Probabilistic modelling of water balance at a point: the role of climate, soil and vegetation

[1] Travel times are fundamental catchment descriptors that blend key information about storage, geochemistry, flow pathways and sources of water into a coherent mathematical framework. Here we analyze travel time distributions (TTDs) (and related attributes) estimated on the basis of the extensive hydrochemical information available for the Hupsel Brook lowland catchment in the Netherlands. The relevance of the work is perceived to lie in the general importance of characterizing nonstationary TTDs to capture catchment transport properties, here chloride flux concentrations at the basin outlet. The relative roles of evapotranspiration, water storage dynamics, hydrologic pathways and mass sources/sinks are discussed. Different hydrochemical models are tested and ranked, providing compelling examples of the improved process understanding achieved through coupled calibration of flow and transport processes. The ability of the model to reproduce measured flux concentrations is shown to lie mostly in the description of nonstationarities of TTDs at multiple time scales, including short-term fluctuations induced by soil moisture dynamics in the root zone and long-term seasonal dynamics. Our results prove reliable and suggest, for instance, that drastically reducing fertilization loads for one or more years would not result in significant permanent decreases in average solute concentrations in the Hupsel runoff because of the long memory shown by the system. Through comparison of field and theoretical evidence, our results highlight, unambiguously, the basic transport mechanisms operating in the catchment at hand, with a view to general applications.

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“…A soil moisture balance for the root zone [Rodriguez-Iturbe et al, 1999;Laio et al, 2001] was set up as:…”

Section: Hydrologic Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chloride circulation in a lowland catchment and the formulation of transport by travel time distributions

Benettin

Velde

Zee

et al. 2013

Water Resources Research

118

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“…Building an ecohydrological model is a necessary and efficient way to measure eco-hydrological thresholds for vegetation stability and to predict future trends. Precipitation is vital for water replenishment in arid regions and is characteristic of strong spatio-temporal heterogeneity and randomness [126]. The randomness profoundly affects vegetation patterns and dynamics, is the core driving forces behind ecosystem succession and is the major reason why different plant function groups are able to co-exist [127].…”

Section: Building the Eco-hydrological Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of the ecohydrological processes and feedback mechanisms controlling sand-binding vegetation systems in sandy desert regions of China

et al. 2013

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Soil water is the key abiotic limiting factor in desert areas and hydrological processes determine the vegetation composition, patterns and processes in desert regions. The hydrological processes can be altered by vegetation succession. In this paper, we review the major advances in ecohydrological research and their potential impact on plant-water relations in revegetated desert communities. The major advances in ecohydrological research over the past 50 years in desert areas were analyzed using a case study that investigated the long-term ecosystem effects of sand-binding vegetation in the Tengger Desert. Key challenges and opportunities for ecohydrology research in the future are also discussed in the context of the major scientific issues affecting sand binding vegetation.

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“…Thus, x is simply a standardized version of relative soil moisture s, defined by x = (s − s w )/(s 1 − s w ). With the above assumptions, the effective soil moisture balance, vertically averaged over the rooting zone, is [17,22,25] …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Stochastic soil water balance under seasonal climates

2015

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The analysis of soil water partitioning in seasonally dry climates necessarily requires careful consideration of the periodic climatic forcing at the intra-annual timescale in addition to daily scale variabilities. Here, we introduce three new extensions to a stochastic soil moisture model which yields seasonal evolution of soil moisture and relevant hydrological fluxes. These approximations allow seasonal climatic forcings (e.g. rainfall and potential evapotranspiration) to be fully resolved, extending the analysis of soil water partitioning to account explicitly for the seasonal amplitude and the phase difference between the climatic forcings. The results provide accurate descriptions of probabilistic soil moisture dynamics under seasonal climates without requiring extensive numerical simulations. We also find that the transfer of soil moisture between the wet to the dry season is responsible for hysteresis in the hydrological response, showing asymmetrical trajectories in the mean soil moisture and in the transient Budyko's curves during the 'dry-down' versus the 'rewetting' phases of the year. Furthermore, in some dry climates where rainfall and potential evapotranspiration are in-phase, annual evapotranspiration can be shown to increase because of inter-seasonal soil moisture transfer, highlighting the importance of soil water storage in the seasonal context.

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Probabilistic modelling of water balance at a point: the role of climate, soil and vegetation

Cited by 538 publications

References 9 publications

Chloride circulation in a lowland catchment and the formulation of transport by travel time distributions

Chloride circulation in a lowland catchment and the formulation of transport by travel time distributions

Review of the ecohydrological processes and feedback mechanisms controlling sand-binding vegetation systems in sandy desert regions of China

Stochastic soil water balance under seasonal climates

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