Concentration‐discharge relationships of dissolved rhenium in Alpine catchments reveal its use as a tracer of oxidative weathering

Assessing the water balance including subsurface runoff in high Alpine catchments is still a major challenge due to environmental and meteorological complexity, and mostly data-lacking hydrology. The aim of this study is the determination of the water balance components and water budget with focus on approximation of interflow, subsurface runoff and groundwater interactions, depending on sediment and bedrock properties.In this process we investigate a small, high data providing Alpine catchment in the Wipp Valley (Tyrol, AT) to evaluate the best modelling approach in order to apply it on catchments along the Austrian Brenner axis. Thus, a direct model comparison of the main study catchment, with its (moderate data providing) neighbouring valley is carried out. The main study catchment (Padaster Valley) covers 11.2 km2 and is located east of Steinach am Brenner in the Wipp Valley. Due to its partially usage as a deposital site, respectively a landfill for the tunnel excavation material of the Brenner Base Tunnel, this valley represents a highly interesting site in a hydrological aspect. Thus, the Padaster Valley is highly monitored and hence predestined for hydrological investigations. Hydrological data such as discharge is measured high frequently on four gauges, meteorological data on two gauges. An additional study catchment (Navis Valley) covers 63 km2 and is located northerly next the Padaster Valley. Seven gauges provide meteorological data, however, continuous discharge data is just measured at the valley mouth. Further meteorological data for both areas will be contributed by the ZAMG (Zentralanstalt f&#252;r Meteorologie und Geodynamik), whose INCA model provide a high spatial resolution dataset of 1km. However, in order to gain a better overall understanding of subsurface runoff and hydrogeological processes, geological data will be considered and incorporated/integrated in the modelling process. This includes geological maps, - cross sections and geophysical analysis, which help to estimate the bedrock topography, and consequently the volume as well as deeper seated hydrogeological properties of the sediment cover. In this context, continuous data from 7 groundwater observation wells provide information regarding groundwater levels and hydraulic head. To increase the model accuracy regarding subsurface flow processes, subsurface-depending runoff types after Pirkl & Sausgruber (2015) are applied. Furthermore, several maps such as land use, surface runoff coefficient and soil map including grain size distribution of the layers have been compiled by in-situ fieldwork for this study. In order to model the water budget, subsurface runoff and overall hydrological slope properties, the distributed hydrological Model WaSIM (Richards version; Schulla, 1997) is applied. The model is based on a modular system which uses physically-based algorithms.The present study is been carried out by the Austrian Research Centre for Forests (BFW) in collaboration with the Brenner Base Tunnel (BBT-SE).

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StreamFlow 1.0: an extension to the spatially distributed snow model Alpine3D for hydrological modelling and deterministic stream temperature prediction

Geoscientific Model Development ◽

10.5194/gmd-9-4491-2016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 9 (12) ◽

pp. 4491-4519 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Aurélien Gallice ◽

Mathias Bavay ◽

Tristan Brauchli ◽

Francesco Comola ◽

Michael Lehning ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Source Code ◽

Stream Temperature ◽

Object Oriented Programming ◽

Temperature Prediction ◽

Uncertainty Estimates ◽

Physically Based ◽

Snow Model ◽

Alpine Catchments ◽

Alpine Rivers

Abstract. Climate change is expected to strongly impact the hydrological and thermal regimes of Alpine rivers within the coming decades. In this context, the development of hydrological models accounting for the specific dynamics of Alpine catchments appears as one of the promising approaches to reduce our uncertainty of future mountain hydrology. This paper describes the improvements brought to StreamFlow, an existing model for hydrological and stream temperature prediction built as an external extension to the physically based snow model Alpine3D. StreamFlow's source code has been entirely written anew, taking advantage of object-oriented programming to significantly improve its structure and ease the implementation of future developments. The source code is now publicly available online, along with a complete documentation. A special emphasis has been put on modularity during the re-implementation of StreamFlow, so that many model aspects can be represented using different alternatives. For example, several options are now available to model the advection of water within the stream. This allows for an easy and fast comparison between different approaches and helps in defining more reliable uncertainty estimates of the model forecasts. In particular, a case study in a Swiss Alpine catchment reveals that the stream temperature predictions are particularly sensitive to the approach used to model the temperature of subsurface flow, a fact which has been poorly reported in the literature to date. Based on the case study, StreamFlow is shown to reproduce hourly mean discharge with a Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) of 0.82 and hourly mean temperature with a NSE of 0.78.

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Sediment transfer processes in two Alpine catchments of contrasting morphological settings

Journal of Hydrology ◽

10.1016/j.jhydrol.2008.10.021 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 364 (1-2) ◽

pp. 88-98 ◽

Cited By ~ 52

Author(s):

L. Mao ◽

M. Cavalli ◽

F. Comiti ◽

L. Marchi ◽

M.A. Lenzi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Transfer Processes ◽

Sediment Transfer ◽

Alpine Catchments

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Hydroclimatic control on suspended sediment dynamics of a regulated Alpine catchment: a conceptual approach

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences ◽

10.5194/hess-22-3421-2018 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 22 (6) ◽

pp. 3421-3434 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Anna Costa ◽

Daniela Anghileri ◽

Peter Molnar

Keyword(s):

Suspended Sediment ◽

Sediment Concentration ◽

Sediment Dynamics ◽

Time Lags ◽

Rating Curve ◽

Conceptual Approach ◽

Ice Melt ◽

Alpine Catchments ◽

Erosive Rainfall ◽

Hydroclimatic Variables

Abstract. We analyse the control of hydroclimatic factors on suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in Alpine catchments by differentiating among the potential contributions of erosion and suspended sediment transport driven by erosive rainfall, defined as liquid precipitation over snow-free surfaces, ice melt from glacierized areas, and snowmelt on hillslopes. We account for the potential impact of hydropower by intercepting sediment fluxes originated in areas diverted to hydropower reservoirs, and by considering the contribution of hydropower releases to SSC. We obtain the hydroclimatic variables from daily gridded datasets of precipitation and temperature, implementing a degree-day model to simulate spatially distributed snow accumulation and snow–ice melt. We estimate hydropower releases by a conceptual approach with a unique virtual reservoir regulated on the basis of a target-volume function, representing normal reservoir operating conditions throughout a hydrological year. An Iterative Input Selection algorithm is used to identify the variables with the highest predictive power for SSC, their explained variance, and characteristic time lags. On this basis, we develop a hydroclimatic multivariate rating curve (HMRC) which accounts for the contributions of the most relevant hydroclimatic input variables mentioned above. We calibrate the HMRC with a gradient-based nonlinear optimization method and we compare its performance with a traditional discharge-based rating curve. We apply the approach in the upper Rhône Basin, a large Swiss Alpine catchment heavily regulated by hydropower. Our results show that the three hydroclimatic processes – erosive rainfall, ice melt, and snowmelt – are significant predictors of mean daily SSC, while hydropower release does not have a significant explanatory power for SSC. The characteristic time lags of the hydroclimatic variables correspond to the typical flow concentration times of the basin. Despite not including discharge, the HMRC performs better than the traditional rating curve in reproducing SSC seasonality, especially during validation at the daily scale. While erosive rainfall determines the daily variability of SSC and extremes, ice melt generates the highest SSC per unit of runoff and represents the largest contribution to total suspended sediment yield. Finally, we show that the HMRC is capable of simulating climate-driven changes in fine sediment dynamics in Alpine catchments. In fact, HMRC can reproduce the changes in SSC in the past 40 years in the Rhône Basin connected to air temperature rise, even though the simulated changes are more gradual than those observed. The approach presented in this paper, based on the analysis of the hydroclimatic control of suspended sediment concentration, allows the exploration of climate-driven changes in fine sediment dynamics in Alpine catchments. The approach can be applied to any Alpine catchment with a pluvio-glacio-nival hydrological regime and adequate hydroclimatic datasets.

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Future water temperature of rivers in Switzerland under climate change investigated with physics-based models

10.5194/hess-2021-194 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Adrien Michel ◽

Bettina Schaefli ◽

Nander Wever ◽

Harry Zekollari ◽

Michael Lehning ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

21St Century ◽

Temperature Increase ◽

Emission Scenarios ◽

River Temperature ◽

Alpine Regions ◽

Low Emission ◽

High Emission ◽

Swiss Plateau ◽

Alpine Catchments

Abstract. Rivers are ecosystems highly sensitive to climate change and projected future increase in air temperature is expected to increase the stress for these ecosystems. Rivers are also an important socio-economical factor. In addition to changes in water availability, climate change will impact the temperature of rivers. This study presents a detailed analysis of river temperature and discharge evolution over the 21st century in Switzerland, a country covering a wide range of Alpine and lowland hydrological regimes. In total, 12 catchments are studied. They are situated both in the lowland Swiss Plateau and the Alpine regions and cover overall 10 % of the country’s area. This represents the so far largest study of climate change impacts on river temperature in Switzerland. The impact of climate change is assessed using a chain of physics-based models forced with the most recent climate change scenarios for Switzerland including low, mid, and high emissions pathways. A clear warming of river water is modelled during the 21st century, more pronounced for the high emission scenarios and toward the end of the century. For the period 2030–2040, median warming in river temperature of +1.1 °C for Swiss Plateau catchments and of +0.8 °C for Alpine catchments are expected compared to the reference period 1990–2000 (similar for all emission scenarios). At the end of the century (2080–2090), the median annual river temperature increase ranges between +0.9 °C for low emission and +3.5 °C for high emission scenarios for both Swiss Plateau and Alpine catchments. At the seasonal scale, the warming on the Swiss Plateau and in the Alpine regions exhibits different patterns. For the Swiss Plateau, the spring and fall warming is comparable to the warming in winter, while the summer warming is stronger but still moderate. In Alpine catchments, only a very limited warming is expected in winter. A marked discharge increase in winter and spring is expected in these catchments due to enhanced snowmelt and a larger fraction of liquid precipitation. Accordingly, the period of maximum discharge in Alpine catchments, currently occurring during mid-summer, will shift to earlier in the year by a few weeks (low emission) or almost two months (high emission) by the end of the century. In summer, the marked discharge reduction in Alpine catchments for high emission scenarios leads to an increase in sensitivity of water temperature to low discharge, which is not observed in the Swiss Plateau catchments. In addition, an important soil warming is expected due to glacier and snow cover decrease. These effects combined lead to a summertime river warming of +6.0 °C in Alpine catchments by the end of the century for high emission scenarios. Two metrics are used to show the adverse effects of river temperature increase both on natural and human systems. All results of this study along with the necessary source code are provided with this manuscript.

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Comparative analysis of sediment routing in two different alpine catchments

Source-to-Sink Fluxes in Undisturbed Cold Environments ◽

10.1017/cbo9781107705791.026 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 364-377

Author(s):

Johannes Stangl ◽

Eric Rascher ◽

Oliver Sass

Keyword(s):

Comparative Analysis ◽

Sediment Routing ◽

Alpine Catchments

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Coupling hydrological modeling and support vector regression to model hydropeaking in alpine catchments

The Science of The Total Environment ◽

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.162 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 633 ◽

pp. 220-229 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Gabriele Chiogna ◽

Giorgia Marcolini ◽

Wanying Liu ◽

Teresa Pérez Ciria ◽

Ye Tuo

Keyword(s):

Support Vector Regression ◽

Hydrological Modeling ◽

Support Vector ◽

Alpine Catchments

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A multi-objective approach to improve SWAT model calibration in alpine catchments

Journal of Hydrology ◽

10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.02.055 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 559 ◽

pp. 347-360 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Ye Tuo ◽

Giorgia Marcolini ◽

Markus Disse ◽

Gabriele Chiogna

Keyword(s):

Model Calibration ◽

Swat Model ◽

Multi Objective ◽

Alpine Catchments

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Suspended sediment and discharge dynamics across multiple spatial and temporal scales in a glaciated alpine environment: the case of the upper Ötztal, Austria

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9575 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lena Katharina Schmidt ◽

Till Francke ◽

Theresa Blume ◽

Johannes Schöber ◽

Daniel Pfurtscheller ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Suspended Sediment ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Transient State ◽

Data Availability ◽

Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽

Sediment Yields ◽

Catchment Areas ◽

Suspended Sediment Concentrations ◽

Alpine Catchments

High alpine areas are affected disproportionately by global warming and are thus found to be in a transient state. This causes accelerating glacial retreat, which can have severe impacts on discharge and potentially sediment dynamics. Possible effects include changes in water quantities and hydrograph timing as well as changing sediment source areas and the associated magnitude and timing of transport capacities. In turn, the resulting changes in water and sediment supplies and timing have the potential to severely impact downstream ecosystems and infrastructure.An essential step towards estimating the effects of future changes and developing sustainable management strategies is to quantify the behavior in the past and present. We therefore used the excellent data availability of discharge and suspended sediment concentrations in our study area in the upper &#214;tztal in Tyrol, Austria, to make such an assessment. We study discharge and suspended sediment concentrations, which have been monitored at three gauges and for a minimum of seven years in the case of the youngest gauge. The resulting nested catchment setup, with catchment sizes ranging between 98 km&#178; and 785 km&#178;, allows us to learn about discharge and sediment fluxes and their spatial distribution, thus allowing us to quantify the relative importance of the glaciated areas as compared to the lower-lying catchment areas. It also allows us to study the temporal dynamics, such as the seasonal timing of the peaks and their interannual differences. In turn, the nested catchments allows us to investigate the spatial variability of these temporal dynamics. &#160;The results confirm the high specific sediment yields for alpine catchments in the order of 10&#179; t/km&#178; per year and higher yields in areas with higher glacier cover as well as a very pronounced seasonality.

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