scholarly journals Climatic controls on diffuse groundwater recharge across Australia

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 6023-6062 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. V. Barron ◽  
R. S. Crosbie ◽  
D. Pollock ◽  
W. R. Dawes ◽  
S. P. Charles ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Recharge ◽  
Vapour Pressure Deficit ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Climate Type ◽  
Climate Parameters ◽  
Climate Controls ◽  
Temperature Climate

Abstract. Reviews of field studies of groundwater recharge have attempted to investigate how climate characteristics control recharge, but due to a lack of data have not been able to draw any strong conclusions beyond that rainfall is the major determinant. This study has used numerical modeling for a range of Köppen-Geiger climate types (tropical, arid and temperate) to investigate the effect of climate variables on recharge for different soil and vegetation types. For the majority of climate types the total annual rainfall had a weaker correlation with recharge than the rainfall parameters reflecting rainfall intensity. In regions with winter-dominated rainfall, annual recharge under the same annual rainfall, soils and vegetation conditions is greater than in regions with summer-dominated rainfall. The relative importance of climate parameters other than rainfall is higher for recharge under annual vegetation, but overall is highest in the tropical climate type. Solar radiation and vapour pressure deficit show a greater relative importance than mean annual daily mean temperature. Climate parameters have lowest relative importance in the arid climate type (with cold winters) and the temperate climate type. For 75% of all considered cases of soil, vegetation and climate types recharge elasticity varies between 2 and 4, indicating a 20% to 40% change in recharge for a 10% change in annual rainfall Understanding how climate controls recharge under the observed historical climate allows more informed choices of analogue sites if they are to be used for climate change impact assessments.

scholarly journals Climatic controls on diffuse groundwater recharge across Australia

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. 4557-4570 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. V. Barron ◽  
R. S. Crosbie ◽  
W. R. Dawes ◽  
S. P. Charles ◽  
T. Pickett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Recharge ◽  
Vapour Pressure Deficit ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Climate Type ◽  
Climate Parameters ◽  
Climate Controls ◽  
Recharge Estimation ◽  
Temperature Climate

Abstract. Reviews of field studies of groundwater recharge have attempted to investigate how climate characteristics control recharge, but due to a lack of data have not been able to draw any strong conclusions beyond that rainfall is the major determinant. This study has used numerical modelling for a range of Köppen-Geiger climate types (tropical, arid and temperate) to investigate the effect of climate variables on recharge for different soil and vegetation types. For the majority of climate types, the correlation between the modelled recharge and total annual rainfall is weaker than the correlation between recharge and the annual rainfall parameters reflecting rainfall intensity. Under similar soil and vegetation conditions for the same annual rainfall, annual recharge in regions with winter-dominated rainfall is greater than in regions with summer-dominated rainfall. The importance of climate parameters other than rainfall in recharge estimation is highest in the tropical climate type. Mean annual values of solar radiation and vapour pressure deficit show a greater importance in recharge estimation than mean annual values of the daily mean temperature. Climate parameters have the lowest relative importance in recharge estimation in the arid climate type (with cold winters) and the temperate climate type. For 75% of all soil, vegetation and climate types investigated, recharge elasticity varies between 2 and 4 indicating a 20% to 40% change in recharge for a 10% change in annual rainfall. Understanding how climate controls recharge under the observed historical climate allows more informed choices of analogue sites if they are to be used for climate change impact assessments.

scholarly journals Testing Evapotranspiration Estimates Based on MODIS Satellite Data in the Assessment of the Groundwater Recharge of Karst Aquifers in Southern Italy

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 118
Author(s):  
Giovanni Ruggieri ◽  
Vincenzo Allocca ◽  
Flavio Borfecchia ◽  
Delia Cusano ◽  
Palmira Marsiglia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Recharge ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Remotely Sensed ◽  
Actual Evapotranspiration ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Karst Aquifers ◽  
Southern Apennines ◽  
Remotely Sensed Data ◽  
Empirical Formulas

In many Italian regions, and particularly in southern Italy, karst aquifers are the main sources of drinking water and play a crucial role in the socio-economic development of the territory. Hence, estimating the groundwater recharge of these aquifers is a fundamental task for the proper management of water resources, while also considering the impacts of climate changes. In the southern Apennines, the assessment of hydrological parameters that is needed for the estimation of groundwater recharge is a challenging issue, especially for the spatial and temporal inhomogeneity of networks of rain and air temperature stations, as well as the variable geomorphological features and land use across mountainous karst areas. In such a framework, the integration of terrestrial and remotely sensed data is a promising approach to limit these uncertainties. In this research, estimations of actual evapotranspiration and groundwater recharge using remotely sensed data gathered by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) satellite in the period 2000–2014 are shown for karst aquifers of the southern Apennines. To assess the uncertainties affecting conventional methods based on empirical formulas, the values estimated by the MODIS dataset were compared with those calculated by Coutagne, Turc, and Thornthwaite classical empirical formulas, which were based on the recordings of meteorological stations. The annual rainfall time series of 266 rain gauges and 150 air temperature stations, recorded using meteorological networks managed by public agencies in the period 2000–2014, were considered for reconstructing the regional distributed models of actual evapotranspiration (AET) and groundwater recharge. Considering the MODIS AET, the mean annual groundwater recharge for karst aquifers was estimated to be about 448 mm·year−1. In contrast, using the Turc, Coutagne, and Thornthwaite methods, it was estimated as being 494, 533, and 437 mm·year−1, respectively. The obtained results open a new methodological perspective for the assessment of the groundwater recharge of karst aquifers at the regional and mean annual scales, allowing for limiting uncertainties and taking into account a spatial resolution greater than that of the existing meteorological networks. Among the most relevant results obtained via the comparison of classical approaches used for estimating evapotranspiration is the good matching of the actual evapotranspiration estimated using MODIS data with the potential evapotranspiration estimated using the Thornthwaite formula. This result was considered linked to the availability of soil moisture for the evapotranspiration demand due to the relevant precipitation in the area, the general occurrence of soils covering karst aquifers, and the dense vegetation.

scholarly journals Geochemical and isotopic evidence of groundwater salinization processes in the Essaouira region, north-west coast, Morocco

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Otman EL Mountassir ◽  
Mohammed Bahir ◽  
Driss Ouazar ◽  
Abdelghani Chehbouni ◽  
Paula M. Carreira
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Recharge ◽  
West Coast ◽  
Exchange Process ◽  
Environmental Isotopes ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Groundwater Salinization ◽  
Rock Interaction ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Water Rock Interaction

AbstractThe city of Essaouira is located along the north-west coast of Morocco, where groundwater is the main source of drinking, domestic and agricultural water. In recent decades, the salinity of groundwater has increased, which is why geochemical techniques and environmental isotopes have been used to determine the main sources of groundwater recharge and salinization. The hydrochemical study shows that for the years 1995, 2007, 2016 and 2019, the chemical composition of groundwater in the study area consists of HCO3–Ca–Mg, Cl–Ca–Mg, SO4–Ca and Cl–Na chemical facies. The results show that from 1995 to 2019, electrical conductivity increased and that could be explained by a decrease in annual rainfall in relation to climate change and water–rock interaction processes. Geochemical and environmental isotope data show that the main geochemical mechanisms controlling the hydrochemical evolution of groundwater in the Cenomanian–Turonian aquifer are the water–rock interaction and the cation exchange process. The diagram of δ2H = 8 * δ18O + 10 shows that the isotopic contents are close or above to the Global Meteoric Water Line, which suggests that the aquifer is recharged by precipitation of Atlantic origin. In conclusion, groundwater withdrawal should be well controlled to prevent groundwater salinization and further intrusion of seawater due to the lack of annual groundwater recharge in the Essaouira region.

scholarly journals Precipitation as driver of carbon fluxes in 11 African ecosystems

2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 4071-4105 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Merbold ◽  
J. Ardö ◽  
A. Arneth ◽  
R. J. Scholes ◽  
Y. Nouvellon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Ecosystem Respiration ◽  
Carbon Assimilation ◽  
Vapour Pressure Deficit ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
C3 Plants ◽  
Water Vapour Pressure ◽  
Mean Annual Rainfall ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract. This study reports carbon and water fluxes between the land surface and atmosphere in eleven different ecosystems types in Sub-Saharan Africa, as measured using eddy covariance (EC) technology in the first two years of the CarboAfrica network operation. The ecosystems for which data were available ranged in mean annual rainfall from 320 mm (Sudan) to 1150 mm (The Republic of Congo) and include a spectrum of vegetation types (or land cover) (open savannas, woodlands, croplands and grasslands). Given the shortness of the record, the EC data were analysed across the network rather than longitudinally at sites, in order to understand the driving factors for ecosystem respiration and carbon assimilation, and to reveal the different water use strategies in these highly seasonal environments. Values for maximum net carbon assimilation rates (photosynthesis) ranged from 12 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1 in a dry, open Acacia savanna (C3-plants) up to 40 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1 for a tropical moist grassland. Maximum carbon assimilation rates were highly correlated with mean annual rainfall (R2=0.89). Maximum photosynthetic uptake rates were positively related to satellite-derived fAPAR. Ecosystem respiration was dependent on temperature at all sites, and was additionally dependent on soil water content at sites receiving less than 1000 mm of rain per year. All included ecosystems, except the Congolese grassland, showed a strong decrease in 30-min assimilation rates with increasing water vapour pressure deficit above 2.0 kPa.

Estimation of Spatial Groundwater Recharge Using WetSpass Model for East Wasit Province, Iraq

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-33
Author(s):  
Hassan Al-Badry ◽  
Mohammed S. Shamkhi
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Recharge ◽  
Meteorological Data ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Water Source ◽  
Water Shortage ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Water Balance Components ◽  
Wetspass Model ◽  
Alternative Water

AbstractGroundwater is an important water source, especially in arid and semi-arid areas. Recharge is critical to managing and analyzing groundwater resources despite estimation difficulty due to temporal and spatial change. The study aim is to estimate annual groundwater recharge for the eastern Wasit Province part, Iraq. Where suffers from a surface water shortage due to the region's high elevation above Tigris River water elevation by about 60 m, it is necessary to search for alternative water sources, such as groundwater use. The spatially distributed WetSpass model was used to estimate the annual recharge. The inputs for the model were prepared using the ARC-GIS program, which includes the topography and slope grid, soil texture grid, land use, groundwater level grid, and meteorological data grids for the study area for the period (2014-2019). The result shows that the annual recharge calculated using the WetSpass model (2014-2019) varied of 0 to 65.176 mm/year at an average of 27.117 mm/year, about 10.8%, while the rate of the surface runoff was 5.2% and Evapotranspiration formed 83.33% of the annual rainfall rate of 251.192 mm. The simulation results reveal that the WetSpass model simulates the components of the hydrological water budget correctly. For managing and planning available water resources, a best grasp of the simulation of long-range average geographical distribution around the water balance components is beneficial.

scholarly journals Climate controls on erosion in tectonically active landscapes

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (42) ◽  
pp. eaaz3166 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. A. Adams ◽  
K. X. Whipple ◽  
A. M. Forte ◽  
A. M. Heimsath ◽  
K. V. Hodges
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Evolution ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Potential Influence ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Erosion Rates ◽  
Tectonically Active ◽  
Climate Controls ◽  
The Himalaya

The ongoing debate about the nature of coupling between climate and tectonics in mountain ranges derives, in part, from an imperfect understanding of how topography, climate, erosion, and rock uplift are interrelated. Here, we demonstrate that erosion rate is nonlinearly related to fluvial relief with a proportionality set by mean annual rainfall. These relationships can be quantified for tectonically active landscapes, and calculations based on them enable estimation of erosion where observations are lacking. Tests of the predictive power of this relationship in the Himalaya, where erosion is well constrained, affirm the value of our approach. Our model allows estimation of erosion rates in fluvial landscapes using readily available datasets, and the underlying relationship between erosion and rainfall offers the promise of a deeper understanding of how climate and tectonic evolution affect erosion and topography in space and time and of the potential influence of climate on tectonics.

The critical importance of multi-decadal groundwater level observations for informing robust climate change impact assessments: lessons from sub-Saharan Africa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Cuthbert ◽  
Richard Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Groundwater Recharge ◽  
Preferential Flow ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Critical Importance ◽  
Tropical Africa ◽  
Apparent Lack ◽  
Climate Controls ◽  
Strong Control

<p>Groundwater is of fundamental importance to strategies for poverty reduction in tropical Africa and understanding the sustainability of more widespread groundwater abstraction for improving water and food provision is a key challenge. However, the hydraulic processes governing groundwater recharge that sustain this resource, and their sensitivity to climatic variability and change, are poorly constrained. Here we present results from The Chronicles Consortium initiative, which has collated multi-decadal groundwater hydrographs and co-located rainfall records across tropical Africa to better understand climate controls, among others, on groundwater recharge.</p><p>We find that recharge in more arid environments is generally highly dependent on infrequent large rainfall events causing focused recharge through losses during ephemeral overland flows. This process is not included in any large scale hydrological or land surface models, and these events are often driven by synoptic climate controls, which are themselves poorly constrained in existing climate models. In more humid locations, we find surprisingly linear relationships between rainfall and recharge indicating an apparent lack of threshold behaviour that is embodied in most hydrological models and hypothesise this is due to prevalence of preferential flow processes in the soil zone. While aridity exerts a strong control on the predominant recharge process, geological variations can dominate the observed sensitivity of recharge to climate variability.</p><p>Our results reveal the critical importance of long-term observational records for understanding the sensitivity of recharge to climate processes with implications well beyond Africa. This especially true in dryland environments where interpretations of short records would miss fundamental, episodic climate-controls on recharge expressed in longer records. We conclude that without a sound long-term observational basis for groundwater-climate sensitivity, climate change forecasts cannot be confidently constrained.</p>

Global Changes of Köppen-Trewartha Climate Zones Derived from RegCM CORDEX-CORE Simulations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Belda ◽  
Tomáš Halenka
Keyword(s):  
Climate Models ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Vegetation Zone ◽  
Climate Type ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Driving Model ◽  
Dry Climates ◽  
The Individual

<p><span>The analysis of climate patterns can be performed for each climatic variable separately or the data can be aggregated using e.g. a kind of climate classification. The advantage of such method, in our case Köppen-Trewartha classification, is putting together the most important variables, i.e. temperature and precipitation, considering not only annual means, but through monthly values the annual cycle as well. These classifications usually correspond to vegetation distribution in the sense that each climate type is dominated by one vegetation zone or eco-region. Climate classifications represent a convenient tool for the assessment and validation of climate models and for the analysis of simulated future climate changes.</span></p><p> </p><p><span>The results of RegCM driven by selected CMIP5 simulations (mostly HadGEM, MPI and NorESM) produced within the CORDEX-CORE experiment over nine CORDEX domains are analysed. Validation based on ERA-Interim driven runs compared to CRU database (E-OBS for higher resolution in Europe) shows reasonable agreement in the Northern hemisphere with a tendency towards wetter and colder climate types in North America. Worse representation in Southern hemisphere is observed, mainly in Australia (lack of desert type). Through the analysis of the control experiments together with the performance of driving GCMs we can assess the sources of the biases in present conditions as well as the added value, which comes mainly from better representation of topography in higher resolution and thus appearance of mountaineous tundra type, as well as better representation of coastal regions and thus separating maritime subtypes. Finally, for two scenarios RCP8.5 and RCP2.6 we show the projections of the individual types‘ area changes, mainly decline of boreal and polar types, their shift to the higher latitudes and altitudes, increase of temperate, subtropical and dry climates. Magnitude, </span><span>and in some cases (temperate climate) even the sign</span><span> of change is largely dependent on the region and driving model.</span></p>

Modeling the effect of flood and drip irrigation on groundwater recharge

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Pool ◽  
Félix Francés ◽  
Alberto Garcia-Prats ◽  
Cristina Puertes ◽  
Manuel Pulido-Velázquez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Balance ◽  
Groundwater Recharge ◽  
Drip Irrigation ◽  
Hydrological Model ◽  
Agricultural Area ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Irrigation Technology ◽  
Simulation Results ◽  
Irrigation Modernization

<p>Irrigation modernization, here defined as the replacement of traditional flood irrigation systems by pressurized drip-irrigation technology, has been widely promoted with the aim to move towards a more sustainable use of freshwater resources in irrigated agriculture. However, the scale sensitivity of irrigation efficiency challenged the predominantly positive value attributed to irrigation modernization and asked for an integrated evaluation of the technological change at various scales. The aim of this study is therefore to contribute to an improved understanding of the hydrological functioning in a landscape under irrigation modernization. We used local field observations to propose a regional scale modeling approach that allowed to specifically simulate the difference in water balance as a function of irrigation method and crop type. The approach focused on the modification of the spatial input data and had therefore the benefit of being relatively independent of the final choice of the hydrological model. We applied the proposed approach to the semi-arid agricultural area of Valencia (Spain), where regional information about the use of irrigation technologies and irrigation volumes at farm level were available. The distributed hydrological model Tetis was chosen to simulate the daily water balance from 1994 to 2015 for an area of 913 km<sup>2</sup> at a spatial resolution of 200 m. Model simulations were based on a random selection of parameter values that were subsequently evaluated in a multi-objective calibration framework. Multiple process scales were addressed within the framework by considering the annual evaporative index, monthly groundwater level dynamics, and daily soil moisture dynamics for evaluation. Simulation results were finally analyzed with a focus on groundwater recharge, which is of particular interest for environmental challenges faced within the study area. Simulation results of groundwater recharge for the entire agricultural area indicated a considerable variability in annual recharge (values from 112 mm up to 337 mm), whereby recharge was strongly controlled by annual rainfall volumes. Annual recharge in flood-irrigated areas tended to exceed annual recharge in drip irrigated-areas except for years with above average rainfall volumes. The observed rainfall dependency could be explained by the fact that recharge in drip-irrigated areas almost exclusively occurred during rainy days, whereby a few heavy rainfall events could produce the majority of annual recharge. Our results indicated interesting differences but also commonalities in groundwater recharge for flood and drip irrigation, and therefore emphasized the importance of explicitly considering irrigation technology when modelling irrigated agricultural areas.</p>

scholarly journals Field-based groundwater recharge and leakage estimations in a semi-arid Eastern Mediterranean karst catchment, Wadi Natuf, West Bank

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens Messerschmid ◽  
Jens Lange ◽  
Martin Sauter
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Groundwater Recharge ◽  
Field Data ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
The West ◽  
Recharge Area ◽  
Spatial Characteristics ◽  
First Time ◽  
Semi Arid

Abstract. Groundwater recharge processes in semi-arid climates are highly sensitive to spatial and temporal variability (event precipitation). However, in previous research, the spatial distribu-tion of recharge has received relatively little attention. This study differentiates recharge ac-cording to the following spatial characteristics: (a) soil type and soil condition, (b) land forms such as relief, vegetation and land use, and (c) lithology and hydrogeological characteristics of the subsurface rock formation. For the first time, this paper analyses and quantifies the specific recharge in the different individual rock formations of the Western Aquifer Basin (WAB). The WAB is a large transboundary karst aquifer that stretches from sub-humid to semi-arid climates from the recharge area in the West Bank Mountains to the Mediterranean Coast. The assessment is based on actual field data, including soil moisture and spring dis-charge in Wadi Natuf, a 103 km2 large sub-catchment in the West Bank slopes and mountain region, i.e. the recharge area of the WAB. A parsimonious soil moisture balance model was set up to calculate daily recharge rates from daily precipitation and evapotranspiration records over an extended period of 7 years (2003/2004–2009/2010). Unlike in most comparable studies, the simple but solid parsimonious soil moisture and percolation model and the budget calculations were based on actual quantitative field-observations, in contrast's daily deep percolation rates were compared with soil moisture field-data and in addition, by comparing major event recharge depths with daily spring discharge response. This combination of modelling and intensive field measurements, comprising eight different soil moisture measurement stations in six different litho-facies formations allowed identifying and quantifying the recharge characteristics of each formation at high spatial resolution, which is a first in the Western Aquifer. We found that recharge varies widely at the spatial dimension, ranging between 0 % and almost 60 % of annual rainfall. The spatially variable long-term average recharge coefficients were applied to other outcropping formations by a ranking procedure taking into account each of the three above spatial characteristics (landform, soil and geology). In addition to the recharge analysis, special emphasis was paid to the examination of the role of perched leaky aquifers positioned between the main regional Upper and Lower Aquifers. The particular geometry of the local aquifers, i.e. hills with well-defined aquifers, leaky aqui-tard bases and therefore well-defined catchment areas, allowed the quantification of the flow budget. By measuring and budgeting spring group discharge of each leaky sub-aquifer, for the first time also leakage coefficients could be calculated empirically. The methodology of this study is also applicable to comparable catchments and aquifers out-side the region. The resulting mean annual recharge coefficients allow the prediction of the spatial distribution of recharge at any given sub-catchment or management cell size, also beyond Wadi Natuf (in a follow-up paper).

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