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The accurate partitioning of precipitation is important for snowpack and streamflow simulations in mountainous regions. However, most hydrologic models employ a partitioning method based on near‐surface air temperature (Ta) and the sensitivity of hydrologic simulations to the selection of the precipitation partitioning method (PPM) under climate change has been underexplored. To address this, we compared simulations using two PPMs, a conventional Ta‐based scheme and a wet‐bulb temperature (Tw)‐based approach (TA and TW) with the Variable Infiltration Capacity model. Our study focused on the Colorado River Basin (CRB) which is vulnerable to future snowfall and streamflow reductions due to climate warming. Historical simulations demonstrated the improved performance of the TW scheme in simulating snowfall fraction (SF) and snow water equivalent (SWE) in relation to in situ observations and a gridded SWE product. Subsequently, we evaluated the influence of the PPM selection on snowpack and streamflow projections from eight climate models under two emissions scenarios. The ensemble median results revealed more substantial decline in annual SF with the TW scheme as compared to the TA method (−12% vs. −9%) from the historical (1976–2005) to the far future (2066–2095) period, especially at lower elevations. Hydrologic simulations showed that the TA scheme underestimated reductions in SWE and streamflow (Q) under warming as compared to the TW scheme. This finding has important implications on future projections for the CRB and in other mountainous basins where climate warming can shift conditions from snowfall to rainfall. Key Points: The precipitation partitioning method (PPM) impacts the simulation of snowfall and snowpack dynamics in the Colorado River Basin (CRB)The selection of PPM also determines the sensitivity of streamflow projections in the CRB under climate change scenariosSpatial variations in the impact of PPM reveal distinct climate change sensitivities in high and low elevation regions in the CRB [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peatlands are sources of bioaccumulating neurotoxin methylmercury (MeHg) that is linked to adverse health outcomes. Yet, the compounding impacts of climate change and reductions in atmospheric pollutants on mercury (Hg) export from peatlands are highly uncertain. We investigated the response in annual flow‐weighted concentrations (FWC) and yields of total‐Hg (THg) and MeHg to cleaner air and climate change using an unprecedented hydroclimatic (55‐year; streamflow, air temperature, precipitation, and peatland water tables), depositional chemistry (21‐year; Hg and major ions), and streamwater chemistry (∼17‐year; THg, MeHg, major ions, total organic carbon, and pH) data sets from a reference peatland catchment in Minnesota, USA. Over the hydroclimatic record, annual mean air temperature increased by ∼1.8°C, while baseflow and the efficiency that precipitation was converted to runoff (runoff ratio) decreased. Concurrently, precipitation‐based deposition of sulfate and Hg declined, where wet Hg deposition declined by ∼3–4 μg Hg m−2. Despite declines in wet Hg deposition over the study period, the catchment accumulated on average 0.04 ± 0.01 g Hg ha−1 yr−1 based on wet Hg deposition minus THg yield alone. Annual MeHg FWC was positively correlated with mean annual air temperatures (p = 0.03, r = 0.51), runoff ratio (p < 0.0001, r = 0.76), and wet Hg deposition concentration (p < 0.0001, r = 0.79). Decreasing wet Hg deposition and annual runoff ratios counterbalanced increased peatland MeHg production due to higher air temperatures, leading to an overall decline in streamwater MeHg FWC. Streamwater MeHg export may continue to decrease only as long as declines in runoff ratio and wet Hg deposition persistently outpace effects of increased air temperature. Plain Language Summary: Climate change and cleaner air are unequivocally altering the movement of toxic mercury and methylmercury. Using long‐term and broad environmental measurements, a stream fed by a peatland exhibited decreased methylmercury levels that correlated with lower wet mercury deposition concentration and lower net water yields from the catchment (runoff ratio), which offsets potential increases of methylmercury due to elevated air temperatures. As such, methylmercury export from peatland catchments will likely continue to decrease over time if climate change continues to accelerate the reduction of runoff ratios and atmospheric wet mercury deposition further decreases. Adaptation to future climate and environmental changes would greatly benefit from additional and longer‐integrated multidisciplinary data sets. Without such long‐term and integrated measures critical insights, such as those gained from this study, would not be possible. Key Points: Lower streamwater methylmercury concentrations and yields due to compounding effects of climate change and cleaner airLower wet atmospheric mercury deposition and runoff ratios offset higher air temperatures, resulting in lower methylmercury concentrationsHeadwater peatland catchments will continue to be net sinks of total mercury; thus, we may not see a net flushing of anthropogenic mercury [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildfires are a worldwide disturbance with unclear implications for stream water quality. We examined stream water chemistry responses immediately (<1 month) following a wildfire by measuring over 40 constituents in four gauged coastal watersheds that burned at low to moderate severity. Three of the four watersheds also had pre‐fire concentration‐discharge data for 14 constituents: suspended sediment (SSfine), dissolved organic and inorganic carbon (DOC, DIC), specific UV absorbance (SUVA), major ions (Ca2+, K+, Mg2+, Na+, Cl−, SO42− ${{\text{SO}}_{4}}^{2-}$, NO3− ${{\text{NO}}_{3}}^{-}$, F−), and select trace elements (total dissolved Mn, Fe). In all watersheds, post‐fire stream water concentrations of SSfine, DOC, Ca2+, Cl−, and NO3− ${{\text{NO}}_{3}}^{-}$ changed when compared to pre‐fire data. Post‐fire changes in SO42− ${{\text{SO}}_{4}}^{2-}$, K+, Na+, Mg2+, DIC, SUVA, and total dissolved Fe were also found for at least two of the three streams. For constituents with detectable responses to wildfire, post‐fire changes in the slopes of concentration‐discharge relationships commonly resulted in stronger enrichment trends or weaker dilution trends, suggesting that new contributing sources were surficial or near the surface. However, a few geogenic solutes, Ca2+, Mg2+, and DIC, displayed stronger dilution trends at nearly all sites post‐fire. Moreover, fire‐induced constituent concentration changes were highly discharge and site‐dependent. These similarities and differences in across‐site stream water chemistry responses to wildfire emphasize the need for a deeper understanding of landscape‐scale changes to solute sources and pathways. Our findings also highlight the importance of being explicit about reference points for both stream discharge and pre‐fire stream water chemistry in post‐fire assessment of concentration changes. Plain Language Summary: Wildfires are becoming more common, yet the effects of wildfire on streams and their water quality remain unclear. Changes in stream water quality following a wildfire can have consequences for drinking water and aquatic ecosystems. We studied how stream water quality changed in four impacted watersheds following the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Wildfire in central coastal California using measurements of stream water chemistry coupled with analysis of burned soils and ash from the same area. For sites with pre‐fire data, we found that wildfire impacts on stream water quality were greatest in the most extensively burned watershed. We also found that stream water quality changes were distinct across watersheds and dependent on stream discharge. Chemical measurements of potential sources of solutes, like ash and burned soils, indicate that the variability in stream water quality was consistent with contributions from ash or other burned landscape materials. The location, composition, and amount of these wildfire‐generated sources vary in space and time. This complexity can lead to some similarities as well as differences in water quality responses of different streams, like those found in our study. Key Points: Post‐fire stream water chemistry impacts were usually site, constituent, and discharge‐dependent, reflecting dynamic fire‐induced changesDespite this variability, slopes of concentration‐discharge relationships often became more positive post‐fire, implying altered surface or near‐surface sourcesHeterogeneity in fire‐generated sources and processes contributes to complexities in post‐fire stream water chemistry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization introduces new and alters the existing hydrological processes. Projecting the direction and magnitude of change of evapotranspiration (ET), often a large existing process, in humid subtropical climates is difficult due to the lack of land‐cover specific estimates of ET. This research aims to improve our fundamental understanding of ET in urban areas by focusing on ET specific to land‐cover classes of the National Land Cover Database (NLCD). Using multiple physically based models along with ET from reference watersheds, this study estimates ET—within the Atlanta, GA, USA region—for NLCD classes. ET also is estimated for urban watersheds—both in the Atlanta region and in areas with humid subtropical climate types—for which published ET estimates exist. There are major differences in land cover among the four developed classes: high‐intensity developed land is 92% impervious surfaces, while open‐space developed land—the least intensively developed land—is only 8% impervious surfaces. Consequently, open‐space developed land has an ET total that is over four times that of high‐intensity developed land. Due to a high percentage of impervious cover and substantial evaporation of water from impervious surfaces throughout the year, there is little intra‐annual variation in ET for the high‐intensity developed class. The land‐cover ET totals aggregate to reliable estimates for urban watersheds. The largest source of uncertainty for ET estimates in urban areas is likely the evaporation magnitude associated with impervious surfaces; therefore, more work is needed in determining those magnitudes for humid subtropical climates. Key Points: Evapotranspiration (ET) varies greatly among developed land‐cover classes in a humid subtropical climateET totals specific to land‐cover classes aggregate to reliable estimates for urban watershedsThe largest source of uncertainty for urban ET estimates is likely the magnitude of evaporation from impervious surfaces [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The depth of active groundwater circulation is a fundamental control on stream flows and chemistry in mountain watersheds, yet it remains challenging to characterize and is rarely well constrained. We collected hydraulic conductivity, hydraulic head, temperature, chemical, noble gas, and 3H/3He groundwater age data from discrete levels in two boreholes 46 and 81 m deep in an alpine watershed, in combination with chemical and age data from shallow groundwater discharge, to discern groundwater flow rates at different depths and directly observe active and inactive groundwater. Vertical head gradients are steep (average of 0.4) and thermal profiles are consistent with typical linear conductive continental geotherms. Groundwater deeper than ∼20 m is distinct from shallow groundwater and creek water in its chemistry, noble gas signature, and age (dominantly >65 years compared to

Nonpoint source urban nutrient loading into streams and receiving water bodies is widely recognized as a major environmental management challenge. A dominant research and management paradigm assumes that loading primarily derives from elevated stormwater. However, baseflow can account for a large portion of total loading, especially for low development intensity watersheds which comprise the largest urban areas. We investigated the sources and drivers of nonpoint source baseflow nitrogen loading across 27 headwater catchments in the urbanized Piedmont region of North Carolina, USA. Nitrate isotopes, predictors of concentration‐discharge (CQ) slopes, and predictors of mean annual total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) loading suggest that wastewater was a major baseflow nonpoint source of nitrogen across developed catchments likely contributing 61% of nitrate loading from septic served catchments and 49% from sewer served catchments. Our findings suggest that subsurface TDN was abundant, loading was largely transport limited, and the hydrogeomorphic position of sanitary infrastructure strongly influences transport. We developed an empirical model showing catchment loading increased with the topographic wetness index of sanitary sewer location, convergent sloping land area, parcel density, and residual agricultural landcover (R2 = 0.78). We extended this model to the study region's 1,436 developed small (0.3–20.8 sq km) catchments. We estimated up to 92.7% of nonpoint source baseflow TDN loading comes from low and medium development intensity catchments, and sanitary infrastructure in wet areas of the landscape accounts for 39% of regional baseflow loading. Our research indicates that managing baseflow loading will require addressing lower development intensity catchments and sanitary infrastructure. Plain Language Summary: Nutrient loading from developed landscapes into streams and receiving water bodies is widely recognized as a major environmental management challenge. The dominant research and management paradigm is that loading primarily derives from elevated stormwater. However, baseflow periods between storms can account for a large portion of total loading, especially for low development intensity watersheds which are most common. We investigated the sources and transport mechanisms of nonpoint source baseflow nitrogen loading across 26 developed catchments and one primarily forested catchment in the urbanized Piedmont region of North Carolina. We found that wastewater likely contributed 57% of nonpoint source baseflow nitrate loading across developed catchments served by both septic and sewer systems. Our findings suggest that subsurface nitrogen was abundant in developed watersheds such that increased baseflow resulted in higher nitrogen loading and often higher concentrations. Loading increased with metrics of the predicted wetness of sanitary infrastructure location, landforms which promotes subsurface flow, parcel density, and residual agricultural landcover. We used these predictors to model nitrogen loading regionally and estimated up to 92.7% of nonpoint source baseflow TDN loading comes from low, and medium development intensity catchments, although urban management efforts are often concentrated within high development intensity catchments. Key Points: Wastewater was a major source of nonpoint source baseflow N loading across developed catchments served by septic and sewer systemsBaseflow loading was transport limited and largely controlled by the position of sanitary infrastructure within the terrestrial flow fieldExtensive lower intensity development was estimated to produce more baseflow N loading regionally than high intensity development [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Legacy anthropogenic nitrogen (N) has been suggested as a major cause for increasing riverine N exports despite significant declines in anthropogenic N inputs in many regions. However, little quantitative knowledge exists concerning the contribution of the legacy N pool to riverine N export. This study developed a dynamic watershed N delivery model to address the role of transient storage of anthropogenic N inputs on riverine N flux. Employing simple mass balance and equivalent substitution rules, the model expresses the transient storage of legacy N mass with a term that combines the previous one year's riverine total N (TN) flux, relevant explanatory variables, and unknown parameters, enabling us to inversely calibrate the model parameters from measurable variables using Bayesian statistics. The model efficacy was demonstrated through application to the Yong'an River watershed in eastern China based on a 31 year record (1980-2010) of riverine TN fluxes. The model can quantify annual transient storage of legacy N and its resulting contribution to annual riverine N flux. The model also allows partitioning of the complete long-term mass balance for the fate (e.g., transient storage, riverine export, and loss/retention by denitrification, biomass uptake and wood product export) of annual anthropogenic N inputs. To further improve the model, various N input-output processes can be specified and long-term measurements of N fates are required to further verify the model results. This study demonstrates the need to consider transient storage effects as an improvement to current watershed models and for developing and assessing N pollution control measures. Key Points A dynamic watershed model is developed to address the transient N storage effect Legacy anthropogenic N can contribute a dominative N flux to rivers Long-term fate and transport of anthropogenic N inputs are determined

Pronounced climate warming over the arctic‐subarctic regions has lead to profound hydrological changes including intensified river flow, but how soil frost controls aquifer discharge remains poorly understood. This study quantifies the relationship between freezing temperature and baseflow in winter. Analyses show that the traditional reservoir models are unable to reproduce the observed baseflow variations. By incorporating a freezing temperature function in the reservoir models, the model performances are largely improved. It indicates the dominant role of freezing temperature in controlling the aquifer discharge through reducing the watershed conductivity and liquid (active) water content. The results for the Albany watershed in Canada show that the watershed lump conductivity decreases by half when air temperature accumulates to −172 °C·day from winter start and in extremely cold years, it could decrease by more than 85%. With this relationship, a climate warming of +1, +2, and +4 °C would suggest an increase of 7.7%, 16.7%, and 41.0% in conductivity or 6.8%, 14.7%, and 35.0% in winter discharge, respectively. The study provides an important link between climate warming and aquifer discharge in cold regions. The results could be particularly useful for developing process‐based models, estimating baseflow variations, and assessing climate change impact on cold region hydrology. Plain Language Summary: Pronounced climate warming over the arctic‐subarctic regions has lead to intensified river flow, but how soil frost controls aquifer discharge remains poorly understood. This study reveals the relationship between freezing temperature and baseflow in winter. The results show that freezing temperature reduces baseflow through decreasing hydraulic conductivity by more than 85% in extremely cold years for the Albany watershed in Canada. As such, a climate warming of +1, +2, and +4 °C could result in an increase in winter aquifer discharge of 6.8%, 14.7%, and 35.0%, respectively. The temperature‐baseflow relationship found in this study provides new insight for cold region climate change impact and water resources studies. Key Points: Freezing temperature is the dominant factor controlling cold region winter baseflowSoil frost reduces baseflow by reducing hydraulic conductivity and active water contentClimate warming could significantly increase winter river flow in cold regions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is broad consensus that urbanization results in dramatic changes in stream hydrology, such as higher peak flows and greater flashiness. However, this has not been definitively tested for aridlands, which are characterized by these very same hydrograph properties. We analyzed streamflow records from 19 watersheds of central Arizona, USA, to determine how hydrograph characteristics varied with urban development. Using linear mixed effects models, which factored in imperviousness along with other watershed characteristics, we evaluated influences on streamflow regime metrics calculated from daily and subdaily flow data. We found that flashiness, coefficient of variation, zero‐flow days, and hydrograph rise and fall rates decreased with extent of imperviousness—the opposite pattern to that observed in previous studies primarily in humid regions. Engineered retention basins are one explanation for this observation though novel urban sources of dry weather flows are likely also playing a role. We also found strong relationships between these hydrologic metrics and mean area‐weighted discharge, watershed area, and annual precipitation. Like in humid systems, we did observe more high flow events in the urban desert streams compared to nonurban desert streams. However, this was only at the lower flood threshold; there was no increase in larger floods with urban development. Overall, the urban stream syndrome manifests differently in this arid system: Urbanization increases water retention and leads to less variable flows in stream ecosystems. Plain Language Summary: As humans have developed landscapes using hard surfaces like buildings and parking lots, we have noticed that flooding and "flashier" conditions characterize streams in many of these developed areas. By flashiness, we are referring to the tendency of streamflow to quickly rise or fall. Here, we use data on streamflow in desert streams in Arizona, USA, to see how development in deserts may or may not have similar impacts on flooding. We did find that there were more small floods in the more urban desert watersheds. However, we also found that desert streams located in more developed areas tended to be less flashy than those in more rural areas. This is interesting because it is opposite of the patterns we see in the wetter cities. One reason for this pattern is that there are more places where water can be held back during storms instead of flowing directly to the stream. These places might be accidentally created or may be engineered features like storm water retention basins. Streams in cities also have other sources of water besides rain, such as runoff from car washes or irrigated lawns, that help to maintain more constant flows in these arid urban streams. Key Points: Urbanization in arid central Arizona watersheds results in decreased flashiness and fewer zero‐flow daysThese urban arid watersheds have increased retention of storm water, partially due to increased engineered retentionImpacts of urbanization on stream flashiness in arid central Arizona watersheds are opposite those observed in more humid regions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The footprint of catchment properties on water flow is reflected into hydrological signals, such as stream discharge. Here we demonstrate that it is possible to constrain catchment properties from the spectral analysis of hydrological signals but only when an appropriate transfer function (TF) is used for interpretation. We show that the appropriate theoretical TF, newly derived, is the only one to robustly describe a large diversity of experimental TFs that could be encountered in nature, because it entails the role of diffuse overflow and flow through the vadose zone, which have never been considered in spectral approaches before. The properties that may be estimated are the characteristic time scales of transfer in each compartment (surface, vadose zone, and aquifer) and the flow partitioning between surface and subsurface. We validate our approach by comparing the new and previous theoretical TFs to experimental TFs generated by a physically based distributed hydrological model, for a wide range of properties. The results confirm that without the use of the new TF, the interpretation of observed spectra may often lead to severe misestimations of catchment properties. The potential of the new TF to constrain catchment characteristics is exemplified by analyzing real hydrological signals from two watersheds with distinct behaviors. We finally discuss the broad implications of our findings and how they may contribute to a variety of topics in hydrology, thereby opening the way to a more widespread and robust use of spectral analysis to describe hydrosystems from effective rainfall, river discharge, and piezometric data. Plain Language Summary: Time series of hydrological variables, such as river discharge rates or groundwater levels, are very different from the rainfall signal that feeds continental hydrosystems. In addition, different watersheds undergoing similar climatic conditions do not produce similar hydrological responses. Therefore, deciphering how a climatic signal is altered and retranscribed into hydrological signals is a difficult task. Nevertheless, understanding how hydrosystems react to different time scales of climatic forcing remains an important challenge for water management, as it is key to predicting extreme hydrological events (severe droughts and floods). Here we develop and validate a new approach to study the impact of various hydrological compartments (such as surface waters or subsurface waters) on climatic signal transformation. We use a spectral domain approach, meaning that river discharge, for instance, is not seen as function of time but rather as a function of the various elementary frenquencies that compose the signal. We demonstrate that our new approach favors the interpretation of data in the spectral domain and thereby enhances comprehension of flow processes in response to different time scales of climatic inputs. Key Points: Hydrological responses to climatic forcing can be described more efficiently by new transfer functions (TFs)The new TFs account for flow in three key hydrosystem compartments (surface, vadose zone, and aquifer) to interpret data in the spectral domainThe use of previously derived TFs may lead to severe misestimation of catchment dynamics and properties, like aquifer hydraulic diffusivity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactive Genetic Algorithms (IGA) are advanced human-in-the-loop optimization methods that enable humans to give feedback, based on their subjective and unquantified preferences and knowledge, during the algorithm's search process. While these methods are gaining popularity in multiple fields, there is a critical lack of data and analyses on (a) the nature of interactions of different humans with interfaces of decision support systems (DSS) that employ IGA in water resources planning problems and on (b) the effect of human feedback on the algorithm's ability to search for design alternatives desirable to end-users. In this paper, we present results and analyses of observational experiments in which different human participants ( surrogates and stakeholders) interacted with an IGA-based, watershed DSS called WRESTORE to identify plans of conservation practices in a watershed. The main goal of this paper is to evaluate how the IGA adapts its search process in the objective space to a user's feedback, and identify whether any similarities exist in the objective space of plans found by different participants. Some participants focused on the entire watershed, while others focused only on specific local subbasins. Additionally, two different hydrology models were used to identify any potential differences in interactive search outcomes that could arise from differences in the numerical values of benefits displayed to participants. Results indicate that stakeholders, in comparison to their surrogates, were more likely to use multiple features of the DSS interface to collect information before giving feedback, and dissimilarities existed among participants in the objective space of design alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying the factors controlling stream water pollutants is challenged by the diversity of potential sources, pathways, and processes. This study tests the effects of watershed characteristics on stream water metal concentrations across environmental gradients. By using an extensive data set of 83 watersheds in southern Finland and structural equation modeling (SEM), the direct and indirect effects of land use and soil type on metal concentrations were explored. Both land use and soil type resulted in statistically significant direct effects on metals; for example, land use was found to control dissolved metal concentrations, whereas soil type had the strongest links for total metal concentrations. The consideration of indirect correlation further strengthened the effects of soil type up to 50%, thus suggesting the dominant role of soil across land use intensities. Moreover, the results indicate that modified landscapes mediate the effect of natural soil processes in controlling stream metal concentrations. This work highlights the benefits of structural equation model framework, as the underlying paths for water quality are more likely to be identified, compared to traditional regression methods. Thus, the implementation of SEM on water quality studies is highly encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rainfall-runoff response of watersheds is affected by the legacy of past hydroclimatic conditions. We examined how variability in precipitation affected streamflow using 21 years of daily streamflow and precipitation data from five watersheds at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in southwestern North Carolina, USA. The gauged watersheds contained both coniferous and deciduous vegetation, dominant north and south aspects, and differing precipitation magnitudes. Lag-correlations between precipitation and runoff ratios across a range of temporal resolutions indicated strong influence of past precipitation (i.e., watershed memory). At all time-scales, runoff ratios strongly depended on the precipitation of previous time steps. At monthly time scales, the influence of past precipitation was detectable for up to 7 months. At seasonal time scales, the previous season had a greater effect on a season's runoff ratio than the same season's precipitation. At annual time scales, the previous year was equally important for a year's runoff ratio than the same year's precipitation. Estimated watershed storage through time and specifically the previous year's storage state was strongly correlated with the residuals of a regression between annual precipitation and annual runoff, partially explaining observed variability in annual runoff in watersheds with deep soils. This effect was less pronounced in the steepest watershed that also contained shallow soils. We suggest that the location of a watershed on a nonlinear watershed-scale storage-release curve can explain differences in runoff during growing and dormant season between watersheds with different annual evapotranspiration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of fire on annual streamflow has been examined in numerous watershed studies, with some studies observing postfire increases in streamflow while other have observed no conclusive change. Despite this inherent variability in streamflow response, the management of water resources for flood protection, water supply, water quality, and the environment necessitates an understanding of postfire effects on streamflow at regional scales. In this study, the regional effect of wildfire on annual streamflow was investigated using 12 paired watersheds in central and southern California. A mixed model was used to pool and statistically examine the combined paired-watershed data, with emphasis on the effects of percentage area burned, postfire recovery of vegetation, and postfire wetness conditions on postfire streamflow change. At a regional scale, postfire annual streamflow increased 134% (82%-200%) during the first postfire year assuming 100% area burned and average annual wetness conditions. Postfire response decreased with lower percentages of percentage area burned and during subsequent years as vegetation recovered following fire. Annual streamflow response to fire was found to be sensitive to annual wetness conditions, with postfire response being smallest during dry years, greatest during wet years, and slowly decreasing during very wet years. These findings provide watershed managers with a first-order estimate for predicting postfire streamflow response in both gauged and ungauged watersheds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Woody plant encroachment is a world wide phenomenon with implications on the hydrologic cycle at the catchment scale that are not well understood. In this study, we use observations from two small semiarid watersheds in southern Arizona that have been encroached by the velvet mesquite tree and apply a distributed hydrologic model to explore runoff threshold processes experienced during the North American monsoon. The paired watersheds have similar soil and meteorological conditions, but vary considerably in terms of vegetation cover (mesquite, grass, bare soil) and their proportions with one basin having undergone mesquite removal in 1974. Long-term observations from the watersheds exhibit changes in runoff production over time, such that the watershed with more woody plants currently has less runoff for small rainfall events, more runoff for larger events, and a larger runoff ratio during the study periods (summers 2011 and 2012). To explain this observation, we first test the distributed model, parameterized with high-resolution (1 m) terrain and vegetation distributions, against continuous data from an environmental sensor network, including an eddy covariance tower, soil moisture, and temperature profiles in different vegetation types, and runoff observations. We find good agreement between the model and observations for simultaneous water and energy states and fluxes over a range of measurement scales. We then identify that the areal fraction of grass (bare soil) cover determines the runoff response for small (large) rainfall events due to the dominant controls of antecedent wetness (hydraulic conductivity). These model-derived mechanisms explain how woody plants have differential effects on runoff in semiarid basins depending on precipitation event sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a direct measure of watershed resilience, watershed storage is important for understanding climate change impacts on water resources. In this paper we quantify water budget components and storage changes for two of the largest watersheds in the State of Michigan, USA (the Grand River and the Saginaw Bay watersheds) using remotely sensed data and a process-based hydrologic model (PAWS) that includes detailed representations of subsurface and land surface processes. Model performance is evaluated using ground-based observations (streamflows, groundwater heads, soil moisture, and soil temperature) as well as satellite-based estimates of evapotranspiration (Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, MODIS) and watershed storage changes (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, GRACE). We use the model to compute annual-average fluxes due to evapotranspiration, surface runoff, recharge and groundwater contribution to streams and analyze the impacts of land use and land cover (LULC) and soil types on annual hydrologic budgets using correlation analysis. Watershed storage changes based on GRACE data and model results showed similar patterns. Storage was dominated by subsurface components and showed an increasing trend over the past decade. This work provides new estimates of water budgets and storage changes in Great Lakes watersheds and the results are expected to aid in the analysis and interpretation of the current trend of declining lake levels, in understanding projected future impacts of climate change as well as in identifying appropriate climate adaptation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates scaling relationships of watershed area and stream networks delineated from LiDAR DEMs. The delineations are tested against spatial resolution, including 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50 m, and interpolation method, including Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), Moving Average (MA), Universal Kriging (UK), Natural Neighbor (NN), and Triangular Irregular Networks (TIN). Study sites include Mosquito Creek, Scotty Creek, and Thomas Brook, representing landscapes with high, low, and moderate change in elevation, respectively. Results show scale-dependent irregularities in watershed area due to spatial resolution at Thomas Brook and Mosquito Creek. The highest sensitivity of watershed area to spatial resolution occurred at Scotty Creek, due to high incidence of LiDAR sensor measurement error and subtle changes in elevation. Length of drainage networks did not show a scaling relationship with spatial resolution, due to algorithmic complications of the stream initiation threshold. Stream lengths of main channels at Thomas Brook and Mosquito Creek displayed systematic increases in length with increasing spatial resolution, described through an average fractal dimension of 1.059. The scaling relationship between stream length and DEM resolution allows estimation of stream lengths from low-resolution DEMs in the absence of high-resolution DEMs. Single stream validation at Thomas Brook showed the 1 m DEM produced the lowest length error and highest spatial accuracy, at 3.7% and 71.3%, respectively. Single stream validation at Mosquito Creek showed the 25 m DEM produced the lowest length error, and the 1 m DEM the highest spatial accuracy, at 0.6% and 61.0%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]