Temporal variability in water temperature plays an important role in aquatic ecosystems, yet the thermal regime of streams has mainly been described in terms of mean or extreme conditions. In this study, annual and diel variability in stream water temperature was described at 135 unregulated, gauged streams across the USA. Based on magnitude, amplitude and timing characteristics of daily water temperature records ranging from 5 to 33 years, we classified thermal regimes into six distinct types. This classification underlined the importance of including characteristics of variability (amplitude and timing) in addition to aspects of magnitude to discriminate thermal regimes at the continental scale. We used a classification tree to predict thermal regime membership of the six classes and found that the annual mean and range in the long-term air temperature average along with spring flows were important variables defining the thermal regime types at the continental scale. This research provides a framework for a comprehensive characterization of the thermal regimes of streams that could provide a basis for future assessment of changes in water temperature caused by anthropogenic activities such as dams, land use changes and climate change.

River water temperature is a very important variable in ecological studies, especially for the management of fisheries and aquatic resources. Temperature can impact on fish distribution, growth, mortality and community dynamics. River evaporation has been identified as an important heat loss and a key process in the thermal regime of rivers. However, its quantification remains a challenge, mainly because of the difficulty of making direct measurements. The objectives of this study were to characterize the evaporative heat flux at different scales (brook vs river) and to improve the estimation of the evaporative heat flux in a stream temperature model at the hourly timescale. Using a mass balance approach with floating minipans, we measured river evaporation at an hourly timescale in a medium‐sized river (Little Southwest Miramichi) and a small brook (Catamaran Brook) in New Brunswick, Canada. With these direct measurements of evaporation, we developed mass transfer equations to estimate hourly evaporation rates from microclimate conditions measured 2 m above the stream. During the summer 2012, river evaporation was more important for the medium‐sized river with a mean daily evaporation rate of 3.0 mm day−1 in the Little Southwest Miramichi River compared with that of 1.0 mm day−1 in Catamaran Brook. Evaporation was the main heat loss mechanism in the two studied streams and was responsible for 42% of heat losses in the Little Southwest Miramichi River and 34% of heat losses in Catamaran Brook during the summer. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Although small and medium-size dams are prevalent in North America, few studies have described their year-round impacts on the thermal regime of rivers. The objective of this study was to quantify the impacts of two types of dams (run-of-river, storage with shallow reservoirs) on the thermal regime of rivers in eastern Canada. Thermal impacts of dams were assessed (i) for the open water period by evaluating their influence on the annual cycle in daily mean water temperature and residual variability and (ii) for the ice-covered winter period by evaluating their influence on water temperature duration curves. Overall, results showed that the run-of-river dam (with limited storage capacity) did not have a significant effect on the thermal regime of the regulated river. At the two rivers regulated by storage dams with shallow reservoirs (mean depth < 6 m), the annual cycle in daily mean water temperature was significantly modified which led to warmer water temperatures in summer and autumn. From August to October, the monthly mean water temperature at rivers regulated by storage dams was 1.4 to 3.9°C warmer than at their respective reference sites. During the open water period, the two storage dams also reduced water temperature variability at a daily timescale while increased variability was observed in regulated rivers during the winter. Storage dams also had a warming effect during the winter and the winter median water temperature ranged between 1.0 and 2.1°C downstream of the two storage dams whereas water temperature remained stable and close to 0°C in unregulated rivers. The biological implications of the altered thermal regimes at rivers regulated by storage dams are discussed, in particular for salmonids. Figure 6. Daily mean water temperature duration curves for the winter period of year 1 and year 2 in the regulated a) St-Jean River, b) Fourchue River and c) Dee River and their associated unregulated reference rivers.A. MAHEU ET AL.

Various studies have helped gain a better understanding of the thermal impacts of dams on a site-specific basis, but very few studies have compared the thermal impacts of varying types of dams within the same region. In this study, we conducted a regional-scale assessment of the impacts of dams on the thermal regime of 13 medium-size rivers in eastern Canada. The objectives of this study were to identify features of the thermal regime of rivers that are predominantly impacted by dams and to compare the impacts associated with different types of regulation (run-of-river, storage, peaking). The thermal regime of regulated and unregulated rivers was characterized using 15 metrics that described the magnitude, frequency, duration, timing, and rate of change of water temperature. Results indicate that storage and peaking dams impounding at least 10% of the median annual runoff generally (i) reduced the magnitude of water temperature variation at seasonal, daily, and subdaily timescales and (ii) increased the monthly mean water temperature in September. This regional assessment offers important insight regarding a generalized pattern of thermal alteration by dams, and this information could be used to guide biological monitoring efforts in regulated rivers.

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