HR: 0800h
AN: H21A-0180    [Abstracts]
TI: Travel Time Distribution Modeling in the Valles Caldera, New Mexico
AU: * Broxton, P D
EM: broxtopd@hwr.arizona.edu
AF: Department of Hydrology and Water Resources - University of Arizona, John W. Harshbarger Building 1133 E James E. Rogers Way, Tucson, AZ 86721, United States
AU: Troch, P A
EM: patroch@hwr.arizona.edu
AF: Department of Hydrology and Water Resources - University of Arizona, John W. Harshbarger Building 1133 E James E. Rogers Way, Tucson, AZ 86721, United States
AU: Brooks, P D
EM: brooks@hwr.arizona.edu
AF: Department of Hydrology and Water Resources - University of Arizona, John W. Harshbarger Building 1133 E James E. Rogers Way, Tucson, AZ 86721, United States
AU: Lyon, S W
EM: slyon@hwr.arizona.edu
AF: Department of Hydrology and Water Resources - University of Arizona, John W. Harshbarger Building 1133 E James E. Rogers Way, Tucson, AZ 86721, United States
AU: Gustafson, J R
AF: Department of Hydrology and Water Resources - University of Arizona, John W. Harshbarger Building 1133 E James E. Rogers Way, Tucson, AZ 86721, United States
AU: Veatch, W C
AF: Department of Hydrology and Water Resources - University of Arizona, John W. Harshbarger Building 1133 E James E. Rogers Way, Tucson, AZ 86721, United States
AB: Modeling the transit times of catchment waters is of paramount importance in hydrology. The distribution of the time it takes for individual water molecules to move through a hydrologic system (a.k.a., the travel time distribution) is a fundamental characterization of a catchment. Travel time distributions are affected by a variety of physical characteristics of catchments (e.g., vegetation type, degree of soil development) that depend on the amount of solar energy the catchment receives. These characteristics, therefore, can be considered a function of aspect. The goal of this research is to constrain travel time distributions on a series of eight radial mountain streams having different slope aspects on Redondo Peak, a resurgent dome in the center of the Valles Caldera, near Los Alamos, New Mexico. Redondo Peak is an excellent natural laboratory for this type of experiment because all aspects are represented on different sides of the mountain while the internal geology and climate are relatively consistent. To model the transit time distributions of each catchment, variations of chemical load of the snowpack, isotopic compositions of meltwater samples, and snowcover distribution data from closely related studies are coupled with periodic stream and precipitation samples that are analyzed for stable water isotopes content. Additional information comes from a network of temperature sensors to monitor the distribution of snowmelt and headwater stream discharge as well as a series of flumes to capture the flows from the streams. The travel time distributions determined in this project provide a bottom up approach to verify catchment-scale models.
UR: http://hwr.arizona.edu/~surface/fieldsites/valles.html
DE: 1800 HYDROLOGY
DE: 1804 Catchment
DE: 1814 Energy budgets
DE: 1860 Streamflow
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting