Advances in Land Surface Hydrological Processes

A special issue of Hydrology (ISSN 2306-5338). This special issue belongs to the section "Surface Waters and Groundwaters".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2022) | Viewed by 16904

Special Issue Editors

School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3FX, UK
Interests: glaciology; hydrology; remote sensing; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, King’s College, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, UK
Interests: remote sensing applications in land dynamics; landforms and surface processes on Mars; glacial and periglacial geomorphology; glacial hazards; Mars analogue research; high-resolution terrain modelling and interpretation; UAVs for environmental remote sensing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3FX, UK
Interests: remote sensing; glaciology; cryosphere; physical geography; terrain modelling; land cover changes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Division of Space Technology, Department of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, 97187 Luleå, Sweden
Interests: Mars research; climate modelling; entropy and thermodynamics; planetary science; astrobiology; radiative transfer; terrestrial radiation balance; remote sensing; retrieval methods; development of ground-, balloon, and space instruments
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The availability and distribution of water resources in different forms and their exchanges through the land surface and atmosphere is the most critical factor for habitability on any planet. The land surface, subsurface and the atmosphere are the principal components for water exchange through vertical and horizontal mass fluxes. The precipitation and runoff are the visible components along with processes such as evaporation, transpiration, infiltration, percolation, groundwater recharge which are other important mechanisms in land surface hydrological process.  Recent developments in computational easiness, availability of satellite data and in situ observational networks has led to a better understanding of the processes involved in land surface hydrology and the development and application of the hydrological models for the Earth as well other planets like Mars.

Through this special issue we invite the contributions from researchers working in planetary land surface hydrology. The contributions may involve advancement in the use of remotely sensed data, development and application of hydrological models and use of in situ observed data for reconstruction of past and future hydrological processes. The long-term changes in hydrological processes, their intensity and frequency including precipitation and discharge from a catchment are relevant. The submissions can also be multidisciplinary in nature pertaining to the implications of changes in land surface hydrological processes due to climate change and other factors. We strongly encourage the researchers working in the hydrology of snow, glaciers and permafrost to submit their work in this topical collection. The contributions related to water exchange between land surface and atmosphere over large spatiotemporal range are equally encouraged to be submitted.

We look forward to your excellent contributions!

Dr. Shaktiman Singh
Dr. Anshuman Bhardwaj
Dr. Lydia Sam
Prof. F. Javier Martin-Torres
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Hydrology is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Hydrology
  • Remote sensing
  • Snow and glacier
  • Permafrost
  • Terrestrial
  • Mars
  • Water exchange
  • Hydrological models

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 1392 KiB  
Article
Water Quality in a Small Lowland River in Different Land Use
by Beata Rutkowska, Wieslaw Szulc, Wiktor Wyżyński, Katarzyna Gościnna, Stanislav Torma, Jozef Vilček and Štefan Koco
Hydrology 2022, 9(11), 200; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/hydrology9110200 - 08 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1829
Abstract
The paper describes water quality in the Raszynka River based on selected chemical parameters dependent on different land use. The research was carried out in the Raszynka River catchment, characterized by a small surface area (75.9 km2) and length (17.14 km). [...] Read more.
The paper describes water quality in the Raszynka River based on selected chemical parameters dependent on different land use. The research was carried out in the Raszynka River catchment, characterized by a small surface area (75.9 km2) and length (17.14 km). The river is a right tributary of the Utrata River. It is located in the Piaseczno and Pruszkow districts in the Mazowieckie voivodship. The dominant type of land use in the basin is agricultural land. Water samples were collected from 2017 to 2019 from previously designated research points at similar distances along the river. Selected physicochemical indicators examined in the samples include total alkalinity, electrolytic conductivity (EC), pH, and chemical oxygen demand (COD). Moreover, the concentration of selected substances was determined, including nitrogen compounds: NO3 (nitrates) and NH4+ (ammonium), TP (total phosphorus), and Cl (chlorides). The results showed that the values of some of the examined indicators do not meet the standards set for first-class surface water quality. Indicators significantly exceeding the limit included ammonium, chlorides, and pH. The highest concentration of chlorides, ammonium, and nitrate was found in urbanized areas. The highest concentrations of total phosphorus and COD were determined in agricultural areas and total alkalinity in meadows. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Land Surface Hydrological Processes)
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21 pages, 4617 KiB  
Article
Application of Hydrological and Sediment Modeling with Limited Data in the Abbay (Upper Blue Nile) Basin, Ethiopia
by Banteamlak Kase Abebe, Fasikaw Atanaw Zimale, Kidia Kessie Gelaye, Temesgen Gashaw, Endalkachew Goshe Dagnaw and Anwar Assefa Adem
Hydrology 2022, 9(10), 167; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/hydrology9100167 - 24 Sep 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2555
Abstract
In most developing countries, biophysical data are scarce, which hinders evidence-based watershed planning and management. To use the scarce data for resource development applications, special techniques are required. Thus, the primary goal of this study was to estimate sediment yield and identify erosion [...] Read more.
In most developing countries, biophysical data are scarce, which hinders evidence-based watershed planning and management. To use the scarce data for resource development applications, special techniques are required. Thus, the primary goal of this study was to estimate sediment yield and identify erosion hotspot areas of the Andasa watershed with limited sediment concentration records. The hydrological simulation used meteorological, hydrological, suspended sediment concentration, 12.5 m Digital Elevation Model (DEM), 250 m resolution African Soil Information Service (AfSIS) soil, and 30 m resolution land-cover data. Using the limited sediment concentration data, a sediment rating curve was developed to estimate the sediment yield from discharge. The physical-based Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was employed to simulate streamflow and sediment yield in a monthly time step. The result shows that SWAT predicted streamflow with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.88 and 0.81, Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) of 0.88 and 0.80, and percent of bias (PBIAS) of 6.4 and 9.9 during calibration and validation periods, respectively. Similarly, during calibration and validation, the model predicted the sediment yield with R2 of 0.79 and 0.71, NSE of 0.72 and 0.66, and PBIAS of 2.7 and −8.6, respectively. According to the calibrated model result in the period 1992–2020, the mean annual sediment yield of the watershed was estimated as 17.9 t ha−1yr−1. Spatially, around 22% of the Andassa watershed was severely eroded, and more than half of the watershed (55%) was moderately eroded. The remaining 23% of the watershed was free of erosion risk. Therefore, the findings suggests that applying the sediment rating curve equation, in conjunction with hydrological and sediment modeling, can be used to estimate sediment yield and identify erosion hotspot areas in data-scarce regions of the Upper Blue Nile Basin in particular, and the Ethiopian highlands in general with similar environmental settings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Land Surface Hydrological Processes)
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18 pages, 2712 KiB  
Article
Exploring and Modeling the Short-Term Influence of Soil Properties and Covers on Hydrology of Mediterranean Forests after Prescribed Fire and Mulching
by Demetrio Antonio Zema, Bruno Gianmarco Carrà and Manuel Esteban Lucas-Borja
Hydrology 2022, 9(2), 21; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/hydrology9020021 - 02 Feb 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1631
Abstract
Several studies have analyzed the changes in individual soil properties and covers and quantified the hydrological response of burned forest soils (with or without post-fire treatment). Less research exists on the influence of these changes on runoff and erosion rates immediately after a [...] Read more.
Several studies have analyzed the changes in individual soil properties and covers and quantified the hydrological response of burned forest soils (with or without post-fire treatment). Less research exists on the influence of these changes on runoff and erosion rates immediately after a prescribed fire and post-fire treatment. Moreover, hydrological modeling of burned areas is based on complex models rather than relying on simple regression equations. This study carries out a combined analysis of the hydrological response of soil and its driving factors in three forests (pine, oak, and chestnut) of Southern Italy that were subjected to prescribed fire and post-fire treatment with mulching. Moreover, simple regression models based on a limited set of soil properties/covers are proposed to predict runoff and erosion. The Principal Component Analysis has shown that the runoff coefficients increase when the water infiltration rate and litter cover decrease and repellency, ash cover, organic carbon content, and bare soil area increase. All the analyzed variables play a secondary role in influencing the sediment concentration. Due to these properties, clear differences in soil properties and covers have been found between unburned and burned soils. The distinctions between the burned soils (mulched or not) are much lower. The proposed regression models use a very low number of soil covers and two dummy variables as input parameters. These models are very accurate in simulating the surface runoff and soil erosion in all soil conditions in the short term. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Land Surface Hydrological Processes)
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20 pages, 15282 KiB  
Article
Seasonal and Ephemeral Snowpacks of the Conterminous United States
by Benjamin J. Hatchett
Hydrology 2021, 8(1), 32; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/hydrology8010032 - 18 Feb 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2914
Abstract
Snowpack seasonality in the conterminous United States (U.S.) is examined using a recently-released daily, 4 km spatial resolution gridded snow water equivalent and snow depth product developed by assimilating station-based observations and gridded temperature and precipitation estimates from PRISM. Seasonal snowpacks for the [...] Read more.
Snowpack seasonality in the conterminous United States (U.S.) is examined using a recently-released daily, 4 km spatial resolution gridded snow water equivalent and snow depth product developed by assimilating station-based observations and gridded temperature and precipitation estimates from PRISM. Seasonal snowpacks for the period spanning water years 1982–2017 were calculated using two established methods: (1) the classic Sturm approach that requires 60 days of snow cover with a peak depth >50 cm and (2) the snow seasonality metric (SSM) that only requires 60 days of continuous snow cover to define seasonal snow. The latter approach yields continuous values from −1 to +1, where −1 (+1) indicates an ephemeral (seasonal) snowpack. The SSM approach is novel in its ability to identify both seasonal and ephemeral snowpacks. Both approaches identify seasonal snowpacks in western U.S. mountains and the northern central and eastern U.S. The SSM approach identifies greater areas of seasonal snowpacks compared to the Sturm method, particularly in the Upper Midwest, New England, and the Intermountain West. This is a result of the relaxed depth constraint compared to the Sturm approach. Ephemeral snowpacks exist throughout lower elevation regions of the western U.S. and across a broad longitudinal swath centered near 35° N spanning the lee of the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic coast. Because it lacks a depth constraint, the SSM approach may inform the location of shallow but long-duration snowpacks at risk of transitioning to ephemeral snowpacks with climatic change. A case study in Oregon during an extreme snow drought year (2014/2015) highlights seasonal to ephemeral snowpack transitions. Aggregating seasonal and ephemeral snowpacks to the HUC-8 watershed level in the western U.S. demonstrates the majority of watersheds are at risk of losing seasonal snow. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Land Surface Hydrological Processes)
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16 pages, 6065 KiB  
Article
Estimation of Daily Spatial Snow Water Equivalent from Historical Snow Maps and Limited In-Situ Measurements
by Sami A. Malek, Roger C. Bales and Steven D. Glaser
Hydrology 2020, 7(3), 46; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/hydrology7030046 - 25 Jul 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2129
Abstract
We present a scheme aimed at estimating daily spatial snow water equivalent (SWE) maps in real time and at high spatial resolution from scarce in-situ SWE measurements from Internet of Things (IoT) devices at actual sensor locations and historical SWE maps. The method [...] Read more.
We present a scheme aimed at estimating daily spatial snow water equivalent (SWE) maps in real time and at high spatial resolution from scarce in-situ SWE measurements from Internet of Things (IoT) devices at actual sensor locations and historical SWE maps. The method consists of finding a background SWE field, followed by an update step using ensemble optimal interpolation to estimate the residuals. This novel approach allowed for areas with parsimonious sensors to have accurate estimates of spatial SWE without explicitly discovering and specifying the spatial-interpolation features. The scheme is evaluated across the Tuolumne River basin on a 50 m grid using an existing LiDAR-based product as the historical dataset. Results show a minimum RMSE of 30% at 50 m resolutions. Compared with the operational SNODAS product, reduction in error is up to 80% with historical LiDAR-measured snow depth as input data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Land Surface Hydrological Processes)
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32 pages, 15712 KiB  
Article
Open-Source Software Application for Hydrogeological Delineation of Potential Groundwater Recharge Zones in the Singida Semi-Arid, Fractured Aquifer, Central Tanzania
by Kassim Ramadhani Mussa, Ibrahimu Chikira Mjemah and Revocatus Lazaro Machunda
Hydrology 2020, 7(2), 28; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/hydrology7020028 - 17 May 2020
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4497
Abstract
This study attempted to delineate and map potential groundwater recharge zones of the Singida, semi-arid, fractured crystalline basement aquifer using open source remote sensing and GIS software. Various thematic maps such as lithology/hydrogeology, soil, land-cover/use, slope, lineament density, drainage density and rainfall distribution [...] Read more.
This study attempted to delineate and map potential groundwater recharge zones of the Singida, semi-arid, fractured crystalline basement aquifer using open source remote sensing and GIS software. Various thematic maps such as lithology/hydrogeology, soil, land-cover/use, slope, lineament density, drainage density and rainfall distribution were integrated in QGIS software. Vector input layers were rasterized and resampled using QGIS wrap projection function to make sure that the grid cells are of the same size. Reclassification using SAGA and GRASS reclass algorithms in QGIS was carried out to realign the factor classes in a consistent scale, and reclassification to a scale of 1 to 5 was carried out to harmonize the results. The study identified a number of potential areas for groundwater recharge, groundwater exploration, groundwater development and potential areas for artificial groundwater recharge. Potential groundwater recharge zones for the Singida semi-arid fractured aquifer are restricted to areas with high lineament density, cultivated areas, grassland and flat to gentle slopes. The potential of groundwater recharge is also observed in areas with low drainage density. The delineated zones provide a good understanding of the potential recharge zones, which are a starting point for recharge zone protection. This blended approach can be utilized for carrying out suitability analysis using the weighted overlay analysis approach. Areas designated good and very good are recommended for artificial recharging structures as an alternative technique for enhancing groundwater recharge through rainwater harvesting. This will help to augment groundwater storage in this semi-arid environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Land Surface Hydrological Processes)
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