Using water temperature series and hydraulic heads to quantify hyporheic exchange in the riparian zone

Abstract

Surface-water/groundwater exchange through the evaluation of riparian-zone temperature data has attracted increasing attention in recent years. The Fox Ditch Canal, Nevada, USA, was chosen for this study on seasonal variations of riparian-zone water exchange. Groundwater temperature and hydraulic head real-time monitoring data were collected from March to November 2012. A calibrated hydro-thermal coupling model was used to characterize the riparian-zone temporal and spatial temperature distribution, thereby providing a standard against which the performances of four analytical solution models for calculated riparian-zone vertical seepage velocity could be assessed. The results indicated that the proposed model provided a simulation that was able to represent dynamic changes in riparian-zone soil temperature. Although small variations in patterns and magnitudes of riparian-zone water exchange were evident at a daily scale, they varied significantly over a seasonal scale. Comparison of the results of the four analytical solutions and numerical computation found that the Hatch solution by the amplitude method provided the highest accuracy for calculating groundwater velocity in this area (2.47 × 10−6 to 3.15 × 10−6 m/s). Global sensitivity analysis of hydro-thermal coupling model parameters showed that porosity had the most significant impact on temperature in the model.