Climate-driven hydrological sensitivity in Estonian catchments: a northern temperate perspective
The escalating impacts of global climate change significantly affect regional hydrological systems, particularly in northern areas such as Estonia. This study investigates the hydrological sensitivity of Estonian catchments to climatic variability, focusing on the interplay between surface water and...
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| Language: | English |
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Estonian Academy Publishers
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://kirj.ee/wp-content/plugins/kirj/pub/earth-1-2025-1-21_20241217111043.pdf |
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| author | Oliver Koit Joonas Pärn Marlen Hunt Siim Tarros Elve Lode Pamela Abreldaal |
| author_facet | Oliver Koit Joonas Pärn Marlen Hunt Siim Tarros Elve Lode Pamela Abreldaal |
| author_sort | Oliver Koit |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The escalating impacts of global climate change significantly affect regional hydrological systems, particularly in northern areas such as Estonia. This study investigates the hydrological sensitivity of Estonian catchments to climatic variability, focusing on the interplay between surface water and groundwater. Using data from 42 river catchments, it employs various statistical methods in hydrology, emphasizing the autocorrelation function, cross-correlation function, baseflow index, and flow duration curve. The analysis spans the years 2012â2022, integrating hydrological, spatial, and water quality parameters. The research identifies four distinct hydrological behavior clusters: plateau, sandstone upland, carbonate upland, and lowland. Key findings include diverse catchment sensitivities to groundwater recharge, the role of baseflow in streamflow stabilization, the memory effect in catchment responses, and insights from the flow duration curve on flow variability and extremes. The LightGBM model, predicting focus parameters, highlights the critical influence of air temperature and snowpack on streamflow characteristics. This study underscores the diverse hydrological sensitivities of Estonian catchments to hydroclimatic changes, emphasizing the importance of considering catchment-specific characteristics in water resource management and policy-making. Contributing to the broader understanding of hydrological processes, it provides valuable insights for future research and environmental planning in the face of climate variability and change. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-11012a79990b401e938ac3f616f496dd |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1736-4728 1736-7557 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Estonian Academy Publishers |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-11012a79990b401e938ac3f616f496dd2025-02-06T10:57:50ZengEstonian Academy PublishersEstonian Journal of Earth Sciences1736-47281736-75572024-12-0174112110.3176/earth.2025.0110.3176/earth.2025.01Climate-driven hydrological sensitivity in Estonian catchments: a northern temperate perspectiveOliver Koit0Joonas Pärn1Marlen Hunt2Siim Tarros3Elve Lode4Pamela Abreldaal5Institute of Ecology, School of Natural Sciences and Health, Tallinn University, Uus-Sadama 5, 10120 Tallinn, EstoniaDepartment of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Geological Survey of Estonia, Kreutzwaldi 5, 44314 Rakvere, EstoniaDepartment of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Geological Survey of Estonia, Kreutzwaldi 5, 44314 Rakvere, EstoniaDepartment of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Geological Survey of Estonia, Kreutzwaldi 5, 44314 Rakvere, EstoniaInstitute of Ecology, School of Natural Sciences and Health, Tallinn University, Uus-Sadama 5, 10120 Tallinn, EstoniaInstitute of Ecology, School of Natural Sciences and Health, Tallinn University, Uus-Sadama 5, 10120 Tallinn, EstoniaThe escalating impacts of global climate change significantly affect regional hydrological systems, particularly in northern areas such as Estonia. This study investigates the hydrological sensitivity of Estonian catchments to climatic variability, focusing on the interplay between surface water and groundwater. Using data from 42 river catchments, it employs various statistical methods in hydrology, emphasizing the autocorrelation function, cross-correlation function, baseflow index, and flow duration curve. The analysis spans the years 2012â2022, integrating hydrological, spatial, and water quality parameters. The research identifies four distinct hydrological behavior clusters: plateau, sandstone upland, carbonate upland, and lowland. Key findings include diverse catchment sensitivities to groundwater recharge, the role of baseflow in streamflow stabilization, the memory effect in catchment responses, and insights from the flow duration curve on flow variability and extremes. The LightGBM model, predicting focus parameters, highlights the critical influence of air temperature and snowpack on streamflow characteristics. This study underscores the diverse hydrological sensitivities of Estonian catchments to hydroclimatic changes, emphasizing the importance of considering catchment-specific characteristics in water resource management and policy-making. Contributing to the broader understanding of hydrological processes, it provides valuable insights for future research and environmental planning in the face of climate variability and change.https://kirj.ee/wp-content/plugins/kirj/pub/earth-1-2025-1-21_20241217111043.pdfhydrological sensitivitysurface water/groundwater interactionautocorrelation function (acf)cross-correlation function (ccf)baseflow index (bfi)flow duration curve (fdc)climate change |
| spellingShingle | Oliver Koit Joonas Pärn Marlen Hunt Siim Tarros Elve Lode Pamela Abreldaal Climate-driven hydrological sensitivity in Estonian catchments: a northern temperate perspective Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences hydrological sensitivity surface water/groundwater interaction autocorrelation function (acf) cross-correlation function (ccf) baseflow index (bfi) flow duration curve (fdc) climate change |
| title | Climate-driven hydrological sensitivity in Estonian catchments: a northern temperate perspective |
| title_full | Climate-driven hydrological sensitivity in Estonian catchments: a northern temperate perspective |
| title_fullStr | Climate-driven hydrological sensitivity in Estonian catchments: a northern temperate perspective |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate-driven hydrological sensitivity in Estonian catchments: a northern temperate perspective |
| title_short | Climate-driven hydrological sensitivity in Estonian catchments: a northern temperate perspective |
| title_sort | climate driven hydrological sensitivity in estonian catchments a northern temperate perspective |
| topic | hydrological sensitivity surface water/groundwater interaction autocorrelation function (acf) cross-correlation function (ccf) baseflow index (bfi) flow duration curve (fdc) climate change |
| url | https://kirj.ee/wp-content/plugins/kirj/pub/earth-1-2025-1-21_20241217111043.pdf |
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