Hydrological characterization of watersheds in the Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

Thirty-two watersheds (31–4350 km2), in the Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia, were hydrologically characterized with data from a study of water and land resources by the US Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) published in 1964. The USBR document contains data on flow, topography, geology, soil type, and land use for the period 1959 to 1963. The aim of the study was to identify watershed variables best explaining the variation in the hydrological regime, with a special focus on low flows. Moreover, this study aimed to identify variables that may be susceptible to management policies for developing and securing water resources in dry periods. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Partial Least Square (PLS) were used to analyze the relationship between five hydrologic response variables (total flow, high flow, low flow, runoff coefficient, low flow index) and 30 potential explanatory watershed variables. The explanatory watershed variables were classified into three groups: land use, climate and topography as well as geology and soil type. Each of the three groups had almost equal influence on the variation in hydrologic variables (R2 values ranging from 0.3 to 0.4). Specific variables from within each of the three groups of explanatory variables were better in explaining the variation. Low flow and low flow index were positively correlated to land use types woodland, dense wet forest and savannah grassland, whereas grazing land and bush land were negatively correlated. We concluded that extra care for preserving low flow should be taken on tuffs/basalts which comprise 52% of the Blue Nile Basin. Land use management plans should recognize that woodland, dense wet forest and savannah grassland can promote higher low flows, while grazing land diminishes low flows

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An investigation into the epistemology of manhood - defining an idealized man in the age of late capitalism

The effects of postactivation potentiation on sprint and jump performance of male academy soccer players.

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the postactivation potentiation (PAP) effects of both dynamic and isometric maximum voluntary contractions (MVCs) on sprint and jump performance and establish whether PAP methods could be used effectively in warm up protocols for soccer players. Twelve male soccer players performed 4 warm up protocols in a cross-over, randomized, and counterbalanced design. In addition to a control warm up, subjects performed deadlift (5 repetitions at 5 repetitions maximum), tuck jump (5 repetitions), and isometric MVC knee extensions (3 repetitions for 3 s) as PAP treatments in an otherwise identical warm up protocol. After each treatment, the subjects underwent 3 10 m and 20 m sprints 4, 5, and 6 minutes post-warm up and 3 vertical jumps (VJ) at 7, 8, and 9 minutes post-warm up. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed no significant differences in the first 10 m (p = 0.258) and 20 m (p = 0.253) sprint and VJ (p = 0.703) performance and the average 10 m (p = 0.215), 20 m (p = 0.388), and VJ (p = 0.529) performance between conditions. There were also no significant differences in performance responses between the strongest and weakest subjects, but large variations in individual responses were found between the subjects. The findings suggest that there was no significant group PAP effect on sprint and jump performance after dynamic and isometric MVCs compared with a control warm up protocol. However, the large variation in individual responses (-7.1% to +8.2%) suggests PAP should be considered on an individual basis. Factors such as method, volume, load, recovery, and interindividual variability of PAP must be considered in the practical application of PAP and the rigorous research design of future studies to evaluate the potential for performance enhancement

Surface water acidification and critical loads

As acid deposition decreases, uncertainties in methods for calculating critical loads become more important when judgements have to be made about whether or not further emission reductions are needed. An important aspect of one type of model that has been used to calculate surface water critical loads is the empirical F-factor which estimates the degree to which acid deposition is neutralised before it reaches a lake at any particular point in time relative to the pre-industrial, steady-state water chemistry conditions. In this paper we will examine how well the empirical F-functions are able to estimate pre-industrial lake chemistry as lake chemistry changes during different phases of acidification and recovery. To accomplish this, we use the dynamic, process-oriented biogeochemical model SAFE to generate a plausible time series of annual runoff chemistry for ca 140 Swedish catchments between 1800 and 2100. These annual hydrochemistry data are then used to generate empirical F-factors that are compared to the “actual” F-factor seen in the SAFE data for each lake and year in the time series. The dynamics of the F-factor as catchments acidify, and then recover are not widely recognised. Our results suggest that the F-factor approach worked best during the acidification phase when soil processes buffer incoming acidity. However, the empirical functions for estimating F from contemporary lake chemistry are not well suited to the recovery phase when the F-factor turns negative due to recovery processes in the soil. This happens when acid deposition has depleted the soil store of BC, and then acid deposition declines, reducing the leaching of base cations to levels below those in the pre-industrial era. An estimate of critical load from water chemistry during recovery and empirical F functions would therefore result in too low critical loads that are too low. Therefore, the empirical estimates of the F-factor are a significant source of uncertainty in the estimate of surface water critical loads and related calculations for quantifying lake acidification status, especially now that acid deposition has declined across large areas of Europe and North Americ

Validation of empirical measures of welfare change: comment

In an excellent article from a recent issue of this journal, Sellar, Stoll and Chavas (1985) make a technical error which causes them to misstate their closed-ended estimates of willingness to pay. Truncation of the estimated cummulative distribution function must we made explicit in compution of willingness to pay.nonmarket valuation; contingent valuation; stated preferences; welfare evaluation; willingness to pay

Soil Compaction Effects on Root-Zone Hydrology and Vegetation in Boreal Forest Clearcuts

Soil compaction is a common consequence of forestry traffic traversing unprotected, moist soils; it decreases porosity and affects hydraulic conductivity even in coarse-textured soils. The aim here was to study root-zone hydrology and vegetation in three microsites (in, between, and beside wheel tracks) 4 to 5 yr after forwarder traffic, on stony and sandy till soils in two clearcuts in northern Sweden. Measurements of soil volumetric water content (VWC), vegetation indicators and one-dimensional hydrological modeling (Hydrus-1D) of wheel tracks and undisturbed soil were conducted. Soil VWC was monitored hourly during 2017 and 2018 in three or four plots along a slope on each site. Soil VWC was also measured once with a portable sensor in 117 plots along two slopes at each site, where the vegetation was recorded and analyzed using Ellenberg indicator indexes. Soil VWC was highest in wheel tracks and lowest between tracks; this was corroborated by the species composition in the wheel tracks (Ellenberg indicator for soil moisture). Bare soil was more frequent in wheel tracks and between tracks than in undisturbed soil. The model simulations indicated that the changed soil hydraulic properties influenced the VWC results in the wheel tracks. However, the differences in average pressure heads in the root zone were small between the microsites and only apparent during dry periods. In the wheel tracks, air-filled porosity was <0.10 m3 m-3, indicating insufficient soil aeration during 82% (Site T) and 23% (Site R) of the 2017 growing season. Insufficient aeration could be one explanation for the presence of some still unvegetated areas

Temporal and spatial variation in shallow groundwater gradients in a boreal headwater catchment

In humid climates, shallow groundwater is often assumed to be a subdued replica of the surface topography. Nevertheless, the relation between the surface topography and groundwater table can change over time, especially when catchment wetness changes. To investigate the correlation between the surface topography and the groundwater table, we analyzed groundwater levels and gradients in a boreal headwater catchment using 1.5 years of continuous groundwater level data for 75 wells. As expected, groundwater gradients changed with catchment wetness. Gradient directions calculated over short distances (5 m) changed by up to 360 degrees; gradients calculated over larger distances (20 m) varied by up to 270 degrees. The groundwater gradient directions were generally most variable for flatter locations and locations where the local surface slope differed from the surrounding topography. Smoothed digital elevation models (DEMs) represented the groundwater surface better than high resolution DEMs. The optimal degree of smoothing varied over the year and was lowest for very wet periods, such as the snowmelt period, when groundwater tables were high