The distribution of groundwater inflows in a stream reach plays a major role in controlling the stream temperature, a vital component shaping the riverine ecosystem. In this study, the Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) system was installed in a small Danish lowland stream, Elverdamsåen, to assess the seasonal dynamics of groundwater inflow zones using high spatial (1 m) and temporal (3 minutes) resolution of water temperature measurements. Four simple criteria consisting of 30 min average temperature at 16:00, mean and standard deviation of diurnal temperatures, and the day–night temperature difference were applied to three DTS datasets representing stream temperature responses to the variable meteorological and hydrological conditions prevailing in summer, winter and spring. The standard deviation criterion was useful to identify groundwater discharge zones in summer and spring conditions, while the mean temperature criterion was better for the winter conditions. In total, 20 interactions were identified from the DTS datasets representing summer, 16 in winter and 19 in spring, albeit with only two interactions contributing in all three seasons. Higher baseflow to streamflow ratio, antecedent precipitation and presence of fractured clayey till in the stream reach were deemed as the vital factors causing apparent seasonal variation in the locations of upwelling zones, prompting use of DTS not only in preconceived scenarios of large diurnal temperature change but rather a long‐term deployment covering variable meteorological and hydrological scenarios. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Non-uniform groundwater discharge into streams influences temperature, a vital stream physical property recognized for its dominant controls on biological processes in lotic habitats at multiple scales. Understanding such spatially heterogeneous processes and their effects is difficult on the basis of stream temperature models often calibrated with discrete temperature measurements. This study focused on examining the effect of groundwater discharge on stream temperature using a physically based stream temperature model calibrated on spatially rich high-resolution temperature measurements. A distributed temperature sensing (DTS) system with a 1.8-km fibre optic cable was used to collect temperature measurements for every 1 m of the reach length at 3-min temporal resolution in the stream Elverdamsåen. The groundwater inflow locations identified using DTS data and 24-h temperature measurements (14:00 h 6 May 2011 to 14:00 h 7 May 2011) were used for further calibration of the stream temperature model. With 19 inflow locations, the model simulated temperature trends closely mirroring the observed DTS profile with a root mean square error of 0.85°C. The aggregation of inflows at specific locations forced the model to simulate stepwise inflow signals and small change in downstream temperature. In turn, the DTS data exemplified spiked signals with no change in downstream temperature, a typical characteristic of lowland streams. In spite of the difference in modelled and measured inflow signals, the results indicate that the represented groundwater inflows imperatively controlled the spatial variations of temperature within the study reach, creating three unique thermal zones.
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