Environmental isotopes, such as oxygen-18 and deuterium, have been used increasingly to separate stormflow into its event and pre-event components in order to elucidate the sources, pathways and residence times of water in drainage basins. The majority of isotopic hydrograph separations indicate that pre-event water supplies at least 50% of streamflow at peak discharge in small- and medium-sized basins; however, there is no consensus as to the means by which pre-event water is rapidly exported from drainage basins. The hydrological processes that have been invoked to explain the observed isotopic response of streamflow to rainfall and snowmelt inputs in various environments are reviewed. These processes include groundwater ridging, translatory flow, macropore flow, saturation overland flow, kinematic waves and release of water from surface storage. Tests of the ability of the hypothesized mechanisms to explain the isotopic signature of stormflow from drainage basins will require a more complete integration of hydrometric methods with the use of environmental isotopes than has been achieved previously. Along with various methodological issues associated with the isotopic hydrograph separation technique, the overall relevance of these hydrograph separations to the understanding and prediction of stream hydrochemistry must be evaluated critically.

Climate warming is projected to affect forest water yields but the effects are expected to vary. We investigated how forest type and age affect water yield resilience to climate warming. To answer this question, we examined the variability in historical water yields at long-term experimental catchments across Canada and the United States over 5-year cool and warm periods. Using the theoretical framework of the Budyko curve, we calculated the effects of climate warming on the annual partitioning of precipitation (P) into evapotranspiration (ET) and water yield. Deviation (d) was defined as a catchment's change in actual ET divided by P [AET/P; evaporative index (EI)] coincident with a shift from a cool to a warm period – a positive d indicates an upward shift in EI and smaller than expected water yields, and a negative d indicates a downward shift in EI and larger than expected water yields. Elasticity was defined as the ratio of interannual variation in potential ET divided by P (PET/P; dryness index) to interannual variation in the EI – high elasticity indicates low d despite large range in drying index (i.e., resilient water yields), low elasticity indicates high d despite small range in drying index (i.e., nonresilient water yields). Although the data needed to fully evaluate ecosystems based on these metrics are limited, we were able to identify some characteristics of response among forest types. Alpine sites showed the greatest sensitivity to climate warming with any warming leading to increased water yields. Conifer forests included catchments with lowest elasticity and stable to larger water yields. Deciduous forests included catchments with intermediate elasticity and stable to smaller water yields. Mixed coniferous/deciduous forests included catchments with highest elasticity and stable water yields. Forest type appeared to influence the resilience of catchment water yields to climate warming, with conifer and deciduous catchments more susceptible to climate warming than the more diverse mixed forest catchments.

Recent findings from stable isotope studies have opened up new questions about differences in the isotopic composition (d 2 H and d 18 O) of mobile (MW) and bulk water (BW) in soils. We sampled the isotopic compositions of MW using suction lysimeters and BW with the direct-equilibration method. The study was conducted at two landscape units in each of three catchments: the Bruntland Burn (Scotland), Dorset (Canada), and Krycklan (Sweden). We further used the numerical one-dimensional flow model SWIS (Soil Water Isotope Simulator) to simulate the hydrometric and isotopic dynamics. The model included evaporation fractionation, allowed differentiation between a fast and a slow flow domain, and included isotopic exchange via water vapor. Our measurements showed that MW plots along the local meteoric water lines, whereas BW plots below, which is indicative of evaporation fractionation. We suggest that the relative volume of MW to BW is relevant for explaining these isotopic differences because MW volumes are usually relatively low during periods of high evaporation. Under this condition, differences between MW and plant water isotopes are not paradoxical but rather related to the water that cannot be sampled with suction lysimeters but is still available for plant water uptake. The simulations accounting for fast and slow flow supported the conceptualization of the two soil pore domains with isotopic exchange via vapor exchange because this model setup resulted in the best model performance. Overall, these findings are of high relevance for current understanding related to the source and isotopic composition of water taken up by plants.Abbreviations: BW, bulk soil water; LMWL, local meteoric water line; MAE, mean absolute error; MW, mobile soil water; OPD, one-pore domain; PET, potential evapotranspiration; TPD, two-pore domain with isotopic exchange via vapor exchange; TPD_noex, twopore domain without isotopic exchange via vapor exchange; TWW, two water world.

Storm flow in forested basins on the Canadian Shield is largely supplied by subsurface water; however, mechanisms by which this water reaches the stream remain unclear. Side slope contributions to storm flow were studied using throughflow trenches on slopes in a headwater basin near Dorset, Ontario. Discharge, soil water content, and chemical and isotopic signatures of subsurface water were monitored at each site. Four hypotheses were tested: (1) most flow occurs at the soil-bedrock interface on shield slopes with thin soil; (2) a significant fraction of event water moves vertically to bedrock via preferential flow pathways and laterally over the bedrock surface; (3) relative preevent water contribution to subsurface flow on shield slopes is a function of soil thickness; and (4) a significant portion of event water flux in storm flow from forested basins with shallow soil cover is supplied from side slopes via subsurface flow along the soil-bedrock interface. Hypothesis 1 was confirmed from hydrometric observations during spring and fall rainstorms. Hypotheses 2 and 3 were supported by temporal trends in dissolved organic carbon and •80 in flow at the soil-bedrock interface and by isotopic hydrograph separations (IHSs) of hillslope runoff. Comparison with the streamflow IHS indicated that event water flux from the basin in excess of that attributable to direct precipitation onto near-channel saturated areas could be supplied by flow along the bedrock surface (hypothesis 4). Flow at the soil-bedrock interface on side slopes also contributed ---25% of preevent water flux from the basin. Much of the event water component of basin storm flow may travel considerable distances via subsurface routes and is not necessarily contributed by surface runoff processes (Horton flow or saturation overland flow). Therefore the assumption that event water undergoes little interaction with the soil during its passage downslope may be unwarranted here. One concept which may account for rapid subsurface transfer of preevent water to stream channels is the groundwater ridging mechanism [Sklash and Farvolden, 1979]. This process is limited to the near-channel area and results from rapid conversion of the tension-saturated zone (capillary fringe) tophreatic water by infiltrating event water. The subsequent rise in the near-stream water table increases the hydraulic gradient to the stream and/or the size of seepage faces, resulting in pronounced groundwater discharge to the channel. This rapid Copyright 1995 by the American Geophysical Union. Paper number 94WR03286. 0043-1397/95/94WR-03286505.00 rise in the water table has been noted in laboratory [Abdul and Gillham, 1984] and field investigations [Novakowski and Gillham, 1988; Abdul and Gillham, 1989] and is supported by numerical simulation [SMash and Farvolden, 1979]. However, studies on the Canadian Shield have questioned the ability of groundwater ridging to serve as the dominant means of supplying storm flow to the stream during snowmelt. Thus Buttle and Sami [1992] found that gro...

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[1] There is no scientific consensus about how dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in surface waters is regulated. Here we combine recent literature data from 49 catchments with detailed stream and catchment process information from nine well established research catchments at mid-to high latitudes to examine the question of how climate controls stream water DOC. We show for the first time that mean annual temperature (MAT) in the range from À3to +10 C has a strong control over the regional stream water DOC concentration in catchments, with highest concentrations in areas ranging between 0 and +3 C MAT. Although relatively large deviations from this model occur for individual streams, catchment topography appears to explain much of this divergence. These findings suggest that the long-term trajectory of stream water DOC response to climate change may be more predictable than previously thought. Citation:

The higher mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere are particularly sensitive to climate change as small differences in temperature determine frozen ground status, precipitation phase, and the magnitude and timing of snow accumulation and melt. An international inter-catchment comparison program, North-Watch, seeks to improve our understanding of the sensitivity of northern catchments to climate change by examining their hydrological and biogeochemical responses. The catchments are located in Sweden (Krycklan), Scotland (Mharcaidh, Girnock and Strontian), the United States (Sleepers River, Hubbard Brook and HJ Andrews) and Canada (Catamaran, Dorset and Wolf Creek). This briefing presents the initial stage of the North-Watch program, which focuses on how these catchments collect, store and release water and identify 'types' of hydro-climatic catchment response. At most sites, a 10-year data of daily precipitation, discharge and temperature were compiled and evaporation and storage were calculated. Inter-annual and seasonal patterns of hydrological processes were assessed via normalized fluxes and standard flow metrics. At the annual-scale, relations between temperature, precipitation and discharge were compared, highlighting the role of seasonality, wetness and snow/frozen ground. The seasonal pattern and synchronicity of fluxes at the monthly scale provided insight into system memory and the role of storage. We identified types of catchments that rapidly translate precipitation into runoff and others that more readily store water for delayed release. Synchronicity and variance of rainfall-runoff patterns were characterized by the coefficient of variation (cv ) of monthly fluxes and correlation coefficients. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed clustering among like catchments in terms of functioning, largely controlled by two components that (i) reflect temperature and precipitation gradients and the correlation of monthly precipitation and discharge and (ii) the seasonality of precipitation and storage. By advancing the ecological concepts of resistance and resilience for catchment functioning, results provided a conceptual framework for understanding susceptibility to hydrological change across northern catchments.

We examine how tracer studies have enhanced our understanding of flow paths, residence times and sources of stream flow in northern catchments. We define northern catchments as non-glacial sites in the temperate conifer/boreal/permafrost zone, focussing our review mainly on sites in North America and Europe. Improved empirical and theoretical understanding of hydrological functioning has advanced the analytical tools available for tracer-based hydrograph separations, derivation of transit time distributions and tracer-aided rainfall-runoff models that are better able to link hydrological response to storage changes. However, the lack of comprehensive tracer data sets still hinders development of a generalized understanding of how northern catchments will respond to change. This paucity of empirical data leads to many outstanding research needs, particularly in rapidly changing areas that are already responding to climatic warming and economic development. To continually improve our understanding of hydrological processes in these regions our knowledge needs to be advanced using a range of techniques and approaches. Recent technological developments for improved monitoring, distributed hydrological sensor systems, more economic analysis of large sample numbers in conjunction with novel, tracer-aided modelling approaches and the use of remote sensing have the potential to help 2 understanding of northern hydrological systems as well as inform policy at a time of rapid environmental change.