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Macroplastic pollution (> 0.5 cm) negatively impacts aquatic life and threatens human livelihood on land, in oceans and river systems. Reliable information on the origin, fate and pathways of plastic in river systems is required to optimize prevention, mitigation and reduction strategies. Yet, accurate and long-term data on plastic transport are still lacking. Current macroplastic monitoring strategies involve labor intensive sampling methods, require investment in infrastructure, and are therefore infrequent. Crowd-based observations of riverine macroplastic pollution may potentially provide frequent cost-effective data collection over a large geographical range. We extended the CrowdWater citizen science app for hydrological observations with a module for observations of plastic in rivers. In this paper, we demonstrate the potential of crowd-based observations of floating macroplastic and macroplastic on riverbanks. We analyzed data from two case studies: (1) floating plastic measured in the Klang (Malaysia), and (2) plastic on riverbanks along the Rhine (the Netherlands). Crowd-based observations of floating plastic in the Klang yield similar estimates of plastic transport (2,000–3,000 items h−1), cross-sectional distribution (3–7 percent point difference) and polymer categories (0–6 percent point difference) as reference observations. It also highlighted the high temporal variation in riverine plastic transport. The riverbank observations provided the first data of macroplastic pollution on the most downstream stretch of the Rhine, revealing peaks close to urban areas and an increasing plastic density toward the river mouth. The mean riverbank density estimates are also similar for the crowd-based and reference methods (573–1,033 items km−1). These results highlight the value of including crowd-based riverine macroplastic observations in future monitoring strategies. Crowd-based observations may provide reliable estimations of plastic, Water Resources

Macroplastic pollution (> 0.5 cm) negatively impacts aquatic life and threatens human livelihood on land, in oceans and river systems. Reliable information on the origin, fate and pathways of plastic in river systems is required to optimize prevention, mitigation and reduction strategies. Yet, accurate and long-term data on plastic transport are still lacking. Current macroplastic monitoring strategies involve labor intensive sampling methods, require investment in infrastructure, and are therefore infrequent. Crowd-based observations of riverine macroplastic pollution may potentially provide frequent cost-effective data collection over a large geographical range. We extended the CrowdWater citizen science app for hydrological observations with a module for observations of plastic in rivers. In this paper, we demonstrate the potential of crowd-based observations of floating macroplastic and macroplastic on riverbanks. We analyzed data from two case studies: (1) floating plastic measured in the Klang (Malaysia), and (2) plastic on riverbanks along the Rhine (the Netherlands). Crowd-based observations of floating plastic in the Klang yield similar estimates of plastic transport (2,000–3,000 items h−1), cross-sectional distribution (3–7 percent point difference) and polymer categories (0–6 percent point difference) as reference observations. It also highlighted the high temporal variation in riverine plastic transport. The riverbank observations provided the first data of macroplastic pollution on the most downstream stretch of the Rhine, revealing peaks close to urban areas and an increasing plastic density toward the river mouth. The mean riverbank density estimates are also similar for the crowd-based and reference methods (573–1,033 items km−1). These results highlight the value of including crowd-based riverine macroplastic observations in future monitoring strategies. Crowd-based observations may provide reliable estimations of plastic, Water Resources

Plastic debris has become an abundant pollutant in marine, coastal and riverine environments, posing a large threat to aquatic life. Effective measures to mitigate and prevent marine plastic pollution require a thorough understanding of its origin and eventual fate. Several models have estimated that land-based sources are the main source of marine plastic pollution, although field data to substantiate these estimates remain limited. Current methodologies to measure riverine plastic transport require the availability of infrastructure and accessible riverbanks, but, to obtain measurements on a higher spatial and temporal scale, new monitoring methods are required. This paper presents a new methodology for quantifying riverine plastic debris using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), including a first application on Klang River, Malaysia. Additional plastic measurements were done in parallel with the UAV-based approach to make comparisons between the two methods. The spatiotemporal distribution of the plastics obtained with both methods show similar patterns and variations. With this, we show that UAV-based monitoring methods are a promising alternative for currently available approaches for monitoring riverine plastic transport, especially in remote and inaccessible areas.

Plastic debris has become an abundant pollutant in marine, coastal and riverine environments, posing a large threat to aquatic life. Effective measures to mitigate and prevent marine plastic pollution require a thorough understanding of its origin and eventual fate. Several models have estimated that land-based sources are the main source of marine plastic pollution, although field data to substantiate these estimates remain limited. Current methodologies to measure riverine plastic transport require the availability of infrastructure and accessible riverbanks, but, to obtain measurements on a higher spatial and temporal scale, new monitoring methods are required. This paper presents a new methodology for quantifying riverine plastic debris using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), including a first application on Klang River, Malaysia. Additional plastic measurements were done in parallel with the UAV-based approach to make comparisons between the two methods. The spatiotemporal distribution of the plastics obtained with both methods show similar patterns and variations. With this, we show that UAV-based monitoring methods are a promising alternative for currently available approaches for monitoring riverine plastic transport, especially in remote and inaccessible areas.

The urban heat island effect was first described 200 years ago, but the development of ways to mitigate heat in urban areas reaches much further into the past. Uchimizu is a 17th century Japanese tradition, in which water is sprinkled around houses to cool the ground surface and air by evaporation. Unfortunately, the number of published studies that have quantified the cooling effects of uchimizu are limited and only use surface temperature or air temperature at a single height as a measure of the cooling effect. In this research, a dense three-dimensional Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) setup was used to measure air temperature with high spatial and temporal resolution within one cubic meter of air above an urban surface. Six experiments were performed to systematically study the effects of (1) the amount of applied water; (2) the initial surface temperature; and (3) shading on the cooling effect of uchimizu. The measurements showed a decrease in air temperature of up to 1.5 ◦C at a height of 2 m, and up to 6 ◦C for near-ground temperature. The strongest cooling was measured in the shade experiment. For water applied in quantities of 1 mm and 2 mm, there was no clear difference in cooling effect, but after application of a large amount of water (>5 mm), the strong near-ground cooling effect was approximately twice as high as when only 1 mm of water was applied. The dense measurement grid used in this research also enabled us to detect the rising turbulent eddies created by the heated surface., Water Resources

Experimental work in hydrology is in decline. Based on a community survey, Blume et al. showed that the hydrological community associates experimental work with greater risks. One of the main issues with experimental work is the higher chance of negative results (defined here as when the expected or wanted result was not observed despite careful experimental design, planning and execution), resulting in a longer and more difficult publishing process. Reporting on negative results would avoid putting time and resources into repeating experiments that lead to negative results, and give experimental hydrologists the scientific recognition they deserve. With this commentary, we propose four potential solutions to encourage reporting on negative results, which might contribute to a stimulation of experimental hydrology., Water Resources

Water Resources

The Young Hydrologic Society (YHS) is a grassroots initiative to stimulate the interaction and active participation of early career hydrologists within the hydrological sciences community and beyond. Our vision is to reform hydrologic community towards a more active and inclusive involvement of early career hydrologists. YHS mission is to connect and inform. With YHS, we want to (1) connect early career scientists (ECS) by regularly organizing scientific and professional development sessions/workshops, as well as social events at geoscience conferences e.g. EGU, AGU, and IAHS; (2) inform YHS members about successes/issues of the hydrologic community and the current and future research topics of the field. Social media, such as Twitter, blogs or Facebook have been instrumental for YHS to reach its goals. But we noticed that, even in the era of online communication, face-to-face contact remains to be the most effective way to foster connections globally and raise awareness about our network. Actively participating in workshops, seminars, and roundtable discussions at international conferences requires more resources, but the memories are longer lasting and can be even more meaningful/inspiring than what online posts provides. YHS takes pride in its strategy to diversify and empower National Initiatives (e.g. Canadian YHS) as well as actively collaborate with other ECS networks such as Student Subcommittee of AGU Hydrology Section (H3S), Young Earth System Scientists (YESS) community, and IAHS Early Career Committee. We recommend that diversifying ECS networks, engaging ECS in convening scientific sessions, in addition to expanding ECS-focused workshops/events should be an inalienable component of geoscience conferences., ED33E-1133 presented at 2018 Fall Meeting, AGU, Washington, D.C., 10-14 Dec. Session: ED33E Early-Career Scientist Networks and Organizations Posters, Water Resources

Land–atmosphere interactions depend on momentum transfer from the atmosphere to the canopy, which in turn depends on the tree drag coefficient. It is known that the drag coefficient, and thus tree–atmosphere momentum transfer, can vary strongly within a canopy. Yet, only few measurements are available to study the variation of tree–atmosphere momentum transfer in time and space, and in response to tree water deficit. In this paper we use accelerometers to estimate tree–atmosphere momentum transfer for 19 individual trees of 7 different species in the Brazilian Amazon. The 5-month monitoring period included the transition from wet to dry months. Here, we demonstrate that, under field conditions, tree–atmosphere momentum transfer can vary considerably in time and space (up to a factor of 2.5). Increased water-related stem variations during the dry months are related to observed changes in tree–atmosphere momentum transfer, which is hypothesized to be caused by tree-water-deficit-induced changes in tree mass., Water Resources

Media such as television, newspapers and social media play a key role in the communication between scientists and the general public. Communicating your science via the media can be positive and rewarding by providing the inherent joy of sharing your knowledge with a broader audience, promoting science as a fundamental part of culture and society, impacting decision- and policy-makers, and giving you a greater recognition by institutions, colleagues and funders. However, the interaction between scientists and journalists is not always straightforward. For instance, scientists may not always be able to translate their work into a compelling story, and journalists may sometimes misinterpret scientific output. In this paper, we present insights from hydrologists and journalists discussing the advantages and benefits as well as the potential pitfalls and aftermath of science-media interaction. As we perceive interacting with the media as a rewarding and essential part of our work, we aim to encourage scientists to participate in the diverse and evolving media landscape. With this paper, we call on the scientific community to support scientists who actively contribute to a fruitful science-media relationship.., Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions, Water Resources

Sustainable water resources management relies on understanding how societies and water systems coevolve. Many place-based sociohydrology (SH) modeling studies use proxies, such as environmental degradation, to capture key elements of the social component of system dynamics. Parameters of assumed relationships between environmental degradation and the human response to it are usually obtained through calibration. Since these relationships are not yet underpinned by social-science theories, confidence in the predictive power of such place-based sociohydrologic models remains low. The generalizability of SH models therefore requires major advances in incorporating more realistic relationships, underpinned by appropriate hydrological and social-science data and theories. The latter is a critical input, since human culture - especially values and norms arising from it - influences behavior and the consequences of behaviors. This paper reviews a key social-science theory that links cultural factors to environmental decision-making, assesses how to better incorporate social-science insights to enhance SH models, and raises important questions to be addressed in moving forward. This is done in the context of recent progress in sociohydrological studies and the gaps that remain to be filled. The paper concludes with a discussion of challenges and opportunities in terms of generalization of SH models and the use of available data to allow future prediction and model transfer to ungauged basins., Water Resources

A phenomenon known as the skin effect-a layer of surface water that is colder than the water beneath it-was previously described in oceanography and verified in lab measurements. Only a few measurements have been done on the skin effect in field conditions, and therefore this phenomenon is relatively unknown. This paper presents measurements of the skin effect for three fresh water bodies in the Netherlands, Israel and Ghana. Using Distributed Temperature Sensing, high temporal and spatial resolution measurements were made below, at and above the air-water surface. Measurements presented in this study suggest that the skin effect of fresh water bodies is predominantly a daytime phenomenon and only occurs during low to zero wind speeds. The thickness of the skin effect was measured to be an order of magnitude larger than the previously assumed less than 1 mm., Water Resources

Experimental work in hydrology is in decline. Based on a community survey, Blume et al. showed that the hydrological community associates experimental work with greater risks. One of the main issues with experimental work is the higher chance of negative results (defined here as when the expected or wanted result was not observed despite careful experimental design, planning and execution), resulting in a longer and more difficult publishing process. Reporting on negative results would avoid putting time and resources into repeating experiments that lead to negative results, and give experimental hydrologists the scientific recognition they deserve. With this commentary, we propose four potential solutions to encourage reporting on negative results, which might contribute to a stimulation of experimental hydrology., Water Resources

Water Resources

Media such as television, newspapers and social media play a key role in the communication between scientists and the general public. Communicating your science via the media can be positive and rewarding by providing the inherent joy of sharing your knowledge with a broader audience, promoting science as a fundamental part of culture and society, impacting decision- and policy-makers, and giving you a greater recognition by institutions, colleagues and funders. However, the interaction between scientists and journalists is not always straightforward. For instance, scientists may not always be able to translate their work into a compelling story, and journalists may sometimes misinterpret scientific output. In this paper, we present insights from hydrologists and journalists discussing the advantages and benefits as well as the potential pitfalls and aftermath of science-media interaction. As we perceive interacting with the media as a rewarding and essential part of our work, we aim to encourage scientists to participate in the diverse and evolving media landscape. With this paper, we call on the scientific community to support scientists who actively contribute to a fruitful science-media relationship.., Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions, Water Resources

Sustainable water resources management relies on understanding how societies and water systems coevolve. Many place-based sociohydrology (SH) modeling studies use proxies, such as environmental degradation, to capture key elements of the social component of system dynamics. Parameters of assumed relationships between environmental degradation and the human response to it are usually obtained through calibration. Since these relationships are not yet underpinned by social-science theories, confidence in the predictive power of such place-based sociohydrologic models remains low. The generalizability of SH models therefore requires major advances in incorporating more realistic relationships, underpinned by appropriate hydrological and social-science data and theories. The latter is a critical input, since human culture - especially values and norms arising from it - influences behavior and the consequences of behaviors. This paper reviews a key social-science theory that links cultural factors to environmental decision-making, assesses how to better incorporate social-science insights to enhance SH models, and raises important questions to be addressed in moving forward. This is done in the context of recent progress in sociohydrological studies and the gaps that remain to be filled. The paper concludes with a discussion of challenges and opportunities in terms of generalization of SH models and the use of available data to allow future prediction and model transfer to ungauged basins., Water Resources

A phenomenon known as the skin effect-a layer of surface water that is colder than the water beneath it-was previously described in oceanography and verified in lab measurements. Only a few measurements have been done on the skin effect in field conditions, and therefore this phenomenon is relatively unknown. This paper presents measurements of the skin effect for three fresh water bodies in the Netherlands, Israel and Ghana. Using Distributed Temperature Sensing, high temporal and spatial resolution measurements were made below, at and above the air-water surface. Measurements presented in this study suggest that the skin effect of fresh water bodies is predominantly a daytime phenomenon and only occurs during low to zero wind speeds. The thickness of the skin effect was measured to be an order of magnitude larger than the previously assumed less than 1 mm., Water Resources

Land–atmosphere interactions depend on momentum transfer from the atmosphere to the canopy, which in turn depends on the tree drag coefficient. It is known that the drag coefficient, and thus tree–atmosphere momentum transfer, can vary strongly within a canopy. Yet, only few measurements are available to study the variation of tree–atmosphere momentum transfer in time and space, and in response to tree water deficit. In this paper we use accelerometers to estimate tree–atmosphere momentum transfer for 19 individual trees of 7 different species in the Brazilian Amazon. The 5-month monitoring period included the transition from wet to dry months. Here, we demonstrate that, under field conditions, tree–atmosphere momentum transfer can vary considerably in time and space (up to a factor of 2.5). Increased water-related stem variations during the dry months are related to observed changes in tree–atmosphere momentum transfer, which is hypothesized to be caused by tree-water-deficit-induced changes in tree mass., Water Resources

The Young Hydrologic Society (YHS) is a grassroots initiative to stimulate the interaction and active participation of early career hydrologists within the hydrological sciences community and beyond. Our vision is to reform hydrologic community towards a more active and inclusive involvement of early career hydrologists. YHS mission is to connect and inform. With YHS, we want to (1) connect early career scientists (ECS) by regularly organizing scientific and professional development sessions/workshops, as well as social events at geoscience conferences e.g. EGU, AGU, and IAHS; (2) inform YHS members about successes/issues of the hydrologic community and the current and future research topics of the field. Social media, such as Twitter, blogs or Facebook have been instrumental for YHS to reach its goals. But we noticed that, even in the era of online communication, face-to-face contact remains to be the most effective way to foster connections globally and raise awareness about our network. Actively participating in workshops, seminars, and roundtable discussions at international conferences requires more resources, but the memories are longer lasting and can be even more meaningful/inspiring than what online posts provides. YHS takes pride in its strategy to diversify and empower National Initiatives (e.g. Canadian YHS) as well as actively collaborate with other ECS networks such as Student Subcommittee of AGU Hydrology Section (H3S), Young Earth System Scientists (YESS) community, and IAHS Early Career Committee. We recommend that diversifying ECS networks, engaging ECS in convening scientific sessions, in addition to expanding ECS-focused workshops/events should be an inalienable component of geoscience conferences., ED33E-1133 presented at 2018 Fall Meeting, AGU, Washington, D.C., 10-14 Dec. Session: ED33E Early-Career Scientist Networks and Organizations Posters, Water Resources

In this synthesis paper addressing hydrologic scaling and similarity, we posit that roadblocks in the search for universal laws of hydrology are hindered by our focus on computational simulation (the third paradigm) and assert that it is time for hydrology to embrace a fourth paradigm of data-intensive science. Advances in information-based hydrologic science, coupled with an explosion of hydrologic data and advances in parameter estimation and modeling, have laid the foundation for a data-driven framework for scrutinizing hydrological scaling and similarity hypotheses. We summarize important scaling and similarity concepts (hypotheses) that require testing; describe a mutual information framework for testing these hypotheses; describe boundary condition, state, flux, and parameter data requirements across scales to support testing these hypotheses; and discuss some challenges to overcome while pursuing the fourth hydrological paradigm. We call upon the hydrologic sciences community to develop a focused effort towards adopting the fourth paradigm and apply this to outstanding challenges in scaling and similarity., Water Resources

The Amazon rainforest plays an important role in the global water and carbon cycle, and though it is predicted to continue drying in the future, the effect of drought remains uncertain. Developments in remote sensing missions now facilitate large-scale observations. The RapidScat scatterometer (Ku band) mounted on the International Space Station observes the Earth in a non-Sun-synchronous orbit, which allows for studying changes in the diurnal cycle of radar backscatter over the Amazon. Diurnal cycles in backscatter are significantly affected by the state of the canopy, especially during periods of increased water stress. We use RapidScat backscatter time series and water deficit measurements from dendrometers in 20 trees during a 9 month period to relate variations in backscatter to increased tree water deficit. Morning radar bacskcatter dropped significantly with increased tree water deficit measured with dendrometers. This provides unique observational evidence that demonstrates the sensitivity of radar backscatter to vegetation water stress, highlighting the potential of drought detection and monitoring using radar., Water Resources

Over recent decades, the global population has been rapidly increasing and human activities have altered terrestrial water fluxes to an unprecedented extent. The phenomenal growth of the human footprint has significantly modified hydrological processes in various ways (e.g. irrigation, artificial dams, and water diversion) and at various scales (from a watershed to the globe). During the early 1990s, awareness of the potential for increased water scarcity led to the first detailed global water resource assessments. Shortly thereafter, in order to analyse the human perturbation on terrestrial water resources, the first generation of largescale hydrological models (LHMs) was produced. However, at this early stage few models considered the interaction between terrestrial water fluxes and human activities, including water use and reservoir regulation, and even fewer models distinguished water use from surface water and groundwater resources. Since the early 2000s, a growing number of LHMs have incorporated human impacts on the hydrological cycle, yet the representation of human activities in hydrological models remains challenging. In this paper we provide a synthesis of progress in the development and application of human impact modelling in LHMs. We highlight a number of key challenges and discuss possible improvements in order to better represent the human-water interface in hydrological models., Water Resources

Precipitation (P) and potential evaporation (Ep) are commonly studied drivers of changing freshwater availability, as aridity (Ep/P) explains ∼90% of the spatial differences in mean runoff across the globe. However, it is unclear if changes in aridity over time are also the most important cause for temporal changes in mean runoff and how this degree of importance varies regionally. We show that previous global assessments that address these questions do not properly account for changes due to precipitation, and thereby strongly underestimate the effects of precipitation on runoff. To resolve this shortcoming, we provide an improved Budyko-based global assessment of the relative and absolute sensitivity of precipitation, potential evaporation, and other factors to changes in mean-annual runoff. The absolute elasticity of runoff to potential evaporation changes is always lower than the elasticity to precipitation changes. The global pattern indicates that for 83% of the land grid cells runoff is most sensitive to precipitation changes, while other factors dominate for the remaining 17%. This dominant role of precipitation contradicts previous global assessments, which considered the impacts of aridity changes as a ratio. We highlight that dryland regions generally display high absolute sensitivities of runoff to changes in precipitation, however within dryland regions the relative sensitivity of runoff to changes in other factors (e.g., changing climatic variability, CO2-vegetation feedbacks, and anthropogenic modifications to the landscape) is often far higher. Nonetheless, at the global scale, surface water resources are most sensitive to temporal changes in precipitation., Water Resources

Trees play a crucial role in the water, carbon and nitrogen cycle on local, regional and global scales. Understanding the exchange of momentum, heat, water, and CO 2 between trees and the atmosphere is important to assess the impact of drought, deforestation and climate change. Unfortunately, ground measurements of tree properties such as mass and canopy interception of precipitation are often expensive or difficult due to challenging environments. This paper aims to demonstrate the concept of using robust and affordable accelerometers to measure tree properties and responses. Tree sway is dependent on mass, canopy structure, drag coefficient, and wind forcing. By measuring tree acceleration, we can relate the tree motion to external forcing (e.g., wind, precipitation and related canopy interception) and tree physical properties (e.g., mass, elasticity). Using five months of acceleration data of 19 trees in the Brazilian Amazon, we show that the frequency spectrum of tree sway is related to mass, canopy interception of precipitation, and canopy–atmosphere turbulent exchange., Water Resources

Vegetation is a crucial part of the water and carbon cycle. Through photosynthesis carbon is assimilated for biomass production, and oxygen is released into the atmosphere. During this process, water is transpired through the stomata, and is redistributed in the plant. Transpired water is refilled by uptake of water from the root zone in the subsurface. Transpiration by vegetation accounts for most of the total evaporation from land on a global scale. In some ecosystems, such as tropical rainforests, transpiration even makes up more than 70% of total evaporation. Periods of low water availability, water stress, leads to irreversible damage to plants, and can eventually lead to plant death. To prevent this, various mechanisms are activated by the vegetation to survive. Transpiration is reduced as a result of vegetation water stress, which can affect the water and carbon cycle on local, regional, and even global scales. Additionally, water stress in crops is one of the major reasons for harvest losses, threatening food security. However, many effects of vegetation water stress on crops and tropical forests remains poorly understood. New satellite observations provide opportunities for better detection and understanding of vegetation water stress. Recent research suggests that radar remote sensing might yield valuable insights into vegetation water content. Radar backscatter is sensitive to vegetation because of direct backscatter from the canopy, and through two-way attenuation of the signal as it travels through the vegetation layer. The degree of interaction of radar waves with the vegetation is mainly a function of the vegetation dielectric constant, which is in turn primarily influenced by vegetation water content. Over the last years, various studies have reported links between anomalies in radar backscatter and vegetation water stress. This has led to the hypothesis that radar backscatter is sensitive to vegetation water stress. Addi, Water Resources

In this synthesis paper addressing hydrologic scaling and similarity, we posit that roadblocks in the search for universal laws of hydrology are hindered by our focus on computational simulation (the third paradigm) and assert that it is time for hydrology to embrace a fourth paradigm of data-intensive science. Advances in information-based hydrologic science, coupled with an explosion of hydrologic data and advances in parameter estimation and modeling, have laid the foundation for a data-driven framework for scrutinizing hydrological scaling and similarity hypotheses. We summarize important scaling and similarity concepts (hypotheses) that require testing; describe a mutual information framework for testing these hypotheses; describe boundary condition, state, flux, and parameter data requirements across scales to support testing these hypotheses; and discuss some challenges to overcome while pursuing the fourth hydrological paradigm. We call upon the hydrologic sciences community to develop a focused effort towards adopting the fourth paradigm and apply this to outstanding challenges in scaling and similarity., Water Resources

The Amazon rainforest plays an important role in the global water and carbon cycle, and though it is predicted to continue drying in the future, the effect of drought remains uncertain. Developments in remote sensing missions now facilitate large-scale observations. The RapidScat scatterometer (Ku band) mounted on the International Space Station observes the Earth in a non-Sun-synchronous orbit, which allows for studying changes in the diurnal cycle of radar backscatter over the Amazon. Diurnal cycles in backscatter are significantly affected by the state of the canopy, especially during periods of increased water stress. We use RapidScat backscatter time series and water deficit measurements from dendrometers in 20 trees during a 9 month period to relate variations in backscatter to increased tree water deficit. Morning radar bacskcatter dropped significantly with increased tree water deficit measured with dendrometers. This provides unique observational evidence that demonstrates the sensitivity of radar backscatter to vegetation water stress, highlighting the potential of drought detection and monitoring using radar., Water Resources

Over recent decades, the global population has been rapidly increasing and human activities have altered terrestrial water fluxes to an unprecedented extent. The phenomenal growth of the human footprint has significantly modified hydrological processes in various ways (e.g. irrigation, artificial dams, and water diversion) and at various scales (from a watershed to the globe). During the early 1990s, awareness of the potential for increased water scarcity led to the first detailed global water resource assessments. Shortly thereafter, in order to analyse the human perturbation on terrestrial water resources, the first generation of largescale hydrological models (LHMs) was produced. However, at this early stage few models considered the interaction between terrestrial water fluxes and human activities, including water use and reservoir regulation, and even fewer models distinguished water use from surface water and groundwater resources. Since the early 2000s, a growing number of LHMs have incorporated human impacts on the hydrological cycle, yet the representation of human activities in hydrological models remains challenging. In this paper we provide a synthesis of progress in the development and application of human impact modelling in LHMs. We highlight a number of key challenges and discuss possible improvements in order to better represent the human-water interface in hydrological models., Water Resources

Vegetation is a crucial part of the water and carbon cycle. Through photosynthesis carbon is assimilated for biomass production, and oxygen is released into the atmosphere. During this process, water is transpired through the stomata, and is redistributed in the plant. Transpired water is refilled by uptake of water from the root zone in the subsurface. Transpiration by vegetation accounts for most of the total evaporation from land on a global scale. In some ecosystems, such as tropical rainforests, transpiration even makes up more than 70% of total evaporation. Periods of low water availability, water stress, leads to irreversible damage to plants, and can eventually lead to plant death. To prevent this, various mechanisms are activated by the vegetation to survive. Transpiration is reduced as a result of vegetation water stress, which can affect the water and carbon cycle on local, regional, and even global scales. Additionally, water stress in crops is one of the major reasons for harvest losses, threatening food security. However, many effects of vegetation water stress on crops and tropical forests remains poorly understood. New satellite observations provide opportunities for better detection and understanding of vegetation water stress. Recent research suggests that radar remote sensing might yield valuable insights into vegetation water content. Radar backscatter is sensitive to vegetation because of direct backscatter from the canopy, and through two-way attenuation of the signal as it travels through the vegetation layer. The degree of interaction of radar waves with the vegetation is mainly a function of the vegetation dielectric constant, which is in turn primarily influenced by vegetation water content. Over the last years, various studies have reported links between anomalies in radar backscatter and vegetation water stress. This has led to the hypothesis that radar backscatter is sensitive to vegetation water stress. Addi, Water Resources

Trees play a crucial role in the water, carbon and nitrogen cycle on local, regional and global scales. Understanding the exchange of momentum, heat, water, and CO 2 between trees and the atmosphere is important to assess the impact of drought, deforestation and climate change. Unfortunately, ground measurements of tree properties such as mass and canopy interception of precipitation are often expensive or difficult due to challenging environments. This paper aims to demonstrate the concept of using robust and affordable accelerometers to measure tree properties and responses. Tree sway is dependent on mass, canopy structure, drag coefficient, and wind forcing. By measuring tree acceleration, we can relate the tree motion to external forcing (e.g., wind, precipitation and related canopy interception) and tree physical properties (e.g., mass, elasticity). Using five months of acceleration data of 19 trees in the Brazilian Amazon, we show that the frequency spectrum of tree sway is related to mass, canopy interception of precipitation, and canopy–atmosphere turbulent exchange., Water Resources

Precipitation (P) and potential evaporation (Ep) are commonly studied drivers of changing freshwater availability, as aridity (Ep/P) explains ∼90% of the spatial differences in mean runoff across the globe. However, it is unclear if changes in aridity over time are also the most important cause for temporal changes in mean runoff and how this degree of importance varies regionally. We show that previous global assessments that address these questions do not properly account for changes due to precipitation, and thereby strongly underestimate the effects of precipitation on runoff. To resolve this shortcoming, we provide an improved Budyko-based global assessment of the relative and absolute sensitivity of precipitation, potential evaporation, and other factors to changes in mean-annual runoff. The absolute elasticity of runoff to potential evaporation changes is always lower than the elasticity to precipitation changes. The global pattern indicates that for 83% of the land grid cells runoff is most sensitive to precipitation changes, while other factors dominate for the remaining 17%. This dominant role of precipitation contradicts previous global assessments, which considered the impacts of aridity changes as a ratio. We highlight that dryland regions generally display high absolute sensitivities of runoff to changes in precipitation, however within dryland regions the relative sensitivity of runoff to changes in other factors (e.g., changing climatic variability, CO2-vegetation feedbacks, and anthropogenic modifications to the landscape) is often far higher. Nonetheless, at the global scale, surface water resources are most sensitive to temporal changes in precipitation., Water Resources

Radar backscatter from vegetated surface is sensitive to direct backscatter from the canopy, and two-way attenuation of the signal as it travels through the canopy. Both mechanisms are affected by the dielectric properties of {the individual elements of the canopy, which are primarily a function of water content.} Leaf water content of corn can change considerably during the day and in response to water stress, and model simulations suggested that this significantly affects radar backscatter. Understanding the influence of water stress on leaf dielectric properties will give insight into how the plant water status changes in response to water stress, and how radar can be used to detect vegetation water stress. We used a microstrip line resonator to monitor the changes its resonant frequency at corn leaves, due to variations in dielectric properties. This study presents in vivo resonant frequency measurements during field experiments with and without water stress, to understand the dielectric response due to stress. The resonant frequency of the leaf around the main leaf of the stressed plant showed increasing diurnal differences. The dielectric response of the unstressed plant remained stable. This study shows the clear statistically significant effect of water stress on variations in resonant frequency at individual leaves., Water Resources

Fibre optic distributed temperature sensing (DTS) is widely applied in Earth sciences. Many applications require a spatial resolution higher than that provided by the DTS instrument. Measurements at these higher resolutions can be achieved with a fibre optic cable helically wrapped on a cylinder. The effect of the probe construction, such as its material, shape, and diameter, on the performance has been poorly understood. In this article, we study data sets obtained from a laboratory experiment using different cable and construction diameters, and three field experiments using different construction characteristics. This study shows that the construction material, shape, diameter, and cable attachment method can have a significant influence on DTS temperature measurements. We present a qualitative and quantitative approximation of errors introduced through the choice of auxiliary construction, influence of solar radiation, coil diameter, and cable attachment method. Our results provide insight into factors that influence DTS measurements, and we present a number of solutions to minimize these errors. These practical considerations allow designers of future DTS measurement set-ups to improve their environmental temperature measurements., Water Resources

Fibre optic Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) is widely applied in earth sciences. Many applications require a spatial resolution higher than the provided by the DTS instrument. Measurements at these higher resolutions can be achieved with a fibre optic cable helically wrapped on a cylinder. The effect of the probe construction, such as its material, shape, and diameter, on the performance has been poorly understood. In this article, we study datasets obtained from a laboratory experiment using different cable and construction diameters, and three field experiments using different construction characteristics. This study shows that the construction material, shape, diameter, and cable attachment method can have a significant influence on DTS temperature measurements. We present a qualitative and quantitative approximation of errors introduced through the choice of auxiliary construction, influence of solar radiation, coil diameter, and cable attachment method. Our results provide insight into factors that influence DTS measurements, and we present a number of solutions to minimize these errors. These practical considerations allow designers of future DTS measurement setups to improve their environmental temperature measurements., Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

A prototype temperature-sensing pair of waders is introduced and tested. The water temperature at the streambed is interesting both for scientists studying the hyporheic zone and for, e.g., fishers spotting good fishing locations. A temperature sensor incorporated into waders worn by members of the public can give scientists an additional source of information on stream-water–groundwater interaction. A pair of waders was equipped with a thermistor and calibrated in the lab. Tests with both the waders and a reference thermometer in a deep polder ditch with a known localized groundwater contribution (i.e., boil) showed that the temperature-sensing waders are capable of identifying the boil location. However, the temperature-sensing waders showed a less pronounced response to changing water temperature compared to the reference thermometer, most likely due to the heat capacity of the person in the waders. This research showed that data from temperature-sensing waders worn by the public and shared with scientists can be used to decide where the most interesting places are to do more detailed and more expensive research., Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Radar backscatter from vegetated surface is sensitive to direct backscatter from the canopy, and two-way attenuation of the signal as it travels through the canopy. Both mechanisms are affected by the dielectric properties of {the individual elements of the canopy, which are primarily a function of water content.} Leaf water content of corn can change considerably during the day and in response to water stress, and model simulations suggested that this significantly affects radar backscatter. Understanding the influence of water stress on leaf dielectric properties will give insight into how the plant water status changes in response to water stress, and how radar can be used to detect vegetation water stress. We used a microstrip line resonator to monitor the changes its resonant frequency at corn leaves, due to variations in dielectric properties. This study presents in vivo resonant frequency measurements during field experiments with and without water stress, to understand the dielectric response due to stress. The resonant frequency of the leaf around the main leaf of the stressed plant showed increasing diurnal differences. The dielectric response of the unstressed plant remained stable. This study shows the clear statistically significant effect of water stress on variations in resonant frequency at individual leaves., Water Resources

Fibre optic distributed temperature sensing (DTS) is widely applied in Earth sciences. Many applications require a spatial resolution higher than that provided by the DTS instrument. Measurements at these higher resolutions can be achieved with a fibre optic cable helically wrapped on a cylinder. The effect of the probe construction, such as its material, shape, and diameter, on the performance has been poorly understood. In this article, we study data sets obtained from a laboratory experiment using different cable and construction diameters, and three field experiments using different construction characteristics. This study shows that the construction material, shape, diameter, and cable attachment method can have a significant influence on DTS temperature measurements. We present a qualitative and quantitative approximation of errors introduced through the choice of auxiliary construction, influence of solar radiation, coil diameter, and cable attachment method. Our results provide insight into factors that influence DTS measurements, and we present a number of solutions to minimize these errors. These practical considerations allow designers of future DTS measurement set-ups to improve their environmental temperature measurements., Water Resources

A prototype temperature-sensing pair of waders is introduced and tested. The water temperature at the streambed is interesting both for scientists studying the hyporheic zone and for, e.g., fishers spotting good fishing locations. A temperature sensor incorporated into waders worn by members of the public can give scientists an additional source of information on stream-water–groundwater interaction. A pair of waders was equipped with a thermistor and calibrated in the lab. Tests with both the waders and a reference thermometer in a deep polder ditch with a known localized groundwater contribution (i.e., boil) showed that the temperature-sensing waders are capable of identifying the boil location. However, the temperature-sensing waders showed a less pronounced response to changing water temperature compared to the reference thermometer, most likely due to the heat capacity of the person in the waders. This research showed that data from temperature-sensing waders worn by the public and shared with scientists can be used to decide where the most interesting places are to do more detailed and more expensive research., Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Fibre optic Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) is widely applied in earth sciences. Many applications require a spatial resolution higher than the provided by the DTS instrument. Measurements at these higher resolutions can be achieved with a fibre optic cable helically wrapped on a cylinder. The effect of the probe construction, such as its material, shape, and diameter, on the performance has been poorly understood. In this article, we study datasets obtained from a laboratory experiment using different cable and construction diameters, and three field experiments using different construction characteristics. This study shows that the construction material, shape, diameter, and cable attachment method can have a significant influence on DTS temperature measurements. We present a qualitative and quantitative approximation of errors introduced through the choice of auxiliary construction, influence of solar radiation, coil diameter, and cable attachment method. Our results provide insight into factors that influence DTS measurements, and we present a number of solutions to minimize these errors. These practical considerations allow designers of future DTS measurement setups to improve their environmental temperature measurements., Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

The hydrological decade on Predictions in Ungauged Basins (PUB) led to many new insights in model development, calibration strategies, data acquisition and uncertainty analysis. Due to a limited amount of published studies on genuinely ungauged basins, model validation and realism assessment of model outcome has not been discussed to a great extent. With this paper we aim to contribute to the discussion on how one can determine the value and validity of a hydrological model developed for an ungauged basin. As in many cases no local, or even regional, data are available, alternative methods should be applied. Using a PUB case study in a genuinely ungauged basin in southern Cambodia, we give several examples of how one can use different types of soft data to improve model design, calibrate and validate the model, and assess the realism of the model output. A rainfall-runoff model was coupled to an irrigation reservoir, allowing the use of additional and unconventional data. The model was mainly forced with remote sensing data, and local knowledge was used to constrain the parameters. Model realism assessment was done using data from surveys. This resulted in a successful reconstruction of the reservoir dynamics, and revealed the different hydrological characteristics of the two topographical classes. This paper does not present a generic approach that can be transferred to other ungauged catchments, but it aims to show how clever model design and alternative data acquisition can result in a valuable hydrological model for an ungauged catchment., Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the European Geosciences Union (EGU) play central roles in nurturing the next generation of geoscientists. Students and young scientists make up about one quarter of the unions’ active memberships [American Geophysical Union, 2013; European Geosciences Union, 2014], creating a major opportunity to include a new generation of geoscientists as more active contributors to the organizations’ activities, rather than merely as consumers. Both organizations are now explicitly expanding their bottom-up organizational structures to include early-career members (ECMs) by appointing student (AGU) and early-career scientist (EGU) representatives for their scientific divisions. (We refer to “early-career members” because AGU and EGU define student and postdoc members differently). Because this expansion is a recent development, it is still unclear what roles these representatives will play and how these roles will evolve over the coming years. We are ECMs in the hydrological sciences. Here we show how the Young Hydrological Society (YHS) used bottom-up initiatives, aligned closely with the newly appointed AGU and EGU representatives, to help improve the professional development of student and postdoc members by providing opportunities to increase their contributions to the geoscience unions. We call for a conversation on how ECMs can make the best use of these new opportunities to engage proactively with the unions., Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

A prototype temperature sensing pair of waders is introduced and tested. The water temperature at the stream-bed is interesting both for scientist studying the hyporheic zone as well as for, e.g., fishers spotting good fishing locations. A temperature sensor incorporated in waders worn by members of the public can give scientists an additional source of information on streamwater-groundwater interaction. A pair of waders was equipped with a thermistor and calibrated in the lab. Tests with both the waders and a reference thermometer in a deep polder ditch with a known localized groundwater contribution (i.e. boil) showed that the temperature sensing waders are capable of identifying the boil location. However, the temperature sensing waders showed a less pronounced response to changing water temperature compared to the reference thermometer, most likely due to the heat capacity of the person in the waders. This research showed that data from temperature sensing waders worn by the public and shared with scientists can be used by to decide where the most interesting places are to do more detailed and more expensive, research., Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Leaf dielectric properties influence microwave scattering from a vegetation canopy. The dielectric properties of leaves are primarily a function of leaf water content. Understanding the effect of water stress on leaf dielectric properties will give insight in how plant dynamics change as a result of water stress, and how radar can be used for early water stress detection over agricultural canopies. This paper presents in-vivo measurements of leaf dielectric properties. Different relationships between leaf water content and leaf dielectric properties were found tomato leaves at various heights. The dielectric properties of live stressed and unstressed tomato plants were measured during a controlled, two-week experiment. A clear difference was found between the leaf dielectric properties of stressed and unstressed leaves, which can be attributed to increase in water stress. This results of this study show changes in plant dynamics due to water stress lead to a difference in leaf dielectric properties between stressed and unstressed plants., Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the European Geosciences Union (EGU) play central roles in nurturing the next generation of geoscientists. Students and young scientists make up about one quarter of the unions’ active memberships [American Geophysical Union, 2013; European Geosciences Union, 2014], creating a major opportunity to include a new generation of geoscientists as more active contributors to the organizations’ activities, rather than merely as consumers. Both organizations are now explicitly expanding their bottom-up organizational structures to include early-career members (ECMs) by appointing student (AGU) and early-career scientist (EGU) representatives for their scientific divisions. (We refer to “early-career members” because AGU and EGU define student and postdoc members differently). Because this expansion is a recent development, it is still unclear what roles these representatives will play and how these roles will evolve over the coming years. We are ECMs in the hydrological sciences. Here we show how the Young Hydrological Society (YHS) used bottom-up initiatives, aligned closely with the newly appointed AGU and EGU representatives, to help improve the professional development of student and postdoc members by providing opportunities to increase their contributions to the geoscience unions. We call for a conversation on how ECMs can make the best use of these new opportunities to engage proactively with the unions., Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

A prototype temperature sensing pair of waders is introduced and tested. The water temperature at the stream-bed is interesting both for scientist studying the hyporheic zone as well as for, e.g., fishers spotting good fishing locations. A temperature sensor incorporated in waders worn by members of the public can give scientists an additional source of information on streamwater-groundwater interaction. A pair of waders was equipped with a thermistor and calibrated in the lab. Tests with both the waders and a reference thermometer in a deep polder ditch with a known localized groundwater contribution (i.e. boil) showed that the temperature sensing waders are capable of identifying the boil location. However, the temperature sensing waders showed a less pronounced response to changing water temperature compared to the reference thermometer, most likely due to the heat capacity of the person in the waders. This research showed that data from temperature sensing waders worn by the public and shared with scientists can be used by to decide where the most interesting places are to do more detailed and more expensive, research., Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

The hydrological decade on Predictions in Ungauged Basins (PUB) led to many new insights in model development, calibration strategies, data acquisition and uncertainty analysis. Due to a limited amount of published studies on genuinely ungauged basins, model validation and realism assessment of model outcome has not been discussed to a great extent. With this paper we aim to contribute to the discussion on how one can determine the value and validity of a hydrological model developed for an ungauged basin. As in many cases no local, or even regional, data are available, alternative methods should be applied. Using a PUB case study in a genuinely ungauged basin in southern Cambodia, we give several examples of how one can use different types of soft data to improve model design, calibrate and validate the model, and assess the realism of the model output. A rainfall-runoff model was coupled to an irrigation reservoir, allowing the use of additional and unconventional data. The model was mainly forced with remote sensing data, and local knowledge was used to constrain the parameters. Model realism assessment was done using data from surveys. This resulted in a successful reconstruction of the reservoir dynamics, and revealed the different hydrological characteristics of the two topographical classes. This paper does not present a generic approach that can be transferred to other ungauged catchments, but it aims to show how clever model design and alternative data acquisition can result in a valuable hydrological model for an ungauged catchment., Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences