Impact of drought hazards on flow regimes in anthropogenically impacted streams: an isotopic perspective on climate stress
<p>Flow regimes are increasingly impacted by more extreme natural hazards of droughts and floods as a result of climate change, compounded by anthropogenic influences in both urban and intensively managed rural catchments. However, the characteristics of sustainable flow regimes that are neede...
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Copernicus Publications
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences |
| Online Access: | https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/24/3907/2024/nhess-24-3907-2024.pdf |
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| author | M. M. Warter D. Tetzlaff D. Tetzlaff D. Tetzlaff C. Marx C. Soulsby C. Soulsby C. Soulsby |
| author_facet | M. M. Warter D. Tetzlaff D. Tetzlaff D. Tetzlaff C. Marx C. Soulsby C. Soulsby C. Soulsby |
| author_sort | M. M. Warter |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>Flow regimes are increasingly impacted by more extreme natural hazards of droughts and floods as a result of climate change, compounded by anthropogenic influences in both urban and intensively managed rural catchments. However, the characteristics of sustainable flow regimes that are needed to maintain or restore hydrologic, biogeochemical and ecological functions under rapid global change remain unclear and contested. We conducted an intercomparison of two streams in the Berlin–Brandenburg region of northeast Germany, which are both mesoscale subcatchments of the Spree river: an intermittent rural agricultural stream (the Demnitzer Millcreek) and a heavily anthropogenically impacted urban stream (the Panke). Through tracer-based analyses using stable water isotopes, we identified the dominant physical processes (runoff sources, flowpaths and age characteristics) sustaining streamflow over multiple years (2018–2023), including three major drought years (2018–2020, 2021–2022). In the urban stream, low flows are regulated through artificially increased baseflow from treated wastewater effluents (by up to 80 %), whilst storm drainage drives rapid, transient high-flow and runoff responses (up to 80 %) to intense convective summer rainfall. The intermittent groundwater-dominated rural stream experienced extended no-flow periods during drought years (<span class="inline-formula">∼</span> 60 % of the year) and only moderate storm runoff coefficients (<span class="inline-formula"><</span> 10 %) in winter along near-surface flow paths after heavy rainfall. In both streams, groundwater dominance with young water influence prevails, with low water ages in the urban stream (<span class="inline-formula"><</span> 10 %) despite significant urban runoff and higher ones in the rural stream (<span class="inline-formula">∼</span> 15 %). Urban cover resulted in a mean transit time of <span class="inline-formula">∼</span> 4 years compared to arable land at <span class="inline-formula">∼</span> 3 years, highlighting the interlinkages of land use and catchment properties on catchment transit times. Understanding seasonal and interannual variability in streamflow generation through a tracer-based hydrological template has the potential to assess the impacts of natural hazards on the sustainability of future baseflow management, including wider water quality and ecological implications across anthropogenically impacted environments.</p> |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-60cf42c4beae42d590531a2c28985b8c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1561-8633 1684-9981 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-60cf42c4beae42d590531a2c28985b8c2024-11-14T10:33:24ZengCopernicus PublicationsNatural Hazards and Earth System Sciences1561-86331684-99812024-11-01243907392410.5194/nhess-24-3907-2024Impact of drought hazards on flow regimes in anthropogenically impacted streams: an isotopic perspective on climate stressM. M. Warter0D. Tetzlaff1D. Tetzlaff2D. Tetzlaff3C. Marx4C. Soulsby5C. Soulsby6C. Soulsby7Department for Ecohydrology and Biogeochemistry, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin, GermanyDepartment for Ecohydrology and Biogeochemistry, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Geography, Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin, GermanyNorthern Rivers Institute, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UKChair of Water Resources Management and Modeling of Hydrosystems, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, GermanyDepartment for Ecohydrology and Biogeochemistry, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin, GermanyChair of Water Resources Management and Modeling of Hydrosystems, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, GermanyNorthern Rivers Institute, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK<p>Flow regimes are increasingly impacted by more extreme natural hazards of droughts and floods as a result of climate change, compounded by anthropogenic influences in both urban and intensively managed rural catchments. However, the characteristics of sustainable flow regimes that are needed to maintain or restore hydrologic, biogeochemical and ecological functions under rapid global change remain unclear and contested. We conducted an intercomparison of two streams in the Berlin–Brandenburg region of northeast Germany, which are both mesoscale subcatchments of the Spree river: an intermittent rural agricultural stream (the Demnitzer Millcreek) and a heavily anthropogenically impacted urban stream (the Panke). Through tracer-based analyses using stable water isotopes, we identified the dominant physical processes (runoff sources, flowpaths and age characteristics) sustaining streamflow over multiple years (2018–2023), including three major drought years (2018–2020, 2021–2022). In the urban stream, low flows are regulated through artificially increased baseflow from treated wastewater effluents (by up to 80 %), whilst storm drainage drives rapid, transient high-flow and runoff responses (up to 80 %) to intense convective summer rainfall. The intermittent groundwater-dominated rural stream experienced extended no-flow periods during drought years (<span class="inline-formula">∼</span> 60 % of the year) and only moderate storm runoff coefficients (<span class="inline-formula"><</span> 10 %) in winter along near-surface flow paths after heavy rainfall. In both streams, groundwater dominance with young water influence prevails, with low water ages in the urban stream (<span class="inline-formula"><</span> 10 %) despite significant urban runoff and higher ones in the rural stream (<span class="inline-formula">∼</span> 15 %). Urban cover resulted in a mean transit time of <span class="inline-formula">∼</span> 4 years compared to arable land at <span class="inline-formula">∼</span> 3 years, highlighting the interlinkages of land use and catchment properties on catchment transit times. Understanding seasonal and interannual variability in streamflow generation through a tracer-based hydrological template has the potential to assess the impacts of natural hazards on the sustainability of future baseflow management, including wider water quality and ecological implications across anthropogenically impacted environments.</p>https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/24/3907/2024/nhess-24-3907-2024.pdf |
| spellingShingle | M. M. Warter D. Tetzlaff D. Tetzlaff D. Tetzlaff C. Marx C. Soulsby C. Soulsby C. Soulsby Impact of drought hazards on flow regimes in anthropogenically impacted streams: an isotopic perspective on climate stress Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences |
| title | Impact of drought hazards on flow regimes in anthropogenically impacted streams: an isotopic perspective on climate stress |
| title_full | Impact of drought hazards on flow regimes in anthropogenically impacted streams: an isotopic perspective on climate stress |
| title_fullStr | Impact of drought hazards on flow regimes in anthropogenically impacted streams: an isotopic perspective on climate stress |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of drought hazards on flow regimes in anthropogenically impacted streams: an isotopic perspective on climate stress |
| title_short | Impact of drought hazards on flow regimes in anthropogenically impacted streams: an isotopic perspective on climate stress |
| title_sort | impact of drought hazards on flow regimes in anthropogenically impacted streams an isotopic perspective on climate stress |
| url | https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/24/3907/2024/nhess-24-3907-2024.pdf |
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