HR: 14:10h
AN: NG12A-03    [PDF]
TI: On the coupled geomorphological and ecohydrological organization of river basins
AU: * Caylor, K K
EM: kcaylor@princeton.edu
AF: Princeton University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton, NJ 08844 United States
AU: Manfreda, S
EM: manfreda@princeton.edu
AF: Princeton University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton, NJ 08844 United States
AU: Manfreda, S
EM: manfreda@princeton.edu
AF: University of Basilicata, Department of Environmental Engineering and Physic, Potenza, 85100 Italy
AU: Rodriguez-Iturbe, I
EM: irodrigu@princeton.edu
AF: Princeton University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton, NJ 08844 United States
AB: This paper examines the linkage between the drainage network and the patterns of soil water balance components determined by the organization of vegetation, soils and climate in a semi-arid river basin. Research during the last 10 years has conclusively shown an increasing degree of organization and unifying principles behind the structure of the drainage network and the 3-dimensional geometry of river basins. This cohesion exists despite the infinite variety of shapes and forms one observes in natural watersheds. What has been relatively unexplored in a quantitative and general manner is the question of whether or not vegetation, soils, and climate also display a similar set of unifying characteristics among the very different patterns they presents in river basins. A recently formulated framework for the water balance at the daily level is used to link the observed patterns of basin organization to the soil moisture dynamics. Using available geospatial data we assign soil, climate, and vegetation properties across the basin and analyze the probabilistic characteristics of steady-state soil moisture distribution. It is shown here that the drainage network acts as a template for the organization of both vegetation and hydrological patterns. The signatures of such organization appear in the structure governing the spatial patterns of the steady-state soil moisture distribution, as well as in the distribution of hydrological fluxes such as transpiration and runoff.
DE: 1824 Geomorphology (1625)
DE: 1836 Hydrologic budget (1655)
DE: 1851 Plant ecology
DE: 1866 Soil moisture
SC: Nonlinear Geophysics [NG]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting