A stochastic model of throughfall for extreme events

International audienceAlthough it is well known that forest canopies reduce the amount and intensity of precipitation at the ground surface, little is known about how canopy interception modifies extreme events. The effects of forest cover on intensity-duration-frequency relationships were investigated, using a stochastic model to extrapolate measured rainfall and throughfall to throughfall expected during extreme events. The model coupled a stochastic model of rainfall with stochastic representations of evaporation and precipitation transfer through canopies. Stochastic evaporation was governed by probability distributions sensitive to storm size, and transfer through canopies was governed by a black-box linear system. The modelled reduction of extreme-event intensities by canopies was 5?30%, depending on duration and return interval. The reduction was 15?20% in low return interval events (2 y) at all durations. In contrast, intensities of high return interval events (90 y) were proportionally more reduced at short durations (~30% reduced) than at long durations (~5% reduced). The model suggested that evaporative losses reduced intensity in the frequent events (2 y return interval), but water transfer through the canopy was more important for the reduction in intensity in the rarest extreme events. High return intervals of long duration were least affected by canopies because evaporative losses were the least proportion of rainfall. Extreme events larger than 10- or 20-y return interval probability threshold occurred only 31?69% as often in throughfall as in rainfall. Keywords: canopy interception, throughfall, stochastic rainfall modelling, rainfall intensity, linear systems, landslide

Movilidad y reclutamiento de material leñoso de gran tamaño en dos cauces de la Cordillera de la Costa de Chile

In-stream large wood mobility was studied in segments of the main channels of Vuelta de Zorra and Pichún catchments, located in the Coastal Mountain Range, Chile. Statistical significant relationships were found only between bankfull channel width and dependent variables associated to some large wood characteristics measured in the channel reaches. This would indicate that large wood length, and not diameter, would regulate the mobility of the wood pieces during high flows. After the winter season of 2009, the 12 and 6.5 % of the wood elements were mobilized in Vuelta de Zorra and Pichún, respectively. The lower percentage in Pichún would be associated to the lower bankfull width/mean piece length ratio. A statistical non-significant trend was found between mobilized distance and piece length/mean bankfull width; indicating that distance decreased with increased dimensionless piece length. Large wood mobility in the two channels was associated to normal peak flows and could be considered as a minimum mobility rate at annual level. The recruited wood volume was higher than the exported wood volume in both segments, therefore the study period can be considered as an in-stream large wood stocking-period

Material leñoso de gran tamaño en dos cuencas de la Cordillera de la Costa de Chile con diferente historia de uso del suelo

Previous researches indicated that in-stream large wood (LW) depended on the characteristics of the riparian vegetation. This is the first study about LW abundance, longitudinal distribution and sediment trapped by large wood structures comparing two stream segments in catchments with contrasting land use, located in the Coastal Mountain Range, Southern Chile. One such catchment (Vuelta de Zorra) is covered mainly by native forests and the other (Pichún) runs under productive plantations. In a stream segment of each catchment the riparian vegetation was characterized, each LW piece was measured and geo-referenced and the channel morphology was defined. Vegetation along the Vuelta de Zorra channel corresponded to an adult second growth forest ca. 200 years old with a basal area of 69 m² ha-1; while in Pichún, it was a much degraded remnant of old native forests with a basal area of 24 m² ha-1. Considering channel bankfull area as reference, LW volume at Vuelta de Zorra and Pichún was 109 and 56 m³ ha-1, respectively. Trapped sediment values in the stream segments were 82 and 30 m3 km-1 for Vuelta de Zorra and Pichún, respectively; in both channels the accumulations of LW played a key role in the amount of trapped sediment. LW volume was associated with the characteristics of the riparian vegetation which is a consequence of the history of forest interventions and land uses in each catchment

Seasonal logging, process response, and geomorphic work

Deforestation is a prominent anthropogenic cause of erosive overland flow and slope instability, boosting rates of soil erosion and concomitant sediment flux. Conventional methods of gauging or estimating post-logging sediment flux often focus on annual timescales but overlook potentially important process response on shorter intervals immediately following timber harvest. We resolve such dynamics with non-parametric quantile regression forests (QRF) based on high-frequency (3 min) discharge measurements and sediment concentration data sampled every 30–60 min in similar-sized (∼0.1 km2) forested Chilean catchments that were logged during either the rainy or the dry season. The method of QRF builds on the random forest algorithm, and combines quantile regression with repeated random sub-sampling of both cases and predictors. The algorithm belongs to the family of decision-tree classifiers, which allow quantifying relevant predictors in high-dimensional parameter space. We find that, where no logging occurred, ∼80% of the total sediment load was transported during extremely variable runoff events during only 5% of the monitoring period. In particular, dry-season logging dampened the relative role of these rare, extreme sediment-transport events by increasing load efficiency during more efficient moderate events. We show that QRFs outperform traditional sediment rating curves (SRCs) in terms of accurately simulating short-term dynamics of sediment flux, and conclude that QRF may reliably support forest management recommendations by providing robust simulations of post-logging response of water and sediment fluxes at high temporal resolution

Is the reputation of Eucalyptus plantations for using more water than Pinus plantations justified?

The effect of Eucalyptus plantations on water balance is thought to be more severe than for commercial alternatives such as Pinus species. Although this perception is firmly entrenched, even in the scientific community, only four direct comparisons of the effect on the water balance of a Eucalyptus species and a commercial alternative have been published. One of these, from South Africa, showed that Eucalyptus grandis caused a larger and more rapid reduction in streamflow than Pinus patula. The other three, one in South Australia and two in Chile, did not find any significant difference between the annual evapotranspiration of E. globulus and P. radiata after canopy closure. While direct comparisons are few, there are at least 57 published estimates of annual evapotranspiration of either the Eucalyptus or Pinus species. This paper presents a meta-analysis of these published data. Zhang et al. (2004) fitted a relationship between the vegetation evaporation efficiency and the climate wetness index to published data from catchment studies and proposed this approach for comparing land uses. We fitted this model to the published data for Eucalyptus and Pinus and found that the single parameter of this model did not differ significantly between the two genera (p = 0.48). This was also the case for all parameters of an exponential relationship between evapotranspiration and rainfall (p = 0.589) and a linear relationship between the vegetation evaporation index and rainfall (p = 0.155). These results provide strong evidence that, for a given climate wetness index, the two genera have similar annual water use. The residuals compared to the model of Zhang et al. (2004) were significantly correlated with soil depth for Eucalyptus, but this was not the case for Pinus. For Eucalyptus, the model overestimates the vegetation evaporation efficiency on deep soils and underestimates the vegetation evaporation efficiency on shallow soils

Is the reputation of Eucalyptus plantations for using more water than Pinus plantations justified?

The effect of Eucalyptus plantations on water balance is thought to be more severe than for commercial alternatives such as Pinus species. Although this perception is firmly entrenched, even in the scientific community, only four direct comparisons of the effect on the water balance of a Eucalyptus species and a commercial alternative have been published. One of these, from South Africa, showed that Eucalyptus grandis caused a larger and more rapid reduction in streamflow than Pinus patula. The other three, one in South Australia and two in Chile, did not find any significant difference between the annual evapotranspiration of E. globulus and P. radiata after canopy closure. While direct comparisons are few, there are at least 57 published estimates of annual evapotranspiration of either a Eucalyptus or Pinus species. This paper presents a meta-analysis of these published data. Zhang et al. (2004) fitted a relationship between the crop factor and the climate wetness index to published data from catchment studies and proposed this approach for comparing land uses. We fitted the same model to the published data for Eucalyptus and Pinus and found that the single parameter of this model did not differ significantly between the two genera (p=0.48). This implies that for a given climate wetness index the two genera have similar annual water use. The residuals compared to this model were significantly correlated with soil depth for Eucalyptus, but this was not the case for Pinus. For Eucalyptus the model overestimates the crop factor on deep soils and underestimates the crop factor on shallow soils.</p

Spatial analysis of the impacts of the Chaitén volcano eruption (Chile) in three fluvial systems

The eruption of the Chaitén volcano in May 2008 generated morphological and ecological disturbances in adjacent river basins, and the magnitude of these disturbances depended on the type of dominant volcanic process affecting each of them. The aim of this study is to analyse the morphological changes in different periods in river segments of the Blanco, El Amarillo and Rayas river basins located near the Chaitén volcano. These basins suffered disturbances of different intensity and spatial distribution caused by tephra fall, dome collapses and pyroclastic density currents that damaged hillslope forests, widened channels and destroyed island and floodplain vegetation. Changes continued to occur in the fluvial systems in the years following the eruption, as a consequence of the geomorphic processes indirectly induced by the eruption. Channel changes were analyzed by comparing remote images of pre and post-eruption conditions. Two periods were considered: the first from 2008 to 2009-2010 associated with the explosive and effusive phases of the eruption and the second that correspond to the post-eruption stage from 2009-2010 to 2013. Following the first phases channel segments widened 91% (38 m/yr), 6% (7 m/yr) and 7% (22 m/yr) for Blanco, Rayas and El Amarillo Rivers, respectively, compared to pre-eruption condition. In the second period, channel segments additionally widened 42% (8 m/yr), 2% (2 m/yr) and 5% (4 m/yr) for Blanco, Rayas and El Amarillo Rivers, respectively. In the Blanco River 62 and 82% of the islands disappeared in the first and second period, respectively, which is 6-8 times higher than in the El Amarillo approximately twice the Rayas. Sinuosity increased after the eruption only in the Blanco River but the three study channels showed a high braiding intensity mainly during the first post-eruption period. The major disturbances occurred during the eruptive and effusive phases of Chaitén volcano, and the intensity of these disturbances reflects the magnitude of the dominant volcanic processes affecting each basin. Inputs of sediment from dome collapses and pyroclastic density currents and not ash fall seem to explain morphologic channel change magnitudes in the study segments. The resulting knowledge can facilitate land use planning and design of river restoration projects in areas affected by volcanic eruptions disturbances

Forest hydrology in Chile: Past, present, and future

This paper reviews the current knowledge of hydrological processes in Chilean temperate forests which extend along western South America from latitude 29° S to 56 ° S. This geographic region includes a diverse range of natural and planted forests and a broad sweep of vegetation, edaphic, topographic, geologic, and climatic settings which create a unique natural laboratory. Many local communities, endangered freshwater ecosystems, and downstream economic activities in Chile rely on water flows from forested catchments. This review aims to (i) provide a comprehensive overview of Chilean forest hydrology, to (ii) review prior research in forest hydrology in Chile, and to (iii) identify knowledge gaps and provide a vision for future research on forest hydrology in Chile. We reviewed the relation between native forests, commercial plantations, and other land uses on water yield and water quality from the plot to the catchment scale. Much of the global understanding of forests and their relationship with the water cycle is in line with the findings of the studies reviewed here. Streamflow from forested catchments increases after timber harvesting, native forests appear to use less water than plantations, and streams draining native forest yield less sediment than streams draining plantations or grassland/shrublands. We identified 20 key knowledge gaps such as forest groundwater systems, soil–plant-atmosphere interactions, native forest hydrology, and the effect of forest management and restoration on hydrology. Also, we found a paucity of research in the northern geographic areas and forest types (35-36 ° S); most forest hydrology studies in Chile (56 %) have been conducted in the southern area (Los Rios Region around 39-40 ° S). There is limited knowledge of the geology and soils in many forested areas and how surface and groundwater are affected by changes in land cover. There is an opportunity to advance our understanding using process-based investigations linking field studies and modeling. Through the establishment of a forest hydrology science “society” to coordinate efforts, regional and national-scale land use planning might be supported. Our review ends with a vision to advance a cross-scale collaborative effort to use new nation-wide catchment-scale networks Long-term Ecosystem Research (LTER) sites, to promote common and complementary techniques in these studies, and to conduct transdisciplinary research to advance sound and integrated planning of forest lands in Chile

Recent advances quantifying the large wood dynamics in river basins: New methods and remaining challenges

Citation: Ruiz-Villanueva, V., Piégay, H., Gurnell, A. A., Marston, R. A., & Stoffel, M. (2016). Recent advances quantifying the large wood dynamics in river basins: New methods and remaining challenges. Reviews of Geophysics. doi:10.1002/2015RG000514Large wood is an important physical component of woodland rivers and significantly influences river morphology. It is also a key component of stream ecosystems. However, large wood is also a source of risk for human activities as it may damage infrastructure, block river channels, and induce flooding. Therefore, the analysis and quantification of large wood and its mobility are crucial for understanding and managing wood in rivers. As the amount of large-wood-related studies by researchers, river managers, and stakeholders increases, documentation of commonly used and newly available techniques and their effectiveness has also become increasingly relevant as well. Important data and knowledge have been obtained from the application of very different approaches and have generated a significant body of valuable information representative of different environments. This review brings a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative summary of recent advances regarding the different processes involved in large wood dynamics in fluvial systems including wood budgeting and wood mechanics. First, some key definitions and concepts are introduced. Second, advances in quantifying large wood dynamics are reviewed; in particular, how measurements and modeling can be combined to integrate our understanding of how large wood moves through and is retained within river systems. Throughout, we present a quantitative and integrated meta-analysis compiled from different studies and geographical regions. Finally, we conclude by highlighting areas of particular research importance and their likely future trajectories, and we consider a particularly underresearched area so as to stress the future challenges for large wood research. ©2016. American Geophysical Union