Articles | Volume 20, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3043-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3043-2016
Research article
 | 
29 Jul 2016
Research article |  | 29 Jul 2016

Application of tritium in precipitation and baseflow in Japan: a case study of groundwater transit times and storage in Hokkaido watersheds

Maksym A. Gusyev, Uwe Morgenstern, Michael K. Stewart, Yusuke Yamazaki, Kazuhisa Kashiwaya, Terumasa Nishihara, Daisuke Kuribayashi, Hisaya Sawano, and Yoichi Iwami

Related authors

A comparison of particle-tracking and solute transport methods for simulation of tritium concentrations and groundwater transit times in river water
M. A. Gusyev, D. Abrams, M. W. Toews, U. Morgenstern, and M. K. Stewart
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 3109–3119, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-3109-2014,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-3109-2014, 2014

Related subject area

Subject: Groundwater hydrology | Techniques and Approaches: Modelling approaches
Technical note: A model of chemical transport in a wellbore–aquifer system
Yiqun Gan and Quanrong Wang
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 1317–1323, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1317-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1317-2024, 2024
Short summary
Disentangling coastal groundwater level dynamics in a global dataset
Annika Nolte, Ezra Haaf, Benedikt Heudorfer, Steffen Bender, and Jens Hartmann
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 1215–1249, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1215-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1215-2024, 2024
Short summary
Current and future roles of meltwater–groundwater dynamics in a proglacial Alpine outwash plain
Tom Müller, Matteo Roncoroni, Davide Mancini, Stuart N. Lane, and Bettina Schaefli
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 735–759, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-735-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-735-2024, 2024
Short summary
On the challenges of global entity-aware deep learning models for groundwater level prediction
Benedikt Heudorfer, Tanja Liesch, and Stefan Broda
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 525–543, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-525-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-525-2024, 2024
Short summary
Incorporating interpretation uncertainties from deterministic 3D hydrostratigraphic models in groundwater models
Trine Enemark, Rasmus Bødker Madsen, Torben O. Sonnenborg, Lærke Therese Andersen, Peter B. E. Sandersen, Jacob Kidmose, Ingelise Møller, Thomas Mejer Hansen, Karsten Høgh Jensen, and Anne-Sophie Høyer
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 505–523, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-505-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-505-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Akata, N., Kakiuchi, H., Shima, H., Iyogi, T., Momoshima, N., and Hisamutsu, S.: Tritium concentrations in the atmospheric environment at Rokkasho, Japan before the final testing of the spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, J. Environ. Radioact., 102, 837–842, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2011.05.005, 2011.
Cartwright, I. and Morgenstern, U.: Transit times from rainfall to baseflow in headwater catchments estimated using tritium: the Ovens River, Australia, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 3771–3785, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3771-2015, 2015.
Dim, J. R., Sakura, Y., Fukami, H., and Miyakoshi, A.: Spatial characteristics of groundwater temperature in the Ishikari Lowland, Hokkaido, northern Japan: analytical and numerical applications, Hydrogeol. J., 10, 296–306, 2002.
Duvert, C., Stewart, M. K., Cendón, D. I., and Raiber, M.: Time series of tritium, stable isotopes and chloride reveal short-term variations in groundwater contribution to a stream, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 257–277, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-257-2016, 2016.
Geological Survey of Japan (AIST) (ed.): Seamless digital geological map of Japan 1: 200,000, 3 July 2012 version, Research Information Database DB084, Geological Survey of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, available at: https://gbank.gsj.jp/geonavi/geonavi.php (last access: 10 April 2016), 2012.
Download
Short summary
Tritium-estimated groundwater mean transit times (MTTs) and storage volumes provide useful information for water resources management especially during droughts. In Hokkaido, we find that (1) one tritium measurement at baseflow is already sufficient to estimate MTT for some catchments, (2) the hydrogeological settings control tritium transit times of subsurface groundwater storage at baseflow, and (3) in future, one tritium measurement will be sufficient to estimate MTT in most Japanese catchments.