Browse Articles
Quantifying Spatial Drought Propagation Potential in North America Using Complex Network Theory
-  28 February 2022
Key Points
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Complex network theory is utilized to study three-dimensional spatio-temporal structure of North American droughts
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Regional spatial drought networks and the source regions for drought onsets up to 3-month lead times are identified
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Coupled oceanic-atmospheric interactions, moisture transport, and wind pattern primarily control the spatial drought propagation
Improvements to the Fracture Pipe Network Model for Complex 3D Discrete Fracture Networks
-  22 February 2022
Key Points
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Fracture pipe network model (FPNM) is improved from four perspectives to improve the prediction accuracy
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Two indicators are proposed to quantify the complexity of discrete fracture networks (DFNs)
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The improved FPNM has been justified by synthetic DFNs and realistic fractured samples
Monitoring the Storage Volume of Water Reservoirs Using Google Earth Engine
-  22 February 2022
Key Points
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Automatically calculate the area of flooded water surfaces and calculate the stored volumes of water in reservoirs
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Methodology to complete series of monitoring data, the storage volumes of reservoirs, allowing a more precise assessment of its evolution
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Mapping surface water bodies using satellite images in an automatic way allowing the monitoring of water resources on a large scale
The Sustainability of Treated Wastewater Irrigation: The Impact of Hysteresis on Saturated Soil Hydraulic Conductivity
-  22 February 2022
Key Points
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Hysteresis-based results show higher degradation risk and slower rehabilitation when irrigating with saline and sodic treated wastewater
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Actual degradation risk results from dynamic interplay between a soil's susceptibility to degradation and its ability to rehabilitate
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SOTE model is first to consider effects of hysteresis on changes in saturated soil hydraulic conductivity under saline and sodic conditions
Time to Update the Split‐Sample Approach in Hydrological Model Calibration
-  22 February 2022
Key Points
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A unique split-sample experiment is performed across 463 catchments to provide guidance on split sample decision-making in model calibration
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Calibrating models to the full available data period and skipping model validation entirely is the most robust choice
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Calibrating models to older data and then validating models on newer data, a very common approach in literature, is an inferior choice
Experiment and Simulation of One Deep Sewage Discharge Type: Transport of Low‐Salinity Sediment‐Laden Flow Discharged
-  22 February 2022
Study of Suspended Sediment Diffusion Coefficients in Submerged Vegetation Flow
-  18 February 2022
Key Points
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Submerged vegetation can enhance the exchange rate of momentum but limit the diffusion rate of suspended sediment particles
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Depth-averaged εm shows two opposing trends, while depth-averaged εs decreases with increasing discharge or relative water depth
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Vertical profile models of εs and suspended sediment concentration in submerged canopy flow exhibit a high accuracy and applicability
Process Interactions Can Change Process Ranking in a Coupled Complex System Under Process Model and Parametric Uncertainty
-  16 February 2022
Key Points
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A new total-effect process sensitivity index is derived to account for process interactions under process model and parameter uncertainty
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The total-effect process sensitivity index has a first-order term for process importance and higher-order terms for process interactions
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Accounting for process interactions allows for identifying influential system processes and/or screening non-influential system processes
Flushing the Lake Littoral Region: The Interaction of Differential Cooling and Mild Winds
-  16 February 2022
Key Points
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Previous parameterizations for cross-shore discharges driven by differential-cooling in lake littoral regions assume calm wind conditions
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Even mild cross-shore winds (≲5 m s−1) modify the convective circulation in the lake littoral region
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Upwind and downwind net cross-shore discharges can be predicted by the sum of the cooling and wind-driven contributions
Hybrid Physically Based and Deep Learning Modeling of a Snow Dominated, Mountainous, Karst Watershed
-  4 March 2022
Key Points
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Physically based and deep learning models were combined to simulate streamflow in a mountainous karst watershed
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This hybrid modeling approach explicitly accounts for spatially distributed snowmelt
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ConvLSTM simulates streamflow with high accuracy and provides insight into spatial hydrologic responses
Performance of State‐of‐the‐art C3S European Seasonal Climate Forecast Models for Mean and Extreme Precipitation over Africa
-  4 March 2022
Key Points
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The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is the most skilful model for precipitation in Africa
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Weighted multi-model mean provides the highest performance compared to individual models for precipitation and forecasting droughts
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Forecast skill of monthly meteorological drought events at lead 1-month is modest
Critical zone response times and water age relationships under variable catchment wetness states: insights using a tracer‐aided ecohydrological model
-  3 March 2022
Key Points
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Spatio-temporal variability of soil storage and ecohydrological partitioning was modulated by vegetation characteristics
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Transpiration, groundwater, and streamflow response times were distinct from water ages, with spatial differences driven by vegetation units
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Lower model resolution reduced spatial variability and increased the difference of catchment response and water age of fluxes and storages
3D flow structures during upwelling events in lakes of moderate size
-  3 March 2022
Key Points
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Lakes of moderate size may exhibit upwelling at upwind shores and along-wind shores due to the Coriolis force influence
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Upwelling dynamics in lakes of moderate size cannot be parameterized by applying a single conceptual model
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Cyclonic currents observed in Lake Tahoe are in quasi-geostrophic balance and resemble coastal jets noticed in large lakes and coastal ocean
A physically based model of a two‐pass digital filter for separating groundwater runoff from streamflow time series
-  3 March 2022
Key Points
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A physically based model with a two-pass digital filter for groundwater runoff separation from streamflow time series was proposed
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Groundwater flow recession constant and the base flow recession constant can be determined separately using variogram analysis
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The proposed method is able to reveal the effects of climate change on groundwater runoff
Multi‐task deep learning of daily streamflow and water temperature
-  2 March 2022
Key Points
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A single deep learning model was used to predict both water temperature and streamflow
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The best configured single-site multi-task models improved streamflow predictions for most sites tested
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A naïve implementation of multi-task learning was detrimental to water temperature predictions
Streamflow response to wildfire differs with season and elevation in adjacent headwaters of the Lower Colorado River Basin
-  2 March 2022
Key Points
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Summer streamflow increased in headwaters at all elevations following fire
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Dominant winter/spring streamflow was unchanged in higher/colder headwaters but decreased in lower/warmer headwaters
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Climatological asynchrony of snowmelt and transpiration in warmer watersheds may reduce streamflow benefits of fire
Steady‐State Parallel Retreat Migration in River Bends with Noncohesive (Composite) Banks
-  2 March 2022
Key Points
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Migration rate in the idealized case is dictated by transverse sediment flux at the thalweg due to secondary flow, not bank slope
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The derived migration rate uses dimensionless groupings: excess Shields stress, depth/radius, and grain size/noncohesive layer thickness
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The linear excess shear stress formulation valid for cohesive soils mischaracterizes fluvial erosion when applied to noncohesive banks
Unprecedented high Northern Australian streamflow linked to an intensification of the Indo‐Australian Monsoon
-  2 March 2022
Key Points
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592-year annual streamflow reconstruction of the Daly River Catchment, Australia, derived using a tree-ring network
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Wavelet-based techniques to transform tree ring spectral characteristics improve the reconstruction ability
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High streamflow in the 20th Century is regionally coherent and unprecedented in the preceding five centuries
How fluvial deposits distort aquifer recharge estimated from groundwater age: Insights from a landscape evolution model
-  2 March 2022
Key Points
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Analytical models to estimate recharge rate from groundwater age neglect heterogeneities
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A landscape evolution model simulating fluvial deposits reveals variable but prevalent absolute errors up to thousands of percent
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A sensitivity analysis on 20 000 realizations exposes how fluvial processes influence errors through the heterogeneity of fluvial deposits
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 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 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
Landslide triggering by rain infiltration
- Water Resources Research
-  1897-1910
-  1 July 2000
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.
Combined Modeling of US Fluvial, Pluvial, and Coastal Flood Hazard Under Current and Future Climates
- Water Resources Research
-  16 December 2020
Key Points
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First complete high-resolution flood hazard analysis of conterminous US flood risk from all major sources (fluvial, pluvial, and coastal)
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In validation tests the model achieved Critical Success Index scores of 0.69–0.82, similar to many local custom-built 2D models
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By 2050, flood hazard increases for the Eastern seaboard and Western states, but decreases or changes little for the center and South-West
Plain Language Summary
We develop a method to estimate past, present, and future flood risk for all properties in the conterminous United States whether affected by river, coastal or rainfall flooding. The analysis accounts for variability within environmental factors including changes in sea level rise, hurricane intensity and landfall locations, precipitation patterns, and river discharge. We show that even for a conservative climate change trajectory we can expect locally significant changes in the land area at risk from floods by 2050, and by this time defenses protecting 2,200 km2 of land may be compromised. The complete dataset has been made available via a website (https://floodfactor.com/) created by the First Street Foundation in order to increase public awareness of the threat posed by flooding to safety and livelihoods.
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
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
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