Integrating Knowledge for River Basin Management: Progress in Thailand

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

The Power of Environmental Observatories for Advancing Multidisciplinary Research, Outreach, and Decision Support: The Case of the Minnesota River Basin

Observatory‐scale data collection efforts allow unprecedented opportunities for integrative, multidisciplinary investigations in large, complex watersheds, which can affect management decisions and policy. Through the National Science Foundation‐funded REACH (REsilience under Accelerated CHange) project, in collaboration with the Intensively Managed Landscapes‐Critical Zone Observatory, we have collected a series of multidisciplinary data sets throughout the Minnesota River Basin in south‐central Minnesota, USA, a 43,400‐km2 tributary to the Upper Mississippi River. Postglacial incision within the Minnesota River valley created an erosional landscape highly responsive to hydrologic change, allowing for transdisciplinary research into the complex cascade of environmental changes that occur due to hydrology and land use alterations from intensive agricultural management and climate change. Data sets collected include water chemistry and biogeochemical data, geochemical fingerprinting of major sediment sources, high‐resolution monitoring of river bluff erosion, and repeat channel cross‐sectional and bathymetry data following major floods. The data collection efforts led to development of a series of integrative reduced complexity models that provide deeper insight into how water, sediment, and nutrients route and transform through a large channel network and respond to change. These models represent the culmination of efforts to integrate interdisciplinary data sets and science to gain new insights into watershed‐scale processes in order to advance management and decision making. The purpose of this paper is to present a synthesis of the data sets and models, disseminate them to the community for further research, and identify mechanisms used to expand the temporal and spatial extent of short‐term observatory‐scale data collection efforts

The Power of Environmental Observatories for Advancing Multidisciplinary Research, Outreach, and Decision Support: The Case of the Minnesota River Basin

An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2019 American Geophysical Union.Observatory‐scale data collection efforts allow unprecedented opportunities for integrative, multidisciplinary investigations in large, complex watersheds, which can affect management decisions and policy. Through the National Science Foundation‐funded REACH (REsilience under Accelerated CHange) project, in collaboration with the Intensively Managed Landscapes‐Critical Zone Observatory, we have collected a series of multidisciplinary data sets throughout the Minnesota River Basin in south‐central Minnesota, USA, a 43,400‐km2 tributary to the Upper Mississippi River. Postglacial incision within the Minnesota River valley created an erosional landscape highly responsive to hydrologic change, allowing for transdisciplinary research into the complex cascade of environmental changes that occur due to hydrology and land use alterations from intensive agricultural management and climate change. Data sets collected include water chemistry and biogeochemical data, geochemical fingerprinting of major sediment sources, high‐resolution monitoring of river bluff erosion, and repeat channel cross‐sectional and bathymetry data following major floods. The data collection efforts led to development of a series of integrative reduced complexity models that provide deeper insight into how water, sediment, and nutrients route and transform through a large channel network and respond to change. These models represent the culmination of efforts to integrate interdisciplinary data sets and science to gain new insights into watershed‐scale processes in order to advance management and decision making. The purpose of this paper is to present a synthesis of the data sets and models, disseminate them to the community for further research, and identify mechanisms used to expand the temporal and spatial extent of short‐term observatory‐scale data collection efforts

40 Years Theory and Model at Wageningen UR

"Theorie en model" zo luidde de titel van de inaugurele rede van CT de Wit (1968). Reden genoeg voor een (theoretische) terugblik op zijn wer

THE EFFECTS OF LAND MANAGEMENT AND PREDICTED CLIMATE CHANGE ON HYDROLOGICAL CONNECTIVITY AND DIFFUSE FINE SEDIMENT POLLUTION RISK WITHIN THE RIVER EDEN CATCHMENT.

There is a growing recognition that future management of the water quality in UK rivers will depend upon an improved understanding of the effects of projected climate change on catchment systems. Until recently, little attention has been given to the secondary effects that climate change may have. However, it is now becoming clear that successful management will depend upon research into factors beyond the primary changes in soil moisture and river flows. One area of particular concern is the way climate change may alter patterns of diffuse pollution of fine sediment, with associated impacts on river flora and fauna. If the UK is going to meet the stringent targets laid out in the EU Water Framework Directive, then urgent management of diffuse pollution is required. In 2012 only 28% of water bodies met their ecological potential or good status and 67% of river water bodies cite diffuse pollution as a key pressure which is preventing improvement and the achievement of good ecological status (Environment Agency, 2012). For management solutions to be cost-effective, they need to be targeted at the key problem areas within a catchment. This research uses the River Eden catchment in Cumbria as a test catchment and applies a hydrological simulation model, risk mapping framework and risk filter to the area in order to determine current connectivity and diffuse pollution trends. From this toolkit, projections of the future patterns of risk are calculated. The SCIMAP based toolkit predicted that the fine-sediment erosion risk varies spatially across the River Eden catchment. Locations deemed to be most at risk of causing a fine-sediment pollution issue are in the lower reaches of the catchment where intensive arable farming is found. When risks were modelled temporally, variations depending upon vegetation cover and average monthly rainfall were found. It was noted that the presence of autumn-sown crops could reduce risk over a year whilst spring-sown crops are likely to increase fine-sediment erosion risks. Several conclusions are drawn from this research: 1) it has been shown that the SCIMAP framework is an effective way of identifying critical source areas of diffuse pollution and could prove an invaluable tool to environmental managers; 2) the important role that autumn-sown crops can play in minimising erosion risk has been shown to be applicable in the River Eden catchment and the best way to incorporate this into crop cycles highlighted; 3) through the use of projected climate change data and a hydrological simulation model, it has been shown that the location of critical source areas are likely to change as a result of projected climate change and associated variability in rural land management. This highlights the need for continuous catchment-wide monitoring and management of hydrological connectivity and associated diffuse pollution risks