Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Water Resource Management
Mitigation effectiveness on groundwater-dependent ecosystems revealed by counterfactual AI
Published: 2023-07-09
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Environmental Engineering, Hydrology, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
Overexploitation of groundwater threatens groundwater-bound aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem stability, underscoring the need to devise appropriate mitigation strategies. Yet, substantial scientific evidence that mitigation measures effectively protect groundwater ecosystems is presently nonexistent. We provide unique and compelling evidence, using counterfactual artificial [...]
Performance evaluation of a simple feed-forward deep neural network model applied to annual rainfall anomaly index (RAI) over Indramayu, Indonesia
Published: 2023-06-30
Subjects: Climate, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Statistical Models, Statistics and Probability, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
Indramayu is a district in West Java that is known for being the leading producer of rice and brackish salt. The production of these two commodities is strongly influenced by hydroclimatological conditions, making accurate and reliable long-term estimates crucial. In this study, we evaluated a simple feed-forward deep neural network (DNN) model that could potentially be used as a candidate for [...]
Is Snow Drought a Messenger for the Upcoming Severe Drought Period? A Case Study in the Upper Mississippi River Basin
Published: 2023-06-03
Subjects: Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Water Resource Management
The exacerbation of floods and the extension of droughts, attributed to climate change and other human-induced factors, are posing a substantial risk to communities by causing water scarcity and insecurity. The significance of safeguarding water resources and managing them is increasingly gaining prominence. Snow is an efficient source of water for recharging groundwater compared to rainfall. [...]
Ecological Flows in Southern Europe: status and trends in non-perennial rivers
Published: 2023-05-15
Subjects: Biodiversity, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Studies, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
The concept of environmental flows (E-Flows) describes the streamflow that is necessary to maintain river ecosystems. Although a large number of methods have been developed, a delay was recorded in implementing E–Flows in non-perennial rivers. The general aim of the paper was to analyse the criticalities and the current state of implementation of the E-Flows in non-perennial rivers of southern [...]
Assessing the potential of low transmissivity aquifers for ATES systems: a case study in Flanders (Belgium)
Published: 2023-04-21
Subjects: Geology, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
The Member States of the European Union pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95% by 2050. Shallow geothermal systems might substantially contribute by providing heating and cooling in a sustainable way through seasonally storing heat and cold in the shallow ground (<200m). When the minimum yield to install a cost-effective aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) system cannot be met, [...]
Revisiting the Climate Narrative
Published: 2023-04-06
Subjects: Agriculture, Climate, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Studies, Food Science, Forest Management, Hydrology, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Other Environmental Sciences, Soil Science, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
The rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide is chiefly tied to land stewardship. Farmers and loggers have removed the plants that, until the industrial era, kept the soil fungi alive, kept soil emissions nearby by breaking the wind, and soaked those up. The result is plumes of carbon dioxide. Putting plants back in would curb these emissions. Farmers and loggers could address biodiversity loss [...]
Stream Thermalscape Scenarios for British Columbia, Canada
Published: 2023-03-21
Subjects: Fresh Water Studies, Hydrology, Natural Resources and Conservation, Water Resource Management
Water temperature is a key feature of freshwater ecosystems but comprehensive datasets are severely lacking, a limiting factor in research and management of freshwater species and habitats. An existing statistical stream temperature model developed for British Columbia, Canada, was refit to predict August mean stream temperatures, a common index of stream thermal regime also used in thermalscapes [...]
Data, knowledge and modeling challenges for science-informed management of river deltas
Published: 2023-03-16
Subjects: Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Other Civil and Environmental Engineering, Other Environmental Sciences, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
450 million people live on river deltas and thus on land that is precariously low above the sea level and sinking because of human activities and natural processes. Although global debates around coastal risk typically focus on sea level rise, it is sinking lands and rising seas that together endanger lives and livelihoods in river deltas. However, the ability to quantify and address those risks [...]
Addressing Tidal Flooding Induced uncertainties in Satellite Derived Global Salt Marsh Change Studies: Impact on Blue Carbon Monitoring
Published: 2023-03-03
Subjects: Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Other Environmental Sciences, Water Resource Management
In the past few years, it has been established that remote sensing of wetlands change analysis studies would require careful examination of tidal flooding produced uncertainties in satellite datasets. Tide flagging and filtering mechanisms are required to reduce per-pixel variabilities and errors in change detection. We present a technical note summarizing the potential impact of a lack of tide [...]
Large variation in Mekong river plastic transport between wet and dry season
Published: 2023-02-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Hydrology, Water Resource Management
Plastic pollution in rivers is of increased global concern. Rivers act both as pathways for land-based plastic waste into the ocean, and as plastic reservoirs for long-term retention. Reliable observations are key to designing, optimizing and evaluating strategies to prevent and reduce plastic pollution. Several measurement methods have been developed to quantify macroplastic ($>$0.5 cm) storage [...]
Considerable gaps in our global knowledge of potential groundwater accessibility
Published: 2023-02-11
Subjects: Geology, Hydrology, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
At what depth groundwater can be found below the land surface is key to understanding whether it is potentially accessible to ecosystems and humans, or what role it plays in the water cycle. Knowledge of ground-water table depth (WTD) exists at regional scales in many places, but a bottom-up knowledge aggregation to obtain a coherent global picture is exceptionally challenging. Uncertainty in [...]
Comparing Well and Geophysical Data for Temperature Monitoring within a Bayesian Experimental Design Framework
Published: 2023-01-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Water Resource Management
Temperature logs are an important tool in the geothermal industry. Temperature measurements from boreholes are used for exploration, system design, and monitoring. The number of observations, however, is not always sufficient to fully determine the temperature field or explore the entire parameter space of interest. Drilling in the best locations is still difficult and expensive. It is therefore [...]
Uncertainties in Water Scarcity Index due to water use and climate changes: Case of two Legal Amazon watersheds
Published: 2022-12-23
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
Water scarcity is a major global problem with the potential to impact socioeconomic development and the environment. Currently, mitigating issues related to the lack of water has become an aim for the public and private sectors. Water scarcity can be estimated by the ratio between water use (withdrawal or consumption) and water availability (a minimum discharge), named Water Stress Index (WSI). [...]
The Dry Sky: Futures for Humanity’s Modification of the Atmospheric Water Cycle
Published: 2022-12-21
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Fresh Water Studies, Hydrology, Meteorology, Natural Resource Economics, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Nature and Society Relations, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
Humanity is modifying the atmospheric water cycle, via land use, climate change, air pollution, and weather modification. Given the implications of this, we present a theoretical framing of atmospheric water as an economic good. Historically, atmospheric water was tacitly considered a ‘public good’ since it was neither actively consumed (rival) nor controlled (exclusive). However, given [...]
The unknown fate of macroplastic in mountain rivers
Published: 2022-11-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Geology, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Life Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Sustainability, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Water Resource Management
Mountain rivers are typically seen as relatively pristine ecosystems, supporting numerous goods (e.g., water resources) for human populations living not only in the mountain regions but also downstream from them. Recent evidence suggests, however, that mountain river valleys in populated areas can be substantially polluted by macroplastic (plastic item > 5 mm). It is, however, unknown how [...]