River Runoff Research Articles

Distribution patterns of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria in sediments of the eastern China marginal seas

Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) vary in their contribution to nitrification in different environments. The eastern China marginal seas (ECMS) are featured by complex river runoffs and ocean currents, forming different sediment patches. Here, via quantitative PCR and clone library analysis of the amoA genes, we showed that AOB were more abundant than AOA in ECMS sediments. The abundance, diversity and richness of AOA, but not AOB, were higher in the East China Sea (ECS) than in the Yellow Sea (YS) and Bohai Sea (BS). Nitrosopumilus (AOA) and Nitrosospira (AOB) were predominant lineages, but their abundances varied significantly between ECS, and BS and YS. This was mainly attributed to salinity and dissolved oxygen of the bottom water. The discovery of a high abundance of Nitrosophaera at estuarine sites suggested strong terrigenous influence exerted on the AOA community. In contrast, variations in ocean conditions played more important roles in structuring the AOB community, which was separated by bottom water dissolved oxygen into two groups: the south YS, and the north YS and BS. This study provides a comprehensive insight into the spatial distribution pattern of ammonia-oxidizing prokaryotes in ECMS sediments, laying a foundation for understanding their relative roles in nitrification.

Seasonal Behaviour of Upper Ocean Freshwater Content in the Bay of Bengal:Synergistic Approach Using Model and Satellite Data

Any Change In Precipitation, Evaporation And River Discharge, By Virtue Of Its Impact On The Distribution Of Ocean Salinity, Leaves Its Inevitable Signature On The Freshwater Content (fwc) In The Oceans. In This Study, Synergistic Use Of Satellite Data And Numerical Ocean Circulation Model Is Explored To Examine The Seasonality Of Fwc Of The Upper 30 M Water Column Of The Bay Of Bengal (bob). For This Purpose, First The Sea Surface Salinity (sss) From Aquarius Is Assimilated Into A Model Of The Indian Ocean. Strength Of Assimilation Is Judged By Comparing Simulated Sss With Satellite And Argo Datasets. An Overall Improvement Of 39% Is Observed In Sss Over Free Run Of The Model Without Data Assimilation. Next, The Focus Is Shifted To The Spatial And Temporal Variability Of Fwc Of The Upper 30 M Of Bob In Relation To The Different Components Of Freshwater Forcing. A Delay Of Three Months In The Peak Of Fwc Is Observed With Respect To The Peak Of Net Freshwater Influx For Bob As A Whole. However, The Nature Of The Response Of Fwc To The Total Freshwater Input Forcing In The Major River-dominated Regions Of Bob Is Different From That For The Whole Bob. The Relative Role Of River Influx In Controlling Fwc In These Regions Is Well Brought Out In The Study. For The Ganga–brahmaputra Region, River Run-off Is Observed To Be A Crucial Parameter In Regulating Fwc, Whereas For Both Irrawaddy River Region And Central Bob, Precipitation Dominates The Response. The Response Of Salinity In The Uppermost Part Of The Northern Bob To The Total Freshwater Input Is Much More Rapid Than In The Other Regions.

Water mass dynamics in Balikpapan Bay, Eastern Kalimantan Indonesia

Balikpapan Bay (BB) located 90 km southwest of Delta Mahakam is one of estuarine systems in eastern Kalimantan directly flows into Makassar Strait. Dimension of BB is about 36 km length and between 1-14 km width, with mouth is wider than head of the bay. Water depth is much deeper (18 m) at the middle part of the bay. More than 10 secondary rivers flow into the bay to contribute large amount of freshwater mass flux. To understand physical properties and water mass dynamics, field measurement during high and low tides were conducted. The results shows that the warmer and saltier water mass are dominant at the entrance of the bay at flood period. Warmer and less salty water mass remain in the inner bay. However, during ebb, salinity is slightly decreased near the entrance and freshwater are observed in the inner bay. During both high and low tides condition, vertical stratification of water mass is very weak. The model demonstrates that this is related to large seawater flux brought by flood current from coastal waters, as well as small freshwater influx from river runoffs. Hence, the tidal dynamics significantly controls stratification and dynamics of water mass in the bay.

River Runoff Effects on the Coastal Water Transparency in the Western Black Sea

Using the data of long-term observations of the Secchi disk visibility depth and water salinity (1947-2000) and satellite monitoring of chlorophyll a concentration (1978-1986), their seasonal spatial distributions and intraannual variability in the coastal waters of the western Black Sea are considered. The estimates of seasonal variations are obtained for the coastal zone of the sea. A good agreement is demonstrated between intraannual variations in the salinity of transformed river water, chlorophyll a concentration, and transparency in the areas where these waters propagate. We studied the effects of the Danube River runoff and transformed river water on the phytoplankton development and chlorophyll a concentration which largely define water transparency.

Incorporating Natural Changes in Global Climate in Very-Long-Range Forecasting of River Runoff

A method is proposed for incorporating possible global changes in the state of the atmosphere, basing on K. Hasselmann’s theory of stochastic climate models, for assessing the significance of forecasts of variations of annual river runoff depth in the XXI century. The data used includes the results of river runoff simulation at warming, obtained using 21 IPCC climate models along with six IPCC scenarios of greenhouse gas emission, and MEI scenario. The significance index of forecasted runoff variations, i.e., the values of runoff depth increments divided by the standard error of forecasts was mapped. To demonstrate the role of the maps of significance index, which have been constructed taking into account forecast uncertainty because of the natural changes in global climate, those maps were compared with the maps of significance index calculated basing on other sources of errors. At large time scales, the uncertainty of runoff forecasts owing to natural changes in global climate plays the main role in assessing the reliability of forecasts in areas where greenhouse effect is strongest. Estimates of the significance index show that statistically significant changes in the annual runoff depth in the extreme northeast of Eurasia can be expected to occur not earlier than the late XXI century. In other RF regions, as well as in the majority of world areas, the forecasted changes in the annual runoff depth are comparable with the standard errors of the respective estimates or are less than they are.

Annual River Runoff Variations and Trends for the Andes Cordillera

Abstract We analyzed modeled river runoff variations west of the Andes Cordillera’s continental divide for 1979/80–2013/14 (35 years). Our foci were annual runoff conditions, runoff origins (rain, snowmelt, and glacier ice), and runoff spatiotemporal variability. Low and high runoff conditions were defined as occurrences that fall outside the 10th (low values) and 90th (high values) percentile values of the period of record. SnowModel and HydroFlow modeling tools were used at 4-km horizontal grid increments and 3-h time intervals. NASA Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) datasets were used as atmospheric forcing. This modeling system includes evaporation and sublimation from snow-covered surfaces, but it does not take into account evapotranspiration from bare and vegetation-covered soils and from river and lake surfaces. In general for the Andes Cordillera, the simulated runoff decreased before 1997 and increased afterward. This could be due to a model precipitation artifact in the MERRA forcing. If so, this artifact would influence the number of years with low runoff values, which decreased over time, while the number of high runoff values increased over time. For latitudes south of ~40°S, both the greatest decrease in the number of low runoff values and the greatest increase in high runoff values occurred. High runoff values averaged 84% and 58% higher than low values for nonglacierized and glacierized catchments, respectively. Furthermore, for glacierized catchments, 61% and 62% of the runoff originated from rain-derived runoff during low and high runoff extreme years, respectively; 28% and 30% from snowmelt-derived runoff; and 11% and 8% from glacier-ice-melt-derived runoff. As the results could be MERRA dependent, more work with other precipitation forcings and/or in situ measurements is needed to assess whether these are real runoff behaviors or artifacts.

Interpolation of Rainfall-River Orle Discharge for Developing 1.032 MW of Hydropower in Estako-West, Nigeria

Annual rainfall is of great importance to every nation and provides useful data on agricultural, hydrology and hydraulics designs. The research study presents the evaluation of the hydropower potential of river Orle using the analytical potential interpolation of hydrological elements (Rainfall, river discharges e.t.c) with emphasis of developing 1.032 MW power plant-reservoirs. Hydropower is a renewable energy source based on the natural water cycle and most mature, reliable and cost-effective renewable power generation technology. Gumbel’s Probability Distribution method, U.S Soil Conservation technique and empirical formulation were used to estimate maximum flood design, rainfall distribution and intensity and peak river flow. The hydrological data provided by Benin-Owena River Basin stationed in Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi and attached to Department of Civil Engineering Technology were applied for the analysis. The outputs revealed that annual average rainfall of 98.1 mm or more in 75-year; 130.1 mm or more in 50-year out of 100 years. The exceedence probability for a rainfall of 158.1mm is 0.25 with observed rainfall greater than normal. At discharge (10.77 * 10-2 m3/s), the proposed Orle hydropower scheme generated 1.032MW during the peak of wet and 76.6 KW was evaluated during the drying season at (0.80 * 10-2m3/s). The study draws a conclusion that for runoff river scheme at 41.7% flow, the total hydropower potential of 0.676 MW was evaluated.

Possible Climate Change Impact on River Runoff in the Different Regions of the Globe

The possibility ofassessing changes in river runofftill 2100 for a number oflarge river basins of the world for a wide range of natural conditions is investigated. The assessment is based on the SWAP (Soil Water–Atmosphere–Plants) model using meteorological data as inputs which were simulated with different general atmosphere–ocean circulation models in accordance with the RCP climate change scenarios. The possible climatic changes in annual runoff for some rivers by the end of the 21st century are compared with the natural interannual variability of river runoff caused by weather noise.

Assessing Amur Water Regime Variations in the XXI Century with Two Methods Used to Specify Climate Projections in River Runoff Formation Model

A regional numerical physico-mathematical model of river runoff formation is used to study the possibility to assess long-term variations of water regime characteristics in the Amur R. in the XXI century. Two methods were used to specify climate projections as boundary conditions in the hydrological model: (1) based on the results of calculations with an ensemble of global climate models of CMI5 project, (2) based on data obtained by linear transformation of series of actual meteorological observations with the use of normal annual climate parameters calculated by climate models. The results of numerical experiments were used to analyze the sensitivity of the anomaly of Amur normal annual runoff to changes in the climate normals of air temperature and precipitation. The anomalies of normal annual runoff were shown to respond similarly (within the accuracy of sensitivity coefficient estimates) to changes in the appropriate climate normals, whatever the way of specifying climate projections.

Seasonal Prediction of the Yangtze River Runoff Using a Partial Least Squares Regression Model

ABSTRACTAs the longest river in Asia and the third-longest river in the world, the Yangtze River drains a large land area of the Eurasian continent. Seasonal prediction of the Yangtze River runoff is of crucial importance yet is a challenging issue. In this study, observed monthly runoff data are used to develop a new Yangtze River runoff index (YRI) for the 1950–2016 period. The YRI is not only able to quantify the runoff state of the Yangtze River but is also able to evaluate the intensity of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM). The YRI is highly correlated with summer precipitation in the Yangtze River basin. It can also capture the principal components of the EASM circulation system.To predict the Yangtze River summer runoff, we employed a partial least squares (PLS) regression method to seek sea surface temperature (SST) modes in the previous winter associated with the YRI time series. The findings indicate that the first SST mode exhibits a strong link with the decaying phase of El Niño (or La Niña), while the second SST mode is related to a persistant mega-La Niña (or mega-El Niño). These suggest that an El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) or mega-ENSO may be an essential source of predictability for the Yangtze River summer runoff. After a 47-year training period (1950–1996), a physical-empirical PLS model is built then a 3-month-lead forecast is used to validate the model from 1997 to 2016. The PLS model exhibits promising predictive skill that is better than some state-of-the-art reanalysis data systems.

Comprehensive Research of the Coastal Water Area of the Sea of Japan and Sea of Okhotsk under the Influence of River Runoff (Cruise 71 of the R/V Professor Gagarinskii)

Comprehensive Research of the Coastal Water Area of the Sea of Japan and Sea of Okhotsk under the Influence of River Runoff (Cruise 71 of the R/V Professor Gagarinskii)

Time Series Modelling and Prediction of River Runoff: Case Study of Karkheh River, Iran

Time Series Modelling and Prediction of River Runoff: Case Study of Karkheh River, Iran

Long-term changes in the hydroclimatic characteristics in the Baikal region

Since the end of the 19th century, global air temperature has been increasing. The period after 1976 is called the period of the most intensive warming. In Russia, the average annual air temperature rises at a rate of + 0.43 ° C / 10 years. The change of precipitation over the last 50-60 years on average in Russia is not significant. In the Baikal region, precipitation increase during the warm period (10-11%) and decrease during the cold period (4%). It is reflected on hydrological regime and the factors of river flow formation. The regional features of the hydrological regime dynamics of the Baikal region against the background of climate change are considered. Groups of the rivers with similar alternations of low water and high-water periods are allocated. Trends in runoff are analyzed. The increase in air temperature leads to intra annual redistribution of river flow. The majority of statistically significant trends of river run off are observed during the cold period of year.

Modern Approaches to Mathematical Modeling of River Runoff in the Territory of the European Part of Russia

This article deals with the construction of mathematical models, which describe the dependence of the river runoff modulus in the territory of the European part of Russia on landscape-geographical conditions and anthropogenic load using modern regression-type statistical models. The obtained models reflect about 80% of the variability of the data and provide acceptable forecast accuracy. As well as these models reflect the main dependencies of river runoff on the conditions of its formation in the research scale. Spatial extrapolation of the river runoff values to the hydrologically unexplored areas of the European part of Russia is performed.

Application of MIKE SHE to study the impact of coal mining on river runoff in Gujiao mining area, Shanxi, China.

Coal mining is one of the core industries that contribute to the economic development of a country but deteriorate the environment. Being the primary source of energy, coal has become essential to meet the energy demand of a country. It is excavated by both opencast and underground mining methods and affects the environment, especially hydrological cycle, by discharging huge amounts of mine water. Natural hydrological processes have been well known to be vulnerable to human activities, especially large scale mining activities, which inevitably generate surface cracks and subsidence. It is therefore valuable to assess the impact of mining on river runoff for the sustainable development of regional economy. In this paper, the impact of coal mining on river runoff is assessed in one of the national key coal mining sites, Gujiao mining area, Shanxi Province, China. The characteristics of water cycle are described, the similarities and differences of runoff formation are analyzed in both coal mining and pre-mining periods. The integrated distributed hydrological model named MIKE SHE is employed to simulate and evaluate the influence of coal mining on river runoff. The study shows that mining one ton of raw coal leads to the reduction of river runoff by 2.87 m3 between 1981 and 2008, of which the surface runoff decreases by 0.24 m3 and the baseflow by 2.63 m3. The reduction degree of river runoff for mining one ton of raw coal shows an increasing trend over years. The current study also reveals that large scale coal mining initiates the formation of surface cracks and subsidence, which intercepts overland flow and enhances precipitation infiltration. Together with mine drainage, the natural hydrological processes and the stream flows have been altered and the river run off has been greatly reduced.

RCP8.5-Based Future Flood Hazard Analysis for the Lower Mekong River Basin

Climatic variations caused by the excessive emission of greenhouse gases are likely to change the patterns of precipitation, runoff processes, and water storage of river basins. Various studies have been conducted based on precipitation outputs of the global scale climatic models under different emission scenarios. However, there is a limitation in regional- and local-scale hydrological analysis on extreme floods with the combined application of high-resolution atmospheric general circulation models’ (AGCM) outputs and physically-based hydrological models (PBHM). This study has taken an effort to overcome that limitation in hydrological analysis. The present and future precipitation, river runoff, and inundation distributions for the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) were analyzed to understand hydrological changes in the LMB under the RCP8.5 scenario. The downstream area beyond the Kratie gauging station, located in the Cambodia and Vietnam flood plains was considered as the LMB in this study. The bias-corrected precipitation outputs of the Japan Meteorological Research Institute atmospheric general circulation model (MRI-AGCM3.2S) with 20 km horizontal resolution were utilized as the precipitation inputs for basin-scale hydrological simulations. The present climate (1979–2003) was represented by the AMIP-type simulations while the future (2075–2099) climatic conditions were obtained based on the RCP8.5 greenhouse gas scenario. The entire hydrological system of the Mekong basin was modelled by the block-wise TOPMODEL (BTOP) hydrological model with 20 km resolution, while the LMB area was modelled by the rainfall-runoff-inundation (RRI) model with 2 km resolution, specifically to analyze floods under the aforementioned climatic conditions. The comparison of present and future river runoffs, inundation distributions and inundation volume changes were the outcomes of the study, which can be supportive information for the LMB flood management, water policy, and water resources development.

Tree Shelterbelts as an Element to Improve Water Resource Management in Central Asia

In Central Asia, agriculture, notably irrigated agriculture, is the largest water consumer. Currently, flood and furrow irrigation are the dominant irrigation methods in Central Asia, in particular in the post-Soviet countries. Against the background of current and increasing competition for water—e.g., through reduced river runoffs in the course of climate change—water consumption of agriculture needs to be reduced. On the field plot level, improved irrigation technologies, like drip irrigation or plastic mulch, can reduce water consumption substantially. Alternatively, tree lines as wind breaks (shelterbelts) also can reduce crop water consumption, as shown by research from many drylands around the world. As previous research has concentrated on crop water consumption and not on tree water consumption, this paper brings the two together, in order to approach a more holistic picture, in how far shelterbelt systems, including the trees, may have the potential to save water or not. Crop water consumption was assessed through the Penman–Monteith approach for corn, wheat, potato, barley, and pear under open field conditions and under an assumed influence of a tree shelterbelt. Tree water consumption was investigated through sap flow measurements. Crop water consumption was reduced by 10–12% under influence of a shelterbelt compared to open field conditions. When water consumption of shelterbelts was added, a slight reduction of water consumption of the whole crop-shelterbelt system was found for corn, potato, and pear under the assumption 25 ha (500 × 500 m) field sizes. Under an assumption of 4 ha (200 × 200 m) field size, water consumption of the whole crop-shelterbelt system was higher for all crops investigated except for pear. The results suggest that shelterbelts may play a role in improving water resource management in Central Asia in the context of water demanding crops, like corn or cotton. In further research, other effects of shelterbelts, like increased crop yields and additional income from trees, need to be investigated.

A Computed River Flow-Based Turbine Controller on a Programmable Logic Controller for Run-Off River Hydroelectric Systems

The main feature of a run-off river hydroelectric system is a small size intake pond that overspills when river flow is more than turbines’ intake. As river flow fluctuates, a large proportion of the potential energy is wasted due to the spillages which can occur when turbines are operated manually. Manual operation is often adopted due to unreliability of water level-based controllers at many remote and unmanned run-off river hydropower plants. In order to overcome these issues, this paper proposes a novel method by developing a controller that derives turbine output set points from computed mass flow rate of rivers that feed the hydroelectric system. The computed flow is derived by summation of pond volume difference with numerical integration of both turbine discharge flows and spillages. This approach of estimating river flow allows the use of existing sensors rather than requiring the installation of new ones. All computations, including the numerical integration, have been realized as ladder logics on a programmable logic controller. The implemented controller manages the dynamic changes in the flow rate of the river better than the old point-level based controller, with the aid of a newly installed water level sensor. The computed mass flow rate of the river also allows the controller to straightforwardly determine the number of turbines to be in service with considerations of turbine efficiencies and auxiliary power conservation.

Особенности формирования речного стока в озерно-речных системах водосбора западной части Белого моря

Особенности формирования речного стока в озерно-речных системах водосбора западной части Белого моря

SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF SEA SURFACE SALINITY USING SATELLITE IMAGERY IN GULF OF MEXICO

Abstract. The recent development of satellite sea surface salinity (SSS) observations has enabled us to analyse SSS variations with high spatiotemporal resolution. In this regards, The Level3-version4 data observed by Aquarius are used to examine the variability of SSS in Gulf of Mexico for the 2012-2014 time periods. The highest SSS value occurred in April 2013 with the value of 36.72 psu while the lowest value (35.91 psu) was observed in July 2014. Based on the monthly distribution maps which will be demonstrated in the literature, it was observed that east part of the region has lower salinity values than the west part for all months mainly because of the currents which originate from low saline waters of the Caribbean Sea and furthermore the eastward currents like loop current. Also the minimum amounts of salinity occur in coastal waters where the river runoffs make fresh the high saline waters. Our next goal here is to study the patterns of sea surface temperature (SST), chlorophyll-a (CHLa) and fresh water flux (FWF) and examine the contributions of them to SSS variations. So by computing correlation coefficients, the values obtained for SST, FWF and CHLa are 0.7, 0.22 and 0.01 respectively which indicated high correlation of SST on SSS variations. Also by considering the spatial distribution based on the annual means, it found that there is a relationship between the SSS, SST, CHLa and the latitude in the study region which can be interpreted by developing a mathematical model.