Altitudinal Distribution of Meltwater and Its Effects on Glacio‐Hydrology in Glacierized Catchments,Central Asia

In glacierized catchments, elevation is correlated with meltwater through its association with temperature, precipitation, and glacier hypsometry. The revelation of the altitudinal distribution of meltwater, unattended and not fully understood in previous work, might provide a better understanding of climate change impacts on glacio‐hydrology. Here, critical zone approach was defined and applied in 12 glacierized catchments of the Tien Shan–Pamir–Karakorum Mountains, Central Asia using manually calibrated glacier‐enhanced Soil and Water Assessment Tool model over 1966–2005. The critical zone, a sequence of elevation bands with above‐average snow and glacier melt, contributes maximum meltwater to total runoff. The critical zone shared 37%–95% (average = 80%) of meltwater contributions to total runoff, although its size was only 13%–30% of the total elevational relief. The critical zone controlled 76% and 82% variability in relative changes of glacier area and total runoff at the catchment scale, respectively. The increase in temperature was identified as the dominant driver for variations in total runoff in all catchments except Vakhsh and Yurungkash, where precipitation change remained dominant. Overall, glacier hypsometry limited the first‐order control of meltwater distributions on glacio‐hydrology. It is concluded that critical zone approach can interpret the proxy role of elevation to affect water availability under climate and glacier area change in glacierized catchments.     

Rainfall Runoff Relationships for a Cloud Forest Watershed in Central America: Implications for Water Resource Engineering1

Caballero, Luis A., Alon Rimmer, Zachary M. Easton, and Tammo S. Steenhuis, 2012. Rainfall Runoff Relationships for a Cloud Forest Watershed in Central America: Implications for Water Resource Engineering. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(5): 1022‐1031. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2012.00668.x Abstract: Understanding the basic relationships between rainfall and runoff is vital for effective management and utilization of scarce water resources. Especially, this is important in Central America with widespread potable water shortage during the dry months of the monsoon. Potential good water sources are cloud forests, but little information concerning its potential is available to water supply engineers. Our objective is to define rainfall‐runoff‐base flow relationships for a cloud forest catchment. Flumes were installed for measuring river flow in four subwatersheds in La Tigra National Park, Honduras. One of the four watersheds was a 636‐ha subwatershed (WS1) with 60% cloud forest coverage. Precipitation averaged 1,130 mm/yr over the entire basin. About half of the total rainfall became runoff for the cloud forest watershed whereas, for the adjacent undisturbed forested watershed, the total discharge was <20% of the amount of precipitation. Infiltration rates were generally greater than rainfall rates. Therefore, most rainfall infiltrated into the soil, especially in the upper, steep, and well‐drained portions of the watershed. Direct runoff was generated from saturated areas near the river and exposed bedrock. This research provides compelling evidence that base flow is the primary contributor to streamflow during both wet and dry seasons in cloud forest catchments. Protecting these flow processes over time is critical for the sustained provision of potable water.     

城市绿地降雨径流污染特征对比研究：以澳门与厦门为例

在澳门与厦门分别选一分流制管道类型的绿地小流域开展降雨径流监测,以研究城市绿地降雨径流污染特征.结果表明,两城市绿地小流域降雨径流的主要污染物为COD、TP、NO_3~--N,其EMC平均值分别为165.77～60.48 mg/L、 0.96～0.44 mg/L和7.16～1.18 mg/L;两城市绿地的COD、TP、NO_3~--N污染负荷平均值分别为6.53～0.63 kg/hm~2、 0.037 5～0.0047 kg/hm~2 和0.012 2～0.012 8 kg/hm~2;绿地降雨径流污染物浓度峰值出现时间早于径流量峰值;城市绿地降雨径流初始冲刷效应不明显,厦门绿地小流域降雨径流COD、TSS、TP及NO_3~--N的FF_(30)分别为36.26%、 26.13%、 28.13% 和39.03%.基于多元回归分析结果表明,总降雨量和总径流量是影响绿地降雨径流污染初始冲刷效应的主要因素.     

Assessing the Response of Estuarine Intertidal Assemblages to Urbanised Catchment Discharge

Measurement of intertidal rock assemblages was investigated as a potential biological indicator to provide a quantitative estimate of the impact of urbanised catchment discharge on the estuaries of Sydney, Australia, from 1995 to 1999. Based on the presence and characteristics of adjacent human activities, sampling locations were categorised as: Bush; Urban; Urban with Sewer Overflows; and Industry with Sewer Overflows. In Sydney Harbour, variation in assemblage structure was measured between most impact categories, however differences between impact categories were not consistent for each year. Nevertheless, in years of above average rainfall (1998–1999), reference assemblages adjacent to national parks and distant from urbanisation were different to all other putatively impacted assemblages. Variability within assemblages was least at reference locations in each year and greatest at locations adjacent to stormwater canals and sewer overflows, particularly in 1998–1999. Variation in assemblage structure in Sydney estuaries was most strongly correlated with chlorophyll – a concentrations. Univariate analysis also identified highly significant differences for a number of factors, however, interactions between year, impact categories and location for numerous analyses, confounded the differentiation between impact categories. The results suggest that intertidal rock assemblages in Sydney Harbour and surrounding estuaries appear to be responding to the quality and quantity of discharge from urbanised catchments and, furthermore, that assemblages are more suitable than individual taxa to indicate the difference between Bush and anthropogenically disturbed estuarine locations.     

Modeling of the Mendoza river watershed as a tool to study climate change impacts on water availability

Unmitigated anthropogenic climate change is set to exacerbate current stresses on water resources management and creates the need to develop strategies to face climate change impacts on water resources, especially in the long term. Insufficient information on possible impacts on water availability limits the organization and promotion of efforts to adapt and improve the resilience and efficiency of water systems. To document the potential impacts of climate change in the region of Mendoza, Argentina, we perform a hydrological modeling of the Mendoza River watershed using a SWAT model and project climate change scenarios to observe hydrological changes. The results show the impact of higher temperature on glaciers as river flow increases due to glacier melting; at the same time, runoff decreases as precipitation is reduced. Furthermore, the runoff timing is shifted and an earlier melting becomes more important in more pronounced climate change scenarios. Scenarios show a reduction in water availability that ranges between 1 and 10%. An additional scenario under stronger climate change conditions without glaciers data shows a reduction of the river flow by up to 11.8%. This scenario would correspond to a future situation in which glaciers have completely melted. These situations would imply a reduction in the water availability and the possibility of future unsatisfied water uses, in particular for irrigation, which received most of the available water in Mendoza, on which agricultural activities and regional economy depends.     

乌江流域沉积岩风化过程中铀的富集与释放

以乌江流域石灰岩、白云质灰岩、白云岩、硅质岩、黑色页岩和紫色砂岩等典型岩石的13条风化剖面为对象,运用相关分析和质量平衡计算方法,研究了这些岩石风化过程中铀(U)的富集与释放及其对河水U分布的影响,旨在增进对U生物地球化学循环的了解,也为流域U污染防治提供依据.结果表明,①乌江流域风化物和土壤中U的富集程度基本上高于上陆壳(upper continental crust,UCC)、中国土壤(China soil,CS)和世界土壤(world soil,WS);②U的富集和释放能力与母岩U含量以及风化剖面中粘土矿物和铁氧化物/氢氧化物含量及吸附能力有关;③石灰岩以及少量白云岩和碎屑岩风化过程中U的释放对河水U的分布特征具有重要的控制作用.     

乌江流域石灰土中铀等元素形态与铀活性

以中国西南乌江流域石灰土为例，运用逐级提取(Sequential Extraction，SEE)技术，并结合化学成分和相关参数数据，研究了石灰土中铀(U)等元素的形态，并在此基础上探讨了石灰土中U的活动性及释放潜力，旨在增进对U等元素生物地球化学循环的了解，同时也为流域U污染防治提供科学依据。研究结果表明：①石灰土中Mn主要存在于锰(氢)氧化物中，Ca主要存在于碳酸盐和硅酸盐矿物中，P主要存在于硅酸盐矿物和有机质中，U主要赋存于硅酸盐等残留部分中，其次赋存于有机质结合部分和碳酸盐矿物中；②石灰土剖面中活动态U所占的比例为10%~30%，平均17%，说明石灰土中的部分U在酸性和氧化-还原界面等条件下具有一定的迁移活性，即在上述条件下，石灰土中的部分U可释放进入周围水体或植物中；③石灰土中U的潜在释放量为036~150 g/t，平均U潜在释放量为076 g/t，因此，在酸雨和侵蚀等作用下，石灰土U释放可显著提高乌江河水U通量。     

Identifying potential stakeholders for the management of Lower Mgeta and Upper Zigi water catchments of Tanzania,East Africa

Community participation in natural resources management is a basis for sustainable management of these resources. However, the question of which actors/assets within communities are more connected to the natural resources based on their knowledge, skills and talents is not well captured. This study, therefore, combines Asset Based Community Development approach and Bio-Cultural approach, to identify influential stakeholders in the utilization of catchment resources in Upper Zigi and Lower Mngeta catchments, in the United Republic of Tanzania. Participatory rural appraisal tools; participatory bio-physical resource mapping (PBRM) and participatory community asset mapping (PCAM) were used for data collection. Similar observations were made in both study sites, that, the most influential community assets were traditional healers, traditional dancers, hunters, Village Government, fishermen, farmers and family, and therefore, these most influential community assets should get involved in the management of catchment resources because they are true representatives of the community.     

ERRORS IN ESTIMATED STREAMFLOW PARAMETERS AND STORAGES FOR UNGAUGED CATCHMENTS1

ABSTRACT: For a set of 81 catchments in southeast Victoria, Australia, predictive equations were developed by least squares regression of the mean and coefficient of variation of annual Streamflow against a variety of rainfall and physiographic parameters. The data were also divided into subsets according to catchment size, subregion, or record length of investigate if the relationships differed significantly between subsets. Only the catchment area and some rainfall statistical parameters were found to be significant. Streamflow parameters predicted by the regression equations were used to estimate storage requirements in ungauged catchments. The influence of errors in the Streamflow parameters on the storage error was examined.