Engineering topics

Arntzen, Evan V.

Publications and source records attributed to Arntzen, Evan V..

4 records

DOE OSTI2022

Impact of Shifts in Vegetation Phenology on the Carbon Balance of a Semiarid Sagebrush Ecosystem

Dryland ecosystems are critical in regulating the interannual variability of the global terrestrial carbon cycle. The responses of such ecosystems to weather and environmental conditions remain important factors that limit the accurate projections of carbon balance under future climate change. Here, we investigated how shifts in vegetation phenology resulting from changes in weather and environmental conditions influenced ecosystem carbon cycling in one semiarid ecosystem in the Hanford area of central Washington, United States. We examined two years of measurements of the phenology camera, eddy covariance, and soil chamber from an upland semiarid sagebrush ecosystem. Both years had contrasting diel and seasonal patterns of CO 2 fluxes, primarily driven by differences in vegetation phenology. The net ecosystem exchange of CO 2 (NEE) and evapotranspiration (ET) in 2019 were enlarged by shifted vegetation phenology, as a cold and snow-covered winter and warm and dry winter in 2020 resulted in constrained magnitudes of NEE and ET during the summer months. The annual gross primary productivity (GPP) was much higher in 2019 than in 2020 (-211 vs. -112 gC m -2 ), whereas ecosystem respiration was comparable in these two years (164 vs. 144 gC m -2 ). Thus, the annual NEE in 2019 was negative (-47 gC m -2 ) with the sagebrush ecosystem functioning as a carbon sink, while the positive annual NEE in 2020 indicated that the sagebrush ecosystem functioned as a carbon source. Our results demonstrate that winter snowpack can be a critical driver of annual carbon uptake in semiarid sagebrush ecosystems.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2021

A novel construct for scaling groundwater–river interactions based on machine-guided hydromorphic classification

Hydrologic exchange between river channels and adjacent subsurface environments is a key process that influences water quality and ecosystem function in river corridors. Predictive numerical models are needed to understand responses of river corridors to environmental change and to support sustainable watershed management. We posit that systematic hydromorphic classification provides a scaling construct that facilitates extrapolation of outputs from local-scale mechanistic models to reduced-order models applicable at reach and watershed scales. This in turn offers the potential to improve large-scale predictions of river corridor hydrobiogeochemical processes. Here we present a new machine-guided hydromorphic classification methodology that addresses the key requirements of this objective, and we demonstrate its application to a segment of the Columbia River in the northwestern United States. The resulting hydromorphic classes form spatially coherent and physically interpretable hydromorphic units that exhibit distinct behaviors in terms of distributions of subsurface residence times (a primary control on critical biogeochemical reactions). This approach forms the basis of ongoing research that is evaluating the formulation of reduced-order models and transferability of results to other river reaches and larger scales.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2021

Groundwater regulates interannual variations in evapotranspiration in a riparian semiarid ecosystem

Dryland ecosystems are an important component of Earth’s carbon, water, and energy budgets. Changes in hydroclimatic conditions can significantly alter land surface fluxes in these ecosystems. In regions with groundwater-river water exchange, land surface fluxes are strongly modulated by groundwater table fluctuations in response to river stage variations; however, interactions between fluxes and groundwater remain poorly understood in drylands. Here, we use eddy covariance data collected in paired upland and riparian semiarid ecosystems during two years with contrasting river flow conditions to examine interactions among river stage conditions, water table dynamics, meteorological drivers, and ecosystem fluxes. Elevated groundwater availability resulting from groundwater-surface water exchange at the riparian site enhanced the latent heat flux (LE, the energy form of evapotranspiration), which was sustained longer in the growing season during both years. At the upland site, mean LE during the dry season differed by less than 2% between the two years. In contrast, at the riparian site contrasting river flow conditions resulted in a 41% difference in peak monthly LE between the two years. The two-year mean LE in the summer at the riparian site was twice that at the upland site. Carbon uptake (NEP) and LE were well correlated at the upland site during both years, but at the riparian site enhanced summertime LE during the high river flow year did not correspond t enhanced NEP. Our results demonstrate that enhanced groundwater availability modulated by river stage variability is a critical driver of land surface fluxes in semiarid riparian ecosystems.

Missik, Justine E.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Groundwater Inflows to the Columbia River Along the Hanford Reach and Associated Nitrate Concentrations

Healthy river ecosystems require the interaction of many physical and biological processes to maintain their status. One physical process supporting biogeochemical cycling is hydrologic exchange (i.e., hydrologic exchange flows, HEFs) between relatively fast-flowing channel waters and slower-flowing surface and subsurface waters (lateral and vertical). Land uses adjacent to rivers have the potential to alter the water quality of off-channel surface and subsurface waters, and HEFs therefore have the potential to deliver solutes associated with river-adjacent land uses to rivers. HEFs can be nonpoint, diffuse sources of pollution, making the ultimate pollution source difficult to identify, especially in large rivers. Here, we seek to identify HEFs in the Columbia River near Richland, WA by looking for anomalies in temperature and electrical conductivity (EC) along the bed of the river in February, June, July, August, and November 2018. These are ultimately the “ends” of HEFs as they are locations of subsurface inflow to the river. We found these anomalies to be a combination of warmer or colder and higher (but not lower) EC than river water. We identified a majority of warm anomalies in February and July 2018, and majority cold anomalies in June, August, and November 2018. High-EC anomalies were found mostly in February, August, and November. Combined, we observe a shift from warm, high EC anomalies dominating in February to equivalent EC, warm anomalies in June, to equivalent EC, cool anomalies dominating July. In August, we also measured dissolved nitrate ($NO^-_3$) in-situ to determine whether anomalies were associated with increased $NO^-_3$ loading to the river, especially along the eastern shoreline, which is dominated by agricultural land use. Inflows along the eastern shoreline have greater concentrations of nitrate than river water (up to 10 mg $N–NO^-_3$/L). This research demonstrates that HEFs are temporally and spatially dynamic transferring heat and solutes to rivers.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗