Evapotranspiration and Runoff Patterns Across California's Sierra Nevada

Spatially resolved annual evapotranspiration was calculated across the 14 main river basins draining into California's Central Valley, USA, using a statistical model that combined satellite greenness, gridded precipitation, and flux-tower measurements. Annual evapotranspiration across the study...

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Autores principales:	Joseph Rungee, Qin Ma, Michael L. Goulden, Roger Bales
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:	evapotranspiration runoff mountain basins Sierra Nevada water balance Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/638cc0ac4e3d422fa7010d398fc3b2a9
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:638cc0ac4e3d422fa7010d398fc3b2a9
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:638cc0ac4e3d422fa7010d398fc3b2a92021-11-30T14:08:58ZEvapotranspiration and Runoff Patterns Across California's Sierra Nevada2624-937510.3389/frwa.2021.655485https://doaj.org/article/638cc0ac4e3d422fa7010d398fc3b2a92021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frwa.2021.655485/fullhttps://doaj.org/toc/2624-9375Spatially resolved annual evapotranspiration was calculated across the 14 main river basins draining into California's Central Valley, USA, using a statistical model that combined satellite greenness, gridded precipitation, and flux-tower measurements. Annual evapotranspiration across the study area averaged 529 mm. Average basin-scale annual precipitation minus evapotranspiration was in good agreement with annual runoff, with deviations in wet and dry years suggesting withdrawal or recharge of subsurface water storage. Evapotranspiration peaked at lower elevations in the colder, northern basins, and at higher elevations in the southern high-Sierra basins, closely tracking the 12.3°C mean temperature isocline. Precipitation and evapotranspiration are closely balanced across much of the study region, and small shifts in either will cause disproportionate changes in water storage and runoff. The majority of runoff was generated below the rain-snow transition in northern basins, and originated in snow-dominated elevations in the southern basins. Climate warming that increases growing season length will increase evapotranspiration and reduce runoff across all elevations in the north, but only at higher elevations in the south. Feedback mechanisms in these steep mountain basins, plus over-year subsurface storage, with their steep precipitation and temperature gradients, provide important buffering of the water balance to change. Leave-one-out cross validation revealed that the statistical model for annual evapotranspiration is sensitive to the number and distribution of measurement sites, implying that additional strategically located flux towers would improve evapotranspiration predictions. Leave-one-out with individual years was less sensitive, implying that longer records are less important. This statistical top-down modeling of evapotranspiration provides an important complement to constraining water-balance measurements with gridded precipitation and unimpaired runoff, with applications such as quantifying water balance following forest die-off, management or wildfire.Joseph RungeeQin MaMichael L. GouldenRoger BalesFrontiers Media S.A.articleevapotranspirationrunoffmountain basinsSierra Nevadawater balanceEnvironmental technology. Sanitary engineeringTD1-1066ENFrontiers in Water, Vol 3 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	evapotranspiration runoff mountain basins Sierra Nevada water balance Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066
spellingShingle	evapotranspiration runoff mountain basins Sierra Nevada water balance Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Joseph Rungee Qin Ma Michael L. Goulden Roger Bales Evapotranspiration and Runoff Patterns Across California's Sierra Nevada
description	Spatially resolved annual evapotranspiration was calculated across the 14 main river basins draining into California's Central Valley, USA, using a statistical model that combined satellite greenness, gridded precipitation, and flux-tower measurements. Annual evapotranspiration across the study area averaged 529 mm. Average basin-scale annual precipitation minus evapotranspiration was in good agreement with annual runoff, with deviations in wet and dry years suggesting withdrawal or recharge of subsurface water storage. Evapotranspiration peaked at lower elevations in the colder, northern basins, and at higher elevations in the southern high-Sierra basins, closely tracking the 12.3°C mean temperature isocline. Precipitation and evapotranspiration are closely balanced across much of the study region, and small shifts in either will cause disproportionate changes in water storage and runoff. The majority of runoff was generated below the rain-snow transition in northern basins, and originated in snow-dominated elevations in the southern basins. Climate warming that increases growing season length will increase evapotranspiration and reduce runoff across all elevations in the north, but only at higher elevations in the south. Feedback mechanisms in these steep mountain basins, plus over-year subsurface storage, with their steep precipitation and temperature gradients, provide important buffering of the water balance to change. Leave-one-out cross validation revealed that the statistical model for annual evapotranspiration is sensitive to the number and distribution of measurement sites, implying that additional strategically located flux towers would improve evapotranspiration predictions. Leave-one-out with individual years was less sensitive, implying that longer records are less important. This statistical top-down modeling of evapotranspiration provides an important complement to constraining water-balance measurements with gridded precipitation and unimpaired runoff, with applications such as quantifying water balance following forest die-off, management or wildfire.
format	article
author	Joseph Rungee Qin Ma Michael L. Goulden Roger Bales
author_facet	Joseph Rungee Qin Ma Michael L. Goulden Roger Bales
author_sort	Joseph Rungee
title	Evapotranspiration and Runoff Patterns Across California's Sierra Nevada
title_short	Evapotranspiration and Runoff Patterns Across California's Sierra Nevada
title_full	Evapotranspiration and Runoff Patterns Across California's Sierra Nevada
title_fullStr	Evapotranspiration and Runoff Patterns Across California's Sierra Nevada
title_full_unstemmed	Evapotranspiration and Runoff Patterns Across California's Sierra Nevada
title_sort	evapotranspiration and runoff patterns across california's sierra nevada
publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/638cc0ac4e3d422fa7010d398fc3b2a9
work_keys_str_mv	AT josephrungee evapotranspirationandrunoffpatternsacrosscaliforniassierranevada AT qinma evapotranspirationandrunoffpatternsacrosscaliforniassierranevada AT michaellgoulden evapotranspirationandrunoffpatternsacrosscaliforniassierranevada AT rogerbales evapotranspirationandrunoffpatternsacrosscaliforniassierranevada
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Evapotranspiration and Runoff Patterns Across California's Sierra Nevada

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