Can spatial statistical river temperature models be transferred between catchments?

Jackson, Faye L.; Fryer, Robert J.; Hannah, David M.; Malcolm, Iain A.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4727-2017

Articles | Volume 21, issue 9

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4727-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4727-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 21, issue 9

Research article

|

21 Sep 2017

Research article |

| 21 Sep 2017

Can spatial statistical river temperature models be transferred between catchments?

Faye L. Jackson, Robert J. Fryer, David M. Hannah, and Iain A. Malcolm

Data sets

Maximum 7-day rolling mean of maximum temperatures for August 2015 for the rivers Spey, Dee, Tweed and Bladnoch F. L. Jackson, R. J. Fryer, D. M. Hannah, and I. A. Malcolm https://doi.org/10.7489/1991-1

Catchment Boundaries Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) http://gis.sepa.org.uk/rbmp/

UKCP09: Daily gridded air temperature dataset UK MET Office https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climatechange/science/monitoring/ukcp09/

Sub-set of UK digital 1:50000 scale river centre-line network R. V. Moore, D. G. Morris, and R. W. Flavin https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/maps/a78c90a2-8da4-4f0a-9c6a-c1d1a4a3c2b0?request=getCapabilities&service=WMS&

Short summary

River temperature (T_w) is important to fish populations, but one cannot monitor everywhere. Thus, models are used to predict T_w, sometimes in rivers with no data. To date, the accuracy of these predictions has not been determined. We found that models including landscape predictors (e.g. altitude, tree cover) could describe spatial patterns in T_w in other rivers better than those including air temperature. Such findings are critical for developing T_w models that have management application.