Flow Resistance in Lowland Rivers Impacted with Distributed Aquatic Vegetation

The study addresses the research concern that the employment of fixed value for bed roughness coefficient in lowland rivers (mostly ‌sand-bed rivers) is deemed practically questionable in the presence of a mobile bed and time-dependent changes in vegetation patches. To address this issue, we set up 45 cross-sections in four lowland streams to investigate seasonal flow resistance values within a year. The results first revealed that the significant sources of boundary resistance in lowland rivers with lower regime flow are bed forms and aquatic vegetation. Then, the study uses flow discharge as an influential variable reflecting the impacts of the above-mentioned sources of resistance to flow. The studied approach ended up with two new flow resistance predictors which simply connect dimensionless unit discharge with flow resistance factors, Darcy-Weisbach (f) and Manning (n) coefficients. A comparison between the computed and measured flow resistance values indicates that 87-89% of data sets were within the ±20% error bands. The flow resistance predictors are also verified against large independent sets of field and flume data. The obtained predictions using the developed predictors may overestimate flow resistance factors to about 40% for other lowland rivers. From a different view of this research, the findings on seasonal variation of vegetation abundance hint at the augmentation in flow resistance values, both f, and n, in low summer flows when the vegetation covers river bed and side banks. The highest amount of flow resistance was observed during the summer period, July-August.

Seasonal flow forecasting in Africa; exploratory studies for large lakes

For many applications, it would be extremely useful to have insights into river flows at timescales of a few weeks to months ahead. However, seasonal predictions of this type are necessarily probabilistic which raises challenges both in generating forecasts and their interpretation. Despite this, an increasing number of studies have shown promising results and this is an active area for research. In this paper, we discuss insights gained from previous studies using a novel combined water balance and data-driven approach for two of Africa's largest lakes, Lake Victoria and Lake Malawi. Factors which increased predictability included the unusually long hydrological response times and statistically significant links to ocean-atmosphere processes such as the Indian Ocean Dipole. Other lessons learned included the benefits of data assimilation and the need for care in the choice of performance metrics.

Reflections on almost a century of hydrological studies on Africa's largest lake

Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa and its outflows strongly influence flows in the White Nile, including the availability of water for hydropower generation, irrigation and water supply. Understanding the water balance is a major challenge since the lake is large enough to influence the local climate and its catchment spans several countries. Hydrometeorological monitoring networks are also sparse in some parts of the basin. In this paper, we consider the history of water balance estimates for the lake and how the science has developed as new information and techniques have become available, including in areas such as seasonal flow forecasting and estimating the potential impacts of dam operations and climate change. These findings are placed into a wider context including the challenges arising from a changing climate and evolving ideas from international research programmes, which lead to some suggestions for future research priorities for Lake Victoria and other sub-Saharan/Rift Valley lakes.

Catchment Scale Evaluation of Multiple Global Hydrological Models from ISIMIP2a over North America

A satisfactory performance of hydrological models under historical climate conditions is considered a prerequisite step in any hydrological climate change impact study. Despite the significant interest in global hydrological modeling, few systematic evaluations of global hydrological models (gHMs) at the catchment scale have been carried out. This study investigates the performance of 4 gHMs driven by 4 global observation-based meteorological inputs at simulating weekly discharges over 198 large-sized North American catchments for the 1971–2010 period. The 16 discharge simulations serve as the basis for evaluating gHM accuracy at the catchment scale within the second phase of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP2a). The simulated discharges by the four gHMs are compared against observed and simulated weekly discharge values by two regional hydrological models (rHMs) driven by a global meteorological dataset for the same period. We discuss the implications of both modeling approaches as well as the influence of catchment characteristics and global meteorological forcing in terms of model performance through statistical criteria and visual hydrograph comparison for catchment-scale hydrological studies. Overall, the gHM discharge statistics exhibit poor agreement with observations at the catchment scale and manifest considerable bias and errors in seasonal flow simulations. We confirm that the gHM approach, as experimentally implemented through the ISIMIP2a, must be used with caution for regional studies. We find the rHM approach to be more trustworthy and recommend using it for hydrological studies, especially if findings are intended to support operational decision-making.

Penentuan Skala Prioritas Pengembangan Potensi Mata Air untuk Irigasi Menggunakan Metode TOPSIS di Kecamatan Singosari Kabupaten Malang

The objective of this study was to determine the order of priority for the development of potential springs as a source of irrigation water using the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method. This research was conducted in 11 locations of springs in Singosari District, Malang Regency. The spring potential assessment was carried out using 4 criteria consisting of water quantity, water quality, flow continuity, and irrigation area. The quantity of water at the research site is in the range of 8 liters/second – 45,180 liters/second. The water quality of the 11 springs is in the same class, namely C2-S1 with medium salinity hazards and low alkalinity hazards. There were 7 springs with annual flow and 4 springs with seasonal flow. The irrigated area in the study area ranged from 0.12 ha to 98 ha. The order of priority for the 3 highest springs to be developed based on the minimum discharge, namely Umbulan Spring, Sekaran Spring, and Pakisuceng Spring, while based on the maximum discharge, namely Umbulan Spring, Suko Spring, and Petung Wulung Spring.

Comparison of Seasonal Flow Rate Change Indices Downstream of Three Types of Dams in Southern Quebec (Canada)

The objective of this study is to use two hydrological indices (coefficients of variation and immoderation) to analyze the impacts of dam management methods on seasonal daily flow rate change downstream of three dams: Manouane (diversion-type management method), Ouareau (natural-type management method) and Matawin (inversion-type management method). The results show that this change is far greater downstream of the Matawin dam (characterized by an inversion-type management method) than downstream of the two other dams. Moreover, downstream of the Matawin dam, this daily flow rate change increases significantly over time, while decreasing downstream of the two other dams and in natural rivers. Lastly, this change is better correlated with climate downstream of the Ouareau dam than downstream of the two other dams. It is positively correlated with winter and spring temperatures as well as summer and fall rain. Contrary commonly accepted hypothesis, this study shows that the impacts of dams generally result in an increase of the seasonal flow rate change in Quebec.

Analyzing and Detecting Drifts in a Flowmeter by Discrete Fourier Transform

Large flowmeters are used in many industrial facilities, including power plants, cooling-water stations for refineries, and petrochemical plants. These flowmeters are employed for various purposes, including billing. Just like all machines, flowmeters are subject to failure. Drift is a particular type of failure in which the flowmeter produces an error in measurement that would incrementally increase with time. Maintenance technicians calibrate and fix all measuring equipment, including flowmeters. Nevertheless, downsizing policies and budget cuts in most contemporary industrial facilities have made these technicians overwhelmed with work. A mathematical and computer-based drift-detection scheme is developed to reduce the burden of the maintenance staff. The detection scheme only uses the flowmeter's flow data and the discrete Fourier transform (DFT). The detection scheme was applied over the flow data from an actual flowmeter that drifted during its operation. DFT application over the data produced by the flowmeter led to expected results and other unexpected results. This paper discusses both results and suggests areas for further study. Practically speaking, the scheme would facilitate the early detection of drifts in flowmeters having seasonal flow regardless of type or manufacturer.

Performance Optimization for Cycloidal Hydrokinetic Turbine With Augmentation Duct for Harvesting Riverine Energy

With the increased demand for developing renewable energy, hydro energy has attracted more attention since it is reliable and easy to acquire. In this area, the cycloidal turbine has been recently studied and applied to ocean energy for its stable and efficient output. Compared to the ordinary vertical/horizontal axis turbine with fixed pitch angle blades (e.g., Darrieus turbine), the cycloidal turbine can maximize the extracted power efficiency by keeping the optimized angle of attack for the blades. Meanwhile, the cycloidal turbine provides a potential solution to solve the problems of self-starting and seasonal flow variations. Introducing an augmentation duct is considered as a method to further increase the incoming flow velocity of the turbine. Inspired by the design of the wind tunnel, a convergent-divergent design of the augmentation duct is developed. One is noted that the dimensions of the augmentation duct are essential to the performance of the duct. In this study, a convergent-divergent augmentation duct is developed based on a 3-blade cycloidal hydro-turbine, operated at a 2 m/s river. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis with sliding unstructured mesh is applied to investigate the extent how the dimensions of the duct affect the flow velocity to the turbine as well as the extracted power efficiency.

Surges of Harald Moltke Bræ, north-western Greenland: seasonal modulation and initiation at the terminus

Harald Moltke Bræ, a marine-terminating glacier in north-western Greenland, shows episodic surges. A recent surge from 2013 to 2019 lasted significantly longer (6 years) than previously observed surges (2–4 years) and exhibits a pronounced seasonality with flow velocities varying by 1 order of magnitude (between about 0.5 and 10 m d−1) in the course of a year. During this 6-year period, the seasonal velocity always peaked in the early melt season and decreased abruptly when meltwater runoff was maximum. Our data suggest that the seasonality has been similar during previous surges. Furthermore, the analysis of satellite images and digital elevation models shows that the surge from 2013 to 2019 was preceded by a rapid frontal retreat and a pronounced thinning at the glacier front (30 m within 3 years). We discuss possible causal mechanisms of the seasonally modulated surge behaviour by examining various system-inherent factors (e.g. glacier geometry) and external factors (e.g. surface mass balance). The seasonality may be caused by a transition of an inefficient subglacial system to an efficient one, as known for many glaciers in Greenland. The patterns of flow velocity and ice thickness variations indicate that the surges are initiated at the terminus and develop through an up-glacier propagation of ice flow acceleration. Possibly, this is facilitated by a simultaneous up-glacier spreading of surface crevasses and weakening of subglacial till. Once a large part of the ablation zone has accelerated, conditions may favour substantial seasonal flow acceleration through seasonally changing meltwater availability. Thus, the seasonal amplitude remains high for 2 or more years until the fast ice flow has flattened the ice surface and the glacier stabilizes again.