Spatial and temporal controls on post-fire hydrologic recovery in Southern California watersheds

Kinoshita, A. M.; Hogue, T. S.

doi:10.1016/j.catena.2011.06.005

Cited by 106 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The sustained post-fire increase in remotely sensed fSCA in the area of the Moonlight Fire and earlier melt-out dates is a function of canopy loss. Similar to previous post-fire ecosystem studies, recovery is not expected until there is full canopy regeneration or until the system reaches a new equilibrium (Meixner and Wohlgemuth, 2003;Kinoshita and Hogue, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 63%

“…Storm runoff also liberates atmospherically deposited contaminants and mobilizes particulate-bound constituents, degrading post-fire water quality (Stein et al, 2012;Burke et al, 2013). Vegetation recovery significantly controls long-term hydrologic conditions; additionally, elevated discharge has been observed for nearly 10 years post-fire (Kinoshita and Hogue, 2011). Similarly, forest canopy considerably influences snowpack properties and snowmelt response (Faria et al, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Application of MODIS snow cover products: wildfire impacts on snow and melt in the Sierra Nevada

Micheletty

Kinoshita

Hogue

2014

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. The current work evaluates the spatial and temporal variability in snow after a large forest fire in northern California using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) snow-covered area and grain size (MODSCAG). MODIS MOD10A1 fractional snow-covered area and MODSCAG fractional snow cover products are utilized to detect spatial and temporal changes in snowpack after the 2007 Moonlight Fire and an unburned basin, Grizzly Ridge, for water years (WY) 2002-2012. Estimates of canopy-adjusted and non-adjusted MODSCAG fractional snow-covered area (fSCA) are smoothed and interpolated to provide a continuous time series of average daily snow extent over the two basins. The removal of overstory canopy by wildfire exposes more snow cover; however, elemental pixel comparisons and statistical analysis show that the MOD10A1 product has a tendency to overestimate snow coverage pre-fire, muting the observed effects of wildfire. The MODSCAG algorithm better distinguishes subpixel snow coverage in forested areas and is highly correlated to soil burn severity after the fire. Annual MODSCAG fSCA estimates show statistically significant increased fSCA in the Moonlight Fire study area after the fire (P < 0.01 for WY 2008-2011) compared to pre-fire averages and the control basin. After the fire, the number of days exceeding a pre-fire high snow-cover threshold increased by 81 %. Canopy reduction increases exposed viewable snow area and the amount of solar radiation that reaches the snowpack, leading to earlier basin average melt-out dates compared to the nearby unburned basin. There is also a significant increase in MOD-SCAG fSCA post-fire regardless of slope or burn severity.Regional snow cover change has significant implications for both short-and long-term water supply for impacted ecosystems, downstream communities, and resource managers.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of MODIS snow cover products: wildfire impacts on snow and melt in the Sierra Nevada

Micheletty

Kinoshita

Hogue

2014

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…As examples of rivers evacuating new sediment supply dominated by landslides, fluvial sediment flux remained elevated for about 6 years after the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake in Taiwan (Hovius et al, 2011) and for 4-6 years after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China, varying with the density of landslide occurrence . Elevated sediment yield after wildfire on the California coast decreases exponentially and can recover entirely within 5-7 years, but this time scale depends on the highly variable precipitation regime (as in the conceptual models of Keller et al, 1997;Kinoshita and Hogue, 2011;. Elevated sediment yield after wildfire on the California coast decreases exponentially and can recover entirely within 5-7 years, but this time scale depends on the highly variable precipitation regime (as in the conceptual models of Keller et al, 1997;Kinoshita and Hogue, 2011;.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A regime shift in sediment export from a coastal watershed during a record wet winter, California: Implications for landscape response to hydroclimatic extremes

East

Stevens

Ritchie

et al. 2018

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Small, steep watersheds are prolific sediment sources from which sediment flux is highly sensitive to climatic changes. Storm intensity and frequency are widely expected to increase during the 21st century, and so assessing the response of small, steep watersheds to extreme rainfall is essential to understanding landscape response to climate change. During record winter rainfall in 2016–2017, the San Lorenzo River, coastal California, had nine flow peaks representing 2–10‐year flood magnitudes. By the third flood, fluvial suspended sediment showed a regime shift to greater and coarser sediment supply, coincident with numerous landslides in the watershed. Even with no singular catastrophic flood, these flows exported more than half as much sediment as had a 100‐year flood 35 years earlier, substantially enlarging the nearshore delta. Annual sediment load in 2017 was an order of magnitude greater than during an average‐rainfall year, and 500‐fold greater than in a recent drought. These anomalous sediment inputs are critical to the coastal littoral system, delivering enough sediment, sometimes over only a few days, to maintain beaches for several years. Future projections of megadroughts punctuated by major atmospheric‐river storm activity suggest that interannual sediment‐yield variations will become more extreme than today in the western USA, with potential consequences for coastal management, ecosystems, and water‐storage capacity. The occurrence of two years with major sediment export over the past 35 years that were not associated with extremes of the El Niño Southern Oscillation or Pacific Decadal Oscillation suggests caution in interpreting climatic signals from marine sedimentary deposits derived from small, steep, coastal watersheds, to avoid misinterpreting the frequencies of those cycles. Published 2018. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

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“…Due to the temporal gaps in the National Land Cover Database (Homer et al, 2004), an averaged normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was collected for pre-fire burn areas to quantitatively summarize vegetation conditions, similar to previous studies (Barbosa et al, 1999;Kinoshita and Hogue, 2011;Lee and Chow, 2015). NDVI is defined as…”

Section: Vegetation Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization and evaluation of controls on post-fire streamflow response across western US watersheds

Saxe

Hogue

Hay

2018

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. This research investigates the impact of wildfires on watershed flow regimes, specifically focusing on evaluation of fire events within specified hydroclimatic regions in the western United States, and evaluating the impact of climate and geophysical variables on response. Eighty-two watersheds were identified with at least 10 years of continuous pre-fire daily streamflow records and 5 years of continuous post-fire daily flow records. Percent change in annual runoff ratio, low flows, high flows, peak flows, number of zero flow days, baseflow index, and Richards-Baker flashiness index were calculated for each watershed using pre-and post-fire periods. Independent variables were identified for each watershed and fire event, including topographic, vegetation, climate, burn severity, percent area burned, and soils data.Results show that low flows, high flows, and peak flows increase in the first 2 years following a wildfire and decrease over time. Relative response was used to scale response variables with the respective percent area of watershed burned in order to compare regional differences in watershed response. To account for variability in precipitation events, runoff ratio was used to compare runoff directly to PRISM precipitation estimates. To account for regional differences in climate patterns, watersheds were divided into nine regions, or clusters, through k-means clustering using climate data, and regression models were produced for watersheds grouped by total area burned. Watersheds in Cluster 9 (eastern California, western Nevada, Oregon) demonstrate a small negative response to observed flow regimes after fire. Cluster 8 watersheds (coastal California) display the greatest flow responses, typically within the first year following wildfire. Most other watersheds show a positive mean relative response. In addition, simple regression models show low correlation between percent watershed burned and streamflow response, implying that other watershed factors strongly influence response.Spearman correlation identified NDVI, aridity index, percent of a watershed's precipitation that falls as rain, and slope as being positively correlated with post-fire streamflow response. This metric also suggested a negative correlation between response and the soil erodibility factor, watershed area, and percent low burn severity. Regression models identified only moderate burn severity and watershed area as being consistently positively/negatively correlated, respectively, with response. The random forest model identified only slope and percent area burned as significant watershed parameters controlling response.Results will help inform post-fire runoff management decisions by helping to identify expected changes to flow regimes, as well as facilitate parameterization for model application in burned watersheds.

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Spatial and temporal controls on post-fire hydrologic recovery in Southern California watersheds

Cited by 106 publications

References 28 publications

Application of MODIS snow cover products: wildfire impacts on snow and melt in the Sierra Nevada

Application of MODIS snow cover products: wildfire impacts on snow and melt in the Sierra Nevada

A regime shift in sediment export from a coastal watershed during a record wet winter, California: Implications for landscape response to hydroclimatic extremes

Characterization and evaluation of controls on post-fire streamflow response across western US watersheds

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