This is the second of a two-part series on the watershed hydrological experimental system (WHES) aimed at practice and test of it at Chuzhou Hydrology Laboratory. It constitutes both natural and artificial entities of different scales, within which two typical main subjects are reviewed here. First is a natural watershed Nandadish, which is subjected to be a Critical Zone Experimental Block, under manipulation strategy of constrain complexity to compare with the pure natural watersheds, it is the controlled-natural as we termed. Second is an artificial catchment Hydrohill, under the strategy of add complexity to compare with the simple artificial lysimeters, it is the artificial-natural as we termed. The constructions and instrumentations of these experimental catchments are reviewed, especially their renovation version during recent years after a long abandonment. Some results get during the operation of Chuzhou WHES are outlined here as well.
This is the first of a two-part series on the watershed hydrological experimental system (WHES). Since the foundational stage and developmental stage of hydrological basin study with a duration of more than ca. one century, facing with the changing environment and, the declined risk of field study while the catchment hydrology is trapped in a theoretical impasse, a third phase of renovation on hydrological experiments seems ready to come out inevitably. Learned from Chinese decades' experiences on the field basin study for the question of what is wrong with the status quo, our exploratory idea is reported in this part. From the viewpoint of general system theory based on the paralleled concepts of the ancient Chinese and the Western, it is considered that the adequate method should face the characters of the complex dynamic system instead of previous static, linear system. From the viewpoint of another philosophical paralleled concept of the Middle Way, it should also face the operation and organizing of the mesoscopic systems for the organized complexity. Then, a framework of WHES is suggested with its organization based on the strategy of constrain complexity and add complexity and on the strategy of manipulation including the artificial-natural and controlled-natural objects. Such a trial framework, the Chuzhou WHES, is reported including the suggested critical zone experimental block (CZEB) instead of the experimental basin (EB) in the last decades.
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