Are in-stream transport and hyporheic exchange parameters identifiable from tracer test data?

Author(s):  
Andrea Bottacin-Busolin

<p>Inverse modeling approaches based on tracer data are often used to characterize transport processes in streams and rivers. This generally involves the calibration of a one-dimensional transport model using concentrations measured in the surface water at one or multiple locations along a stream reach. A major concern is whether the calibrated model parameters are representative of the physical transport processes occurring in the water column and the underlying sediment bed. This study looks at the identifiability of the parameters of a physically based one-dimensional stream transport model that represents hyporheic exchange as a vertically attenuated mixing process in accordance with recent experimental evidence. It is shown that, if the average flow velocity and hydraulic radius are not predetermined, there are infinite sets of parameter values that generate the same space-time concentration distributions in the water column. The result implies that in-stream transport and hyporheic exchange parameters cannot be determined from sole measurements of solute breakthrough curves in the surface water unless stream discharge and average cross-sectional geometry can be independently estimated.</p>

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veerle C. J. De Schepper ◽  
Katrijn M. A. Holvoet ◽  
Lorenzo Benedetti ◽  
Piet Seuntjens ◽  
Peter A. Vanrolleghem

The existing River Water Quality Model No. 1 (RWQM1) was extended with processes determining the fate of non-volatile pesticides in the water phase and sediments. The exchange of pesticides between the water column and the sediment is described by three transport processes: diffusion, sedimentation and resuspension. Burial of sediments is also included. The modified model was used to simulate the concentrations of diuron and chloridazon in the river Nil. A good agreement was found between the simulated pesticide concentrations and measured values resulting from a four-month intensive monitoring campaign. The simulation results indicate that pesticide concentrations in the bulk water are not sensitive to the selected biochemical model parameters. It seems that these concentrations are mainly determined by the imposed upstream concentrations, run-off and direct losses. The high concentrations in the bulk water were not observed in the sediment pore water due to a limited exchange between the water column and the sediment. According to a sensitivity analysis, the observed pesticide concentrations are highly sensitive to the diffusion and sorption coefficients. Therefore, model users should determine these parameters with accuracy in order to reduce the degree of uncertainty in their results.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenz Ammann ◽  
Fabrizio Fenicia ◽  
Tobias Doppler ◽  
Christian Stamm ◽  
Peter Reichert

<p>Many hydrological systems have a stochastic behavior at the spatiotemporal scales we observe them. The reasons are insufficient quantity or quality of input observations, and model structural errors, the effects of which vary over time. Assuming model parameters as time-dependent, stochastic processes can account for such effects. This approach differs from using deterministic models in combination with a stochastic error term on output and or input. We start from an existing deterministic conceptual bucket model, which was developed and calibrated to jointly predict streamflow and herbicide pollution observed in a small stream with an agricultural catchment in the Swiss midlands. The model considers sorption and degradation of herbicides, as well as fast transport processes such as overland flow to shortcuts and macropore flow to tile drains. Subsequently, the model is made stochastic by replacing selected constant parameter values by time-varying stochastic processes. We perform parameter inference according to the Bayesian approach using a Gibbs-sampler to combine Metropolis sampling of the remaining constant parameters with sampling from an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process for the time-dependent parameter. A preliminary analysis of the resulting time series of the parameters reveals, for example, model deficits w.r.t. baseflow, in particular during dry conditions. We show that the resulting patterns can inspire model improvements by providing information that can be interpreted by the modeler. These findings indicate that stochastic models with time-dependent parameters are a promising tool for uncertainty quantification of water quality models and for facilitating the scientific learning process, which may ultimately lead to better predictions.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 80 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Betterle ◽  
Anna Jaeger ◽  
Malte Posselt ◽  
Claudia Coll ◽  
Jonathan P. Benskin ◽  
...  

AbstractHyporheic exchange (HE) contributes to the biogeochemical turnover of macro- and micro-pollutants in rivers. However, the spatiotemporal complexity and variability of HE hinder understanding of its role in the overall functioning of riverine ecosystems. The present study focuses on investigating the role of bacterial diversity and sediment morphology on HE using a multi-flume experiment. A fully coupled surface–subsurface numerical model was used to highlight complex exchange patterns between surface water and the underlying flow field in the sediments. Under the experimental conditions, the surface water flow induced by bedforms has a prominent effect on both local trajectories and residence time distributions of hyporheic flow paths, whereas mean hyporheic retention times are mainly modulated by average surface flowrates. In case of complex bedform morphologies, the numerical model successfully reproduces the HE estimated by means of salt dilution tests. However, the 2D numerical representation of the system falls short in predicting HE in absence of bedforms, highlighting the intrinsic complexity of water circulation patterns in real scenarios. Finally, results show that higher bacterial diversities in the stream sediments can significantly reduce hyporheic fluxes. This work provides a framework to interpret micropollutants turnover in light of the underlying physical transport processes in the hyporheic zone. The study emphasizes the importance of better understanding the tradeoff between physically driven transport processes and bacterial dynamics in the hyporheic zone to quantify the fate of pollutants in streams and rivers.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Stukel ◽  
Thomas Kelly

Thorium-234 (234Th) is a powerful tracer of particle dynamics and the biological pump in the surface ocean; however, variability in carbon:thorium ratios of sinking particles adds substantial uncertainty to estimates of organic carbon export. We coupled a mechanistic thorium sorption and desorption model to a one-dimensional particle sinking model that uses realistic particle settling velocity spectra. The model generates estimates of 238U-234Th disequilibrium, particulate organic carbon concentration, and the C:234Th ratio of sinking particles, which are then compared to in situ measurements from quasi-Lagrangian studies conducted on six cruises in the California Current Ecosystem. Broad patterns observed in in situ measurements, including decreasing C:234Th ratios with depth and a strong correlation between sinking C:234Th and the ratio of vertically-integrated particulate organic carbon (POC) to vertically-integrated total water column 234Th, were accurately recovered by models assuming either a power law distribution of sinking speeds or a double log normal distribution of sinking speeds. Simulations suggested that the observed decrease in C:234Th with depth may be driven by preferential remineralization of carbon by particle-attached microbes. However, an alternate model structure featuring complete consumption and/or disaggregation of particles by mesozooplankton (e.g. no preferential remineralization of carbon) was also able to simulate decreasing C:234Th with depth (although the decrease was weaker), driven by 234Th adsorption onto slowly sinking particles. Model results also suggest that during bloom decays C:234Th ratios of sinking particles should be higher than expected (based on contemporaneous water column POC), because high settling velocities minimize carbon remineralization during sinking.


1992 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ole H. Jacobsen ◽  
Feike J. Leij ◽  
Martinus Th. van Genuchten

Breakthrough curves of Cl and 3H2O were obtained during steady unsaturated flow in five lysimeters containing an undisturbed coarse sand (Orthic Haplohumod). The experimental data were analyzed in terms of the classical two-parameter convection-dispersion equation and a four-parameter two-region type physical nonequilibrium solute transport model. Model parameters were obtained by both curve fitting and time moment analysis. The four-parameter model provided a much better fit to the data for three soil columns, but performed only slightly better for the two remaining columns. The retardation factor for Cl was about 10 % less than for 3H2O, indicating some anion exclusion. For the four-parameter model the average immobile water fraction was 0.14 and the Peclet numbers of the mobile region varied between 50 and 200. Time moments analysis proved to be a useful tool for quantifying the break through curve (BTC) although the moments were found to be sensitive to experimental scattering in the measured data at larger times. Also, fitted parameters described the experimental data better than moment generated parameter values.


1982 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 241-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
P A Krenkel ◽  
R H French

The state-of-the-art of surface water impoundment modeling is examined from the viewpoints of both hydrodynamics and water quality. In the area of hydrodynamics current one dimensional integral energy and two dimensional models are discussed. In the area of water quality, the formulations used for various parameters are presented with a range of values for the associated rate coefficients.


Author(s):  
Vincent Kather ◽  
Finn Lückoff ◽  
Christian O. Paschereit ◽  
Kilian Oberleithner

The generation and turbulent transport of temporal equivalence ratio fluctuations in a swirl combustor are experimentally investigated and compared to a one-dimensional transport model. These fluctuations are generated by acoustic perturbations at the fuel injector and play a crucial role in the feedback loop leading to thermoacoustic instabilities. The focus of this investigation lies on the interplay between fuel fluctuations and coherent vortical structures that are both affected by the acoustic forcing. To this end, optical diagnostics are applied inside the mixing duct and in the combustion chamber, housing a turbulent swirl flame. The flame was acoustically perturbed to obtain phase-averaged spatially resolved flow and equivalence ratio fluctuations, which allow the determination of flux-based local and global mixing transfer functions. Measurements show that the mode-conversion model that predicts the generation of equivalence ratio fluctuations at the injector holds for linear acoustic forcing amplitudes, but it fails for non-linear amplitudes. The global (radially integrated) transport of fuel fluctuations from the injector to the flame is reasonably well approximated by a one-dimensional transport model with an effective diffusivity that accounts for turbulent diffusion and dispersion. This approach however, fails to recover critical details of the mixing transfer function, which is caused by non-local interaction of flow and fuel fluctuations. This effect becomes even more pronounced for non-linear forcing amplitudes where strong coherent fluctuations induce a non-trivial frequency dependence of the mixing process. The mechanisms resolved in this study suggest that non-local interference of fuel fluctuations and coherent flow fluctuations is significant for the transport of global equivalence ratio fluctuations at linear acoustic amplitudes and crucial for non-linear amplitudes. To improve future predictions and facilitate a satisfactory modelling, a non-local, two-dimensional approach is necessary.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089020702110140
Author(s):  
Gabriel Olaru ◽  
Mathias Allemand

The goal of this study was to examine differential and correlated change in personality across the adult lifespan. Studying differential and correlated change can help understand whether intraindividual trait change trajectories deviate from the norm and how these trajectories are coupled with each other. We used data from two large longitudinal panel studies from the United States that covered a total age range of 20 to 95 years on the first measurement occasion. We used correlated factor models and bivariate latent change score models to examine the rank-order stability and correlations between change across three measurement waves covering 18 years ( N = 3250) and four measurement waves covering 12 years ( N = 4145). We examined the moderation effects of continuous age on these model parameters using local structural equation modeling. The results suggest that the test–retest correlations decrease with increasing time between measurements but are unaffected by participants’ age. We found that change processes in Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness were strongly related, particularly in late adulthood. Correlated change patterns were highly stable across time intervals and similar to the initial cross-sectional Big Five correlations. We discuss potential mechanisms and implications for personality development research.


2001 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 865-868 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Ladeve`ze ◽  
J. G. Simmonds

The exact theory of linearly elastic beams developed by Ladeve`ze and Ladeve`ze and Simmonds is illustrated using the equations of plane stress for a fully anisotropic elastic body of rectangular shape. Explicit formulas are given for the cross-sectional material operators that appear in the special Saint-Venant solutions of Ladeve`ze and Simmonds and in the overall beamlike stress-strain relations between forces and a moment (the generalized stress) and derivatives of certain one-dimensional displacements and a rotation (the generalized displacement). A new definition is proposed for built-in boundary conditions in which the generalized displacement vanishes rather than pointwise displacements or geometric averages.


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