A water quality index expressed as a single number is developed to describe overall water quality conditions using multiple water quality variables. The index consists of water quality variables: dissolved oxygen, specific conductivity, turbidity, total phosphorus, and fecal coliform. The objectives of this study were to describe the preexisting indices and to define a new water quality index that has advantages over these indices. The new index was applied to the Big Lost River Watershed in Idaho, and the results gave a quantitative picture for the water quality situation. If the new water quality index for the impaired water is less than a certain number, remediation-likely in the form of total maximum daily loads or changing the management practices-may be needed. The index can be used to assess water quality for general beneficial uses. Nevertheless, the index cannot be used in making regulatory decisions, indicate water quality for specific beneficial uses, or indicate contamination from trace metals, organic contaminants, and toxic substances.

[1] This paper presents the formulation and calibration of the temperature portion of a two-zone temperature and solute (TZTS) model which separates transient storage into surface (STS) and subsurface transient storage (HTS) zones. The inclusion of temperature required the TZTS model formulation to differ somewhat from past transient storage models in order to accommodate terms associated with heat transfer. These include surface heat fluxes in the main channel (MC) and STS, heat and mass exchange between the STS and MC, heat and mass exchange between the HTS and MC, and heat exchange due to bed and deeper ground conduction. To estimate the additional parameters associated with a two-zone model, a data collection effort was conducted to provide temperature time series within each zone. Both single-objective and multiobjective calibration algorithms were then linked to the TZTS model to assist in parameter estimation. Single-objective calibrations based on MC temperatures at two different locations along the study reach provided reasonable predictions in the MC and STS. The HTS temperatures, however, were typically poorly estimated. The two-objective calibration using MC temperatures simultaneously at two locations illustrated that the TZTS model accurately predicts temperatures observed in MC, STS, and HTS zones, including those not used in the calibration. These results suggest that multiple data sets representing different characteristics of the system should be used when calibrating complex in-stream models.

Abstract. To assess the history of greenhouse gas emissions and individual countries' contributions to emissions and climate change, detailed historical data is needed. We combine several published datasets to create a comprehensive set of emission pathways of each country and Kyoto gas covering the years 1850 to 2014 for all UNFCCC member states as well as most non-UNFCCC territories. The sectoral resolution is that of the main IPCC 1996 categories. Additional subsectors are available for time series of CO2 from energy and industry. Country resolved data is combined from different sources and supplemented using growth rates from region resolved sources and numerical extrapolations to complete the dataset. Regional deforestation emissions are downscaled to country level using estimates of the deforested area obtained from potential vegetation and simulations of agricultural land. In this paper, we discuss the data sources and methods used and present the resulting dataset including its limitations and uncertainties. The dataset is available from http://doi.org/10.5880/PIK.2016.003 and can be viewed on the website accompanying this paper (www.pik-potsdam.de/primap-live/primap-hist/).

Surrogate measures like turbidity, which can be observed with high frequency in situ, have potential for generating high frequency estimates of total suspended solids (TSS) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations. In the semiarid, snowmelt-driven, and irrigation-regulated Little Bear River watershed of northern Utah, high frequency in situ water quality measurements were recorded in conjunction with periodic chemistry sampling. Site-specific relationships were developed using turbidity as a surrogate for TP and TSS at two monitoring locations. Methods are presented for employing censored data and for investigating categorical explanatory variables (e.g., hydrologic conditions). Turbidity was a significant explanatory variable for TP and TSS at both sites, which differ in hydrologic and water quality characteristics. The relationship between turbidity and TP was stronger at the upper watershed site where TP is predominantly particulate. At both sites, the relationships between turbidity and TP varied between spring snowmelt and base flow conditions while the relationships between TSS and turbidity were consistent across hydrological conditions. This approach enables the calculation of high frequency time series of TP and TSS concentrations previously unavailable using traditional monitoring approaches. These methods have broad application for situations that require accurate characterization of fluxes of these constituents over a range of hydrologic conditions.

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