Decadal-Scale Changes in the Seasonal Surface Water Balance of the Central United States from 1984 to 2007

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 1905-1927
Author(s):  
Bo Dong ◽  
John D. Lenters ◽  
Qi Hu ◽  
Christopher J. Kucharik ◽  
Tiejun Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Great Lakes ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Hydrologic Model ◽  
Hydrologic Cycle ◽  
Soil Water Storage ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
The Impact

AbstractVariations in climate have important influences on the hydrologic cycle. Observations over the continental United States in recent decades show substantial changes in hydrologically significant variables, such as decreases in cloud cover and increases in solar radiation (i.e., solar brightening), as well as increases in air temperature, changes in wind speed, and seasonal shifts in precipitation rate and rain/snow ratio. Impacts of these changes on the regional water cycle from 1984 to 2007 are evaluated using a terrestrial ecosystem/land surface hydrologic model (Agro-IBIS). Results show an acceleration of various components of the surface water balance in the Upper Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Great Lakes basins over the 24-yr period, but with significant seasonal and spatial complexity. Evapotranspiration (ET) has increased across most of our study domain and seasons. The largest increase is found in fall, when solar brightening trends are also particularly significant. Changes in runoff are characterized by distinct spatial and seasonal variations, with the impact of precipitation often being muted by changes in ET and soil-water storage rate. In snow-dominated regions, such as the northern Great Lakes basin, spring runoff has declined significantly due to warmer air temperatures and an associated decreasing ratio of snow in total precipitation during the cold season. In the northern Missouri basin, runoff shows large increases in all seasons, primarily due to increases in precipitation. The responses to these changes in the regional hydrologic cycle depend on the underlying land cover type—maize, soybean, and natural vegetation. Comparisons are also made with other hydroclimatic time series to place the decadal-scale variability in a longer-term context.

Understanding the Distinct Impacts of MCS and Non-MCS Rainfall on the Surface Water Balance in the Central United States Using a Numerical Water-Tagging Technique

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 2343-2357
Author(s):  
Huancui Hu ◽  
L. Ruby Leung ◽  
Zhe Feng
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Central United States ◽  
Infiltration Excess

ABSTRACTWarm-season rainfall associated with mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) in the central United States is characterized by higher intensity and nocturnal timing compared to rainfall from non-MCS systems, suggesting their potentially different footprints on the land surface. To differentiate the impacts of MCS and non-MCS rainfall on the surface water balance, a water tracer tool embedded in the Noah land surface model with multiparameterization options (WT-Noah-MP) is used to numerically “tag” water from MCS and non-MCS rainfall separately during April–August (1997–2018) and track their transit in the terrestrial system. From the water-tagging results, over 50% of warm-season rainfall leaves the surface–subsurface system through evapotranspiration by the end of August, but non-MCS rainfall contributes a larger fraction. However, MCS rainfall plays a more important role in generating surface runoff. These differences are mostly attributed to the rainfall intensity differences. The higher-intensity MCS rainfall tends to produce more surface runoff through infiltration excess flow and drives a deeper penetration of the rainwater into the soil. Over 70% of the top 10th percentile runoff is contributed by MCS rainfall, demonstrating its important contribution to local flooding. In contrast, lower-intensity non-MCS rainfall resides mostly in the top layer and contributes more to evapotranspiration through soil evaporation. Diurnal timing of rainfall has negligible effects on the flux partitioning for both MCS and non-MCS rainfall. Differences in soil moisture profiles for MCS and non-MCS rainfall and the resultant evapotranspiration suggest differences in their roles in soil moisture–precipitation feedbacks and ecohydrology.

scholarly journals Modeling the Effects of Groundwater-Fed Irrigation on Terrestrial Hydrology over the Conterminous United States

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 957-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guoyong Leng ◽  
Maoyi Huang ◽  
Qiuhong Tang ◽  
Huilin Gao ◽  
L. Ruby Leung
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Subsurface Water ◽  
Groundwater Pumping ◽  
Groundwater Exploitation ◽  
Community Land Model ◽  
Groundwater Aquifer ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Human alteration of the land surface hydrologic cycle is substantial. Recent studies suggest that local water management practices including groundwater pumping and irrigation could significantly alter the quantity and distribution of water in the terrestrial system, with potential impacts on weather and climate through land–atmosphere feedbacks. In this study, the authors incorporated a groundwater withdrawal scheme into the Community Land Model, version 4 (CLM4). To simulate the impact of irrigation realistically, they calibrated the CLM4 simulated irrigation amount against observations from agriculture censuses at the county scale over the conterminous United States. The water used for irrigation was then removed from the surface runoff and groundwater aquifer according to a ratio determined from the county-level agricultural census data. On the basis of the simulations, the impact of groundwater withdrawals for irrigation on land surface and subsurface fluxes were investigated. The results suggest that the impacts of irrigation on latent heat flux and potential recharge when water is withdrawn from surface water alone or from both surface and groundwater are comparable and local to the irrigation areas. However, when water is withdrawn from groundwater for irrigation, greater effects on the subsurface water balance are found, leading to significant depletion of groundwater storage in regions with low recharge rate and high groundwater exploitation rate. The results underscore the importance of local hydrologic feedbacks in governing hydrologic response to anthropogenic change in CLM4 and the need to more realistically simulate the two-way interactions among surface water, groundwater, and atmosphere to better understand the impacts of groundwater pumping on irrigation efficiency and climate.

scholarly journals Examples of deformation-dependent flow simulations of conjunctive use with MF-OWHM

2015 ◽  
Vol 372 ◽  
pp. 449-453
Author(s):  
R. T. Hanson ◽  
J. Traum ◽  
S. E. Boyce ◽  
W. Schmid ◽  
J. D. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Land Subsidence ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Central Valley ◽  
Hydrologic Model ◽  
Surface Geometry ◽  
Surface Receptors ◽  
Dependent Flow ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Surface And Groundwater

Abstract. The dependency of surface- and groundwater flows and aquifer hydraulic properties on deformation induced by changes in aquifer head is not accounted for in the standard version of MODFLOW. A new USGS integrated hydrologic model, MODFLOW-OWHM, incorporates this dependency by linking subsidence and mesh deformation with changes in aquifer transmissivity and storage coefficient, and with flows that also depend on aquifer characteristics and land-surface geometry. This new deformation-dependent approach is being used for the further development of the integrated Central Valley hydrologic model (CVHM) in California. Preliminary results from this application and from hypothetical test cases of similar systems show that changes in canal flows, stream seepage, and evapotranspiration from groundwater (ETgw) are sensitive to deformation. Deformation feedback has been shown to also have an indirect effect on conjunctive surface- and groundwater use components with increased stream seepage and streamflows influencing surface-water deliveries and return flows. In the Central Valley model, land subsidence may significantly degrade the ability of the major canals to deliver surface water from the Delta to the San Joaquin and Tulare basins. Subsidence can also affect irrigation demand and ETgw, which, along with altered surface-water supplies, causes a feedback response resulting in changed estimates of groundwater pumping for irrigation. This modeling feature also may improve the impact assessment of dewatering-induced land subsidence/uplift (following irrigation pumping or coal-seam gas extraction) on surface receptors, inter-basin transfers, and surface infrastructure integrity.

scholarly journals Verification and Intercomparison of Multimodel Simulated Land Surface Hydrological Datasets over the United States

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 531-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Fan ◽  
Huug M. van den Dool ◽  
Wanru Wu
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
The United States ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variability ◽  
Water Balance Components

Abstract Several land surface datasets, such as the observed Illinois soil moisture dataset; three retrospective offline run datasets from the Noah land surface model (LSM), Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) LSM, and Climate Prediction Center leaky bucket soil model; and three reanalysis datasets (North American Regional Reanalysis, NCEP/Department of Energy Global Reanalysis, and 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis), are used to study the spatial and temporal variability of soil moisture and its response to the major components of land surface hydrologic cycles: precipitation, evaporation, and runoff. Detailed analysis was performed on the evolution of the soil moisture vertical profile. Over Illinois, model simulations are compared to observations, but for the United States as a whole some impressions can be gained by comparing the multiple soil moisture–precipitation–evaporation–runoff datasets to one another. The magnitudes and partitioning of major land surface water balance components on seasonal–interannual time scales have been explored. It appears that evaporation has the most prominent annual cycle but its interannual variability is relatively small. For other water balance components, such as precipitation, runoff, and surface water storage change, the amplitudes of their annual cycles and interannual variations are comparable. This study indicates that all models have a certain capability to reproduce observed soil moisture variability on seasonal–interannual time scales, but offline runs are decidedly better than reanalyses (in terms of validation against observations) and more highly correlated to one another (in terms of intercomparison) in general. However, noticeable differences are also observed, such as the degree of simulated drought severity and the locations affected—this is due to the uncertainty in model physics, input forcing, and mode of running (interactive or offline), which continue to be major issues for land surface modeling.

On the benefit of the Canadian Small Lake Model to better represent the impact of small natural lakes on GEM-Hydro streamflow simulations.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Etienne Gaborit ◽  
Murray MacKay ◽  
Camille Garnaud ◽  
Vincent Fortin
Keyword(s):  
Water Balance ◽  
Grid Point ◽  
Hydrologic Model ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Dew Point ◽  
Multiple Model ◽  
Small Lake ◽  
Surface Component ◽  
Lake Model ◽  
The Impact

<p>This study aims at assessing the impact of a new lake model on streamflow simulations performed with the GEM-Hydro hydrologic model developed at ECCC. GEM-Hydro is at the heart of the National Surface and River Prediction System (NSRPS) which ECCC uses to forecast river flows over most of Canada. The GEM-Hydro model mainly consists of the GEM-Surf component to represent surface processes, and of the Watroute model to represent river and lake routing, in order to perform streamflow simulations and forecasts. The surface component of GEM-Hydro can simulate 5 different types of surfaces.  Currently, the water tile consists of a very simple algorithm which, in terms of water balance, consists of producing runoff fluxes simply equal to precipitation minus evaporation. This runoff over water surfaces is then provided as input, along with runoff and drainage generated over other surface tiles, to the Watroute model. The Watroute version used in GEM-Hydro currently only represents major lakes (area greater than 100km<sup>2</sup>) along the river networks, and does not represent the impact that small lakes can have on streamflow, which mainly consists in slowing down runoff before it reaches the main streams of the network.</p><p>Recently, the Canadian Small Lake Model (CSLM) was implemented in the surface component of GEM-Hydro to represent the energy and water balance over water tiles more accurately. So far, CSLM simulations have been shown promising in terms of evaporation, ice cover, absolute and dew point temperature simulations, compared with the former algorithm used over water. However, the impact of CSLM on the resulting streamflow simulations performed with GEM-Hydro has not been evaluated yet. This study aims first at evaluating the impact of CSLM on streamflow simulations, and secondly at testing different CSLM configurations as well as different coupling strategies with Watroute, with the objective of finding the best set up for the prediction of streamflow in Canada. For example, overland runoff generated by the land tile can be provided to the water tile of the same grid point in different ways, and the outflow computed at the outlet of the water tile can be computed with different parameters. Moreover, different outflow computations have to be taken into account depending on if the water tile of a grid point represents subgrid-scale lakes, or if on the contrary it belongs to a lake spanning over multiple model grid points.</p><p>To do so, different GEM-Hydro open-loop simulations have been performed on the Lake of the Woods watershed, located in Canada, with and without CSLM to represent water tiles. The CSLM configurations leading to the best results are presented here. CSLM simulations are also evaluated in terms of surface fluxes, to ensure that the main purpose of the model, which is to improve surface fluxes to ultimately improve atmospheric forecasts, is preserved, compared to the default configuration of the model. Ideas for further improving the coupling between the GEM-Hydro surface and routing components, in terms of lake processes, are also presented and will be tested in future work.</p>

scholarly journals The Impact of Initial Snow Conditions on the Numerical Weather Simulation of a Northern Rockies Atmospheric River

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-167
Author(s):  
William Rudisill ◽  
Alejandro Flores ◽  
James McNamara
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Hydrologic Model ◽  
Radiative Properties ◽  
Numerical Weather ◽  
Atmospheric River ◽  
Surface Snow ◽  
Snow Conditions ◽  
The Impact

AbstractSnow’s thermal and radiative properties strongly impact the land surface energy balance and thus the atmosphere above it. Land surface snow information is poorly known in mountainous regions. Few studies have examined the impact of initial land surface snow conditions in high-resolution, convection-permitting numerical weather prediction models during the midlatitude cool season. The extent to which land surface snow influences atmospheric energy transport and subsequent surface meteorological states is tested using a high-resolution (1 km) configuration of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model, for both calm conditions and weather characteristic of a warm late March atmospheric river. A set of synthetic but realistic snow states are used as initial conditions for the model runs and the resulting differences are compared. We find that the presence (absence) of snow decreases (increases) 2-m air temperatures by as much as 4 K during both periods, and that the atmosphere responds to snow perturbations through advection of moist static energy from neighboring regions. Snow mass and snow-covered area are both important variables that influence 2-m air temperature. Finally, the meteorological states produced from the WRF experiments are used to force an offline hydrologic model, demonstrating that snowmelt rates can increase/decrease by factor of 2 depending on the initial snow conditions used in the parent weather model. We propose that more realistic representations of land surface snow properties in mesoscale models may be a source of hydrometeorological predictability

scholarly journals HydroPy (v1.0): A new global hydrology model written in Python

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Stacke ◽  
Stefan Hagemann
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Max Planck ◽  
Water Balance Components ◽  
Meteorological Model ◽  
Land Surface Water ◽  
Hydrology Model ◽  
Flexible Infrastructure ◽  
The Tropics

Abstract. Global hydrological models (GHMs) are a useful tool in the assessment of the land surface water balance. They are used to further the understanding of interactions between water balance components as well as their past evolution and potential future development under various scenarios. While GHMs are a part of the Hydrologist's toolbox since several decades, the models are continuously developed. In our study, we present the HydroPy model, a revised version of an established GHM, the Max-Planck Institute for Meteorology's Hydrology Model (MPI-HM). Being rewritten in Python, the new model requires much less effort in maintenance and due to its flexible infrastructure, new processes can be easily implemented. Besides providing a thorough documentation of the processes currently implemented in HydroPy, we demonstrate the skill of the model in simulating the land surface water balance. We find that evapotranspiration is reproduced realistically for the majority of the land surface but is underestimated in the tropics. The simulated river discharge correlates well with observations. Biases are evident for the annual accumulated discharge, however they can – at least to some part – be attributed to discrepancies between the meteorological model forcing data and the observations. Finally, we show that HydroPy performs very similar to MPI-HM and, thus, conclude the successful transition from MPI-HM to HydroPy.

scholarly journals Investigating soil moisture-climate interactions with prescribed soil moisture experiments: an assessment with the Community Earth System Model (version 1.2)

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Hauser ◽  
René Orth ◽  
Sonia I. Seneviratne
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Seasonal Cycle ◽  
Deep Soil ◽  
Surface Hydrology ◽  
Climate Interactions ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Moisture Conditions ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Land surface hydrology is an important control of surface weather and climate. A valuable technique to investigate this link is the prescription of soil moisture in land surface models, which leads to a decoupling of the interaction between the atmosphere and land processes. Diverse approaches to prescribe soil moisture, as well as different prescribed soil moisture conditions can be envisaged. Here, we compare and assess three methodologies to prescribe soil moisture and investigate the impact of two estimates of the climatological seasonal cycle to prescribe soil moisture. This can help to guide the set up of future experiments prescribing soil moisture, as for instance planned within the "Land Surface, Snow and Soil Moisture Model Intercomparison Project" (LS3MIP). Our analysis shows that, though in appearance similar, the different approaches require substantially different long-term moisture inputs and lead to different temperature signals. The smallest influence on temperature and the water balance is found when prescribing the median seasonal cycle of deep soil liquid water, whereas the strongest signal is found when prescribing soil liquid and soil ice using the mean seasonal cycle. These results indicate that induced net water-balance perturbations in experiments investigating soil moisture-climate coupling are important contributors to the climate response, in addition to the intended impact of the decoupling.

scholarly journals The Influence of Atlantic Tropical Cyclones on Drought over the Eastern United States (1980–2007)

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 3067-3086 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonghun Kam ◽  
Justin Sheffield ◽  
Xing Yuan ◽  
Eric F. Wood
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Hydrologic Model ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Drought Duration ◽  
Study Region

Abstract To assess the influence of Atlantic tropical cyclones (TCs) on the eastern U.S. drought regime, the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) land surface hydrologic model was run over the eastern United States forced by the North American Land Data Assimilation System phase 2 (NLDAS-2) analysis with and without TC-related precipitation for the period 1980–2007. A drought was defined in terms of soil moisture as a prolonged period below a percentile threshold. Different duration droughts were analyzed—short term (longer than 30 days) and long term (longer than 90 days)—as well as different drought severities corresponding to the 10th, 15th, and 20th percentiles of soil moisture depth. With TCs, droughts are shorter in duration and of a lesser spatial extent. Tropical cyclones variously impact soil moisture droughts via late drought initiation, weakened drought intensity, and early drought recovery. At regional scales, TCs decreased the average duration of moderately severe short-term and long-term droughts by less than 4 (10% of average drought duration per year) and more than 5 (15%) days yr−1, respectively. Also, they removed at least two short-term and one long-term drought events over 50% of the study region. Despite the damage inflicted directly by TCs, they play a crucial role in the alleviation and removal of drought for some years and seasons, with important implications for water resources and agriculture.

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