scholarly journals A Simple Modelling Framework for Shallow Subsurface Water Storage and Flow

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1725
Author(s):  
Lucile Verrot ◽  
Josie Geris ◽  
Lei Gao ◽  
Xinhua Peng ◽  
Joseph Oyesiku-Blakemore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Water Dynamics ◽  
Subsurface Water ◽  
Richards Equation ◽  
Runoff Generation ◽  
Catchment Scale ◽  
Shallow Subsurface ◽  
Modelling Framework ◽  
Vegetation Water

Water storage and flow in shallow subsurface drives runoff generation, vegetation water use and nutrient cycling. Modelling these processes under non-steady state conditions is challenging, particularly in regions like the subtropics that experience extreme wet and dry periods. At the catchment-scale, physically-based equations (e.g., Richards equation) are impractical due to their complexity, while conceptual models typically rely on steady state assumptions not found in daily hydrological dynamics. We addressed this by developing a simple modelling framework for shallow subsurface water dynamics based on physical relationships and a proxy parameter for the fluxes induced by non-unit hydraulic gradients. We demonstrate its applicability for six generic soil textures and for an Acrisol in subtropical China. Results showed that our new approach represents top soil daily fluxes and storage better than, and as fast as, standard conceptual approaches. Moreover, it was less complex and up to two orders of magnitude faster than simulating Richards equation, making it easy to include in existing hydrological models.

scholarly journals Soil moisture observation in a forested headwater catchment: combining a dense cosmic-ray neutron sensor network with roving and hydrogravimetry at the TERENO site Wüstebach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maik Heistermann ◽  
Heye Bogena ◽  
Till Francke ◽  
Andreas Güntner ◽  
Jannis Jakobi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Sensor Network ◽  
Root Zone ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
Water Dynamics ◽  
Catchment Scale ◽  
Small Catchment ◽  
Hill Slope ◽  
The Hill

Abstract. Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing (CRNS) has become an effective method to measure soil moisture at a horizontal scale of hundreds of meters and a depth of decimeters. Recent studies proposed to operate CRNS in a network with overlapping footprints in order to cover root-zone water dynamics at the small catchment scale, and, at the same time, to represent spatial heterogeneity. In a joint field campaign from September to November 2020 (JFC-2020), five German research institutions deployed 15 CRNS sensors in the 0.4 km2 Wüstebach catchment (Eifel mountains, Germany). The catchment is dominantly forested (but includes a substantial fraction of open vegetation), and features a topographically distinct watershed. In addition to the dense CRNS coverage, the campaign featured a unique combination of additional instruments and techniques: hydro-gravimetry (to detect water storage dynamics also below the root zone); ground-based and, for the first time, airborne CRNS roving; an extensive wireless soil sensor network, supplemented by manual measurements; and six weighable lysimeters. Together with comprehensive data from the long-term local research infrastructure, the published dataset (available at https://doi.org/10.23728/b2share.afb20a34a6ac429ca6b759238d842765) will be a valuable asset in various research contexts: to advance the retrieval of landscape water storage from CRNS, wireless soil sensor networks, or hydrogravimetry; to identify scale-specific combinations of sensors and methods to represent soil moisture variability; to improve the understanding and simulation of land-atmosphere exchange as well as hydrological and hydrogeological processes at the hill-slope and the catchment scale; and to support the retrieval soil water content from airborne and spaceborne remote sensing platforms.

One-Dimensional Infiltration and Vertical Flow

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur W. Warrick
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Numerical Methods ◽  
Analytical Solutions ◽  
Finite Differences ◽  
Numerical Solutions ◽  
Water Dynamics ◽  
Richards Equation ◽  
Vertical Flow ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
The One

This chapter addresses one-dimensional infiltration and vertical flow problems. Traditionally, infiltration has received more attention than other unsaturated flow procedures, both for empirical formulations and for applications of Richards’ equation. Rarely is infiltration the only process of interest, and from an overall point of view it is only one example of soil water dynamics. Here, we will first emphasize systems for which analytical (or quasi-analytical) solutions can be found. These include the Green and Ampt solution (1911), which adds gravity to the simplified analysis discussed in chapter 4. Then a linearized form of Richards’ equation will be examined, followed by the perturbation of the horizontal problem of Philip leading to his famous series solution. Although the closed-form and quasi-analytical solutions are convenient for calculations and discussing the physical principles, generally, the nonlinearity of Richards’ equation precludes such convenient forms. However, numerical approximations can be used. The conventional numerical methods applied in water and solute transport are based on finite differences and finite elements. Because of its greater simplicity, we will emphasize finite differences and build on the methodology from the saturated-flow example in chapter 3. Richards’ equation is a parabolic partial differential equation reducing to an elliptical form for steady-state cases. The analyses and methods parallel developments for techniques developed primarily for the linear diffusion equation. Many texts exist for numerical methods; one to which we refer is by Smith (1985). Ideally, numerical methods give solutions that are as accurate as the input warrants or as necessary for application. In some cases, results may be easier or more accurate than the evaluation of a complex analytical expression. Clearly, infiltration is of limited duration, with drainage and redistribution occurring over much longer time frames. We will visit briefly some steady-state examples, including layered profile and upward flow from a shallow water table. Other examples include modeling plant water uptake from the profile and drainage of initially wet profiles. The rapid increase in computational power and availability of computers make solutions feasible and routine for problems that were very tedious or time consuming only a few years ago. This is particularly true of the one-dimensional numerical solutions.

scholarly journals Transient flow between aquifers and surface water: analytically derived field-scale hydraulic heads and fluxes

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 649-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. H. de Rooij
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Transient Flow ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Realistic Model ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Subsurface Water ◽  
Water Model ◽  
Infinite Strip ◽  
Catchment Scale ◽  
Basin Scale

Abstract. The increasing importance of catchment-scale and basin-scale models of the hydrological cycle makes it desirable to have a simple, yet physically realistic model for lateral subsurface water flow. As a first building block towards such a model, analytical solutions are presented for horizontal groundwater flow to surface waters held at prescribed water levels for aquifers with parallel and radial flow. The solutions are valid for a wide array of initial and boundary conditions and additions or withdrawals of water, and can handle discharge into as well as lateral infiltration from the surface water. Expressions for the average hydraulic head, the flux to or from the surface water, and the aquifer-scale hydraulic conductivity are developed to provide output at the scale of the modelled system rather than just point-scale values. The upscaled conductivity is time-variant. It does not depend on the magnitude of the flux but is determined by medium properties as well as the external forcings that drive the flow. For the systems studied, with lateral travel distances not exceeding 10 m, the circular aquifers respond very differently from the infinite-strip aquifers. The modelled fluxes are sensitive to the magnitude of the storage coefficient. For phreatic aquifers a value of 0.2 is argued to be representative, but considerable variations are likely. The effect of varying distributions over the day of recharge damps out rapidly; a soil water model that can provide accurate daily totals is preferable over a less accurate model hat correctly estimates the timing of recharge peaks.

scholarly journals Hortonian runoff closure relations for geomorphologic response units: evaluation against field data

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 2981-3004 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Vannametee ◽  
D. Karssenberg ◽  
M. R. Hendriks ◽  
M. F. P. Bierkens
Keyword(s):  
Scale Effects ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Runoff Generation ◽  
Catchment Scale ◽  
Ungauged Catchments ◽  
Closure Relation ◽  
Physically Based ◽  
Low Dimensional ◽  
Hortonian Runoff ◽  
Ks Values

Abstract. This paper presents an evaluation of the closure relation for Hortonian runoff, proposed in Vannametee et al. (2012), that incorporates a scaling component to explicitly account for the process heterogeneity and scale effects in runoff generation for the real-world case studies. We applied the closure relation, which was embedded in an event-based lumped rainfall–runoff model, to a 15 km2 catchment in the French Alps. The catchment was disaggregated into a number of landform units, referred to as Geomorphologic Response Units (GRUs), to each of which the closure relation was applied. The scaling component in the closure relation was identified using the empirical relations between rainstorm characteristics, geometry, and local-scale measurable properties of the GRUs. Evaluation of the closure relation performance against the observed discharge shows that the hydrograph and discharge volume were quite satisfactorily simulated even without calibration. Performance of the closure relation can be mainly attributed to the use of scaling component, as it is shown that our closure relation outperforms a benchmark closure relation that lacks this scaling component. The discharge prediction is significantly improved when the closure relation is calibrated against the observed discharge, resulting in local-scale GRU-properties optimal for the predictions. Calibration was done by changing one local-scale observable, i.e. hydraulic conductivity (Ks), using a single pre-factor for the entire catchment. It is shown that the calibrated Ks values are somewhat comparable to the observed Ks values at a local scale in the study catchment. These results suggest that, in the absence of discharge observations, reasonable estimates of catchment-scale runoff responses can possibly be achieved with the observations at the sub-GRU (i.e. plot) scale. Our study provides a platform for the future development of low-dimensional, semi-distributed, physically based discharge models in ungauged catchments.

scholarly journals The influence of vegetation water dynamics on the ASCAT backscatter-incidence angle relationship in the Amazon

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashwini Petchiappan ◽  
Susan C. Steele-Dunne ◽  
Mariette Vreugdenhil ◽  
Sebastian Hahn ◽  
Wolfgang Wagner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Cycle ◽  
Incidence Angle ◽  
Water Dynamics ◽  
Plant Water ◽  
Vegetation Monitoring ◽  
Equivalent Water Thickness ◽  
Moisture Availability ◽  
Phenological Changes ◽  
Data Record ◽  
Vegetation Water

Abstract. Microwave observations are sensitive to plant water content and could therefore provide essential information on biomass and plant water status in ecological and agricultural applications. The combined data record of the C-band scatterometers on ERS 1/2, the Metop series and the planned Metop Second Generation satellites will span over 40 years, which would provide a long-term perspective on the role of vegetation in the climate system. Recent research has indicated that the unique viewing geometry of ASCAT could be exploited to observe vegetation water dynamics. The incidence angle dependence of backscatter can be described with a second order polynomial, the slope and curvature of which are related to vegetation. In a study limited to grasslands, seasonal cycles, spatial patterns and interannual variability in the slope and curvature were found to vary among grassland types and were attributed to differences in moisture availability, growing season length and phenological changes. To exploit ASCAT slope and curvature for global vegetation monitoring, their dynamics over a wider range of vegetation types needs to be quantified and explained in terms of vegetation water dynamics. Here, we compare ASCAT data with meteorological data and GRACE Equivalent Water Thickness (EWT) to explain the dynamics of ASCAT backscatter, slope and curvature in terms of moisture availability and demand. We consider differences in the seasonal cycle, diurnal differences, and the response to the 2010 and 2015 droughts across ecoregions in the Amazon basin and surroundings. Results show that spatial and temporal patterns in backscatter reflect moisture availability indicated by GRACE EWT. Slope and curvature dynamics vary considerably among the ecoregions. The evergreen forests, often used as a calibration target, exhibit very stable behaviour even under drought conditions. The limited seasonal variation follows changes in the radiation cycle, and may indicate phenological changes such as litterfall. In contrast, the diversity of land cover types within the Cerrado region results in considerable heterogeneity in terms of the seasonal cycle and the influence of drought on both slope and curvature. Seasonal flooding in forest and savanna areas also produced a distinctive signature in terms of the backscatter as a function of incidence angle. This improved understanding of the incidence angle behaviour of backscatter increases our ability to interpret and make optimal use of the ASCAT data record and VOD products for vegetation monitoring.

Dominant drivers of runoff in a slash-and-burn affected catchment in upland Eastern Madagascar

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bob W. Zwartendijk ◽  
H.J. (Ilja) van Meerveld ◽  
Ryan J. Teuling ◽  
Chandra P. Ghimire ◽  
L. Adrian Bruijnzeel
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Overland Flow ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Forest Loss ◽  
Runoff Generation ◽  
Catchment Scale ◽  
Valley Bottom ◽  
Antecedent Soil Moisture ◽  
Slash And Burn ◽  
Slash And Burn Agriculture

<p>In many tropical areas slash-and-burn agriculture is an important driver of forest loss. In areas where slash-and-burn agriculture has been practiced for decades, land cover is typically a mosaic of patches of remnant forest, fields under active cultivation, fallows in various stages of regrowth (ranging from young shrub to semi-mature), and degraded fire-climax grasslands. Although runoff generation mechanisms are expected to be different for these different patches, little quantitative information is available in this regard, particularly at the catchment scale and over longer time-scales (i.e., multiple slash-and-burn cycles).</p><p>We re-instrumented a 31 ha catchment in upland Eastern Madagascar, where slash-and-burn agriculture has been practiced for more than 70 years in 2015; it had been monitored between 1963 and 1972 as well<sup>1</sup>. We measured streamflow at two locations and overland flow and soil moisture for four hillside plots (0.05 – 1.93 ha): one plot under repeatedly coppiced and burned <em>Eucalyptus</em> and three plots under young shrub and tree fallows. One of the plots underwent rudimentary terracing in the past. We analysed the rainfall-runoff dynamics for 50 rainfall events (median 12 mm, maximum 71 mm).</p><p>For 60% of the events, the stormflow coefficient (minimum contributing area) was <3%, which is the proportion of valley-bottom wetlands and rice paddies in the catchment. Stable isotope sampling for five storm runoff events indicate a maximum total event-water contribution of 16%. However, instantaneous event-water contributions were as high as 66%. The hillside plot runoff response was dominated by saturation-excess overland flow and showed strong threshold behaviour in terms of the antecedent soil moisture storage in the upper 30 cm of the soil plus the event total rainfall amount (ASI + P). Average threshold values for overland flow occurrence ranged from 87 mm for the coppiced <em>Eucalyptus</em> to 137 mm for the young fallow plots (regardless of terrace presence). Stormflow also increased after an ASI+P-threshold was exceeded (100 mm based on the soil moisture sensors for the <em>Eucalyptus</em> plot and 150 mm for the sensors at the tree fallow plots).</p><p>These results indicate an increased hydrological connectivity between hillslopes and valley bottom under wetter conditions and that stormflow in the study catchment is strongly affected by variations in seasonal rainfall. The results will be used to validate a hydrological model to determine the net effect of concurrent changes in soil infiltrability and vegetation water use associated with forest loss and recovery on stormflow totals and the seasonal flow regime.</p><p><strong><sup>1</sup></strong>Bailly, C., de Coignac, G.B., Malvos, C., Ningre, J.M., and Sarrailh, J.M. (1974). Étude de l'influence du couvert naturel et de ses modifications á Madagascar. Expérimentations en bassins versants élémentaires. Cahiers Scientifiques, 4. Centre Scientifique Forestier Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France, 114 pp.</p>

scholarly journals Sobol Global Sensitivity Analysis of a Coupled Surface/Subsurface Water Flow and Reactive Solute Transfer Model on a Real Hillslope

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Gatel ◽  
Claire Lauvernet ◽  
Nadia Carluer ◽  
Sylvain Weill ◽  
Claudio Paniconi
Keyword(s):  
Sensitivity Analysis ◽  
Water Flow ◽  
Shallow Groundwater ◽  
Mass Conservation ◽  
Subsurface Water ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Rain Event ◽  
Runoff Generation

The migration and fate of pesticides in natural environments is highly complex. At the hillslope scale, the quantification of contaminant fluxes and concentrations requires a physically based model. This class of model has recently been extended to include coupling between the surface and the subsurface domains for both the water flow and solute transport regimes. Due to their novelty, the relative importance of and interactions between the main model parameters has not yet been fully investigated. In this study, a global Sobol sensitivity analysis is performed on a vineyard hillslope for a one hour intensive rain event with the CATHY (CATchment HYdrology) integrated surface/subsurface model. The event-based simulation involves runoff generation, infiltration, surface and subsurface solute transfers, and shallow groundwater flow. The results highlight the importance of the saturated hydraulic conductivity K s and the retention curve shape parameter n and they reveal a strong role for parameter interactions associated with the exchange processes represented in the model. The mass conservation errors generated by the model are lower than 1% in 99.7% of the simulations. Boostrapping analysis of sampling methods and errors associated with the Sobol indices highlights the relevance of choosing a large sampling size (at least N = 1000) and raises issues associated with rare but extreme output results.

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