On the Reliability of Parameter Inferences in a Multiscale Model for Transport in Stream Corridors

Rathore, Saubhagya Singh; Jan, Ahmad; Coon, Ethan T.; Painter, S. L.

doi:10.1029/2020wr028908

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 65 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Comparisons of mass recovery were the basis to assess net gains of stream water via dilution or used to inform losses of reactive compounds (e.g., Newbold et al., 1981). The observed time series (Figure 6b), rather than the total masses, are the basis for studies using the popular transient storage model (Bencala & Walters, 1983; Knapp & Kelleher, 2020; Runkel, 1998), and a host of other modeling approaches (Haggerty & Reeves, 2002; Rathore et al., 2021; Worman et al., 2002) and empirical calculations (Covino et al., 2010). Still, these advances came with the often unstated recognition that the empirical data themselves were subject to limitation (J. W. Harvey et al., 1996; Wagner & Harvey, 1997).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breaking the Window of Detection: Using Multi‐Scale Solute Tracer Studies to Assess Mass Recovery at the Detection Limit

Ward

Wondzell

Gooseff

et al. 2023

Water Resources Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The time that a parcel of water spends in various locations within a river corridor is a master variable that reflects the integrated effects of physical stores and fluxes and ultimately controls the biogeochemical processes and functions that are realized during transport. Empirical evidence of transit times in river corridors most commonly relies upon naturally occurring tracers to assess relatively long timescales (Cirpka et al., 2007;Gooseff et al., 2003;Lamontagne & Cook, 2007) and injected solute tracers for shorter timescales (Stream Solute Workshop, 1990;Ward et al., 2012). Studies using stream solute tracers are widespread in their application, but for more than 20 years have been known to be biased toward measuring the fastest portion of the transit time distribution, a limitation inherent to the method (J. W. Harvey et al., 1996;Wagner & Harvey, 1997). Despite the recognition of this limit, and the fact that the limitation is itself highly variable as a function of study design (e.g., Schmadel et al., 2016), hydrologists continue to conduct and interpret solute tracer studies. Any tracer that is released but not recovered (i.e., "lost") is attributed to flow that bypasses the monitoring location or transport along flowpaths longer than can be detected by monitoring equipment. In the latter case, such flowpaths could range in timescale from incrementally longer than what is detected to infinitely long. The inherent limits of tracer studies in streams define an arbitrary boundary that separates the tracer we are able to sense and interpret from the tracer we lose to the "black box" of longer timescales. While this demarcation is conceptually understood, we do not understand how this methodological threshold changes our understanding of transport in stream reaches (i.e., individual sections of river that are studied in an experiment, typically 10-100s of meters; Frissell et al., 1986). Moreover, when reaches are combined to represent segments (i.e., sections of a river that are comprised of multiple reaches, typically 100-1000s of meters; Frissell et al., 1986) it is unclear what impact-if any-the study limitations have on our understanding of transport in river corridors. Here, we ask how the well-documented and broadly acknowledged limits of solute tracer studies change our understanding at the reach-and segment-scales. In other words, if we manipulate the observational constraints of solute tracer studies to "peer into the black box", characterizing

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breaking the Window of Detection: Using Multi‐Scale Solute Tracer Studies to Assess Mass Recovery at the Detection Limit

Ward

Wondzell

Gooseff

et al. 2023

Water Resources Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The computationally challenging simulations are made tractable by formulating the subgrid models in stochastic Lagrangian form, with hyporheic age replacing travel distance. Key model inputs-hyporheic exchange rates and hyporheic lifetime distributions-can be inferred from nonreacting tracer tests (Rathore et al 2021) or synthesized data products (Gomez-Velez and Harvey 2014). The ADELS model is implemented in Amanzi-ATS (Jan et al 2021).…”

Section: Integrated Surface-subsurface Reactive Transport Softwarementioning

confidence: 99%

From legacy contamination to watershed systems science: a review of scientific insights and technologies developed through DOE-supported research in water and energy security

Dwivedi

Steefel

Arora

et al. 2022

Environ. Res. Lett.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Water resources, including groundwater and prominent rivers worldwide, are under duress because of excessive contaminant and nutrient loads. To help mitigate this problem, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) has supported research since the late 1980s to improve our fundamental knowledge of processes that could be used to help clean up challenging subsurface problems. Problems of interest have included subsurface radioactive waste, heavy metals, and metalloids (e.g., uranium, mercury, arsenic). Research efforts have provided insights into detailed groundwater biogeochemical process coupling and the resulting geochemical exports of metals and nutrients to surrounding environments. Recently, an increased focus has been placed on constraining the exchanges and fates of carbon and nitrogen within and across bedrock to canopy compartments of a watershed and in river-floodplain settings, because of their important role in driving biogeochemical interactions with contaminants and the potential of increased fluxes under changing precipitation regimes, including extreme events. While reviewing the extensive research that has been conducted at DOE's representative sites and testbeds (such as the Oyster Site in Virginia, Savannah River Site in South Carolina, Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, Hanford in Washington, Nevada National Security in Nevada, Riverton in Wyoming, and Rifle and East River in Colorado), this review paper explores the nature and distribution of contaminants in the surface and shallow subsurface (i.e., the critical zone) and their interactions with carbon and nitrogen dynamics. We also describe state-of-the-art, scale-aware characterization approaches and models developed to predict contaminant fate and transport. The models take advantage of DOE leadership-class high-performance computers and are beginning to incorporate artificial intelligence approaches to tackle the extreme diversity of hydro-biogeochemical processes and measurements. Recognizing that the insights and capability developments are potentially transferable to many other sites, we also explore the scientific implications of these advances and recommend future research directions.

show abstract

Evaluation of distributed process-based hydrologic model performance using only a priori information to define model inputs

Bhanja

Coon

et al. 2023

Journal of Hydrology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

On the Reliability of Parameter Inferences in a Multiscale Model for Transport in Stream Corridors

Cited by 7 publications

References 65 publications

Breaking the Window of Detection: Using Multi‐Scale Solute Tracer Studies to Assess Mass Recovery at the Detection Limit

Breaking the Window of Detection: Using Multi‐Scale Solute Tracer Studies to Assess Mass Recovery at the Detection Limit

From legacy contamination to watershed systems science: a review of scientific insights and technologies developed through DOE-supported research in water and energy security

Evaluation of distributed process-based hydrologic model performance using only a priori information to define model inputs

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About