Articles | Volume 20, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4031-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4031-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Cutting-edge case studies
| 
06 Oct 2016
Cutting-edge case studies |
| 06 Oct 2016
Predicting the salt water intrusion in the Shatt al-Arab estuary using an analytical approach
Ali D. Abdullah
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Integrated Water System and Governance, UNESCO-IHE Institute
for Water Education, Westvest 7, 2611 AX, Delft, the Netherlands
Water Resources Section, Delft University of Technology, Delft, the
Netherlands
Department of Civil Engineering, Basra University, Basra, Iraq
Jacqueline I. A. Gisen
Centre for Earth Resources Research and Management, University Malaysia
Pahang, Lebuhraya Tun Razak, Gambang, 26300 Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Earth Resources, University Malaysia
Pahang, Lebuhraya Tun Razak, Gambang, 26300 Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
Pieter van der Zaag
Department of Integrated Water System and Governance, UNESCO-IHE Institute
for Water Education, Westvest 7, 2611 AX, Delft, the Netherlands
Water Resources Section, Delft University of Technology, Delft, the
Netherlands
Hubert H. G. Savenije
Water Resources Section, Delft University of Technology, Delft, the
Netherlands
Usama F. A. Karim
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500
AE, Enschede, the Netherlands
Ilyas Masih
Department of Integrated Water System and Governance, UNESCO-IHE Institute
for Water Education, Westvest 7, 2611 AX, Delft, the Netherlands
Ioana Popescu
Department of Integrated Water System and Governance, UNESCO-IHE Institute
for Water Education, Westvest 7, 2611 AX, Delft, the Netherlands
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania
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Recent progress in NN (neural network) accelerated improvements in the performance of catchment modeling. Yet flood modeling remains a very difficult task. Focusing on two headwater streams, we developed N-HiTS (Neural Hierarchical Interpolation for Time Series Forecasting) and N-BEATS (Network-Based Expansion Analysis for Interpretable Time Series Forecasting) models and benchmarked them with LSTM (long short-term memory) to predict flooding. N-HiTS and N-BEATS outperformed LSTM for flood predictions. We demonstrated how the proposed models can be augmented with an uncertainty approach to predict flooding that is interpretable without considerable loss in accuracy.
Hongkai Gao, Markus Hrachowitz, Lan Wang-Erlandsson, Fabrizio Fenicia, Qiaojuan Xi, Jianyang Xia, Wei Shao, Ge Sun, and Hubert H. G. Savenije
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4477–4499, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4477-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4477-2024, 2024
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The concept of the root zone is widely used but lacks a precise definition. Its importance in Earth system science is not well elaborated upon. Here, we clarified its definition with several similar terms to bridge the multi-disciplinary gap. We underscore the key role of the root zone in the Earth system, which links the biosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere, and anthroposphere. To better represent the root zone, we advocate for a paradigm shift towards ecosystem-centred modelling.
Henry M. Zimba, Miriam Coenders-Gerrits, Kawawa E. Banda, Petra Hulsman, Nick van de Giesen, Imasiku A. Nyambe, and Hubert H. G. Savenije
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 3633–3663, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3633-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3633-2024, 2024
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The fall and flushing of new leaves in the miombo woodlands co-occur in the dry season before the commencement of seasonal rainfall. The miombo species are also said to have access to soil moisture in deep soils, including groundwater in the dry season. Satellite-based evaporation estimates, temporal trends, and magnitudes differ the most in the dry season, most likely due to inadequate understanding and representation of the highlighted miombo species attributes in simulations.
Hubert H. G. Savenije
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Hydrology is the bloodstream of the Earth, acting as a living organism, with the ecosystem as its active agent. The ecosystem optimises its survival within the constraints of energy, water, climate and nutrients. It is capable of adjusting the hydrological system and, through evolution, adjust its efficiency of carbon sequestration and moisture uptake. In trying to understand future functioning of hydrology, we have to take into account the adaptability of the ecosystem.
Jiaxing Liang, Hongkai Gao, Fabrizio Fenicia, Qiaojuan Xi, Yahui Wang, and Hubert H. G. Savenije
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The root zone storage capacity (Sumax) is a key element in hydrology and land-atmospheric interaction. In this study, we utilized a hydrological model and a dynamic parameter identification method, to quantify the temporal trends of Sumax for 497 catchments in the USA. We found that 423 catchments (85 %) showed increasing Sumax, which averagely increased from 178 to 235 mm between 1980 and 2014. The increasing trend was also validated by multi-sources data and independent methods.
Faisal Sardar, Muhammad Haris Ali, Ioana Popescu, Andreja Jonoski, Schalk Jan van Andel, and Claudia Bertini
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2023-276, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2023-276, 2023
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This article analyzes surface and groundwater interactions in a small transboundary lowland catchment. The study also investigates the influence of rainfall representation in model on surface subsurface hydrological simulations. Emphasizing the significance of these interactions, the research highlighted the role of subsurface baseflow in contributing to river discharge. Despite minimal impact on streamflow, spatial variability in rainfall can cause localized fluctuations in groundwater levels.
Hubert T. Samboko, Sten Schurer, Hubert H. G. Savenije, Hodson Makurira, Kawawa Banda, and Hessel Winsemius
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 12, 155–169, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-12-155-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-12-155-2023, 2023
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The study investigates how low-cost technology can be applied in data-scarce catchments to improve water resource management. More specifically, we investigate how drone technology can be combined with low-cost real-time kinematic positioning (RTK) global navigation satellite system (GNSS) equipment and subsequently applied to a 3D hydraulic model so as to generate more physically based rating curves.
Betina I. Guido, Ioana Popescu, Vidya Samadi, and Biswa Bhattacharya
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 2663–2681, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-2663-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-2663-2023, 2023
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We used an integrated model to evaluate the impacts of nature-based solutions (NBSs) on flood mitigation across the Little Pee Dee and Lumber River watershed, the Carolinas, US. This area is strongly affected by climatic disasters, which are expected to increase due to climate change and urbanization, so exploring an NBS approach is crucial for adapting to future alterations. Our research found that NBSs can have visible effects on the reduction in hurricane-driven flooding.
Hongkai Gao, Fabrizio Fenicia, and Hubert H. G. Savenije
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 2607–2620, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2607-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2607-2023, 2023
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It is a deeply rooted perception that soil is key in hydrology. In this paper, we argue that it is the ecosystem, not the soil, that is in control of hydrology. Firstly, in nature, the dominant flow mechanism is preferential, which is not particularly related to soil properties. Secondly, the ecosystem, not the soil, determines the land–surface water balance and hydrological processes. Moving from a soil- to ecosystem-centred perspective allows more realistic and simpler hydrological models.
Nutchanart Sriwongsitanon, Wasana Jandang, James Williams, Thienchart Suwawong, Ekkarin Maekan, and Hubert H. G. Savenije
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 2149–2171, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2149-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2149-2023, 2023
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We developed predictive semi-distributed rainfall–runoff models for nested sub-catchments in the upper Ping basin, which yielded better or similar performance compared to calibrated lumped models. The normalised difference infrared index proves to be an effective proxy for distributed root zone moisture capacity over sub-catchments and is well correlated with the percentage of evergreen forest. In validation, soil moisture simulations appeared to be highly correlated with the soil wetness index.
Henry Zimba, Miriam Coenders-Gerrits, Kawawa Banda, Bart Schilperoort, Nick van de Giesen, Imasiku Nyambe, and Hubert H. G. Savenije
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 1695–1722, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1695-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1695-2023, 2023
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Miombo woodland plants continue to lose water even during the driest part of the year. This appears to be facilitated by the adapted features such as deep rooting (beyond 5 m) with access to deep soil moisture, potentially even ground water. It appears the trend and amount of water that the plants lose is correlated more to the available energy. This loss of water in the dry season by miombo woodland plants appears to be incorrectly captured by satellite-based evaporation estimates.
Hongkai Gao, Chuntan Han, Rensheng Chen, Zijing Feng, Kang Wang, Fabrizio Fenicia, and Hubert Savenije
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Frozen soil hydrology is one of the 23 unsolved problems in hydrology (UPH). In this study, we developed a novel conceptual frozen soil hydrological model, FLEX-Topo-FS. The model successfully reproduced the soil freeze–thaw process, and its impacts on hydrologic connectivity, runoff generation, and groundwater. We believe this study is a breakthrough for the 23 UPH, giving us new insights on frozen soil hydrology, with broad implications for predicting cold region hydrology in future.
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Assuming stationarity of hydrological systems is no longer appropriate when considering land use and climate change. We tested the sensitivity of hydrological predictions to changes in model parameters that reflect ecosystem adaptation to climate and potential land use change. We estimated a 34 % increase in the root zone storage parameter under +2 K global warming, resulting in up to 15 % less streamflow in autumn, due to 14 % higher summer evaporation, compared to a stationary system.
Hubert T. Samboko, Sten Schurer, Hubert H. G. Savenije, Hodson Makurira, Kawawa Banda, and Hessel Winsemius
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The study was conducted along the Luangwa River in Zambia. It combines low-cost instruments such as UAVs and GPS kits to collect data for the purposes of water management. A novel technique which seamlessly merges the dry and wet bathymetry before application in a hydraulic model was applied. Successful implementation resulted in water authorities with small budgets being able to monitor flows safely and efficiently without significant compromise on accuracy.
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Short summary
A comprehensive and detailed data set of the salinity distribution over an entire year in a complex and dynamic (because heavily utilized and modified) deltaic river system was thoroughly analysed, and formed the basis for a validated analytical model that can predict the extent of seawater among other salinity sources in an estuary. The procedure can be applied to other estuaries.
A comprehensive and detailed data set of the salinity distribution over an entire year in a...
