Snowmelt water distribution in the critical zone: coupling of field and modelling approaches
| Thesis title in Czech: | Distribuce vody ze sněhu v kritické zóně: propojení terénního výzkumu a modelování |
|---|---|
| Thesis title in English: | Snowmelt water distribution in the critical zone: coupling of field and modelling approaches |
| Academic year of topic announcement: | 2023/2024 |
| Thesis type: | dissertation |
| Thesis language: | angličtina |
| Department: | Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology (31-330) |
| Supervisor: | doc. RNDr. Michal Jeníček, Ph.D. |
| Author: | hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept. |
| Date of registration: | 05.10.2023 |
| Date of assignment: | 09.10.2023 |
| Confirmed by Study dept. on: | 09.10.2023 |
| Advisors: | prof. Dr. Jan Seibert |
| Preliminary scope of work |
| Motivation
Mountain catchments are often influenced by snow, which affects runoff seasonality. However, snow amounts have been decreasing in many regions over the last decades, and spring snowmelt has shifted and occurs earlier in the year. This suggests that snow responds to increasing air temperatures due to climate change. However, higher snowpack generates higher groundwater recharge driven by snowmelt rates and thus contributes more to streamflow. Therefore, higher elevations are important for catchment storage and crucial to stabilize streamflow at lower elevations, especially during drought periods. Catchment storage is an essential characteristic of the catchment since higher catchment storage means better buffering of meteorological extremes. Catchment storage controls the partitioning between evaporation and runoff and influences the water transit times. Main objectives 1) to quantify catchment storage in selected mountain catchments in the rain-snow transition zone using field and modelling approaches and to relate it to climate variability and catchment attributes 2) to investigate how changes in snow storage affect the distribution of snowmelt water in the critical zone Research contribution and main methodological approaches As streamflow generation may be vulnerable to snow loss, the project will help to understand how rain and snowmelt are partitioned between soil storage, groundwater recharge, evapotranspiration, and runoff which is important for future water availability. The project solution will combine field investigations of the mechanism of snowmelt runoff generation with hydrological models to transfer the field information to a catchment scale. The detailed data, such as water stable isotopes from different sources, water temperature, EC, runoff or meteorological data will be obtained by field investigations in the Vydra research catchment and used to set up and calibrate a hydrological model simulating the water distribution among different water components. The model will be further used to simulate the effect of projected climate change on snow and catchment storage and consequent runoff. |
| Preliminary scope of work in English |
| Motivation
Mountain catchments are often influenced by snow, which affects runoff seasonality. However, snow amounts have been decreasing in many regions over the last decades, and spring snowmelt has shifted and occurs earlier in the year. This suggests that snow responds to increasing air temperatures due to climate change. However, higher snowpack generates higher groundwater recharge driven by snowmelt rates and thus contributes more to streamflow. Therefore, higher elevations are important for catchment storage and crucial to stabilize streamflow at lower elevations, especially during drought periods. Catchment storage is an essential characteristic of the catchment since higher catchment storage means better buffering of meteorological extremes. Catchment storage controls the partitioning between evaporation and runoff and influences the water transit times. Main objectives 1) to quantify catchment storage in selected mountain catchments in the rain-snow transition zone using field and modelling approaches and to relate it to climate variability and catchment attributes 2) to investigate how changes in snow storage affect the distribution of snowmelt water in the critical zone Research contribution and main methodological approaches As streamflow generation may be vulnerable to snow loss, the project will help to understand how rain and snowmelt are partitioned between soil storage, groundwater recharge, evapotranspiration, and runoff which is important for future water availability. The project solution will combine field investigations of the mechanism of snowmelt runoff generation with hydrological models to transfer the field information to a catchment scale. The detailed data, such as water stable isotopes from different sources, water temperature, EC, runoff or meteorological data will be obtained by field investigations in the Vydra research catchment and used to set up and calibrate a hydrological model simulating the water distribution among different water components. The model will be further used to simulate the effect of projected climate change on snow and catchment storage and consequent runoff. |