Rhine River Research Articles

A Comprehensive Gridded Dataset Associated to the Climate Change Effect on the Water Resources in the Grand Est Region, France

Water resources and environment quality are nowadays under high pressure because of climate change, land use practices, as well as human actions. A comprehensive gridded dataset becomes a necessary instrument to assess the risk level at regional scale, and also for territorial planning, the defining strategies to address future natural and anthropological challenges. In order to obtain a complete database with the most important parameters at spatial scale, this study is constructed as a preparation of layers used for various environmental risks, but mostly with the climate change effect on the water resources from the Grand Est region, France. In addition, geological formations, terrain data, and land cover were harmonized as grid format for the study area. Thus, the temperature and precipitation parameters, related to the 1961–1990 (1990s), 2011–2040 (2020s), and 2041–2070 (2050s), become useful data for evapotranspiration, water availability, and effective precipitation calculations. The geology layer indicates the composition and types of aquifers and it contributes to the potential infiltration map (PIM). The morphology of the terrain contributes to the slope angle and PIM. Through the typology of land cover, the pollution load index (PLI) was estimated. The findings indicate intense aridization and the depletion of the effective precipitation (below 650 mm) during the present and future periods. With respect to these concerns, the surface waters and groundwater resources from the Grand Est region are experiencing the negative effects of climate change on runoff and aquifers recharge respectively. In addition, the high PLI in the industrial and agricultural areas contribute to the possibility of the increasing water resources vulnerability. The affected areas extend mainly in the western, north-central, and north-eastern parts of the region, mainly in the Rhine, Aube, and Marne Valleys. Considered as a precious resource in the region, the water management should follow best practices for vulnerability and risk assessment, and further to delineate the protection areas. As a comprehensive gridded dataset, the calculations and original maps presented in this paper represent a complex product with main environmental parameters processed at spatial scale of 1 km2 in ArcGIS. This product has the purpose to integrate the geospatial data for the Grand Est region of France.

Independence of microplastic ingestion from environmental load in the round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) from the Rhine river using high quality standards

Rivers play a crucial role in collecting and transporting microplastics. Nonetheless, the degree to which microplastic pollution of freshwaters affects its biota remains understudied. Sampling of wild fishes has so far demonstrated that microplastic ingestion occurs commonly across species with alternate feeding modes, as well as in different environmental compartments. Due to the exploratory nature of many preceding studies, drawing insight about factors driving microplastic ingestion has remained difficult. It continues unknown for instance, what the importance of varying environmental microplastic concentrations is to predict ingestion rates in fish from those areas. Here we show that ingestion rates of microplastic particles (>300 μm) in the benthic round goby from the Rhine river were negligible (1 particle in 417 fish). Among the 535 visually selected putative microplastic fragments, stringent data processing steps to reduce the number of false positives during reference library searches, revealed the importance of taking such steps into account in comparison with other data processing routines. Our observations remained consistent, despite having collected fish from a strongly polluted site of the lower Rhine, which served as contrast to a significantly cleaner site upstream. These results demonstrate that higher environmental microplastic concentrations are not necessarily mirrored by higher ingestion rates in a given fish species.

The Diest Formation: a review of insights from the last decades

Research conducted since the 1960s on the upper Miocene Diest Formation in NE Belgium is reviewed and integrated. Their lithology unites the deposits of the glauconiferous Diest Sand in one formation, though biozones and internal sedimentary structures strongly suggest the formation may agglomerate the deposits of two separate, successive sedimentary cycles. The lowermost cycle is thought to have deposited the "Hageland Diest sand" during the early or middle Tortonian. It contains the Diest Sand in the main outcrop area in Hageland, Zuiderkempen and central Limburg, and probably also the Deurne Member near the city of Antwerpen. It furthermore includes the lower part of the Dessel Member in the central Kempen and in the Belgian part of the Roer Valley Graben (RVG). The Hageland Diest cycle represents the infill of a large tidal inlet tributary to the southern North Sea bight, then situated over the southern Netherlands and the Lower Rhine embayment. The Hageland Diest sand has the composition of a marine deposit, yet the confined area of occurrence and the presence of tens of metres deep incisions at the base, set it apart. The confinement of the embayment, strong tides and a steady supply of coastal‐marine sand are invoked as the main driving forces that resulted in the distinctive geometry and internal architecture of the unit. The upper cycle is associated with the "Kempen Diest sand", which is found in the subsurface of the RVG and the Noorderkempen. It has a late Tortonian to earliest Messinian age with progressively younger ages occurring to the NW. It encompasses the upper part of the Dessel Member and the overlying, coarser Diest Sand, and correlates to most or all of the thickly developed Diessen Formation in The Netherlands. It is the deposit of a prograding marine delta, containing both marine components and continental components fed by the palaeo‐Meuse/Rhine river mouths. Accommodation space kept increasing during deposition, due to subsidence of the deposition area, especially inside the RVG but also in the Noorderkempen. Although there is a fair consensus on the above, many concrete points about the geometry and depositional history of the Diest Formation and even a definitive decision on its single or dual character remain to be sorted out. In addition, this review excludes the Flemish Hills sand and the Gruitrode Member from the Diest Formation.

Tracking the spread of the northern bark beetle (Ips duplicatus [Sahlb.]) in Europe and first records from Switzerland and Liechtenstein

The northern bark beetle (Ips duplicatus), in Europe originally restricted to northern countries, expanded its distribution range to eastern Europe in the 20th century and is now causing considerable damage in spruce forests. In the past decades its presence has been confirmed in several Central European countries. By means of pheromone traps and visual inspection of infested logs, in this study we demonstrate that I. duplicatus is also present in the Rhine valley in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Breeding galleries with beetles and exit holes in an infested spruce log indicate that the trapped beetles had successfully developed in a local stand nearby. An inquiry addressed to European entomologists was carried out to obtain information and references concerning the year of the first record or mention of I. duplicatus in their respective countries. This information substantiated the expansion of its historical range to the southeast in the middle of the last century and clearly showed recent movement westward, with Switzerland and Germany currently the westernmost countries where this species occurs. This recent range expansion is likely attributed to the transport of infested timber. The economic significance of this expanding bark beetle species is discussed in view of its co-occurrence with the notorious pest species I. typographus.

Issues and Principles on Non-Navigational Use of International Watercourses

The concept of international watercourse has been used in many international conventions referring to a river and its tributaries and related canals crossing two or more countries. The notable ones include the Mekong River which crosses five states in the East Asia region and the Danube and Rhine rivers which cross 12 states in Europe. This article addresses relevant international principle which will justify the claims and counter-claims on non-navigational use of international watercourses. It justifies the conflicting parties’ demands on shared watercourses. Accordingly, this paper adopts the qualitative doctrinal analysis of the principle of reasonable and equitable utilization under the United Nations Convention on the International Watercourses (UNWC) 1997. Relevant provisions will be analysed and harnessed in addressing the respective conflict and weighing each argument of the conflicting parties. It is hoped that the utilisation of the available legal recourses will help strengthen the existing legal framework in solving conflict over non-navigational use of international watercourses.

Spatial and temporal disparities in human subsistence in the Neolithic Rhineland gateway

The Alsace region bordering the Rhine River was extensively occupied during the Neolithic by farming societies with domesticated animal. The first settlers were two sub-groups of the Linearbandkeramik who appeared to diverge in several respects, including: pottery styles, house orientations and funerary rituals. To explore whether this was reflected in food procurement practices investigations were performed of organic residues in nearly 900 pottery vessels from sites across the region. The results reveal lipid biomarker and stable carbon evidence for exploitation of plant and bee products, and most significantly, extensive domestic animal products including: non-ruminant carcass products, and ruminant primary and secondary products. Critically, culturally-related economic differences were seen spatially between the upper and lower Alsatian groups. Temporal differences were confirmed using compound-specific radiocarbon dating of fatty acids preserved in potsherds, showing that while milk exploitation was widespread during the early Neolithic in UA, it only became commonplace in LA generations later.

Projection of Droughts as Multivariate Phenomenon in the Rhine River

Drought is a complex phenomenon whose characterization is best achieved from a multivariate perspective. It is well known that it can generate adverse consequences in society. In this regard, drought duration, severity, and their interrelationship play a critical role. In a climate change scenario, drought characterization and the assessment of the changes in its pattern are essential for a proper quantification of water availability and managing strategies. The purpose of this study is to characterize hydrological droughts in the Rhine River in a multivariate perspective for the historical period and estimate the expected multivariate drought patterns for the next decades. Further, a comparison of bivariate drought patterns between historical and future projections is performed for different return periods. This will, first, indicate if changes can be expected and, second, what the magnitudes of these possible changes could be. Finally, the underlying uncertainty due to climate projections is estimated. Four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) are used along with five General Circulation Models (GCM). The HBV hydrological model is used to simulate discharge in both periods. Characterization of droughts is accomplished by the Standardized Runoff Index and the interdependence between drought severity and duration is modelled by a two-dimensional copula. Projections from different climate models show important differences in the estimation of the number of drought events for different return periods. This study reveals that duration and severity present a clear interrelationship, suggesting strongly the appropriateness of a bivariate model. Further, projections show that the bivariate interdependencies between drought duration and severity show clearly differences depending on GCMs and RCPs. Apart from the influence of GCMs and RCMs, it is found that return periods also play an important role in these relationships and uncertainties. Finally, important changes in the bivariate drought patterns between the historical period and future projections are estimated constituting important information for water management purposes.

MAPPING OF WATER SURFACE LEVELS AND SLOPES WITH SINGLE PHOTON LIDAR – A CASE STUDY AT THE RIVER RHINE

Abstract. Precise knowledge of water surface level heights is crucial for safe ship navigation and as basis for calibration of hydrodynamic-numerical models. While Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) is a well established technique for topographic mapping, ALS-based water surface mapping using conventional infrared lasers suffers from the high degree of specular reflection which leads to data voids for off-nadir angles beyond 5–7 degrees. The advent of single photon sensitive ALS systems using green laser sources presents the prospect of large-area, high-resolution water surface mapping due to the high receiver sensitivity and measurement rate of such systems. Building on previous studies on subject matters, we present the results of a pilot project initiated and conducted by the German Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG, Koblenz) at the Rhine River. Three specific test sites with varying water surface and flow velocity properties were captured on October 30th and 31th, 2019 with the Leica SPL100 from flying altitudes of 3000 m, 2500 m, 1600 m, and 800 m, respectively. As anticipated, the water surface laser pulse density was high and exhibited 20–145 points/m2 depending on flying altitude. After quality control, strip adjustment, and point cloud analysis, three water surface classification methods were implemented based on: (i) height quantiles, (ii) point cloud segmentation, and (iii) inverse DTM filtering. All approaches featured relative and absolute water level height accuracies better than 10 cm. We conclude that Single Photon LiDAR based high resolution mapping of water surface levels and tilts is feasible when employing application specific data acquisition parameters, i.e., off-nadir angle ≤10° and flying altitude ≤3000 m.

Forecasting low flow conditions months in advance through teleconnection patterns, with a special focus on summer 2018

Over the past decades, Europe has been affected by several low flow periods which had substantial impacts on the hydrology of the rivers themselves as well as on the society and economy. Low flow periods have a direct impact on the environment, on the inland waterway navigation, on the hydropower production as well as on the sediment management, among others. Similar to floods, low flows are naturally occurring phenomena which can significantly hinder different uses and functions of the rivers and impact the aquatic system and the water quality. Moreover, it is projected that, in the future, climate change might lead to drier summers over the European region and therefore to more frequent and severe low flow periods. The results presented here show that the summer 2018 low flow situation, over the Rhine and Elbe Rivers basin, could have been predicted up to two seasons ahead by using previous months' sea surface temperature, sea level pressure, precipitation, mean air temperature and soil moisture. The lagged relationship between the predictand (e.g. seasonal streamflow) and the climate and oceanic predictors varies between 1 month (e.g. precipitation) up to 6 months (e.g. sea surface temperature). Taking into account that all predictors are available in real-time, the forecast scheme can be used to provide early warnings for the upcoming low flow situations, thus offering the possibility for better management of the water resources.

LiDAR-derived high-resolution palaeo-DEM construction workflow and application to the early medieval Lower Rhine valley and upper delta

Reconstruction of past topography in palaeo-DEMs serves various geomorphological analyses. Constructing a palaeo-DEM by stripping young elements from a LiDAR DEM can provide results for large study areas at high resolution. However, such a ‘top-down’ approach is more suited to recent periods and geomorphologically static parts of the landscape than to geomorphologically dynamic areas and periods farther back in time. Here, we explore this approach by reconstructing the early medieval (circa 800CE) topography of the Lower Rhine river valley and upper delta in Germany and the Netherlands. The large (4500km2) study area contains abundant anthropogenic terrain modification and stretches across geomorphologically active as well as inactive zones. We first removed all anthropogenic relief elements from the LiDAR DEM, using separate procedures for linear and non-linear elements. These steps were sufficient to obtain the palaeotopography of the inactive zone, characterized by inherited natural relief. Then, we reconstructed the topography and bathymetry in the fluvially-reworked active zone by incorporating geological and historical geographical information. We present and evaluate zonal averages of elevation differences between the modern and past valley floor topography in this densely populated area with complex land-use history, which allows us to approximate total anthropogenic volumetric change. Further comparisons with the modern LiDAR DEM elucidate changes in floodplain negative-relief connectivity, showing the potential importance of investing in palaeo-DEMs when assessing past river flooding. Our palaeo-DEM construction workflow is deployable at diverse spatial scales and widely applicable to other lowland areas, because of its top-down and generic nature. The relative importance of different workflow aspects depends on the time period that is targeted. Beyond a target age of 10–15ka, valley floors that are too large in area are to be considered geomorphologically dynamic and the top-down approach to palaeo-DEM construction is no longer advisable.

An innovative bivariate approach to detect joint temporal trends in environmental conditions: Application to large French rivers and diadromous fish

Most key life-events of organisms are synchronized by complex interactions of several environmental cues to ensure optimal survival and growth of individuals and their offspring. However, global change is known to affect multiple components of ecosystems and cues at the same time. Therefore, detecting joint trends in covariate time series is a crucial challenge in global change ecology that has rarely been addressed so far. In this context, we designed an innovative combination of kernel density estimations and Mann-Kendall trend tests to detect joint temporal trends in a pair of environmental variables. This methodological framework was tested on >30 years (1976–2019) of water temperature and discharge data for 6 large French rivers (the Garonne, Dordogne, Rhône, Rhine, Loire and Vienne rivers). The implications of such trends in both temperature and discharge for diadromous species key life-cycle processes were then explored by checking if significant bivariate environmental changes occurred during seasons of upstream and downstream migration, and reproductive activities. Results were contrasted between rivers and seasons: many rivers displayed an increase in the number of days with high water temperature and low river discharge, but local discharge regulation measures could have mitigated the trend in discharge. Our findings showed that species migrating or spawning in spring were likely to be strongly impacted by the new environmental conditions in the Garonne, Loire and Rhône rivers, given the marked changes in water temperature and discharge associations detected by our new method. Conditions experienced by fall-running and spawning species have been strongly affected in all the rivers studied. This innovative methodology was implemented in a new R package, ChocR, for application to other environments and ecosystems.

Leonard Horner in Bonn 1831–1833, finding loess and being incorporated into Lyell’s Loess Legion

Abstract Leonard Horner (1785–1864) was a pioneer in the study of loess. His 1836 paper on the geology of Bonn contained detailed descriptions of loess in the Rhine valley. He identified and presented loess as an interesting material for geological study. He investigated loess in the crater of the Rodderberg with Charles Lyell in 1833. He presented the first significant paper on loess in Britain in 1833, but it was not published until 1836. With the assistance of G.A. Goldfuss and J.J. Noegerath he conducted early studies of the Siebengebirge and published the first geological map of the region, and the first picture of loess, at Rhondorf by the Drachenfels. He became the eleventh person to be included in the list of loess scholars which Charles Lyell published in volume 3 of the Principles of Geology. These were Leonhard, Bronn, Boue, Voltz, Steininger, Merian, Rozet, Hibbert in 1833, Noeggerath, von Meyer in 1835, Horner in 1837. Horner arrived after the publication of his studies on the loess at Bonn in 1836.

VILLAGES WITH FORTIFIED CHURCHES IN TRANSYLVANIA: ARCHITECTURE, HISTORY AND INTANGIBLE CULTURE

Abstract. Romania's significant German (Saxon) heritage is perfectly conserved in southern Transylvania, where Saxons arrived in the mid-1100s from the Rhine and Moselle river regions. Highly respected for their skill and talent, this population succeeded in gaining administrative autonomy, a feat practically unrivalled through a feudal Europe of absolute monarchies. The result of almost nine centuries of existence of the Saxon (German) community in southern Transylvania is still visible today in a stunning melting pot of cultural and architectural heritage, unique in Europe. Within the framework of the project “3d Past, Living & virtual visiting European World Heritage” the set of 7 villages (Biertan, Câlnic, Dârjiu, Prejmer, Saschiz, Valea Viilor, Viscri) listed by UNESCO since 1993, have been studied in detail. Strategies for maintenance and conservation have been analysed in order to contribute to the awareness and preservation of the principles of authenticity and integrity of those sites.

Materiality and cultural formation

Materiality and cultural formation

Current research status of large river systems: a cross-continental comparison.

Rivers play an irreplaceable role in nature and human society but are the most vulnerable ecosystem in the world to multiple environmental stressors. However, the global-scale research status and the distribution patterns of major stressors in large rivers remain unclear. This study analysed research publications (12,807 documents from 1900 to 2019) related to six large rivers with continental representativeness to tackle these knowledge gaps. The results showed that the total outputs have grown rapidly over the study period, particularly since the 1990s. Consistent with the varied environmental characteristics and problems among the rivers, the research outputs and focuses demonstrated clear differences, which could further be attributed to geographical location, journal preferences and the economic strength of the country in which the river is located. Overall, climate change was the most frequently and widely considered environmental stressor in large rivers. Regardless of climate change, species diversity and hydropower development were widely addressed in the Amazon, Congo and Mekong river basins. Water pollution was the main stressor studied in the Rhine River and Mississippi River, while agricultural irrigation and drought were the most frequently addressed research subjects in the Murray-Darling River. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the research status and stressor distribution in large global rivers, highlighting the relationship between river research and geographical regions, pointing out future research directions and providing management guidance for large rivers.

Progression du moustique tigre en France : surveillance transfrontalière dans le Grand-Est

Vector of chikungunya, dengue and zika viruses, the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus is also one of the most invasive species in the world. Due to its both biological (resistant and diapausing eggs) and behavioural (following human in their vehicles) characteristics, the tiger mosquito has quickly colonised the whole World through passive dispersal via international trade and travel.Therefore, the invasive mosquitoes including Ae. albopictus are tracked by entomological surveillances at local, national and international scales. The use of ovitraps and citizen reports allows experts to monitor the evolution of its colonisation. Over the last 30 years, the tiger mosquito has established in Europe and settled in France since 2004. Ten years later, it has been detected in the administrative unit of Bas-Rhin (France) which is part of the Upper Rhine valley, a wider area spanning France, Germany and Switzerland. As no administrative borders can prevent invasive mosquitoes' colonisation, this issue has brought together assets of a European collaboration at a cross border scale. Thereby, the common tri-national surveillance network (Interreg, TIGER) enables the colonisation monitoring of the three invasive mosquito species already detected on both sides of borders: Ae. albopictus, Ae. japonicus and Ae. koreicus. Considering a cross-border area, integrating the European scale for vector monitoring and control is thus a major asset to the issue of arboviruses vectors.

Cameralism and the production of space in the eighteenth-century Romanian Banat: the grid villages of the ‘Danube Swabians’

This article addresses the origin, morphology and significance of planned villages associated with the Habsburg colonization of the Romanian Banat, a region in east-central Europe comprising parts of present day Serbia, Romania and Hungary, in the eighteenth century. In an effort to repopulate and bring into agricultural production a territory that had been devastated by warfare, the Habsburg state under Maria Theresa and Joseph II devised and directed a series of large scale, systematic efforts to colonize the region, primarily with German speaking farmers from the upper Rhine valley. One of the most distinctive features of the cultural landscape produced by this colonization was dozens of centrally planned agricultural villages featuring Baroque architectural elements. Most of these villages adhered to a regular, rectilinear form, but other forms, such as street villages and circular hamlets, were employed as well. Together, these town and village morphologies comprise a planned, systematic settlement pattern that is found in few other places in Europe, and as such sets the region apart. Employing fieldwork and archival research, the paper describes the characteristic elements of these villages and uses ideas of the production of space as a framework for understanding the distinctive historical-political discourses encoded in this cultural landscape.

Towards Sustainable River Management of the Dutch Rhine River

Two thousand years of human interventions has heavily modified the Dutch Rhine river. Situated in a densely populated and developed delta, the river and its infrastructure fulfil important societal functions: safety against flooding, inland waterways, nature, freshwater supply, and agriculture. Programs to improve individual functions increasingly lead to conflicts with other functions and therefore call for an integrated approach. This paper reviews the history of the Dutch Rhine and documents the sectoral improvement programs in recent decades, explaining adverse effects such as the large-scale bed degradation at rates of up to 4 cm per year. The lessons from the past are used to propose avenues for future integrated and sustainable river training and river management, arguing that mitigating adverse effects while maintaining societal functions requires a combination of recurrent sediment management measures and extensive structural measures that may change the layout of the river system.

Pagination printed by Aldus Manutius

Pagination is an important element of the modern book, but the development of pagination and printing techniques have not been adequately studied. The author of this paper discusses pagination by Aldus Manutius (ca. 1450-1515) and his influence on the contemporary printers. Aldus printed 17 paginated books between 1499 and 1514, of which 13 books were printed in Greek (Table 1). His pagination can be divided into three types. Type A comprises books in which the page numbers were printed at the rightmost point of the headline on the recto page and at the leftmost point of the headline on the verso page. Type B comprises books in which the page numbers were printed in the middle of the headline on both the recto and verso pages. Type C comprises books in which the page numbers were printed at the rightmost point of the headline on both the recto and verso pages (Figure 1). Aldus’ preferred Type A and trialled Type B and C paginations when printing in octavo format. He tested all these types until 1508. Among these 17 paginated books, Aldus provided table of contents to nine books (Nos 2, 4, 6-8, and 12-15) and provided index to two books (Nos 1 and 6). But other seven books (Nos 3, 5, 9-11 and 16-17) were not provided any table of contents and index. It is certain that Aldus’s pagination was mainly intended to indicate the positions of the text by page numbers in a table of contents. His works influenced directly Lyon, Florence, and Basel. Johann Froben of Basel (ca. 1460-1527) printed many paginated books including Erasmus’s works, and Greek and Roman classics (Figure 3). Due to Froben’s efforts, pagination spread throughout the Rhine River Basin, Paris, and Antwerp until 1520, and then appeared at some leading centres of printing in East and South Germany, and England (Table 2).

Efficient or Fair? Operationalizing Ethical Principles in Flood Risk Management: A Case Study on the Dutch-German Rhine.

Flood risk management decisions in many countries are based on decision‐support frameworks which rely on cost‐benefit analyses. Such frameworks are seldom informative about the geographical distribution of risk, raising questions on the fairness of the proposed policies. In the present work, we propose a new decision criterion that accounts for the distribution of risk reduction and apply it to support flood risk management decisions on a transboundary stretch of the Rhine River. Three types of interventions are considered: embankment heightening, making Room for the River, and changing the discharge distribution of the river branches. The analysis involves solving a flood risk management problem according to four alternative formulations, based on different ethical principles. Formulations based on cost optimization lead to very poor performances in some areas for the sake of reducing the overall aggregated costs. Formulations that also include equity criteria have different results depending on how these are defined. When risk reduction is distributed equally, very poor economic performance is achieved. When risk is distributed equally, results are in line with formulations based on cost optimization, while a fairer risk distribution is achieved. Risk reduction measures also differ, with the cost optimization approach strongly favoring the leverage of changing the discharge distribution and the alternative formulations spending more on embankment heightening and Room for the River, to rebalance inequalities in risk levels. The proposed method advances risk‐based decision‐making by allowing to consider risk distribution aspects and their impacts on the choice of risk reduction measures.