Studying catchment storm response using event- and pre-event-water volumes as fractions of precipitation rather than discharge

Catchment response to precipitation is often investigated using two-component isotope-based hydrograph separation, which quantifies the contribution of precipitation (i.e., event water Qe) or water from storage (i.e., pre-event water Qpe) to total discharge (Q) during storm events. In order to better understand streamflow-generating mechanisms, two-component hydrograph separation studies often seek to relate the event-water fraction Qe∕Q to storm characteristics or antecedent wetness conditions. However, these relationships may be obscured because the same factors that influence Qe also necessarily influence total discharge Q as well. Here we propose that the fractions of event water and pre-event water relative to total precipitation (Qe∕P and Qpe∕P), instead of total discharge, provide useful alternative tools for studying catchment storm responses. These two quantities separate the well-known runoff coefficient (Q∕P, i.e., the ratio between total discharge and precipitation volumes over the event timescale) into its contributions from event water and pre-event water. Whereas the runoff coefficient Q∕P quantifies how strongly precipitation inputs affect streamflow, the fractions Qe∕P and Qpe∕P track the sources of this streamflow response.We use high-frequency measurements of stable water isotopes for 24 storm events at a steep headwater catchment (Erlenbach, central Switzerland) to compare the storm-to-storm variations in Qe∕Q, Qe∕P and Qpe∕P. Our analysis explores how storm characteristics and antecedent wetness conditions affect the mobilization of event water and pre-event water at the catchment scale. Isotopic hydrograph separation shows that catchment outflow was typically dominated by pre-event water, although event water exceeded 50&thinsp;% of discharge for several storms. No clear relationships were found linking either storm characteristics or antecedent wetness conditions with the volumes of event water or pre-event water (Qe, Qpe), or with event water as a fraction of discharge (Qe∕Q), beyond the unsurprising correlation of larger storms with greater Qe and greater total Q. By contrast, event water as a fraction of precipitation (Qe∕P) was strongly correlated with storm volume and intensity but not with antecedent wetness, implying that the volume of event water that is transmitted to streamflow increases more than proportionally with storm size under both wet and dry conditions. Conversely, pre-event water as a fraction of precipitation (Qpe∕P) was strongly correlated with all measures of antecedent wetness but not with storm characteristics, implying that wet conditions primarily facilitate the mobilization of old (pre-event) water, rather than the fast transmission of new (event) water to streamflow, even at a catchment where runoff coefficients can be large.Thus, expressing event- and pre-event-water volumes as fractions of precipitation rather than discharge was more insightful for investigating the Erlenbach catchment's hydrological behaviour. If Qe∕P and Qpe∕P exhibit similar relationships with storm characteristics and antecedent wetness conditions in other catchments, we suggest that these patterns may potentially be useful as diagnostic fingerprints of catchment storm response.</p

Multi-Overlap Simulations for Transitions between Reference Configurations

We introduce a new procedure to construct weight factors, which flatten the probability density of the overlap with respect to some pre-defined reference configuration. This allows one to overcome free energy barriers in the overlap variable. Subsequently, we generalize the approach to deal with the overlaps with respect to two reference configurations so that transitions between them are induced. We illustrate our approach by simulations of the brainpeptide Met-enkephalin with the ECEPP/2 energy function using the global-energy-minimum and the second lowest-energy states as reference configurations. The free energy is obtained as functions of the dihedral and the root-mean-square distances from these two configurations. The latter allows one to identify the transition state and to estimate its associated free energy barrier.Comment: 12 pages, (RevTeX), 14 figures, Phys. Rev. E, submitte

Metropolis simulations of Met-Enkephalin with solvent-accessible area parameterizations

We investigate the solvent-accessible area method by means of Metropolis simulations of the brain peptide Met-Enkephalin at 300$K$. For the energy function ECEPP/2 nine atomic solvation parameter (ASP) sets are studied. The simulations are compared with one another, with simulations with a distance dependent electrostatic permittivity $\epsilon (r)$, and with vacuum simulations ($\epsilon =2$). Parallel tempering and the biased Metropolis techniques RM$_1$ are employed and their performance is evaluated. The measured observables include energy and dihedral probability densities (pds), integrated autocorrelation times, and acceptance rates. Two of the ASP sets turn out to be unsuitable for these simulations. For all other systems selected configurations are minimized in search of the global energy minima, which are found for the vacuum and the $\epsilon(r)$ system, but for none of the ASP models. Other observables show a remarkable dependence on the ASPs. In particular, we find three ASP sets for which the autocorrelations at 300$$K are considerably smaller than for vacuum simulations.Comment: 10 pages and 8 figure

Citizen science’s transformative impact on science, citizen empowerment and socio-political processes

Citizen science (CS) can foster transformative impact for science, citizen empowerment and socio-political processes. To unleash this impact, a clearer understanding of its current status and challenges for its development is needed. Using quantitative indicators developed in a collaborative stakeholder process, our study provides a comprehensive overview of the current status of CS in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Our online survey with 340 responses focused on CS impact through (1) scientific practices, (2) participant learning and empowerment, and (3) socio-political processes. With regard to scientific impact, we found that data quality control is an established component of CS practice, while publication of CS data and results has not yet been achieved by all project coordinators (55%). Key benefits for citizen scientists were the experience of collective impact (“making a difference together with others”) as well as gaining new knowledge. For the citizen scientists’ learning outcomes, different forms of social learning, such as systematic feedback or personal mentoring, were essential. While the majority of respondents attributed an important value to CS for decision-making, only few were confident that CS data were indeed utilized as evidence by decision-makers. Based on these results, we recommend (1) that project coordinators and researchers strengthen scientific impact by fostering data management and publications, (2) that project coordinators and citizen scientists enhance participant impact by promoting social learning opportunities and (3) that project initiators and CS networks foster socio-political impact through early engagement with decision-makers and alignment with ongoing policy processes. In this way, CS can evolve its transformative impact

Twenty-three unsolved problems in hydrology (UPH) – a community perspective

This paper is the outcome of a community initiative to identify major unsolved scientific problems in hydrology motivated by a need for stronger harmonisation of research efforts. The procedure involved a public consultation through on-line media, followed by two workshops through which a large number of potential science questions were collated, prioritised, and synthesised. In spite of the diversity of the participants (230 scientists in total), the process revealed much about community priorities and the state of our science: a preference for continuity in research questions rather than radical departures or redirections from past and current work. Questions remain focussed on process-based understanding of hydrological variability and causality at all space and time scales. Increased attention to environmental change drives a new emphasis on understanding how change propagates across interfaces within the hydrological system and across disciplinary boundaries. In particular, the expansion of the human footprint raises a new set of questions related to human interactions with nature and water cycle feedbacks in the context of complex water management problems. We hope that this reflection and synthesis of the 23 unsolved problems in hydrology will help guide research efforts for some years to come

A lab in the field: high-frequency analysis of water quality and stable isotopes in stream water and precipitation

High-frequency measurements of solutes and isotopes (18O and 2H) in rainfall and streamflow can shed important light on catchment flow pathways and travel times, but the workload and sample storage artifacts involved in collecting, transporting, and analyzing thousands of bottled samples severely constrain catchment studies in which conventional sampling methods are employed. However, recent developments towards more compact and robust analyzers have now made it possible to measure chemistry and water isotopes in the field at sub-hourly frequencies over extended periods. Here, we present laboratory and field tests of a membrane-vaporization continuous water sampler coupled to a cavity ring-down spectrometer for real-time measurements of δ18O and δ2H combined with a dual-channel ion chromatograph (IC) for the synchronous analysis of major cations and anions. The precision of the isotope analyzer was typically better than 0.03 ‰ for δ18O and 0.17 ‰ for δ2H in 10 min average readings taken at intervals of 30 min. Carryover effects were less than 1.2 % between isotopically contrasting water samples for 30 min sampling intervals, and instrument drift could be corrected through periodic analysis of secondary reference standards. The precision of the ion chromatograph was typically  ∼  0.1–1 ppm or better, with relative standard deviations of  ∼  1 % or better for most major ions in stream water, which is sufficient to detect subtle biogeochemical signals in catchment runoff. We installed the coupled isotope analyzer/IC system in an uninsulated hut next to a stream of a small catchment and analyzed stream water and precipitation samples every 30 min over 28 days. These high-frequency measurements facilitated a detailed comparison of event-water fractions via endmember mixing analysis with both chemical and isotope tracers. For two events with relatively dry antecedent moisture conditions, the event-water fractions were &lt; 21 % based on isotope tracers but were significantly overestimated (40 to 82 %) by the chemical tracers. These observations, coupled with the storm-to-storm patterns in precipitation isotope inputs and the associated stream water isotope response, led to a conceptual hypothesis for runoff generation in the catchment. Under this hypothesis, the pre-event water that is mobilized by precipitation events may, depending on antecedent moisture conditions, be significantly shallower, younger, and less mineralized than the deeper, older water that feeds baseflow and thus defines the pre-event endmember used in hydrograph separation. This proof-of-concept study illustrates the potential advantages of capturing isotopic and hydrochemical behavior at a high frequency over extended periods that span multiple hydrologic events

Fast Quality Inspection of Micro Cold Formed Parts using Telecentric Digital Holographic Microscopy

Quality inspection is an integral part of the production process and often part of the quality management agreements between manufacturer and customer. Especially when it comes to safety-relevant parts, i.e. in the automobile or medical industry, often a 100% quality inspection is mandatory. Here, we present a solution comprised of a digital holographic measurement system, as well as fast algorithms for geometric evaluation and surface defect detection that paves the way for the inspection of metallic micro cups in less than a second. By use of a telecentric lens instead of standard microscope objective, we compensate scaling effects and wave field curvature, which distort reconstruction in digital holographic microscopy. Due to limited depth of focus of the microscope objective, depth information from different object layers are then stitched together to yield 3D data of its geometry. The resulting point cloud data is automatically decomposed into simple geometric shapes in order to analyse geometric deviations. Amplitude as well as phase distribution images are then analysed for surface defects. Our approach is demonstrated by inspecting cold formed micro cups. Defects larger than 2 μm lateral resolution and 5 μm depth can be detected