Hydrological response to warm and dry weather: do glaciers compensate?
Warm and dry summer days can lead to low streamflow due to a lack of rainfall and increased evaporation. In glacierized catchments, however, such periods can lead to a very different hydrological response as glaciers can supply an increased amount of meltwater, thereby compensating for the rainfall...
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Copernicus Publications
2021
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:830ec8b0b7e9441880467d03c3b0f10b 2023-05-15T16:21:57+02:00 Hydrological response to warm and dry weather: do glaciers compensate? M. Van Tiel A. F. Van Loon J. Seibert K. Stahl 2021-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3245-2021 https://doaj.org/article/830ec8b0b7e9441880467d03c3b0f10b EN eng Copernicus Publications https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/25/3245/2021/hess-25-3245-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1027-5606 https://doaj.org/toc/1607-7938 doi:10.5194/hess-25-3245-2021 1027-5606 1607-7938 https://doaj.org/article/830ec8b0b7e9441880467d03c3b0f10b Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Vol 25, Pp 3245-3265 (2021) Technology T Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3245-2021 2022-12-31T06:44:50Z Warm and dry summer days can lead to low streamflow due to a lack of rainfall and increased evaporation. In glacierized catchments, however, such periods can lead to a very different hydrological response as glaciers can supply an increased amount of meltwater, thereby compensating for the rainfall deficits. Here, we analyzed glacier-fed streamflow responses to warm and dry (WD) periods in long-term streamflow observations ( >50 years). WD events during summer (June–September) were analyzed for catchments with varying glacier cover in western Canada, southwestern Norway, and the European Alps. WD events were defined by days with temperatures above a daily varying threshold, based on the 80th percentile of the respective long-term temperature data for that day in the year, and daily precipitation sums below a fixed threshold ( <2 mm d −1 ) for a minimum duration of 7 d. Streamflow responses to these WD events were expressed as level of compensation ( C ) and were calculated as the event streamflow relative to the long-term streamflow regime. C ≥100 % indicates that increased melt and other catchment storages could compensate, or even overcompensate, the rainfall deficit and increased evaporation. Results showed a wide range of compensation levels, both between catchments and between different WD events in a particular catchment. C was, in general, higher than 100 % for catchments with a relative glacier cover higher than 5 %–15 %, depending on region and month. June was the month with highest compensation levels, but this was likely more influenced by snowmelt than by glacier melt. For WD events in September, C was still higher than 100 % in many catchments, which likely indicates the importance of glacier melt as a streamflow contributor in late summer. There was a considerable range in C of different WD events for groups of catchments with similar glacier cover. This could be partly explained by antecedent conditions, such as the amount of snow fallen in the previous winter and the streamflow conditions ... Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier glacier* Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Canada Norway Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 25 6 3245 3265 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Technology T Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
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Technology T Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 M. Van Tiel A. F. Van Loon J. Seibert K. Stahl Hydrological response to warm and dry weather: do glaciers compensate? |
topic_facet |
Technology T Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
description |
Warm and dry summer days can lead to low streamflow due to a lack of rainfall and increased evaporation. In glacierized catchments, however, such periods can lead to a very different hydrological response as glaciers can supply an increased amount of meltwater, thereby compensating for the rainfall deficits. Here, we analyzed glacier-fed streamflow responses to warm and dry (WD) periods in long-term streamflow observations ( >50 years). WD events during summer (June–September) were analyzed for catchments with varying glacier cover in western Canada, southwestern Norway, and the European Alps. WD events were defined by days with temperatures above a daily varying threshold, based on the 80th percentile of the respective long-term temperature data for that day in the year, and daily precipitation sums below a fixed threshold ( <2 mm d −1 ) for a minimum duration of 7 d. Streamflow responses to these WD events were expressed as level of compensation ( C ) and were calculated as the event streamflow relative to the long-term streamflow regime. C ≥100 % indicates that increased melt and other catchment storages could compensate, or even overcompensate, the rainfall deficit and increased evaporation. Results showed a wide range of compensation levels, both between catchments and between different WD events in a particular catchment. C was, in general, higher than 100 % for catchments with a relative glacier cover higher than 5 %–15 %, depending on region and month. June was the month with highest compensation levels, but this was likely more influenced by snowmelt than by glacier melt. For WD events in September, C was still higher than 100 % in many catchments, which likely indicates the importance of glacier melt as a streamflow contributor in late summer. There was a considerable range in C of different WD events for groups of catchments with similar glacier cover. This could be partly explained by antecedent conditions, such as the amount of snow fallen in the previous winter and the streamflow conditions ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
M. Van Tiel A. F. Van Loon J. Seibert K. Stahl |
author_facet |
M. Van Tiel A. F. Van Loon J. Seibert K. Stahl |
author_sort |
M. Van Tiel |
title |
Hydrological response to warm and dry weather: do glaciers compensate? |
title_short |
Hydrological response to warm and dry weather: do glaciers compensate? |
title_full |
Hydrological response to warm and dry weather: do glaciers compensate? |
title_fullStr |
Hydrological response to warm and dry weather: do glaciers compensate? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Hydrological response to warm and dry weather: do glaciers compensate? |
title_sort |
hydrological response to warm and dry weather: do glaciers compensate? |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3245-2021 https://doaj.org/article/830ec8b0b7e9441880467d03c3b0f10b |
geographic |
Canada Norway |
geographic_facet |
Canada Norway |
genre |
glacier glacier* |
genre_facet |
glacier glacier* |
op_source |
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Vol 25, Pp 3245-3265 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/25/3245/2021/hess-25-3245-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1027-5606 https://doaj.org/toc/1607-7938 doi:10.5194/hess-25-3245-2021 1027-5606 1607-7938 https://doaj.org/article/830ec8b0b7e9441880467d03c3b0f10b |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3245-2021 |
container_title |
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
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25 |
container_issue |
6 |
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3245 |
op_container_end_page |
3265 |
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