Abstract. Climate change increases the occurrence and severity of droughts due to increasing temperatures, altered circulation patterns, and reduced snow occurrence. While Europe has suffered from drought events in the last decade unlike ever seen since the beginning of weather recordings, harmonized long-term datasets across the continent are needed to monitor change and support predictions. Here we present soil moisture data from 66 cosmic-ray neutron sensors (CRNSs) in Europe (COSMOS-Europe for short) covering recent drought events. The CRNS sites are distributed across Europe and cover all major land use types and climate zones in Europe. The raw neutron count data from the CRNS stations were provided by 24 research institutions and processed using state-of-the-art methods. The harmonized processing included correction of the raw neutron counts and a harmonized methodology for the conversion into soil moisture based on available in situ information. In addition, the uncertainty estimate is provided with the dataset, information that is particularly useful for remote sensing and modeling applications. This paper presents the current spatiotemporal coverage of CRNS stations in Europe and describes the protocols for data processing from raw measurements to consistent soil moisture products. The data of the presented COSMOS-Europe network open up a manifold of potential applications for environmental research, such as remote sensing data validation, trend analysis, or model assimilation. The dataset could be of particular importance for the analysis of extreme climatic events at the continental scale. Due its timely relevance in the scope of climate change in the recent years, we demonstrate this potential application with a brief analysis on the spatiotemporal soil moisture variability. The dataset, entitled “Dataset of COSMOS-Europe: A European network of Cosmic-Ray Neutron Soil Moisture Sensors”, is shared via Forschungszentrum Jülich: https://doi.org/10.34731/x9s3-kr48 (Bogena and Ney, 2021).

Soil moisture measurement is essential to validate hydrological models and satellite data. In this work we provide an overview of different local and plot scale soil moisture measurement techniques applied in three different conditions in terms of altitude, land use, and soil type, namely a plain, a mountain meadow and a hilly vineyard. The main goal is to provide a synoptic view of techniques supported by practical case studies to show that in such different conditions it is possible to estimate a time and spatially resolved soil moisture by the same combination of instruments: contact-based methods (i.e., Time Domain Reflectometry-TDR, and two low frequency probes) for the time resolved, and hydro-geophysical minimally-invasive methods (i.e., Electromagnetic Induction-EMI, Ground Penetrating Radar-GPR, and the Electrical Resistivity Tomography-ERT) for the spatially resolved. Both long-term soil moisture measurements and spatially resolved measurement campaigns are discussed. Technical and operational measures are detailed to allow critical factors to be identified.

Abstract. The young water fraction (Fyw*), defined as the fraction of catchment outflow with transit times of less than 2–3 months, is increasingly used in hydrological studies that exploit the potential of isotope tracers. The use of this new metric in catchment intercomparison studies is helpful to understand and conceptualize the relevant processes controlling catchment functioning. Previous studies have shown surprising evidence that mountainous catchments worldwide yield low Fyw*. These low values have been partially explained by isolated hydrological processes, including deep vertical infiltration and long groundwater flow paths. However, a thorough framework illustrating the relevant mechanisms leading to a low Fyw* in mountainous catchments is missing. The main aim of this paper is to give an overview of what drives Fyw* variations according to elevation, thus clarifying why it generally decreases at high elevation. For this purpose, we assembled a data set of 27 study catchments, located in both Switzerland and Italy, for which we calculateFyw*. We assume that this decrease can be explained by the groundwater storage potential, quantified by the areal extent of Quaternary deposits over a catchment (Fqd), and the low-flow duration (LFD) throughout the period of isotope sampling (PoS). In snow-dominated systems, LFD is strictly related to the snowpack persistence, quantified through the mean fractional snow cover area (FSCA). The drivers are related to the catchment storage contribution to the stream that we quantify by applying a cutting-edge baseflow separation method to the discharge time series of the study sites and by estimating the mean baseflow fraction (Fbf) over the PoS. Our results suggest that Quaternary deposits could play a role in modulating Fyw* elevation gradients via their capacity to store groundwater, but subsequent confirmation with further, more detailed geological information is necessary. LFD indicates the proportion of PoS in which the stream is sustained and dominated by stored water coming from the catchment storage. Accordingly, our results reveal that the increase of LFD at high elevations, to a large extent driven by the persistence of winter snowpacks and the simultaneous lack of a liquid water input to the catchments, results in lower Fyw*. In our data set, Fbf reveals a strong complementarity with Fyw*, suggesting that the latter could be estimated as Fyw*≃1-Fbf for catchments without stable water isotope measurements. As a conclusion, we develop a perceptual model that integrates all the results of our analysis into a framework for how hydrological processes control Fyw* according to elevation. This lays the foundations for an improvement of the theory-driven models.

Abstract. The spatial and temporal variability of air temperature, precipitation, actual evapotranspiration (AET) and their related water balance components, as well as their responses to anthropogenic climate change, provide fundamental information for an effective management of water resources and for a proactive involvement of users and stakeholders, in order to develop and apply adaptation and mitigation strategies at the local level. In this study, using an interdisciplinary research approach tailored to water management needs, we evaluate the past, present and future quantity of water potentially available for drinking supply in the water catchments feeding the about 2.3 million inhabitants of the Turin metropolitan area (the former Province of Turin, north-western Italy), considering climatologies at the quarterly and yearly timescales. Observed daily maximum surface air temperature and precipitation data from 1959 to 2017 were analysed to assess historical trends, their significance and the possible cross-correlations between the water balance components. Regional climate model (RCM) simulations from a small ensemble were analysed to provide mid-century projections of the difference between precipitation and AET for the area of interest in the future CMIP5 scenarios RCP4.5 (stabilization) and RCP8.5 (business as usual). Temporal and spatial variations in recharge were approximated with variations of drainage. The impact of irrigation, and of snowpack variability, on the latter was also assessed. The other terms of water balance were disregarded because they are affected by higher uncertainty. The analysis over the historical period indicated that the driest area of the study region displayed significant negative annual (and spring) trends of both precipitation and drainage. Results from field experiments were used to model irrigation, and we found that relatively wetter watersheds in the northern and in the southern parts behave differently, with a significant increase of AET due to irrigation. The analysis of future projections suggested almost stationary conditions for annual data. Regarding quarterly data, a slight decrease in summer drainage was found in three out of five models in both emission scenarios. The RCM ensemble exhibits a large spread in the representation of the future drainage trends. The large interannual variability of precipitation was also quantified and identified as a relevant risk factor for water management, expected to play a major role also in future decades.