WaterbalANce, a WebApp for Thornthwaite–Mather Water Balance Computation: Comparison of Applications in Two European Watersheds

Nowadays, the balance between incoming precipitation and stream or spring discharge is a challenging aspect in many scientific disciplines related to water management. In this regard, although advances in the methodologies for water balance calculation concerning each component of the water cycle have been achieved, the Thornthwaite–Mather method remains one of the most used, especially for hydrogeological purposes. In fact, in contrast to physical-based models, which require many input parameters, the Thornthwaite–Mather method is a simple, empirical, data-driven procedure in which the error associated with its use is smaller than that associated with the measurement of input data. The disadvantage of this method is that elaboration times can be excessively long if a classical MS Excel file is used for a large amount of data. Although many authors have attempted to automatize the procedure using simple algorithms or graphical user interfaces, some bugs have been detected. For these reasons, we propose a WebApp for monthly water balance calculation, called WaterbalANce. WaterbalANce was written in Python and is driven by a serverless computing approach. Two respective European watersheds are selected and presented to demonstrate the application of this method.

Download Full-text

Fluxes from Soil Moisture Measurements (FluSM v1.0). A Data-driven Water Balance Framework for Permeable Pavements

10.5194/gmd-2020-188 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Axel Schaffitel ◽

Tobias Schuetz ◽

Markus Weiler

Keyword(s):

Soil Moisture ◽

Water Balance ◽

Water Cycle ◽

Input Parameter ◽

Data Driven ◽

Minor Role ◽

Water Fluxes ◽

Parameter Uncertainties ◽

Infiltration Capacity ◽

Permeable Pavements

Abstract. Water fluxes at the soil-atmosphere interface are a key information for studying the terrestrial water cycle. However, measuring and modelling water fluxes in the vadose zone poses great challenges. While direct measurements require costly lysimeters, common soil hydrologic models rely on a correct parametrization, a correct representation of the involved processes and on the selection of correct initial and boundary conditions. In contrast to lysimeter measurements, soil moisture measurements are relatively cheap and easy to perform. Using such measurements, data-driven approaches offer the possibility to derive water fluxes directly. Here we present FluSM (Fluxes from Soil Moisture measurements), which is a simple, parsimonious and robust data-driven water balancing framework. FluSM requires only one single input parameter (the infiltration capacity) and is especially valuable for cases where the application of Richards based models is critical. Since Permeable Pavements (PPs) present such a case, we apply FluSM on a recently published soil moisture dataset to obtain the water balance of 15 different PPs over a period of two years. Consistent with findings from previous studies, our results show that vertical drainage dominates the water balance of PPs, while surface runoff plays only a minor role. An additional uncertainty analysis demonstrates the ability of the FluSM-approach for water balance studies, since input and parameter uncertainties have only small effects on the characteristics of the derived water balances. Due to the lack of data on the hydrologic behavior of PPs under field conditions, our results are of special interest for urban hydrology.

Download Full-text

A Dissipative Hydrological Model and its Application in the Hotan Oasis

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.392.971 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 392 ◽

pp. 971-977

Author(s):

Ling Mei Huang ◽

Bing Shen

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

Water Balance ◽

Soil Water ◽

Surface Runoff ◽

Hydrological Model ◽

Water Cycle ◽

Quantitative Relationship ◽

Model Parameters ◽

Data Set ◽

Monthly Water Balance

Hydrological model is an essential tool that has played an important role to manage water resources. In the arid oasis plain, there is almost no runoff from the rainfall event. Water supply mainly depends on the surface runoff generated from the rainfall, snow and glaciers melting in the mountainous region. The oasis is a place where runoff components gradually disappear through evaporation, transpiration. Due to human activities, water transformation occurs frequently among surface runoff, soil water, and groundwater. Based on the oasis water cycle and monthly water balance, a dissipative hydrological model was developed to simulate the quantitative relationship among atmospheric water, surface water, soil water and groundwater. The data set collected in the Hotan Oasis was applied to calibrate the model parameters and validate the model. The results showed that the model structure is reasonable and it can be used to compute the volumes of water consumption in the oasis. By quantitatively calculating the components of water balance, we can kwon where and how much water goes and responding measures of water resources regulation would be made to facilitate the effective and efficient utilization of water resources.

Download Full-text

Biomass Burning and Water Balance Dynamics in the Lake Chad Basin in Africa

Earth ◽

10.3390/earth2020020 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 340-356

Author(s):

Forrest W. Black ◽

Jejung Lee ◽

Charles M. Ichoku ◽

Luke Ellison ◽

Charles K. Gatebe ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Balance ◽

Biomass Burning ◽

Water Cycle ◽

Potential Evapotranspiration ◽

Southern Oscillation ◽

Wet Season ◽

Lake Chad ◽

Chad Basin ◽

Lake Chad Basin ◽

Logone Catchment

The present study investigated the effect of biomass burning on the water cycle using a case study of the Chari–Logone Catchment of the Lake Chad Basin (LCB). The Chari–Logone catchment was selected because it supplies over 90% of the water input to the lake, which is the largest basin in central Africa. Two water balance simulations, one considering burning and one without, were compared from the years 2003 to 2011. For a more comprehensive assessment of the effects of burning, albedo change, which has been shown to have a significant impact on a number of environmental factors, was used as a model input for calculating potential evapotranspiration (ET). Analysis of the burning scenario showed that burning grassland, which comprises almost 75% of the total Chari–Logone land cover, causes increased ET and runoff during the dry season (November–March). Recent studies have demonstrated that there is an increasing trend in the LCB of converting shrubland, grassland, and wetlands to cropland. This change from grassland to cropland has the potential to decrease the amount of water available to water bodies during the winter. All vegetative classes in a burning scenario showed a decrease in ET during the wet season. Although a decrease in annual precipitation in global circulation processes such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation would cause droughts and induce wildfires in the Sahel, the present study shows that a decrease in ET by the human-induced burning would cause a severe decrease in precipitation as well.

Download Full-text

The core academic and scientific disciplines underlying data-driven smart sustainable urbanism: an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary framework

Computational Urban Science ◽

10.1007/s43762-021-00001-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Simon Elias Bibri

Keyword(s):

The Body ◽

Data Driven ◽

New Era ◽

The Core ◽

Sustainable Urbanism ◽

Scientific Disciplines ◽

Specific Direction ◽

Research Problems ◽

Urban Planning And Development ◽

Application Potential

AbstractA new era is presently unfolding wherein both smart urbanism and sustainable urbanism processes and practices are becoming highly responsive to a form of data-driven urbanism under what has to be identified as data-driven smart sustainable urbanism. This flourishing field of research is profoundly interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary in nature. It operates out of the understanding that advances in knowledge necessitate pursuing multifaceted questions that can only be resolved from the vantage point of interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity. This implies that the research problems within the field of data-driven smart sustainable urbanism are inherently too complex and dynamic to be addressed by single disciplines. As this field is not a specific direction of research, it does not have a unitary disciplinary framework in terms of a uniform set of the academic and scientific disciplines from which the underlying theories can be drawn. These theories constitute a unified foundation for the practice of data-driven smart sustainable urbanism. Therefore, it is of significant importance to develop an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary framework. With that in regard, this paper identifies, describes, discusses, evaluates, and thematically organizes the core academic and scientific disciplines underlying the field of data-driven smart sustainable urbanism. This work provides an important lens through which to understand the set of established and emerging disciplines that have high integration, fusion, and application potential for informing the processes and practices of data-driven smart sustainable urbanism. As such, it provides fertile insights into the core foundational principles of data-driven smart sustainable urbanism as an applied domain in terms of its scientific, technological, and computational strands. The novelty of the proposed framework lies in its original contribution to the body of foundational knowledge of an emerging field of urban planning and development.

Download Full-text

Estimating surface runoff and groundwater recharge in an urban catchment using a water balance approach

Hydrogeology Journal ◽

10.1007/s10040-021-02385-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 29 (7) ◽

pp. 2411-2428

Author(s):

Robin K. Weatherl ◽

Maria J. Henao Salgado ◽

Maximilian Ramgraber ◽

Christian Moeck ◽

Mario Schirmer

Keyword(s):

Soil Moisture ◽

Water Balance ◽

Groundwater Recharge ◽

Surface Runoff ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Water Cycle ◽

Land Use Changes ◽

Curve Number ◽

Hydrograph Separation ◽

Balance Approach

AbstractLand-use changes often have significant impact on the water cycle, including changing groundwater/surface-water interactions, modifying groundwater recharge zones, and increasing risk of contamination. Surface runoff in particular is significantly impacted by land cover. As surface runoff can act as a carrier for contaminants found at the surface, it is important to characterize runoff dynamics in anthropogenic environments. In this study, the relationship between surface runoff and groundwater recharge in urban areas is explored using a top-down water balance approach. Two empirical models were used to estimate runoff: (1) an updated, advanced method based on curve number, followed by (2) bivariate hydrograph separation. Modifications were added to each method in an attempt to better capture continuous soil-moisture processes and explicitly account for runoff from impervious surfaces. Differences between the resulting runoff estimates shed light on the complexity of the rainfall–runoff relationship, and highlight the importance of understanding soil-moisture dynamics and their control on hydro(geo)logical responses. These results were then used as input in a water balance to calculate groundwater recharge. Two approaches were used to assess the accuracy of these groundwater balance estimates: (1) comparison to calculations of groundwater recharge using the calibrated conceptual HBV Light model, and (2) comparison to groundwater recharge estimates from physically similar catchments in Switzerland that are found in the literature. In all cases, recharge is estimated at approximately 40–45% of annual precipitation. These conditions were found to closely echo those results from Swiss catchments of similar characteristics.

Download Full-text

Contour clustering: A field-data-driven approach for documenting and analysing prototypical f0 contours

Journal of the International Phonetic Association ◽

10.1017/s0025100321000049 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-30

Author(s):

Constantijn Kaland

Keyword(s):

Cluster Analysis ◽

User Interfaces ◽

Data Driven ◽

Language Documentation ◽

Cluster Number ◽

Automatic Data ◽

Speaker Variability ◽

The Core ◽

Data Driven Approach ◽

Confirmatory Analysis

ABSTRACT This paper reports an automatic data-driven analysis for describing prototypical intonation patterns, particularly suitable for initial stages of prosodic research and language description. The approach has several advantages over traditional ways to investigate intonation, such as the applicability to spontaneous speech, language- and domain-independency, and the potential of revealing meaningful functions of intonation. These features make the approach particularly useful for language documentation, where the description of prosody is often lacking. The core of this approach is a cluster analysis on a time-series of f0 measurements and consists of two scripts (Praat and R, available from https://constantijnkaland.github.io/contourclustering/). Graphical user interfaces can be used to perform the analyses on collected data ranging from spontaneous to highly controlled speech. There is limited need for manual annotation prior to analysis and speaker variability can be accounted for. After cluster analysis, Praat textgrids can be generated with the cluster number annotated for each individual contour. Although further confirmatory analysis is still required, the outcomes provide useful and unbiased directions for any investigation of prototypical f0 contours based on their acoustic form.

Download Full-text

Attributing runoff changes to climate variability and human activities: uncertainty analysis using four monthly water balance models

Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment ◽

10.1007/s00477-015-1083-8 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 30 (1) ◽

pp. 251-269 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Shuai Li ◽

Lihua Xiong ◽

Hong-Yi Li ◽

L. Ruby Leung ◽

Yonas Demissie

Keyword(s):

Water Balance ◽

Climate Variability ◽

Uncertainty Analysis ◽

Human Activities ◽

Runoff Changes ◽

Water Balance Models ◽

Monthly Water Balance

Download Full-text

AVALIAÇÃO DA DISPONIBILIDADE HÍDRICA NA SUB-BACIA DO BOI BRANCO ATRAVÉS DO BALANÇO HÍDRICO CLIMATOLÓGICO E DE CULTIVO

Irriga ◽

10.15809/irriga.2017v22n1p1-17 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 1-17

Author(s):

Mariana Alexandre de Lima Sales ◽

RODRIGO MÁXIMO SÁNCHEZ ROMÁN ◽

LEONOR RODRÍGUEZ SINOBAS ◽

RAIMUNDO NONATO FARIAS MONTEIRO ◽

JOÃO VICTOR RIBEIRO DA SILVA DE SOUZA

Keyword(s):

Water Balance ◽

Water Deficit ◽

Environmental Planning ◽

Water Cycle ◽

Crop Coefficient ◽

Monthly Precipitation ◽

Agricultural Planning ◽

Historical Series ◽

Average Monthly Precipitation ◽

E Mail

AVALIAÇÃO DA DISPONIBILIDADE HÍDRICA NA SUB-BACIA DO BOI BRANCO ATRAVÉS DO BALANÇO HÍDRICO CLIMATOLÓGICO E DE CULTIVO MARIANA ALEXANDRE DE LIMA SALES1; RODRIGO MÁXIMO SÁNCHEZ ROMÁN2; LEONOR RODRÍGUEZ SINOBAS3; RAIMUNDO NONATO FARIAS MONTEIRO4; JOÃO VICTOR RIBEIRO DA SILVA DE SOUZA5. 1 Tecnóloga em Irrigação e Drenagem, Doutoranda em Agronomia (Irrigação e Drenagem) – FCA/UNESP. Rua José Barbosa de Barros, 1780, CEP 18610-307, Botucatu – SP, e-mail: [email protected] Eng. de Irrigação e Drenagem, Prof. Doutor FCA/UNESP. Rua José Barbosa de Barros, 1780, CEP 18610-307, Botucatu, SP. Fone: (14) 3711-7100. E-mail: [email protected] Eng. Agrônoma, Profa. Doutora ETSIA/UPM, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040 Madri, Espanha. e-mail: [email protected] Tecnólogo em Recursos Hídricos/Irrigação, Doutor em Agronomia (Irrigação e Drenagem) – FCA/UNESP. Rua José Barbosa de Barros, 1780, CEP 18610-307, Botucatu – SP, e-mail: [email protected] Eng. Agrônomo, Doutorando em Agronomia (Irrigação e Drenagem) – FCA/UNESP. Rua José Barbosa de Barros, 1780, CEP 18610-307, Botucatu – SP, e-mail: [email protected]. 1 RESUMO Uma das formas de contabilizar a quantidade de água de um determinado sistema é por meio do balanço hídrico, o qual é uma importante ferramenta para o processo de avaliação do ciclo da água em uma determinada região. O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar o balanço hídrico na sub-bacia hidrográfica do Boi Branco-SP, para servir como ferramenta ao planejamento hidroagrícola e ambiental da região. Para o balanço hídrico climatológico, utilizaram-se dados da série histórica da região (1971 a 1995). Os dados de evapotranspiração foram estimados pelo método de Thornthwaite. O balanço hídrico climatológico mostrou déficit hídrico total anual de 10,1 mm, e um excedente de 319,7 mm, tendo no mês de janeiro um excedente de 92,6 mm, para a precipitação média mensal; com a precipitação efetiva mensal com probabilidade de 75%, déficit hídrico no solo é de 238,8 mm e o excedente 56,8 mm. Quando se adiciona a esses dados os das culturas implantadas na área de estudo, como coeficiente de cultivo e fator de depleção da umidade do solo, observa-se que todas as culturas do estudo apresentaram déficit hídrico em todos os meses em que estiveram no campo. Palavras-chave: Planejamento hidroagrícola, capacidade de água disponível no solo, evapotranspiração. SALES, M. A. L.; SÁNCHEZ-ROMÁN, R. M.; SONOBAS, L. R.; MONTEIRO, R. N. F.; SOUZA, J. V. R. S.ASSESSMENT OF WATER AVAILABILITY AT BOI BRANCO WATERSHED THROUGH CLIMATIC WATER BALANCE AND GROWING 2 ABSTRACT One way to calculate the amount of water in a determined system is by means of the water balance, an important tool for the assessment of the water cycle in a specific region. The main goal of this work was to establish the water balance in the watershed Boi Branco-SP, so that it can be used as a tool for the hydro-agricultural and environmental planning of the region. For the climatic water balance, data of the historical series of the region (1971 - 1995) were used. Evapotranspiration data were estimated by the Thornthwaite method. The climatic water balance showed total annual water deficit of 10.1 mm, and surplus of 319.7 mm, with January presenting surplus of 92.6 in the average monthly precipitation; given that the effective monthly precipitation presenting probability of 75%, water deficit in the soil is 238.8 mm and surplus is 56.8 mm. When these data are added to the ones of the crop, as a crop coefficient and soil humidity depletion factor, it is observed that all crops studied showed water deficit in all the months covered. Keyword: Water agricultural planning, water capability available in the soil, evapotranspiration.