Quantifying mesoscale soil moisture with the cosmic-ray rover Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-5097-2013 17 December 2013 This paper explores the challenges and opportunities for mapping soil moisture over large areas using the cosmic-ray rover. Read more
Statistical analysis to characterize transport of nutrients in groundwater near an abandoned feedlot Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-4897-2013 6 December 2013 Surface water from a lagoon and groundwater samples from 17 wells within and near an abandoned feedlot in northwestern Minnesota, USA, were analyzed for carbon, nutrients, and field parameters. Read more
Rainfall estimation using moving cars as rain gauges – laboratory experiments Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-4701-2013 28 November 2013 The spatial assessment of short time-step precipitation is a challenging task. Low density of observation networks, as well as the bias in radar rainfall estimation motivated the new idea of exploiting cars as moving rain gauges with windshield wipers or optical sensors as measurement devices. Read more
Inverse streamflow routing Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-4577-2013 19 November 2013 Here we develop a methodology to invert the routing process, i.e., to derive the spatially distributed runoff from streamflow (e.g., measured at gauge stations) by inverting an arbitrary linear routing model using fixed interval smoothing. Read more
A thermodynamic approach to link self-organization, preferential flow and rainfall–runoff behaviour Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-4297-2013 1 November 2013 This study investigates whether a thermodynamically optimal hillslope structure can, if existent, serve as a first guess for uncalibrated predictions of rainfall–runoff. Read more
Comparative assessment of predictions in ungauged basins – Part 2: Flood and low flow studies Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-2637-2013 9 July 2013 The objective of this paper is to assess the performance of methods that predict low flows and flood runoff in ungauged catchments. The aim is to learn from the similarities and differences between catchments in different places, and to interpret the differences in performance in terms of the underlying climate-landscape controls. Read more
Palaeoclimatological perspective on river basin hydrometeorology: case of the Mekong Basin Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-2069-2013 31 May 2013 Our main aim in this paper is to develop a river basin scale approach for assessing interannual hydrometeorological and discharge variability on long, palaeological, time scales. For the development of the basin-wide approach, we used the Mekong River basin as a case study area, although the approach is also intended to be applicable to other basins. Read more
Reducing cloud obscuration of MODIS snow cover area products by combining spatio-temporal techniques with a probability of snow approach Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-1809-2013 13 May 2013 This study develops a rule-based, multistep method for removing clouds from MODIS snow cover area images. The methods used include combining images from more than one satellite, time interpolation, spatial interpolation, and estimation of the probability of snow occurrence based on topographic information. Read more
Comparative assessment of predictions in ungauged basins – Part 1: Runoff-hydrograph studies Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-1783-2013 7 May 2013 The objective of this assessment is to compare studies predicting runoff hydrographs in ungauged catchments. The aim is to learn from the differences and similarities between catchments in different locations, and to interpret the differences in performance in terms of the underlying climate and landscape controls. Read more
Elusive drought: uncertainty in observed trends and short- and long-term CMIP5 projections Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-1765-2013 7 May 2013 Our results highlight the inherent difficulty of drought quantification and the considerable likelihood range of drought projections, but also indicate regions where drought is consistently found to increase. In other regions, wide likelihood range should not be equated with low drought risk, since potential scenarios include large drought increases in key agricultural and ecosystem regions. Read more
McMaster Mesonet soil moisture dataset: description and spatio-temporal variability analysis Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-1589-2013 29 April 2013 This paper introduces and describes the hourly, high-resolution soil moisture dataset continuously recorded by the McMaster Mesonet located in the Hamilton-Halton Watershed in Southern Ontario, Canada. Read more
Flood-initiating catchment conditions: a spatio-temporal analysis of large-scale soil moisture patterns in the Elbe River basin Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-1401-2013 12 April 2013 While the large-scale meteorological conditions have been classified and successfully linked to floods, this is lacking for the large-scale pre-event catchment conditions. Therefore, we propose classifying soil moisture as a key variable of pre-event catchment conditions and investigating the link between soil moisture patterns and flood occurrence in the Elbe River basin. Read more
Local and global perspectives on the virtual water trade Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-1205-2013 19 March 2013 Recent studies on fluxes of virtual water are showing how the global food and goods trade interconnects the water resources of different and distant countries, conditioning the local water balances. This paper presents and discusses the assessment of virtual water fluxes between a single country and its network of trading partners, delineating a country’s virtual water budget in space and time (years 1986–2010). Read more
A generalized Damköhler number for classifying material processing in hydrological systems Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-1133-2013 15 March 2013 Assessing the potential for transfer of pollutants and nutrients across catchments is of primary importance under changing land use and climate. This paper focuses on the dynamic balance between transport and material transformation, and defines material connectivity as the effective transfer of material between elements of the hydrological cycle. Read more
A statistical analysis of insurance damage claims related to rainfall extremes Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-913-2013 4 March 2013 In this paper, a database of water-related insurance damage claims related to private properties and content was analysed. The aim was to investigate whether the probability of occurrence of rainfall-related damage was associated with the intensity of rainfall. Read more
The importance of glacier and forest change in hydrological climate-impact studies Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-619-2013 11 February 2013 Changes in land cover alter the water balance components of a catchment, due to strong interactions between soils, vegetation and the atmosphere. Therefore, hydrological climate impact studies should also integrate scenarios of associated land cover change. To reflect two severe climate-induced changes in land cover, we applied scenarios of glacier retreat and forest cover increase that were derived from the temperature signals of the climate scenarios used in this study. Read more
On the nature of rainfall intermittency as revealed by different metrics and sampling approaches Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-355-2013 29 January 2013 Results of this work may be useful to improve the calibration of stochastic algorithms used to downscale coarse rainfall predictions of climate and weather forecasting models, as well as the parameterization of intensity-duration-frequency curves, adopted for land planning and design of civil infrastructures. Read more
Similarity of climate control on base flow and perennial stream density in the Budyko framework Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-315-2013 25 January 2013 Perennial stream density (DP), which is obtained from the high resolution National Hydrography Dataset, for 185 watersheds declines monotonically with climate aridity index, and an inversely proportional function is proposed to model the relationship between DPand the ratio of potential evaporation to precipitation. Read more
Prediction, time variance, and classification of hydraulic response to recharge in two karst aquifers Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-281-2013 24 January 2013 Many karst aquifers are rapidly filled and depleted and therefore are likely to be susceptible to changes in short-term climate variability. Here we explore methods that could be applied to model site-specific hydraulic responses, with the intent of simulating these responses to different climate scenarios from high-resolution climate models. Read more
Thermodynamics, maximum power, and the dynamics of preferential river flow structures at the continental scale Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-225-2013 22 January 2013 Here we describe the organization and dynamics of drainage systems using thermodynamics, focusing on the generation, dissipation and transfer of free energy associated with river flow and sediment transport. Read more