A Wetlands Dynamic Water Budget Model was developed and applied to support a large field investigation of processes in the Black Swamp wetlands of the Cache River between Patterson and Cotton Plant, Arkansas. The model is called the Wetlands Dynamic Water Budget Model because it provides magnitudes for the water budget components, as well as water depths, discharges, and flow velocities throughout the modeled system. The development of the computer program is based on concepts and approaches of a number of programs in common use. It includes three dynamically-linked modules that include all the major components of a typical water budget, including precipitation, canopy interception, overland flow, channel flow, infiltration, evapotranspiration, and horizontal ground-water flow. The surface-wate,' module of the model was applied to the Cache River in Arkansas, and augmented a comprehensive hydrologic field study by filling data gaps that occurred due to gage problems and by providing long-term simulation data for broad areas of the wetland, particularly those far away from any measurement station. The results demonstrated that these wetlands are inundated primarily from the backwater produced at downstream constrictions, rather than from the forward-moving flood wave.
Since 1999, the Alaska SeaLife Center has routinely screened live marine animals found in distress, and those found dead, for fecal pathogens (e.g., Salmonella, E. coli 0157, Campylobacter, Vibrio spp.) and exposure to a variety of diseases known to affect marine mammals and/ or humans (e.g., Brucella, Morbillivirus, Leptospirosis, Herpesvirus). Additionally, projects investigating wild populations screen live cap-042 Goertz et al.-V. parahaemolyticus, a Climate Change Indicator tured animals and subsistence harvested animals for the same conditions circulating in wild populations. One fecal pathogen in particular, Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp), is considered an indicator of climate change as this organism proliferates only in waters with temperatures higher than 15°C. The State of Alaska began screening oysters for Vp in 1995, but did not detect Vp until summer 2004 when the first human outbreak of Vp-associated gastroenteritis was documented, involving 62 people who consumed raw oysters from Prince William Sound. Since then, marine mammal researchers on stranding and live capture projects have found Vp, including isolates with known pathogenicity factors, in several (17 stranded, 2 live captured, 1 subsistence) northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni), a harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), and a beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas). The positive Vp isolates found in Seward, Cook Inlet, Kachemak Bay, Kodiak, and Dillingham represent the first reports of the bacteria in those areas.
The hydrologic characteristics of the Cache River wetlands between Patterson and Cotton Plant, Arkansas, were investigated. The Cache River is an underfit stream with wetlands predominantly located in abandoned channels and backswamps. Much of the Cache River upstream of the study area has undergone extensive channelization to allow agricultural development in the basin. Hydrologic measurements included streamflow gages at the upstream and downstream limits of the study area. water-level recorders inside the study area, a nest of deep and shallow ground-water wells that monitored variations in the underlying aquifer, a meteorological recording station that collected precipitation, air temperature, and solar radiation data inside the study area, and regional precipitation data. Analysis of the wetland's water budget showed that the system is dominated by river discharges and that the magnitudes of other water-budget components are less than the error associated with well-maintained streamflow gages (5-10%). The system is characterized by floods occurring from late fall to late winter and again in mid-to-late spring. Peak flood discharges are approximately 185 m3/s for a 2-year event and 270 mVs for a 5-year event. Peak discharges between the upstream and downstream gages are reduced by 10-20% with greater attenuation occurring when the system is initially drier. Peak discharge at the downstream gage lags the peak at the upstream gage by 4-8 days depending on antecedent conditions. The majority of overbank flooding is produced by backwater from several constrictions in the downstream reach of the study area, rather than from the forward movement of the flood wave. Floodpeak attenuation between the upstream and downstream gages is due mainly to floodplain storage, with flow resistance contributing minimally. Finally, the relationship between the hydroperiods at different water-surface elevation gages was examined to determine if a long-term record could be used to estimate long-term hydroperiods at interior gage locations (or perhaps at interior computer model locations) with shorter-term information.Kay Words: wetland hydrology, water budget, flood storage, stream flows, flood peak attenuation, flood discharge attenuation, hydroperiod
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