An underground view of surface hydrology: what can piezometers tell us about river floods and droughts?

The role of aquifers in extreme hydrological events has been highlighted in numerous different contexts, both for river high flows and low flows. Many aquifers are monitored by networks of piezometers that measure groundwater levels: their long-term records allow for a joint analysis of contemporane...

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Main Authors: Pelletier, Antoine, Andréassian, Vazken
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Académie des sciences 2023-01-01
Series:Comptes Rendus. Géoscience
Subjects:
Online Access:https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/geoscience/articles/10.5802/crgeos.195/
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author Pelletier, Antoine
Andréassian, Vazken
author_facet Pelletier, Antoine
Andréassian, Vazken
author_sort Pelletier, Antoine
collection DOAJ
description The role of aquifers in extreme hydrological events has been highlighted in numerous different contexts, both for river high flows and low flows. Many aquifers are monitored by networks of piezometers that measure groundwater levels: their long-term records allow for a joint analysis of contemporaneous streamflow time series. Yet, groundwater level data are rarely used in surface hydrological modelling approaches, because of the huge complexity of river–aquifer interactions. We propose a simple correlation analysis between yearly extrema of groundwater level and streamflow time series, performed on a large set of 107 catchments and 355 piezometers, located throughout mainland France. We show that it is possible to discriminate between aquifers that correlate only with high-flow events, only with low flows, with both types of events or with none of them. Our typology presents new opportunities to characterise the surface–groundwater exchanges, which can be very important for understanding the occurrence of river extremes.
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publisher Académie des sciences
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spelling doaj-art-90fe4aeb5d3746038f858ea24db0475e2025-02-07T10:40:14ZengAcadémie des sciencesComptes Rendus. Géoscience1778-70252023-01-01355S127128010.5802/crgeos.19510.5802/crgeos.195An underground view of surface hydrology: what can piezometers tell us about river floods and droughts?Pelletier, Antoine0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1286-9147Andréassian, Vazken1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7124-9303Université Paris-Saclay, UR HYCAR, INRAE, Antony, France; École des Ponts, Marne-la-Vallée, FranceUniversité Paris-Saclay, UR HYCAR, INRAE, Antony, FranceThe role of aquifers in extreme hydrological events has been highlighted in numerous different contexts, both for river high flows and low flows. Many aquifers are monitored by networks of piezometers that measure groundwater levels: their long-term records allow for a joint analysis of contemporaneous streamflow time series. Yet, groundwater level data are rarely used in surface hydrological modelling approaches, because of the huge complexity of river–aquifer interactions. We propose a simple correlation analysis between yearly extrema of groundwater level and streamflow time series, performed on a large set of 107 catchments and 355 piezometers, located throughout mainland France. We show that it is possible to discriminate between aquifers that correlate only with high-flow events, only with low flows, with both types of events or with none of them. Our typology presents new opportunities to characterise the surface–groundwater exchanges, which can be very important for understanding the occurrence of river extremes.https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/geoscience/articles/10.5802/crgeos.195/Hydrological processesGroundwaterHydrological hazardsAquifer–river interactionPiezometers
spellingShingle Pelletier, Antoine
Andréassian, Vazken
An underground view of surface hydrology: what can piezometers tell us about river floods and droughts?
Comptes Rendus. Géoscience
Hydrological processes
Groundwater
Hydrological hazards
Aquifer–river interaction
Piezometers
title An underground view of surface hydrology: what can piezometers tell us about river floods and droughts?
title_full An underground view of surface hydrology: what can piezometers tell us about river floods and droughts?
title_fullStr An underground view of surface hydrology: what can piezometers tell us about river floods and droughts?
title_full_unstemmed An underground view of surface hydrology: what can piezometers tell us about river floods and droughts?
title_short An underground view of surface hydrology: what can piezometers tell us about river floods and droughts?
title_sort underground view of surface hydrology what can piezometers tell us about river floods and droughts
topic Hydrological processes
Groundwater
Hydrological hazards
Aquifer–river interaction
Piezometers
url https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/geoscience/articles/10.5802/crgeos.195/
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AT andreassianvazken anundergroundviewofsurfacehydrologywhatcanpiezometerstellusaboutriverfloodsanddroughts
AT pelletierantoine undergroundviewofsurfacehydrologywhatcanpiezometerstellusaboutriverfloodsanddroughts
AT andreassianvazken undergroundviewofsurfacehydrologywhatcanpiezometerstellusaboutriverfloodsanddroughts