Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143469
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Characterizing hydrograph recessions from satellite-derived soil moisture
Author Basso, S.; Ghazanchaei, Z.; Tarasova, L.
Source Titel Science of the Total Environment
Year 2021
Department CATHYD
Volume 756
Page From art. 143469
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Keywords Soil Water Index; soil moisture; recession flow; recession coefficient; flow variability; river flow regime
Abstract Hydrograph recessions, usually described through a power-law function of river flows, are among the most widely utilized hydrological signatures. Whereas theories explaining the genesis of recession exponents have been recently developed, ongoing discussions on the physical meaning and suitable proxies of recession coefficients suggest their linkage to soil moisture states of whole river basins. This work investigates the possibility to explain hydrograph recession coefficients by means of satellite-derived soil moisture products such as the Soil Water Index of Copernicus Global Land Service. Analyses of basin-averaged Soil Water Index, computed for eleven river basins from the Central and Eastern United States with varied climates and landscapes, reveal the existence of an inverse relation between mean soil moisture and its variability in time, and provide a glance into the variability of river flows. A visible signature of satellite-derived soil moisture conditions on the values of the recession coefficient as well emerges when statistics of the Soil Water Index are paired with recession properties obtained by means of hydrograph recession analysis. In particular, drier river basins characterized by larger soil moisture variability tend to exhibit larger and more variable recession coefficients. These results suggest reliability of existing conjectures about the role of soil moisture for determining recession properties, and indicate that satellite-derived products can inform understanding of the intrinsic variability of the hydrologic response in river basins.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=23901
Basso, S., Ghazanchaei, Z., Tarasova, L. (2021):
Characterizing hydrograph recessions from satellite-derived soil moisture
Sci. Total Environ. 756 , art. 143469 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143469