HR: 13:40h
AN: H53I-01 INVITED    [Abstracts]
TI: The Value of Tracer Data in Catchment Modeling and Process Representation
AU: * McGuire, K J
EM: kmcguire1@plymouth.edu
AF: Plymouth State University & US Forest Service, Center for the Environment - MSC 63 Plymouth State University 17 High Street, Plymouth, NH 03264, United States
AU: McDonnell, J J
EM: jeff.mcdonnell@oregonstate.edu
AF: Oregon State University, Department of Forest Engineering, Corvallis, OR 97331, United States
AU: Vache, K
EM: kellie.b.vache@agrar.uni-giessen.de
AF: University of Giessen, Institute for Landscape Ecology and Resources Management, Giessen, 35392, Germany
AU: Weiler, M
EM: markus.weiler@ubc.ca
AF: University of British Columbia, Department of Forest Resources Management and Geography, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
AB: The ability to make water quality predictions from hydrologic models has been challenging given that models must incorporate information about flowpaths, storages, and fluxes of water and solute. Many field studies are limited by observation capacity of subsurface processes in heterogeneous and dynamic systems, and resulting hydrological descriptions of catchments are often not easily translated into model structure. For water quality models, additional information is required to describe solute retention and transport processes, which increases the number of model parameters causing problems associated with calibration and parameter identification. Tracer methods have become increasingly common in hydrological studies since they provide spatially integrated information about catchment processes such as water flowpaths and sources. An important measure that tracers can provide information on is the water transit time through a catchment, which is relevant to water quality since the contact time in the subsurface largely controls stream water chemical composition. We will explore how tracers, such as stable isotopes of water, can be used to provide process insights, reductions in parameter uncertainty, and enhancement of model structure.
DE: 1847 Modeling
DE: 1879 Watershed
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting