A Unique Approach on How to Work Around the Common Uncertainties of Local Field Data in the PERSiST Hydrological Model

Abstract

In the last two decades, the effects of global climate change have caused a continuous drying out of temperate landscapes. One way in which drying out has manifested is as a visible decrease in the streamflow in the water recipients. This article aims to answer the questions of how severe this streamflow decrease is and what is its main cause. The article is based on the analysis of daily streamflow, temperature, and precipitation data during five years (1 November 2014 to 31 October 2019) in a spruce-dominated temperate upland catchment located in the Czech Republic. Streamflow values were modeled in the PERSiST hydrological model using precipitation and temperature values obtained from the observational E-OBS gridded dataset and calibrated against in situ measured discharge. Our modeling exercise results show that the trend of decreasing water amounts in forest streams was very significant in the five-year study period, as shown in the example of the experimental catchment Křtiny, where it reached over −65%. This trend is most likely caused by increasing temperature. An unexpected disproportion was found in the ratio of increasing temperature to decreasing discharge during the growing seasons, which can be simplified to an increasing trend in the mean daily temperature of +1% per season, effectively causing a decreasing trend in the discharge of −10% per season regardless of the increasing precipitation during the period.

Proceedings of the 15th Conference Public recreation and landscape protection - with environment hand in hand!

“…At the same time, field measurements of water level are subject to a number of uncertainties. Most commonly bed material load as well as wood, that gets clogged in the spillway during stormflow events, stream freezing and thawing during winter, falling leave and twigs under windy autumn days (Deutscher et al, 2021). All these sources require timely repairs of the measuring device or the recalibration of the sensors.…”

Potential for Crowdsourced Hydrologic Data on Tfe Mf Křtiny as a Side Product of Local Recreational Activities

“…At the same time, field measurements of water level are subject to a number of uncertainties. Most commonly bed material load as well as wood, that gets clogged in the spillway during stormflow events, stream freezing and thawing during winter, falling leave and twigs under windy autumn days (Deutscher et al, 2021). All these sources require timely repairs of the measuring device or the recalibration of the sensors.…”

Combined effects of rainfall‐runoff events and antecedent soil moisture on runoff generation processes in an upland forested headwater area

“…Precipitation during the growing season still reaches 427 mm. Over recent years, while the runoff coefficient in the study area has been very low, reaching just 4%–16% (Deutscher et al, 2021), storm events have been important sources of catchment runoff, contributing significantly to the local flow regime.…”

“…falling into the stream and causing erroneous readings. Water level values were automatically converted to streamflow by the data logger every 15 min using the conversion curve for the Thomson spillway (Deutscher et al, 2021).…”

“…Finally, a 13th point was established at the outlet of the stream for streamflow measurements. to streamflow by the data logger every 15 min using the conversion curve for the Thomson spillway (Deutscher et al, 2021).…”