Separation of river network–scale nitrogen removal among the main channel and two transient storage compartments

Transient storage (TS) zones are important areas of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) processing in rivers. We assessed sensitivities regarding the relative impact that the main channel (MC), surface TS (STS), and hyporheic TS (HTS) have on network denitrification using a model applied to the Ipswich River in Massachusetts, United States. STS and HTS connectivity and size were parameterized using the results of in situ solute tracer studies in first‐ through fifth‐order reaches. DIN removal was simulated in all compartments for every river grid cell using reactivity derived from Lotic Intersite Nitrogen Experiment (LINX2) studies, hydraulic characteristics, and simulated discharge. Model results suggest that although MC‐to‐STS connectivity is greater than MC‐to‐HTS connectivity at the reach scale, at basin scales, there is a high probability of water entering the HTS at some point along its flow path through the river network. Assuming our best empirical estimates of hydraulic parameters and reactivity, the MC, HTS, and STS removed approximately 38%, 21%, and 14% of total DIN inputs during a typical base flow period, respectively. There is considerable uncertainty in many of the parameters, particularly the estimates of reaction rates in the different compartments. Using sensitivity analyses, we found that the size of TS is more important for DIN removal processes than its connectivity with the MC when reactivity is low to moderate, whereas TS connectivity is more important when reaction rates are rapid. Our work suggests a network perspective is needed to understand how connectivity, residence times, and reactivity interact to influence DIN processing in hierarchical river systems

Residence time distributions in surface transient storage zones in streams : estimation via signal deconvolution

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Water Resources Research 47 (2011): W05509, doi:10.1029/2010WR009959.Little is known about the impact of surface transient storage (STS) zones on reach-scale transport and the fate of dissolved nutrients in streams. Exchange with these locations may influence the rates of nutrient cycling often observed in whole-stream tracer experiments, particularly because they are sites of organic matter collection and lower flow velocities than those observed in the thalweg. We performed a conservative stream tracer experiment (slug of dissolved NaCl) in the Ipswich River in northeastern Massachusetts and collected solute tracer data both in the thalweg and adjacent STS zones at three locations in a fifth-order reach. Tracer time series observed in STS zones are an aggregate of residence time distributions (RTDs) of the upstream transport to that point (RTDTHAL) and that of the temporary storage within these zones (RTDSTS). Here we demonstrate the separation of these two RTDs to determine the RTDSTS specifically. Total residence times for these individual STS zones range from 4.5 to 7.5 h, suggesting that these zones have the potential to host important biogeochemical transformations in stream systems. All of the RTDSTS show substantial deviations from the ideal prescribed by the two-state (mobile/immobile) mass transfer equations. The deviations indicate a model mismatch and that parameter estimation based on the mass transfer equations will yield misleading values.This research was funded by the National Science Foundation, grants DEB 06-14350 and EAR 07- 49035, and DOE grant DE-FG02-07ER15841

Connectivity: insights from the U.S. Long Term Ecological Research Network

Ecosystems across the United States are changing in complex and surprising ways. Ongoing demand for critical ecosystem services requires an understanding of the populations and communities in these ecosystems in the future. This paper represents a synthesis effort of the U.S. National Science Foundation-funded Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network addressing the core research area of “populations and communities.” The objective of this effort was to show the importance of long-term data collection and experiments for addressing the hardest questions in scientific ecology that have significant implications for environmental policy and management. Each LTER site developed at least one compelling case study about what their site could look like in 50–100 yr as human and environmental drivers influencing specific ecosystems change. As the case studies were prepared, five themes emerged, and the studies were grouped into papers in this LTER Futures Special Feature addressing state change, connectivity, resilience, time lags, and cascading effects. This paper addresses the “connectivity” theme and has examples from the Phoenix (urban), Niwot Ridge (alpine tundra), McMurdo Dry Valleys (polar desert), Plum Island (coastal), Santa Barbara Coastal (coastal), and Jornada (arid grassland and shrubland) sites. Connectivity has multiple dimensions, ranging from multi-scalar interactions in space to complex interactions over time that govern the transport of materials and the distribution and movement of organisms. The case studies presented here range widely, showing how land-use legacies interact with climate to alter the structure and function of arid ecosystems and flows of resources and organisms in Antarctic polar desert, alpine, urban, and coastal marine ecosystems. Long-term ecological research demonstrates that connectivity can, in some circumstances, sustain valuable ecosystem functions, such as the persistence of foundation species and their associated biodiversity or, it can be an agent of state change, as when it increases wind and water erosion. Increased connectivity due to warming can also lead to species range expansions or contractions and the introduction of undesirable species. Continued long-term studies are essential for addressing the complexities of connectivity. The diversity of ecosystems within the LTER network is a strong platform for these studies

Imaging Thermal Stratigraphy in Freshwater Lakes Using Georadar

Thermal stratification exerts significant control over biogeochemical processing in freshwater lakes. Thus, the temporal and spatial distribution of the thermal structure is an important component in understanding lake ecosystems. We present the first reported observations of lake thermal stratification from surface based georadar measurements acquired over two small freshwater lakes. This method is very useful because it can provide rapid acquisition of 2D or 3D lotic stratification

The Seasonal Evolution of Albedo across Glaciers and the Surrounding Landscape of Taylor Valley, Antarctica

The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) of Antarctica are a polar desert ecosystem consisting of alpine glaciers, ice-covered lakes, streams, and expanses of vegetation-free rocky soil. Because average summer temperatures are close to 0 Cel., the MDV ecosystem in general, and glacier melt dynamics in particular, are both closely linked to the energy balance. A slight increase in incoming radiation or change in albedo can have large effects on the timing and volume of meltwater. However, the seasonal evolution or spatial variability of albedo in the valleys has yet to fully characterized. In this study, we aim to understand the drivers of landscape albedo change within and across seasons. To do so, a box with a camera, GPS, and shortwave radiometer was hung from a helicopter that flew transects four to five times a season along Taylor Valley. Measurements were repeated over three seasons. These data were coupled with incoming radiation measured at six meteorological stations distributed along the valley to calculate the distribution of albedo across individual glaciers, lakes, and soil surfaces. We hypothesized that albedo would decrease throughout the austral summer with ablation of snow patches and increasing sediment exposure on the glacier and lake surfaces. However, small snow events (\u3c 6mm water equivalent) coupled with ice whitening caused spatial and temporal variability of albedo across the entire landscape. Glaciers frequently followed a pattern of increasing albedo with increasing elevation, as well as increasing albedo moving from east to west laterally across the ablation zone. We suggest that spatial patterns of albedo are a function of landscape morphology trapping snow and sediment, longitudinal gradients in snowfall magnitude, and wind-driven snow redistribution from east to west along the valley. We also compare our albedo measurements to the MODIS albedo product and found that overall the data have reasonable agreement. The mismatch in spatial scale between these two datasets results in variability, which is reduced after a snow event due to albedo following valley-scale gradients of snowfall magnitude. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the spatial and temporal variability in albedo and the close coupling of climate and landscape response. This new understanding of landscape albedo can constrain landscape energy budgets, better predict meltwater generation on from MDV glaciers, and how these ecosystems will respond to changing climate at the landscape scale

Surface and hyporheic transient storage dynamics throughout a coastal stream network

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2010. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Water Resources Research 46 (2010): W06516, doi:10.1029/2009WR008222.Transient storage of stream water and associated solutes is expected to vary along stream networks in response to related changes in stream hydraulic conditions and morphologic gradients. These spatial changes are relevant to a wide variety of processes (e.g., biogeochemical cycling), yet data regarding these dynamics are limited and almost exclusively confined to the general storage terms of transient storage models with a single-storage zone (1-SZ). We used a transient storage model with two-storage zones (2-SZ) to simulate field data from conservative solute injections conducted in a coastal stream network in Massachusetts to separately quantify surface transient storage (STS) and hyporheic transient storage (HTS). Solute tracer additions were performed at basin-wide, low-flow conditions, and results were compared with respect to stream size. Strong positive relationships with reach contributing area indicated that the size of the main channel and the size and residence time in surface and hyporheic storage zones all increased from small to large streams. Conversely, longitudinal dispersion and the storage zone exchange coefficients had no consistent trends downstream. The influence of storage exchange on median transport time ( $F_{MED}^{200}$) was consistently large for STS and negligible for HTS. When compared to 1-SZ model estimates, we found that the general 1-SZ model storage terms did not consistently describe either STS or HTS exchange. Overall our results indicated that many zone-specific (STS and HTS) storage dynamics were sensitive to the combination of hydraulic and morphologic gradients along the stream network and followed positive trends with stream size.This material is based upon work supported by NSF grants DEB 06‐14350, BCS‐0709685, and OCE‐0423565

Modelling the behaviour of the bonding of fibre reinforced concrete at the plate end

Comunicação apresentada em International Symposium Polymers in Concrete (ISPIC 2006), Guimarães, 2006In this paper, the finite element method is used to analyse the behaviour of concrete externally strengthened by fibre reinforced polymers (FRP). This model aims to analyse the stress distribution in the FRP-concrete interface at the plate end of a bending beam. The behaviour of the concrete-poxy-FRP arrangement is modelled with interface elements with initial zero thickness, using a discrete crack approach. A localized damage model is adopted for the interface and a parametric study is performed to approximate the material parameters adopted. The importance of each parameter is assessed. This model is subsequently verified using experimental data collected from the literature. Finally, a proposal is made concerning the adoption of a relation GF II/GF for the interface behaviour. Mention is also made to some of the main mathematical models found in the literature, which are compared to the present approach

Determining in-channel (dead zone) transient storage by comparing solute transport in a bedrock channel–alluvial channel sequence, Oregon

Current stream tracer techniques do not allow separation of in-channel dead zone (e.g., eddies) and out-of-channel (hyporheic) transient storage, yet this separation is important to understanding stream biogeochemical processes. We characterize in-channel transient storage with a rhodamine WT solute tracer experiment in a 304 m cascade-pool-type bedrock reach with no hyporheic zone. We compare the solute breakthrough curve (BTC) from this reach to that of an adjacent 367 m alluvial reach with significant hyporheic exchange. In the bedrock reach, transient storage has an exponential residence time distribution with a mean residence time of 3.0 hours and a ratio of transient storage to stream volume of 0.14, demonstrating that at moderate discharge, bedrock in-channel storage zones provide a small volume of transient storage with substantial residence time. In the alluvial reach, though pools are similar in size to those in the bedrock reach, transient storage has a power law residence time distribution with a mean residence time of >100 hours (estimated at nearly 1200 hours) and a ratio of storage to stream volume of 105. Because the in-channel hydraulics of bedrock reaches are simpler than alluvial step-pool reaches, the bedrock results are probably a lower end-member with respect to volume and residence time, though they demonstrate that in-channel storage may be appreciable in some reaches. These results suggest that in-stream dead zone transient storage may be accurately simulated by exponential RTDs but that hyporheic exchange is better simulated with a power law RTD as a consequence of more complicated flow path and exchange dynamics.Keywords: residence time distribution, transient storage, dead zone, hyporheic exchange, H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, bedrock channelKeywords: residence time distribution, transient storage, dead zone, hyporheic exchange, H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, bedrock channe