Winter Longitudinal Thermal Regime in Four Mountain Streams

Danehy, Robert J.; Colson, C.M.; Duke, Steven D.

doi:10.3955/046.084.0204

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…However, those studies were conducted at point scales or over short reaches (less than 40 m length) and did not focus on the role of advective fluxes associated with runoff contributions in a headwater context. The potential importance of advective fluxes for winter stream temperature has been recognized in previous studies (Webb and Zhang, 1999;Malard et al, 2001;Leach, 2008;Danehy et al, 2010); however, our study provides the first energy budget analysis to quantify its importance under winter conditions in a headwater catchment. Our findings provide process-based support for recent empirical research suggesting that winter and summer periods of the PNW are characterized by distinct thermal regimes and sensitivities to environmental change (Arismendi et al, 2013).…”

Section: Relative Roles Of Vertical and Lateral Heat Fluxesmentioning

confidence: 82%

Winter stream temperature in the rain-on-snow zone of the Pacific Northwest: influences of hillslope runoff and transient snow cover

Leach

Moore

2014

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Stream temperature dynamics during winter are less well studied than summer thermal regimes, but the winter season thermal regime can be critical for fish growth and development in coastal catchments. The winter thermal regimes of Pacific Northwest headwater streams, which provide vital winter habitat for salmonids and their food sources, may be particularly sensitive to changes in climate because they can remain ice-free throughout the year and are often located in rain-on-snow zones. This study examined winter stream temperature patterns and controls in small headwater catchments within the rain-on-snow zone at the Malcolm Knapp Research Forest, near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Two hypotheses were addressed by this study: (1) winter stream temperatures are primarily controlled by advective fluxes associated with runoff processes and (2) stream temperatures should be depressed during rain-on-snow events, compared to rain-on-bare-ground events, due to the cooling effect of rain passing through the snowpack prior to infiltrating the soil or being delivered to the stream as saturation-excess overland flow. A reach-scale energy budget analysis of two winter seasons revealed that the advective energy input associated with hillslope runoff overwhelms vertical energy exchanges (net radiation, sensible and latent heat fluxes, bed heat conduction, and stream friction) and hyporheic energy fluxes during rain and rainon-snow events. Historical stream temperature data and modelled snowpack dynamics were used to explore the influence of transient snow cover on stream temperature over 13 winters. When snow was not present, daily stream temperature during winter rain events tended to increase with increasing air temperature. However, when snow was present, stream temperature was capped at about 5 • C, regardless of air temperature. The stream energy budget modelling and historical analysis support both of our hypotheses. A key implication is that climatic warming may generate higher winter stream temperatures in the rain-on-snow zone due to both increased rain temperature and reduced cooling effect of snow cover.

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Section: Relative Roles Of Vertical and Lateral Heat Fluxesmentioning

confidence: 82%

Winter stream temperature in the rain-on-snow zone of the Pacific Northwest: influences of hillslope runoff and transient snow cover

Leach

Moore

2014

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…The importance of this factor has been reported elsewhere (Danehy et al, 2005(Danehy et al, , 2010O'Driscoll and Dewalle, 2006;Tague et al, 2007;Kelleher et al, 2012). Groundwater usually provides a cooler source of water to streams in summer.…”

Section: Regional Regression Analysesmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…It is reasonable to expect that the groundwater contribution to a stream may have a strong effect on stream temperatures as well (Meisner et al, 1988;Green et al, 2011). But the few studies that have investigated this have either been at the local scale (Danehy et al, 2005(Danehy et al, , 2010Tague et al, 2007) or have been in areas outside of the Pacific Northwest (O'Driscoll and Dewalle, 2006;Kelleher et al, 2012). No study has examined the effect of baseflow index on stream temperatures across the Pacific Northwest.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Controls of summer stream temperature in the Pacific Northwest

Mayer

2012

Journal of Hydrology

129

173

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“…This focus may be adequate for wide streams and periods when net radiation and turbulent heat fluxes dominate the thermal regime. However, a growing body of research has highlighted that advection associated with hyporheic exchange, groundwater discharge, and hillslope runoff can strongly influence stream temperature dynamics [ Webb and Zhang , ; Malard et al ., ; Story et al ., ; Brown and Hannah , ; Danehy et al ., ; Leach and Moore , ; MacDonald et al ., ; Leach and Moore , ]. Considerable effort has been made to characterize the thermal role of hyporheic exchange [ White et al ., ; Story et al ., ; Moore et al ., ; Arrigoni et al ., ; Hester et al ., ; Marzadri et al ., ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Observations and modeling of hillslope throughflow temperatures in a coastal forested catchment

Leach

Moore

2015

Water Resources Research

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A growing body of research on stream thermal regimes has highlighted the importance of heat advection associated with surface water and groundwater interactions, such as hyporheic exchange, groundwater discharge, and hillslope throughflow inputs. Existing catchment models that predict stream temperature use a variety of approaches to estimate throughflow temperatures, but none has been evaluated against field measurements of throughflow temperature. In this study, throughflow temperatures were monitored over two winters at 50 locations adjacent to a headwater stream (11 ha catchment area) located in the rain-on-snow zone of the Pacific Northwest. Existing approaches to estimate throughflow temperature under or overpredicted throughflow temperatures by up to 58C, or were unable to represent the influence of transient snow cover. Therefore, a conceptual-parametric model that is computationally efficient was developed that simulates hillslope hydrology and throughflow temperatures. The model structure includes an upslope reservoir that drains into a downslope reservoir that, in turn, drains into the stream. Vertical and lateral energy and water fluxes are simulated using simplified process representations. The model successfully predicts throughflow temperatures and highlights the dominant role of throughflow advection and the influence of snow cover on stream thermal regimes during high flow periods and rainon-snow events.

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Winter Longitudinal Thermal Regime in Four Mountain Streams

Cited by 8 publications

References 18 publications

Winter stream temperature in the rain-on-snow zone of the Pacific Northwest: influences of hillslope runoff and transient snow cover

Winter stream temperature in the rain-on-snow zone of the Pacific Northwest: influences of hillslope runoff and transient snow cover

Controls of summer stream temperature in the Pacific Northwest

Observations and modeling of hillslope throughflow temperatures in a coastal forested catchment

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