TY - JOUR
T1 - High-frequency monitoring of catchment nutrient exports reveals highly variable storm event responses and dynamic source zone activation
AU - Blaen, Phillip
AU - Khamis, Kieran
AU - Lloyd, Charlotte E M
AU - Comer, Sophie
AU - Ciocca, Francesco
AU - Thomas, Richard
AU - Mackenzie, Angus
AU - Krause, Stefan
PY - 2017/9
Y1 - 2017/9
N2 - Storm events can drive highly variable behavior in catchment nutrient and water fluxes, yet short-term event dynamics are frequently missed by low-resolution sampling regimes. In addition, nutrient source zone contributions can vary significantly within and between storm events. Our inability to identify and characterize time-dynamic source zone contributions severely hampers the adequate design of land use management practices in order to control nutrient exports from agricultural landscapes. Here we utilize an 8 month high-frequency (hourly) time series of streamflow, nitrate (NO3-N), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and hydroclimatic variables for a headwater agricultural catchment. We identified 29 distinct storm events across the monitoring period. These events represented 31% of the time series and contributed disproportionately to nutrient loads (42% of NO3-N and 43% of DOC) relative to their duration. Regression analysis identified a small subset of hydroclimatological variables (notably precipitation intensity and antecedent conditions) as key drivers of nutrient dynamics during storm events. Hysteresis analysis of nutrient concentration-discharge relationships highlighted the dynamic activation of discrete NO3-N and DOC source zones, which varied on an event-specific basis. Our results highlight the benefits of high-frequency in situ monitoring for characterizing short-term nutrient fluxes and unraveling connections between hydroclimatological variability and river nutrient export and source zone activation under extreme flow conditions. These new process-based insights, which we summarize in a conceptual model, are fundamental to underpinning targeted management measures to reduce nutrient loading of surface waters.
AB - Storm events can drive highly variable behavior in catchment nutrient and water fluxes, yet short-term event dynamics are frequently missed by low-resolution sampling regimes. In addition, nutrient source zone contributions can vary significantly within and between storm events. Our inability to identify and characterize time-dynamic source zone contributions severely hampers the adequate design of land use management practices in order to control nutrient exports from agricultural landscapes. Here we utilize an 8 month high-frequency (hourly) time series of streamflow, nitrate (NO3-N), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and hydroclimatic variables for a headwater agricultural catchment. We identified 29 distinct storm events across the monitoring period. These events represented 31% of the time series and contributed disproportionately to nutrient loads (42% of NO3-N and 43% of DOC) relative to their duration. Regression analysis identified a small subset of hydroclimatological variables (notably precipitation intensity and antecedent conditions) as key drivers of nutrient dynamics during storm events. Hysteresis analysis of nutrient concentration-discharge relationships highlighted the dynamic activation of discrete NO3-N and DOC source zones, which varied on an event-specific basis. Our results highlight the benefits of high-frequency in situ monitoring for characterizing short-term nutrient fluxes and unraveling connections between hydroclimatological variability and river nutrient export and source zone activation under extreme flow conditions. These new process-based insights, which we summarize in a conceptual model, are fundamental to underpinning targeted management measures to reduce nutrient loading of surface waters.
U2 - 10.1002/2017JG003904
DO - 10.1002/2017JG003904
M3 - Article
SN - 2169-8953
VL - 122
SP - 2265
EP - 2281
JO - Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
IS - 9
ER -