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Water Resources Research
Water Resources Research publishes original research articles and commentaries on hydrology, water resources, and the social sciences of water that provide a broad understanding of the role of water in Earth’s system.
Featured Article
Tracing Water from River to Aquifer
Credit: Andrea L. Popp
Featured Article
Combining Deep Learning Methods with Process-based Models
Credit: Bennett and Nijssen [2021], Figure 3
Featured Article
Widest-ever view of US lakes sees shifts in colors
Credit: Simon Topp
Featured Article
Revealing Complexity of Groundwater Flow with Hydrogeophysics
Credit: Grobbe et al. [2021], Figure 3
Featured Article
Satellites Detect Groundwater Recharge for San Joaquin Valley
Credit: Neely et al. [2021], Figure 2
Browse Articles
Impact of Displacement Direction Relative to Heterogeneity on Averaged Capillary Pressure‐Saturation Curves
- 25 January 2022
Key Points
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Averaged capillary pressure-saturation relation was estimated using image processing of microfluidic experiments
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The capillary pressure-saturation relation varies significantly with the direction of flow with respect to the heterogeneity
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Nonmonotonic capillary pressure-saturation relations were observed in presence of a heterogeneity interface
On the Precipitation‐Induced Uncertainties in Process‐Based Hydrological Modeling in the Mekong River Basin
- 21 January 2022
Key Points
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Precipitation uncertainty propagation into hydrological simulations in the Mekong River basin is examined using Community Land Model version 5 at a high resolution
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Peak river discharge is found to be particularly sensitive to precipitation uncertainty
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The use of higher spatial resolution precipitation data does not improve model performance
Bayesian Calibration of a Natural State Geothermal Reservoir Model, Krafla, North Iceland
- 21 January 2022
Key Points
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We perform MCMC calibration of a 3-D natural state reservoir model of the Krafla geothermal system
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Posterior results indicate that the uncertainty of inferred permeability values is underestimated using deterministic approaches
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This is one of the first reservoir models of an exploited geothermal system extending to the deep, supercritical roots near the heat source
Investigation of Coupled Processes in Fractures and the Bordering Matrix via a Micro‐Continuum Reactive Transport Model
- 20 January 2022
Key Points
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Three-dimensional simulations of reactive transport processes using the micro-continuum approach based on a fractured dolostone experiment
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The altered layer (AL) as a diffusion barrier limits reactions of the fast-reacting mineral and thus the matrix alteration
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Advection in the AL affects spatial patterns of mineral dissolution that controls subsequent AL development and fracture enlargement
Looking to the Skies: Realising the Combined Potential of Drones and Thermal Infrared Imagery to Advance Hydrological Process Understanding in Headwaters
- 20 January 2022
Key Points
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Knowledge of headwater catchment dynamics is limited by point observations which are sub-optimal for hydrological process understanding
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Drone-based thermal infrared remote sensing can provide observations of headwater network dynamics across multiple space-time scales
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We call for the increased use of drone-based TIR in hydrology for improved understanding of headwater dynamics under future climate change
Temporal Scaling of Streamflow Elasticity to Precipitation: A Global Analysis
- 19 January 2022
Key Points
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Streamflow elasticity to precipitation depends significantly on aggregation time in 66% out of the 5,327 global catchments
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Catchments that are arid or little forested, or possess gentle catchment slope tend to exhibit positive scaling
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Decadal streamflow elasticity to precipitation should be used instead of annual elasticities in climate impact analyses
Evaluating Distributed Policies for Conjunctive Surface Water‐Groundwater Management in Large River Basins: Water Uses Versus Hydrological Impacts
- 19 January 2022
Key Points
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This study proposes and evaluates a distributed policy design scheme featuring spatially variable and temporally dynamic water policies
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It is possible to mitigate aquifer depletion without reducing the total water supply by adjusting water policies between dry and wet years
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Hydrological externality effects among nearby districts are explicitly quantified by assessing spatially varying water management policies
Modeling of Drying‐Induced Soil Curling Phenomenon
- 18 January 2022
Key Points
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A discrete element model (DEM) is proposed to simulate soil desiccation curling and validated by experimental data
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Drying-induced soil curling process and extent is controlled by the evolution of moisture gradient along the depth
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The movement of tensile stress concentration is the intrinsic mechanical factor responsible for the curling deformation process
Hyporheic Exchange Due to Cobbles on Sandy Beds
- 18 January 2022
Key Points
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We investigate how cobbles in a staggered array drive hyporheic exchange in subcritical and tranquil rivers
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Hyporheic flux increases with the spacing between the cobbles and the amount they protrude in the surface flow
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Hyporheic travel times are shorter if the cobbles are more embedded
Transit Times and Storage Selection Functions in Idealized Hillslopes with Steady Infiltration
- 3 February 2022
Key Points
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StorAge Selection functions are derived from steady-state hydraulic groundwater theory for subsurface flow through idealized hillslopes
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Theory reproduces water age and transport in 2D models and experimental hillslopes, revealing hillslope structural controls on SAS functions
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Vertical transport in the unsaturated zone reduces the contribution of youngest storage to discharge, and Hillslope numbers affect SAS shape
The occurrence of large floods in the United States in the modern hydroclimate regime: seasonality, trends, and large‐scale climate associations
- 3 February 2022
Key Points
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First broad characterization of large-flood occurrence in the conterminous United States in the modern hydroclimate, including seasonality
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Both traditional and novel methods to assess temporal distribution of large floods
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Few significant temporal trends, but significant relations to climate indices for some regions and seasons
An improved D8‐LTD for the extraction of total contributing area (TCA) by adopting the strategies of path independency and local dispersion
- 3 February 2022
Key Points
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An improved D8-LTD (i.e. LTD-PI-LD) is proposed by adopting the strategies of path independency and local dispersion
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Strategy of path independency prevents the occurrence of high-TCA tubes and effectively reduces the number of source pixels
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LTD-PI-LD significantly improves the size and extent precisions of estimated TCAs compared with typical flow direction algorithms
A Stepwise Clustered Hydrological Model for Addressing the Temporal Autocorrelation of Daily Streamflows in Irrigated Watersheds
- 3 February 2022
Key Points
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A regression tree ensemble is proposed to address the temporal autocorrelation of daily streamflow
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A Bayesian model average with a stratified sampling ensemble strategy is provided to improve the simulation accuracy for medium flows
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Autocorrelation of daily streamflow is particularly important for establishing reliable irrigation-discharge relationships
Quantifying the uncertainty created by non‐transferable model calibrations across climate and land cover scenarios: A case study with SWMM
- 3 February 2022
Key Points
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Effective parameters used for calibration of semi-distributed urban hydrologic models are sensitive to land cover and climate conditions
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Sensitivity of calibration parameters to environmental conditions leads to poor transferability to new environmental conditions
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Numerical experiments show that poor transferability can lead to prediction errors that confound the signals of change being modeled
Shrinking Pareto Fronts to Guide Reservoir Operations by Quantifying Competition among Multiple Objectives
- 2 February 2022
Key Points
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An evaluation method of objectives competition is proposed
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Competition efficiency index reflects superior objective between dual objectives
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The Pareto front shrinking approach narrows down the Pareto solutions by one order
Non‐stationary runoff responses can interact with climate change to increase severe outcomes for freshwater ecology
- 2 February 2022
Key Points
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We assessed sensitivity of four modelled freshwater ecosystem outcomes to five different hydroclimatic changes using a stress test
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Variation in ecological outcomes are most sensitive to changes in long-term annual rainfall and rainfall-runoff relationships
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However, in differentiating the worst ecological outcomes, a larger number of hydroclimatic changes were significant
Coordinated Control Can Deliver Synergies Across Multiple Rainwater Storages
- 2 February 2022
Key Points
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Multiple rainwater storages can be operated in a coordinated manner by Real-Time Control technology for multiple objectives
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This coordinated Real-Time Control delivers synergy benefits in restoring baseflow
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Large storages compensate for small underperforming storages within the network
Economic sustainability of irrigation‐dependent ecosystem services under growing water scarcity. Insights from the Reno River in Italy
- 2 February 2022
Key Points
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We assess economic performance of conservationist (sustain irrigation-dependent ecosystems) v. irrigation modernization strategy in NE Italy
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Under most models and scenarios, the conservationist strategy has a superior economic performance; and is also found more robust
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Unless sensible incentives are set (remove infrastructure subsidies, deploy PWS), irrigators may modernize nonetheless
Packing Fraction, Tortuosity and Permeability of Granular‐Porous Media with Densely Packed Spheroidal Particles: Monodisperse and Polydisperse Systems
- 2 February 2022
Key Points
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Relaxation iteration scheme generates random dense packings of spheroids with monodispersity and polydispersity in sizes
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An accurate and efficient DGRRT algorithm and a non-linear model are developed for the pore tortuosity around mono-/poly-disperse spheroids
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Effects of particle shape, fineness and PSD on the particle packing fraction, pore tortuosity and permeability are quantitatively evaluated
A new model for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated porous media
- Water Resources Research
- 513-522
- June 1976
Evaluating the use of “goodness‐of‐fit” Measures in hydrologic and hydroclimatic model validation
- Water Resources Research
- 233-241
- 1 January 1999
Validity of Cubic Law for fluid flow in a deformable rock fracture
- Water Resources Research
- 1016-1024
- December 1980
Electromagnetic determination of soil water content: Measurements in coaxial transmission lines
- Water Resources Research
- 574-582
- June 1980
Response of mean annual evapotranspiration to vegetation changes at catchment scale
- Water Resources Research
- 701-708
- 1 March 2001
Techniques of trend analysis for monthly water quality data
- Water Resources Research
- 107-121
- February 1982
Effective and efficient global optimization for conceptual rainfall‐runoff models
- Water Resources Research
- 1015-1031
- April 1992
The WFDEI meteorological forcing data set: WATCH Forcing Data methodology applied to ERA‐Interim reanalysis data
- Water Resources Research
- 7505-7514
- 19 August 2014
Key Points
- Global three hourly meteorological forcing data at half-degree spatial resolution
- Covers 1979–2012
- Improvements compared to the WATCH forcing data
The Millennium Drought in southeast Australia (2001–2009): Natural and human causes and implications for water resources, ecosystems, economy, and society
- Water Resources Research
- 1040-1057
- 6 February 2013
Key Points
- Drivers and impacts of Australia's record drought were analyzed
- Impacts accumulated and propagated through the water cycle at different rates
- Future droughts may not be managed better than past ones.
Water management: Current and future challenges and research directions
- Water Resources Research
- 4823-4839
- 20 June 2015
Macropores and water flow in soils revisited
- Water Resources Research
- 3071-3092
- 23 February 2013
Key Points
- Darcy-Richards is inadequate
- Stokes flow may be useful in some circumstances
- Still important questions to be resolved in soil physics
Methods and technologies to improve efficiency of water use
- Water Resources Research
- 29 July 2008
The Millennium Drought in southeast Australia (2001–2009): Natural and human causes and implications for water resources, ecosystems, economy, and society
- Water Resources Research
- 1040-1057
- 6 February 2013
Key Points
- Drivers and impacts of Australia's record drought were analyzed
- Impacts accumulated and propagated through the water cycle at different rates
- Future droughts may not be managed better than past ones.
The twenty‐first century Colorado River hot drought and implications for the future
- Water Resources Research
- 2404-2418
- 17 February 2017
Key Points
- Record Colorado River flow reductions averaged 19.3% per year during 2000–2014. One-third or more of the decline was likely due to warming
- Unabated greenhouse gas emissions will lead to continued substantial warming, translating to twenty-first century flow reductions of 35% or more
- More precipitation can reduce the flow loss, but lack of increase to date and large megadrought threat, reinforce risk of large flow loss
Plain Language Summary
Between 2000 and 2014, annual Colorado River flows averaged 19% below the 1906–1999 average, the worst 15-year drought on record. Approximately one-third of the flow loss is due to high temperatures now common in the basin, a result of human caused climate change. Previous comparable droughts were caused by a lack of precipitation, not high temperatures. As temperatures increase in the 21st century due to continued human emissions of greenhouse gasses, additional temperature-induced flow losses will occur. These losses may exceed 20% at mid-century and 35% at end-century. Additional precipitation may reduce these temperature-induced losses somewhat, but to date no precipitation increases have been noted and climate models do not agree that such increases will occur. These results suggest that future climate change impacts on the Colorado River will be greater than currently assumed. Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions will lead to lower future temperatures and hence less flow loss.
Satellite Remote Sensing for Water Resources Management: Potential for Supporting Sustainable Development in Data‐Poor Regions
- Water Resources Research
- 9724-9758
- 29 October 2018
Key Points
- Satellite remote sensing is being incorporated into water resources management but is generally underutilized
- New and proposed missions have the potential to transform water resources management for sustainable development, especially in data-poor regions
- Ongoing challenges of accuracy, sampling, and continuity and capacity development need to be addressed, as well as new challenges of information volume and diversity
The science and practice of river restoration
- Water Resources Research
- 5974-5997
- 24 July 2015
Key Points
- River restoration is a prominent area of applied water-resources science
- restoration includes connectivity, physical-biotic interactions, and history
- effective restoration requires collaboration among scientists and practitioners
Quantifying renewable groundwater stress with GRACE
- Water Resources Research
- 5217-5238
- 16 June 2015
Key Points:
- Renewable groundwater stress is quantified in the world's largest aquifers
- Characteristic stress regimes are defined to determine the severity of stress
- Overstressed aquifers are mainly in rangeland biomes with some croplands
What Role Does Hydrological Science Play in the Age of Machine Learning?
- Water Resources Research
- 13 November 2020
Key Points
- Hydrology lacks scale-relevant theories, but deep learning experiments suggest that these theories should exist
- The success of machine learning for hydrological forecasting has potential to decouple science from modeling
- It is up to hydrologists to clearly show where and when hydrological theory adds value to simulation and forecasting
A Transdisciplinary Review of Deep Learning Research and Its Relevance for Water Resources Scientists
- Water Resources Research
- 8558-8593
- 30 August 2018
Key Points
- Deep learning (DL) is transforming many scientific disciplines, but its adoption in hydrology is gradual
- DL can help tackle interdisciplinarity, data deluge, unrecognized linkages, and long-standing challenges such as scaling and equifinality
- The new field of AI neuroscience opens up many opportunities for scientists to use DL as an exploratory tool for scientific advancement
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