteristics alone cannot explain the changes in hysteresis, except for the hysteresis area for the relations between discharge and calcium concentration that depends on the magnitude of the rainfall event (i.e., the larger the rainfall amount and the runoff coefficient, the smaller the hysteresis loop). </p><p>These results highlight the importance of the first flush and indicate that runoff processes and solute sources can change when the catchment becomes wetter and connectivity of the hillslopes to the stream increases.</p><p> </p><p>Keywords: concentration-discharge relation; major ions; electrical conductivity; stable isotopes; hysteresis; forested catchment.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 6956 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonia Longobardi ◽  
Roberta D’Ambrosio ◽  
Mirka Mobilia

Due to the ever-increasing degree of urbanization, blue and green infrastructures are becoming important tools for achieving stormwater management sustainability in urban areas. Concerning green roofs, although scientists have investigated their behaviors under different climates and building practices, their hydrological performance is still a thought-provoking field of research. An event scale analysis based on thirty-five rainfall–runoff events recorded at a new set of experimental green roofs located in Southern Italy has been performed with the aim of identifying the relative roles of climate, substrate moisture conditions, and building practices on retention properties. The retention coefficient showed a wide range of variability, which could not be captured by neither simple nor multiple linear regression analysis, relating the latter to rainfall characteristics and substrate soil water content. Significant improvements in the prediction of the retention coefficient were obtained by a preliminary identification of groups of rainfall–runoff events, based on substrate soil water content thresholds. Within each group, a primary role is played by rainfall. At the experimental site, building practices, particularly those concerning the drainage layer properties, appeared to affect the retention properties only for specific event types.


2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 4297-4322 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Zehe ◽  
U. Ehret ◽  
T. Blume ◽  
A. Kleidon ◽  
U. Scherer ◽  
...  

Abstract. This study investigates whether a thermodynamically optimal hillslope structure can, if existent, serve as a first guess for uncalibrated predictions of rainfall–runoff. To this end we propose a thermodynamic framework to link rainfall–runoff processes and dynamics of potential energy, kinetic energy and capillary binding energy in catchments and hillslopes. The starting point is that hydraulic equilibrium in soil corresponds to local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE), characterized by a local maximum entropy/minimum of free energy of soil water. Deviations from LTE occur either due to evaporative losses, which increase absolute values of negative capillary binding energy of soil water and reduce its potential energy, or due to infiltration of rainfall, which increases potential energy of soil water and reduces the strength of capillary binding energy. The amplitude and relaxation time of these deviations depend on climate, vegetation, soil hydraulic functions, topography and density of macropores. Based on this framework we analysed the free energy balance of hillslopes within numerical experiments that perturbed model structures with respect to the surface density of macropores. These model structures have been previously shown to allow successful long-term simulations of the water balances of the Weiherbach and the Malalcahuello catchments, which are located in distinctly different pedological and climatic settings. Our findings offer a new perspective on different functions of preferential flow paths depending on the pedological setting. Free energy dynamics of soil water in the cohesive soils of the Weiherbach is dominated by dynamics of capillary binding energy. Macropores act as dissipative wetting structures by enlarging water flows against steep gradients in soil water potential after long dry spells. This implies accelerated depletion of these gradients and faster relaxation back towards LTE. We found two local optima in macropore density that maximize reduction rates of free energy of soil water during rainfall-driven conditions. These two optima exist because reduction rates of free energy are, in this case, a second-order polynomial of the wetting rate, which implicitly depends on macroporosity. An uncalibrated long-term simulation of the water balance of the Weiherbach catchment based on the first optimum macroporosity performed almost as well as the best fit when macroporosity was calibrated to match rainfall–runoff. In the Malalcahuello catchment we did not find an apparent optimum density of macropores, because free energy dynamics of soil water during rainfall-driven conditions is dominated by increases of potential energy. Macropores act as dissipative drainage structures by enhancing export of potential energy. No optimum macropore density exists in this case because potential energy change rates scale linearly with the wetting rate. We found, however, a distinguished macroporosity that assures steady-state conditions of the potential energy balance of the soil, in the sense that average storage of potential energy is compensated by average potential energy export. This distinguished macroporosity was close to the value that yielded the best fit of rainfall–runoff behaviour during a calibration exercise and allowed a robust estimate of the annual runoff coefficient. Our findings are promising for predictions in ungauged catchments (PUB) as the optimal/distinguished model structures can serve as a first guess for uncalibrated predictions of rainfall–runoff. They also offer an alternative for classifying catchments according to their similarity of the free energy balance components.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1137
Author(s):  
Xihong Cui ◽  
Zheng Zhang ◽  
Li Guo ◽  
Xinbo Liu ◽  
Zhenxian Quan ◽  
...  

To analyze the root-soil water relationship at the stand level, we integrated ground-penetrating radar (GPR), which characterized the distribution of lateral coarse roots (>2 mm in diameter) of shrubs (Caragana microphylla Lam.), with soil core sampling, which mapped soil water content (SWC) distribution. GPR surveys and soil sampling were carried out in two plots (Plot 1 in 2017 and Plot 2 in 2018) with the same size (30 × 30 m2) in the sandy soil of the semi-arid shrubland in northern China. First, the survey area was divided into five depth intervals, i.e., 0–20, 20–40, 40–60, 60–80, and 80–100 cm. Each depth interval was then divided into three zones in the horizontal direction, including root-rich canopy-covered area, root-rich canopy-free area, and root-poor area, to indicate different surface distances to the canopy. The generalized additive models (GAMs) were used to analyze the correlation between root distribution density and SWC after the spatial autocorrelation of each variable was eliminated. Results showed that the root-soil water relationship varies between the vertical and horizontal directions. Vertically, more roots are distributed in soil with high SWC and fewer roots in soil with low SWC. Namely, root distribution density is positively correlated with SWC in the vertical direction. Horizontally, the root-soil water relationship is, however, more complex. In the canopy-free area of Plot 1, the root-soil water relationship was significant (p < 0.05) and negatively correlated in the middle two depth intervals (20–40 cm and 40–60 cm). In the same two depth intervals in the canopy-free area of Plot 2, the root-soil water relationship was also significant (p < 0.01) but non-monotonic correlated, that is, with the root distribution density increasing, the mean SWC decreased first and then increased. Moreover, we discussed possible mechanisms, e.g., root water uptake, 3D root distribution, preferential flow along roots, and different growing stages, which might lead to the spatially anisotropic relationship between root distribution and SWC at the stand level. This study demonstrates the advantages of GPR in ecohydrology studies at the field scale that is challenging for traditional methods. Results reported here complement existing knowledge about the root-soil water relationship in semi-arid environments and shed new insights on modeling the complex ecohydrological processes in the root zone.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. e004318
Author(s):  
Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas ◽  
Kerry L M Wong ◽  
Francis Ifeanyi Ayomoh ◽  
Rokibat Olabisi Giwa-Ayedun ◽  
Lenka Benova

BackgroundTravel time to comprehensive emergency obstetric care (CEmOC) facilities in low-resource settings is commonly estimated using modelling approaches. Our objective was to derive and compare estimates of travel time to reach CEmOC in an African megacity using models and web-based platforms against actual replication of travel.MethodsWe extracted data from patient files of all 732 pregnant women who presented in emergency in the four publicly owned tertiary CEmOC facilities in Lagos, Nigeria, between August 2018 and August 2019. For a systematically selected subsample of 385, we estimated travel time from their homes to the facility using the cost-friction surface approach, Open Source Routing Machine (OSRM) and Google Maps, and compared them to travel time by two independent drivers replicating women’s journeys. We estimated the percentage of women who reached the facilities within 60 and 120 min.ResultsThe median travel time for 385 women from the cost-friction surface approach, OSRM and Google Maps was 5, 11 and 40 min, respectively. The median actual drive time was 50–52 min. The mean errors were >45 min for the cost-friction surface approach and OSRM, and 14 min for Google Maps. The smallest differences between replicated and estimated travel times were seen for night-time journeys at weekends; largest errors were found for night-time journeys at weekdays and journeys above 120 min. Modelled estimates indicated that all participants were within 60 min of the destination CEmOC facility, yet journey replication showed that only 57% were, and 92% were within 120 min.ConclusionsExisting modelling methods underestimate actual travel time in low-resource megacities. Significant gaps in geographical access to life-saving health services like CEmOC must be urgently addressed, including in urban areas. Leveraging tools that generate ‘closer-to-reality’ estimates will be vital for service planning if universal health coverage targets are to be realised by 2030.


RBRH ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiz Claudio Galvão do Valle Junior ◽  
Dulce Buchala Bicca Rodrigues ◽  
Paulo Tarso Sanches de Oliveira

ABSTRACT The Curve Number (CN) method is extensively used for predict surface runoff from storm events. However, remain some uncertainties in the method, such as in the use of an initial abstraction (λ) standard value of 0.2 and on the choice of the most suitable CN values. Here, we compute λ and CN values using rainfall and runoff data to a rural basin located in Midwestern Brazil. We used 30 observed rainfall-runoff events with rainfall depth greater than 25 mm to derive associated CN values using five statistical methods. We noted λ values ranging from 0.005 to 0.455, with a median of 0.045, suggesting the use of λ = 0.05 instead of 0.2. We found a S0.2 to S0.05 conversion factor of 2.865. We also found negative values of Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (to the estimated and observed runoff). Therefore, our findings indicated that the CN method was not suitable to estimate runoff in the studied basin. This poor performance suggests that the runoff mechanisms in the studied area are dominated by subsurface stormflow.


Author(s):  
Monika Filipovska ◽  
Hani S. Mahmassani ◽  
Archak Mittal

Transportation research has increasingly focused on the modeling of travel time uncertainty in transportation networks. From a user’s perspective, the performance of the network is experienced at the level of a path, and, as such, knowledge of variability of travel times along paths contemplated by the user is necessary. This paper focuses on developing approaches for the estimation of path travel time distributions in stochastic time-varying networks so as to capture generalized correlations between link travel times. Specifically, the goal is to develop methods to estimate path travel time distributions for any path in the networks by synthesizing available trajectory data from various portions of the path, and this paper addresses that problem in a two-fold manner. Firstly, a Monte Carlo simulation (MCS)-based approach is presented for the convolution of time-varying random variables with general correlation structures and distribution shapes. Secondly, a combinatorial data-mining approach is developed, which aims to utilize sparse trajectory data for the estimation of path travel time distributions by implicitly capturing the complex correlation structure in the network travel times. Numerical results indicate that the MCS approach allowing for time-dependence and a time-varying correlation structure outperforms other approaches, and that its performance is robust with respect to different path travel time distributions. Additionally, using the path segmentations from the segment search approach with a MCS approach with time-dependence also produces accurate and robust estimates of the path travel time distributions with the added benefit of shorter computation times.


2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (No. 3) ◽  
pp. 85-98
Author(s):  
Dohnal Michal ◽  
Dušek Jaromír ◽  
Vogel Tomáš ◽  
Herza Jiří

This paper focuses on numerical modelling of soil water movement in response to the root water uptake that is driven by transpiration. The flow of water in a lysimeter, installed at a grass covered hillslope site in a small headwater catchment, is analysed by means of numerical simulation. The lysimeter system provides a well defined control volume with boundary fluxes measured and soil water pressure continuously monitored. The evapotranspiration intensity is estimated by the Penman-Monteith method and compared with the measured lysimeter soil water loss and the simulated root water uptake. Variably saturated flow of water in the lysimeter is simulated using one-dimensional dual-permeability model based on the numerical solution of the Richards&rsquo; equation. The availability of water for the root water uptake is determined by the evaluation of the plant water stress function, integrated in the soil water flow model. Different lower boundary conditions are tested to compare the soil water dynamics inside and outside the lysimeter. Special attention is paid to the possible influence of the preferential flow effects on the lysimeter soil water balance. The adopted modelling approach provides a useful and flexible framework for numerical analysis of soil water dynamics in response to the plant transpiration.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cong Bai ◽  
Zhong-Ren Peng ◽  
Qing-Chang Lu ◽  
Jian Sun

Accurate and real-time travel time information for buses can help passengers better plan their trips and minimize waiting times. A dynamic travel time prediction model for buses addressing the cases on road with multiple bus routes is proposed in this paper, based on support vector machines (SVMs) and Kalman filtering-based algorithm. In the proposed model, the well-trained SVM model predicts the baseline bus travel times from the historical bus trip data; the Kalman filtering-based dynamic algorithm can adjust bus travel times with the latest bus operation information and the estimated baseline travel times. The performance of the proposed dynamic model is validated with the real-world data on road with multiple bus routes in Shenzhen, China. The results show that the proposed dynamic model is feasible and applicable for bus travel time prediction and has the best prediction performance among all the five models proposed in the study in terms of prediction accuracy on road with multiple bus routes.


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