Impacts of Topography‐Driven Water Redistribution on Terrestrial Water Storage Change in California Through Ecosystem Responses
Abstract Lateral subsurface flow plays an essential role in sustaining the terrestrial ecosystem, but it is not explicitly represented in most Earth System Models. In this study, we implemented an explicit lateral saturated flow model into the E3SM land model (ELM). The model explicitly describes la...
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| Format: | Article |
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Wiley
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Water Resources Research |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR035572 |
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| author | Xue‐Yan Zhang Yuanhao Fang Guo‐Yue Niu Peter A. Troch Bo Guo L. Ruby Leung Michael A. Brunke Patrick Broxton Xubin Zeng |
| author_facet | Xue‐Yan Zhang Yuanhao Fang Guo‐Yue Niu Peter A. Troch Bo Guo L. Ruby Leung Michael A. Brunke Patrick Broxton Xubin Zeng |
| author_sort | Xue‐Yan Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Lateral subsurface flow plays an essential role in sustaining the terrestrial ecosystem, but it is not explicitly represented in most Earth System Models. In this study, we implemented an explicit lateral saturated flow model into the E3SM land model (ELM). The model explicitly describes lateral flow in the saturated zone by representing, for each model grid, an idealized hillslope consisting of five hydrologically connected soil columns. We conducted three model experiments driven by 0.125° atmospheric forcing data during 1980–2015 over California using models of the default ELM, a modified version of ELM to enhance infiltration, and the model with the lateral saturated flow model. The simulated runoff, evapotranspiration, and terrestrial water storage anomaly (TWSA) from the three simulations were evaluated against available observations, and the model explicitly representing lateral flow performs best. The new model produces greater gridcell‐averaged evapotranspiration especially over the mountainous regions with moderate relief and seasonally dry climates. Most importantly, it improves the modeled seasonal variations, interannual variabilities, and the recent decadal decline of TWSA. Many of these improvements can be attributed to the enhanced ecosystem resilience to droughts as demonstrated by transpiration increases caused by lateral flow. Model sensitivity experiments suggest that subsurface runoff is most sensitive to the ratio between horizontal and vertical saturated hydraulic conductivity, followed by hillslope planforms (convergent, divergent, and uniform), number of columns, and lower boundary conditions. Future work should effectively characterize hillslopes in global models and explore the long‐term influences of lateral water movement on modeled biogeochemical cycle. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-85ef434819764d33a6518135e197ff42 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0043-1397 1944-7973 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Water Resources Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-85ef434819764d33a6518135e197ff422025-08-20T03:30:53ZengWileyWater Resources Research0043-13971944-79732024-02-01602n/an/a10.1029/2023WR035572Impacts of Topography‐Driven Water Redistribution on Terrestrial Water Storage Change in California Through Ecosystem ResponsesXue‐Yan Zhang0Yuanhao Fang1Guo‐Yue Niu2Peter A. Troch3Bo Guo4L. Ruby Leung5Michael A. Brunke6Patrick Broxton7Xubin Zeng8Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences The University of Arizona Tucson AZ USADepartment of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences The University of Arizona Tucson AZ USADepartment of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences The University of Arizona Tucson AZ USADepartment of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences The University of Arizona Tucson AZ USADepartment of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences The University of Arizona Tucson AZ USAAtmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Richland WA USADepartment of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences The University of Arizona Tucson AZ USASchool of Natural Resources and the Environment University of Arizona Tucson AZ USADepartment of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences The University of Arizona Tucson AZ USAAbstract Lateral subsurface flow plays an essential role in sustaining the terrestrial ecosystem, but it is not explicitly represented in most Earth System Models. In this study, we implemented an explicit lateral saturated flow model into the E3SM land model (ELM). The model explicitly describes lateral flow in the saturated zone by representing, for each model grid, an idealized hillslope consisting of five hydrologically connected soil columns. We conducted three model experiments driven by 0.125° atmospheric forcing data during 1980–2015 over California using models of the default ELM, a modified version of ELM to enhance infiltration, and the model with the lateral saturated flow model. The simulated runoff, evapotranspiration, and terrestrial water storage anomaly (TWSA) from the three simulations were evaluated against available observations, and the model explicitly representing lateral flow performs best. The new model produces greater gridcell‐averaged evapotranspiration especially over the mountainous regions with moderate relief and seasonally dry climates. Most importantly, it improves the modeled seasonal variations, interannual variabilities, and the recent decadal decline of TWSA. Many of these improvements can be attributed to the enhanced ecosystem resilience to droughts as demonstrated by transpiration increases caused by lateral flow. Model sensitivity experiments suggest that subsurface runoff is most sensitive to the ratio between horizontal and vertical saturated hydraulic conductivity, followed by hillslope planforms (convergent, divergent, and uniform), number of columns, and lower boundary conditions. Future work should effectively characterize hillslopes in global models and explore the long‐term influences of lateral water movement on modeled biogeochemical cycle.https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR035572lateral flowecosystem resiliencedrought responsesEarth system models |
| spellingShingle | Xue‐Yan Zhang Yuanhao Fang Guo‐Yue Niu Peter A. Troch Bo Guo L. Ruby Leung Michael A. Brunke Patrick Broxton Xubin Zeng Impacts of Topography‐Driven Water Redistribution on Terrestrial Water Storage Change in California Through Ecosystem Responses Water Resources Research lateral flow ecosystem resilience drought responses Earth system models |
| title | Impacts of Topography‐Driven Water Redistribution on Terrestrial Water Storage Change in California Through Ecosystem Responses |
| title_full | Impacts of Topography‐Driven Water Redistribution on Terrestrial Water Storage Change in California Through Ecosystem Responses |
| title_fullStr | Impacts of Topography‐Driven Water Redistribution on Terrestrial Water Storage Change in California Through Ecosystem Responses |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impacts of Topography‐Driven Water Redistribution on Terrestrial Water Storage Change in California Through Ecosystem Responses |
| title_short | Impacts of Topography‐Driven Water Redistribution on Terrestrial Water Storage Change in California Through Ecosystem Responses |
| title_sort | impacts of topography driven water redistribution on terrestrial water storage change in california through ecosystem responses |
| topic | lateral flow ecosystem resilience drought responses Earth system models |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR035572 |
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