Integrated analysis of the effects of agricultural management on nitrogen fluxes at landscape scale

The integrated modelling system INITIATOR was applied to a landscape in the northern part of the Netherlands to assess current nitrogen fluxes to air and water and the impact of various agricultural measures on these fluxes, using spatially explicit input data on animal numbers, land use, agricultural management, meteorology and soil. Average model results on NH₃ deposition and N concentrations in surface water appear to be comparable to observations, but the deviation can be large at local scale, despite the use of high resolution data. Evaluated measures include: air scrubbers reducing NH₃ emissions from poultry and pig housing systems, low protein feeding, reduced fertilizer amounts and low-emission stables for cattle. Low protein feeding and restrictive fertilizer application had the largest effect on both N inputs and N losses, resulting in N deposition reductions on Natura 2000 sites of 10% and 12%, respectively.     

三江源区气候及水文变化特征研究

以1961~2007年三江源区的气象及径流资料为基础,采用M K法和R/S分析法分析三江源区气候及水文要素变化趋势及进行未来变化趋势预测,并采用主成分分析法判定径流过程的主要驱动要素。研究表明:三江源区气温普遍显著升高,水面蒸发和地温随着气温的升高也不断增加,降水的增加并不显著,而年径流尤其是夏秋季节径流存在明显减小的趋势。R/S分析结果表明气候和水文要素未来总体的变化趋势与过去一致。三江源区径流过程是由气温起主导作用,径流对气温变化较降水变化更为敏感。本研究将为三江源区水资源开发利用及优化配置提供科学借鉴,同时为三江源区的生态建设和保护提供参考依据     

济南市南部山区降雨特性分析

通过对济南市南部山区50年降雨资料的分析,得出南部山区年降雨量为648mm,降雨季节性明显,降雨量主要集中在6-8月份的降雨特点;采用皮尔逊Ⅲ型曲线拟合了降雨频率曲线,分析了降雨量与频率之间的关系,得出年降雨量在1000mm以上的频率是2%,年降雨量在640mm以上的频率是50%。最后采用一维坡地径流模型对南部山区内的典型丘陵的产流量进行了模拟计算,模拟结果和实测值吻合较好。     

SACRAMENTO RIVER FLOW RECONSTRUCTED TO A.D. 869 FROM TREE RINGS1

ABSTRACT: A time series of annual flow of the Sacramento River, California, is reconstructed to A.D. 869 from tree rings for a long‐term perspective on hydrologic drought. Reconstructions derived by principal components regression of flow on time‐varying subsets of tree‐ring chronologies account for 64 to 81 percent of the flow variance in the 1906 to 1977 calibration period. A Monte Carlo analysis of reconstructed n‐year running means indicates that the gaged record contains examples of drought extremes for averaging periods of perhaps = 6 to 10 years, but not for longer and shorter averaging periods. For example, the estimated probability approaches 1.0 that the flow in A.D. 1580 was lower than the lowest single‐year gaged flow. The tree‐ring record also suggests that persistently high or low flows over 50‐year periods characterize some parts of the long‐term flow history. The results should contribute to sensible water resources planning for the Sacramento Basin and to the methodology of incorporating tree‐ring data in the assessment of the probability of hydrologic drought.     

CHARGES FOR URBAN RUNOFF: ISSUES IN IMPLEMENTATION1

ABSTRACT: Maryland officials have identified stormwater utilities as a potential method of financing programs to control nutrients in urban stormwater runoff that are proposed in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay Nutrient Reduction Plan. This paper reviews a number of issues related to the equity, efficiency and acceptability of user charge schemes. Overall, charges are found to be preferable to property taxes from both equity and efficiency perspectives. In addition, evidence suggests that elected officials will support creation of utilities. Obstacles to the implementation of utilities are identified.     

CHANGING RAINFALL-RUNOFF RELATIONSHIPS IN THE URBANIZING PEACHTREE CREEK WATERSHED,ATLANTA, GEORGIA1

ABSTRACT: Peachtree Creek is a gaged watershed that has experienced a substantial increase in urbanization. The relationships of runoff to rainfall were studied for total annual flows, low flows, and peak flows. For each type of flow the relationship in the later, more urbanized period was compared to that in the earlier, less urbanized period. An increase in total runoff in wet years was observed as urbanization increased, but a decrease occurred during dry years. For low flows a similar decrease of runoff in dry years was found. An increase in peak runoff was observed over most of the range of precipitation. Increasing peak flows and declining low flows can be adequately explained by urban hydrologic theoryshed. which focuses on the effects of urban impervious surfaces upon direct runoff and infiltration. However, a decline of total runoff in dry years can be explained only by taking into account evapotranspiration as well. The concept of advectively assisted urban evapotranspiration, previously discovered by climatologists, is needed to explain such a loss of total runoff. Urban hydrologic theory must take into account vegetation and evapotranspiration, as well as impervious surfaces and their direct runoff, to explain the magnitude of total annual flows and low flows. Urban stormwater management should address the restoration of low flows, as well as the control of floods.     

STREAM-CHANNEL INCISION FOLLOWING DRAINAGE-BASIN URBANIZATION1

ABSTRACT: Urbanization of a drainage basin results in pervasive hydrologic changes that in turn initiate long-term changes in stream channels. Increases in peak discharges and in durations of high flows result in either quasi-equilibrium channel expansion, where cross-section area increases in near-proportion to the discharge increase, or catastrophic channel incision, where changes occur far out of proportion to the discharge increases that initiated them. Field data and hydrologic modeling of rapidly urbanizing basins in King County, Washington, define conditions of flow, topography, geology, and channel roughness that identify streams susceptible to incision. Channel slope and geologic material are particularly critical; thus simple map overlays, nearly irrespective of contributing drainage area, provide a valuable planning tool for identification of susceptible terrain. Where such conditions exist, basal shear stress provides a quantifiable parameter for predicting likely problems, although knickpoints are typical in such settings and confound simple calculation of sediment-transport rates. Where urbanization proceeds in such areas, effective mitigation of the incision hazards requires a degree of stormwater control far in excess of standards typically applied to present development activity.     

HYDROLOGIC AND HYDRAULIC RESEARCH IN MOUNTAIN RWERS1

ABSTRACT: Although our current (1990) knowledge of hydrologic and hydraulic processes is based on many years of study, there are river environments where these processes are complex and poorly understood. One of these environments is in mountainous areas, which cover about 25 percent of the United States. Use of conventional hydrologic and hydraulic techniques in mountain-river environments may produce erroneous results and interpretations in a wide spectrum of water-resources investigations. An ongoing U.S. Geological Survey research project is being conducted to improve the understanding of hydrologic and hydraulic processes of mountainous areas and to improve the results of subsequent hydrologic investigations. Future hydrologic and hydraulic research needs in mountainous areas are identified.     

ESTIMATED RUNOFF FROM MAN-MADE SNOW1

ABSTRACT: The consumptive loss from man-made snowmaking at six Colorado ski areas is calculated. The focus of the procedures in this investigation is on the consumptive loss that occurs to man-made snow particles during the period they reside on or in the snowpack until spring snowmelt (termed the watershed loss). Calculated watershed losses under a variety of precipitation and temperature conditions at six ski areas varied from 7 to 33 percent. These calculations were made using the calibrated Subalpine Water Balance Simulation Model (Leaf and Brink, 1973a, 1973b). The watershed loss of 7 to 33 percent indicates the range of likely watershed losses that can be expected at Colorado ski areas. A previous paper by the authors (Eisel et al., 1988) provided estimates of the mean consumptive loss during the snowmaking process (termed initial loss) for conditions existing at Colorado ski areas to be 6 percent of water applied. Therefore, based on the mean initial loss, the total consumptive loss from man-made snowmaking under conditions found at Colorado ski areas could be expected to range from 13 to 37 percent. These results demonstrate the range of total consumptive losses that could be expected in various years and for various watershed conditions. These total percentage losses cannot be extrapolated directly to other specific sites because the total consumptive loss is dependent on temperature during actual snowmaking, temperature and precipitation throughout the winter at the specific ski area, and watershed conditions at the ski area. Consumptive losses to man-made snow for a specific ski area should be estimated using the handbook procedures developed especially for this purpose (Colorado Ski Country USA, 1986b).     

CLIMATE FACTOR FOR SMALL-BASIN FLOOD FREQUENCY1

ABSTRACT: A climate factor, C_T, (T = 2–, 25-, and 100-year recurrence intervals) that delineates regional trends in small-basin flood frequency was derived using data from 71 long-term rainfall record sites. Values of C_T at these sites were developed by a regression analysis that related rainfall-runoff model estimates of T-year floods to a sample set of 50 model calibrations. C_T was regionalized via kriging to develop maps depicting its geographic variation for a large part of the United States east of the 105th meridian. Kriged estimates of C_T and basin-runoff characteristics were used to compute regionalized T-year floods for 200 small drainage basins. Observed T-year flood estimates also were developed for these sites. Regionalized floods are shown to account for a large percentage of the variability in observed flood estimates with coefficients of determination ranging from 0.89 for 2-year floods to 0.82 for 100-year floods. The relative importance of the factors comprising regionalized flood estimates is evaluated in terms of scale (size of drainage area), basin-runoff characteristics (rainfall. runoff model parameters), and climate (C_T).