Abstract
Abstract. The link between landscape properties and hydrological functioning is the very foundation of hydrological sciences. The fundamental perception that landscape organisation and its hydrological and biogeochemical processes co-develop is often discussed. However, different landscape characteristics and hydrological processes interact in complex ways. Hence, the causal links between both are usually not directly deducible from our observations. So far no common concepts have been established to connect observations, properties and functions at and between different scales. This special issue hosts a broad set of original studies indicating the current state and progress in our understanding of different facets of dynamic hydrological systems across various scales. It is organised as a joint special issue in HESS and ESSD, with the purpose of providing the scientific insights in combination with the underlying data sets and study design. While the individual studies contribute to distinct aspects of the link between landscape characteristics and hydrological functioning, it remained difficult to compile their specific findings to more general conclusions. In this preface, we summarise the contributions. In the search for ways to synthesise these individual studies to the overall topic of linking landscape organisation and hydrological functioning, we suggest four major points how this process could be facilitated in the future: (i) formulating clear and testable research hypotheses, (ii) establishing appropriate sampling designs to test these hypotheses, (iii) fully providing the data and code, and (iv) clarifying and communicating scales of observations and concepts as well as scale transfers.
Highlights
The challenge to unify our understanding of landscape organisation and its hydrological functioning is a long-standing issue in hydrological sciences – maybe as old as our disci-Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.C
In the search for ways to synthesise these individual studies to the overall topic of linking landscape organisation and hydrological functioning, we suggest four major points how this process could be facilitated in the future: (i) formulating clear and testable research hypotheses, (ii) establishing appropriate sampling designs to test these hypotheses, (iii) fully providing the data and code, and (iv) clarifying and communicating scales of observations and concepts as well as scale transfers
Landscape organisation appearing as self-similar patterns (Rodriguez-Iturbe and Rinaldo, 1997), structured flow paths (Flury et al, 1994; Nimmo, 2016), thermodynamic optimality (Kleidon and Schymanski, 2008; Phillips, 2016) and other forms has always driven approaches to derive the relationship between the dominating hydrological and biogeochemical processes (Lin, 2010; Laudon and Sponseller, 2018) and identifiable landscape signatures (Gharari et al, 2011)
Summary
Jackisch et al.: Preface: Linking landscape organisation and hydrological functioning pline itself In this we search for the influence of the spatial arrangement of landscape elements on fluxes, storage, mixing and release of water, solutes and energy and vice versa (Grayson and Blöschl, 2000). Consistency and transparency of measurement data form the very foundation for building this understanding, we explicitly invited companion papers in HESS and ESSD to the special issue to underline the role of data in the research for concepts of hydrological landscape functioning. In this preface we give an overview of the contributions regarding their research focus and main results.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
