TY - JOUR A1 - Loritz, Ralf A1 - Hassler, Sibylle K. A1 - Jackisch, Conrad A1 - Allroggen, Niklas A1 - van Schaik, Loes A1 - Wienhöfer, Jan A1 - Zehe, Erwin T1 - Picturing and modeling catchments by representative hillslopes JF - Hydrology and earth system sciences : HESS N2 - This study explores the suitability of a single hillslope as a parsimonious representation of a catchment in a physically based model. We test this hypothesis by picturing two distinctly different catchments in perceptual models and translating these pictures into parametric setups of 2-D physically based hillslope models. The model parametrizations are based on a comprehensive field data set, expert knowledge and process-based reasoning. Evaluation against streamflow data highlights that both models predicted the annual pattern of streamflow generation as well as the hydrographs acceptably. However, a look beyond performance measures revealed deficiencies in streamflow simulations during the summer season and during individual rainfall-runoff events as well as a mismatch between observed and simulated soil water dynamics. Some of these shortcomings can be related to our perception of the systems and to the chosen hydrological model, while others point to limitations of the representative hillslope concept itself. Nevertheless, our results confirm that representative hillslope models are a suitable tool to assess the importance of different data sources as well as to challenge our perception of the dominant hydrological processes we want to represent therein. Consequently, these models are a promising step forward in the search for the optimal representation of catchments in physically based models. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1225-2017 SN - 1027-5606 SN - 1607-7938 VL - 21 IS - 2 SP - 1225 EP - 1249 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jackisch, Conrad A1 - Angermann, Lisa A1 - Allroggen, Niklas A1 - Sprenger, Matthias A1 - Blume, Theresa A1 - Tronicke, Jens A1 - Zehe, Erwin T1 - Form and function in hillslope hydrology: in situ imaging and characterization of flow-relevant structures JF - Hydrology and earth system sciences : HESS N2 - The study deals with the identification and characterization of rapid subsurface flow structures through pedo- and geo-physical measurements and irrigation experiments at the point, plot and hillslope scale. Our investigation of flow-relevant structures and hydrological responses refers to the general interplay of form and function, respectively. To obtain a holistic picture of the subsurface, a large set of different laboratory, exploratory and experimental methods was used at the different scales. For exploration these methods included drilled soil core profiles, in situ measurements of infiltration capacity and saturated hydraulic conductivity, and laboratory analyses of soil water retention and saturated hydraulic conductivity. The irrigation experiments at the plot scale were monitored through a combination of dye tracer, salt tracer, soil moisture dynamics, and 3-D time-lapse ground penetrating radar (GPR) methods. At the hillslope scale the subsurface was explored by a 3-D GPR survey. A natural storm event and an irrigation experiment were monitored by a dense network of soil moisture observations and a cascade of 2-D time-lapse GPR "trenches". We show that the shift between activated and non-activated state of the flow paths is needed to distinguish structures from overall heterogeneity. Pedo-physical analyses of point-scale samples are the basis for sub-scale structure inference. At the plot and hillslope scale 3-D and 2-D time-lapse GPR applications are successfully employed as non-invasive means to image subsurface response patterns and to identify flow-relevant paths. Tracer recovery and soil water responses from irrigation experiments deliver a consistent estimate of response velocities. The combined observation of form and function under active conditions provides the means to localize and characterize the structures (this study) and the hydrological processes (companion study Angermann et al., 2017, this issue). Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3749-2017 SN - 1027-5606 SN - 1607-7938 VL - 21 SP - 3749 EP - 3775 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Angermann, Lisa A1 - Jackisch, Conrad A1 - Allroggen, Niklas A1 - Sprenger, Matthias A1 - Zehe, Erwin A1 - Tronicke, Jens A1 - Weiler, Markus A1 - Blume, Theresa T1 - Form and function in hillslope hydrology: characterization of subsurface flow based on response observations JF - Hydrology and earth system sciences : HESS N2 - The phrase form and function was established in architecture and biology and refers to the idea that form and functionality are closely correlated, influence each other, and co-evolve. We suggest transferring this idea to hydrological systems to separate and analyze their two main characteristics: their form, which is equivalent to the spatial structure and static properties, and their function, equivalent to internal responses and hydrological behavior. While this approach is not particularly new to hydrological field research, we want to employ this concept to explicitly pursue the question of what information is most advantageous to understand a hydrological system. We applied this concept to subsurface flow within a hillslope, with a methodological focus on function: we conducted observations during a natural storm event and followed this with a hillslope-scale irrigation experiment. The results are used to infer hydrological processes of the monitored system. Based on these findings, the explanatory power and conclusiveness of the data are discussed. The measurements included basic hydrological monitoring methods, like piezometers, soil moisture, and discharge measurements. These were accompanied by isotope sampling and a novel application of 2-D time-lapse GPR (ground-penetrating radar). The main finding regarding the processes in the hillslope was that preferential flow paths were established quickly, despite unsaturated conditions. These flow paths also caused a detectable signal in the catchment response following a natural rainfall event, showing that these processes are relevant also at the catchment scale. Thus, we conclude that response observations (dynamics and patterns, i.e., indicators of function) were well suited to describing processes at the observational scale. Especially the use of 2-D time-lapse GPR measurements, providing detailed subsurface response patterns, as well as the combination of stream-centered and hillslope-centered approaches, allowed us to link processes and put them in a larger context. Transfer to other scales beyond observational scale and generalizations, however, rely on the knowledge of structures (form) and remain speculative. The complementary approach with a methodological focus on form (i.e., structure exploration) is presented and discussed in the companion paper by Jackisch et al. (2017). Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3727-2017 SN - 1027-5606 SN - 1607-7938 VL - 21 SP - 3727 EP - 3748 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - van Schaik, Loes A1 - Palm, Juliane A1 - Klaus, Julian A1 - Zehe, Erwin A1 - Schroeder, Boris T1 - Potential effects of tillage and field borders on within-field spatial distribution patterns of earthworms JF - Biological chemistry N2 - Earthworms play a key role in regulating soil ecosystem functions and services. The small scale variability in earthworm abundance is often found to be very high, which is a problem for representative sampling of earthworm abundance at larger scales. In agricultural fields, soil tillage may influence both the average earthworm abundance as well as the spatial distribution of earthworms. Therefore we studied the abundance and spatial pattern of the different ecological earthworm types, i.e. endogeic, epigeic and anecic earthworms, in four agricultural fields differing in soil tillage (two fields with regular tillage and two fields with conservation tillage) and surrounding land use (other cropped fields or apple orchard and forest). To this aim we sampled earthworms on a total number of 430 plots (50 x 50 cm(2)) using a combination of extraction with mustard solution and hand sorting. The results exhibit large differences in average earthworm abundance between the four fields. Only one of the two fields with conservation tillage had a comparatively very high overall abundance of earthworms. Furthermore, we found a high spatial variability of earthworms within the field scale often exhibiting a patchy distribution. We detected a trend of decreasing earthworm abundances from the field border into the field for different earthworm groups on each of the fields. In three fields with low total earthworm abundance (and only very few epigeic earthworms) there was a short scale autocorrelation with ranges varying strongly for the endogeic earthworms (37.9 m, 62.6 m, and 85.2 m) compared to anecic earthworms (19.8 m, 22.8 m, and 27.4 m). In the field with high abundance, after trend removal, the variogram models for anecic and endogeic earthworms were rejected based on their negative explained variances. On this field, we found only a short scale autocorrelation for the epigeic earthworms with a range of 143 m. Based on these results it seems that ploughing alone cannot explain the differences in abundance and range of autocorrelation found on the four fields. The trend of strongly decreasing earthworm abundance from the field border into the field in the one field with high abundance does indicate that the field border or surrounding land use may also influence the recolonization of fields, but more research is required to provide further evidence for this hypothesis. Due to the very different patterns of earthworm distributions in the fields it remains difficult to recommend an optimal number and distance of samples to obtain a representative earthworm abundance for the field scale. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Earthworms KW - Spatial distribution KW - Autocorrelation KW - Agricultural fields KW - Soil tillage Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2016.05.015 SN - 0167-8809 SN - 1873-2305 VL - 228 SP - 82 EP - 90 PB - De Gruyter CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - van Schaik, Loes A1 - Palm, Juliane A1 - Klaus, Julian A1 - Zehe, Erwin A1 - Schroeder, Boris T1 - Linking spatial earthworm distribution to macropore numbers and hydrological effectiveness JF - Ecohydrology : ecosystems, land and water process interactions, ecohydrogeomorphology N2 - Due to its high spatial and temporal variability, preferential flow is difficult to measure and quantify. Earthworms create macropores that provide common pathways for preferential flow. Therefore in this article, we link earthworm abundance to macropore numbers and hydrological effectiveness, with the future aim to use species distribution models of earthworms for the spatial parameterization of preferential flow. Earthworms are generally categorized into three ecological types with varying burrowing behaviour, resulting in a different impact on soil hydrological processes. Therefore, we studied the relationships between the abundance of the earthworm ecological types and macropores of different size classes and in different soil depths. The abundance and biomass of earthworms were well correlated to different sizes of macropores in different soil depths. This is mainly the case for the larger, vertically oriented macropores (>6mm diameter), which are generally connected to the soil surface and hydrologically most effective. The correlation of total earthworm biomass and macropores ranges from 072 to 089 for different soil depths. Although there is quite some variation in infiltration patterns, infiltration from macropores into the matrix is profile-specific, as it varies strongly between profiles, but not within one profile. Macropore coating seems to have a larger effect on this macropore matrix interaction than the soil physical properties of the matrix. Although the amount of macropores and their effectiveness are clearly related to the earthworm distribution, the variation in infiltration from macropores to soil matrix should be further studied. KW - macropores KW - spatial parameterization KW - earthworm ecological types KW - infiltration patterns KW - preferential flow Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.1358 SN - 1936-0584 SN - 1936-0592 VL - 7 IS - 2 SP - 401 EP - 408 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klaus, Julian A1 - Zehe, Erwin A1 - Elsner, Martin A1 - Palm, Juliane A1 - Schneider, Dorothee A1 - Schroeder, Boris A1 - Steinbeiss, Sibylle A1 - van Schaik, Loes A1 - West, Stephanie T1 - Controls of event-based pesticide leaching in natural soils: A systematic study based on replicated field scale irrigation experiments JF - Journal of hydrology N2 - Tile drains strongly influence the water cycle in agricultural catchment in terms of water quantity and quality. The connectivity of preferential flow to tile drains can create shortcuts for rapid transport of solutes into surface waters. The leaching of pesticides can be linked to a set of main factors including, rainfall characteristics, soil moisture, chemical properties of the pesticides, soil properties, and preferential flow paths. The connectivity of the macropore system to the tile drain is crucial for pesticide leaching. Concurring influences of the main factors, threshold responses and the role of flow paths are still poorly understood. The objective of this study is to investigate these influences by a replica series of three irrigation experiments on a tile drain field site using natural and artificial tracers together with applied pesticides. We found a clear threshold behavior in the initialization of pesticide transport that was different between the replica experiments. Pre-event soil water contributed significantly to the tile drain flow, and creates a flow path for stored pesticides from the soil matrix to the tile drain. This threshold is controlled by antecedent soil moisture and precipitation characteristics, and the interaction between the soil matrix and preferential flow system. Fast transport of pesticides without retardation and the remobilization could be attributed to this threshold and the interaction between the soil matrix and the preferential flow system. Thus, understanding of the detailed preferential flow processes clearly enhances the understanding of pesticide leaching on event and long term scale, and can further improve risk assessment and modeling approaches. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Irrigation experiment KW - Preferential flow KW - Threshold KW - Pesticide transport Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.03.020 SN - 0022-1694 SN - 1879-2707 VL - 512 SP - 528 EP - 539 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wienhöfer, Jan A1 - Lindenmaier, Falk A1 - Zehe, Erwin T1 - Challenges in understanding the hydrologic controls on the mobility of slow-moving landslides JF - Vadose zone journal N2 - Slow-moving landslides are a wide-spread type of active mass movement, can cause severe damages to infrastructure, and may be a precursor of sudden catastrophic slope failures. Pore-water pressure is commonly regarded as the most important among a number of possible factors controlling landslide velocity. We used high-resolution monitoring data to explore the relations of landslide mobility and hydrologic processes at the Heumoser landslide in Austria, which is characterized by continuous slow movement along a shear zone. Movement rates showed a seasonality that was associated with elevated pore-water pressures. Pore pressure monitoring revealed a system of confined and separated aquifers with differing dynamics. Analysis of a simple infinite slope mobility model showed that small variations in parameters, along with measured pore pressure dynamics, provided a perfect match to our observations. Modeling showed a stabilizing effect of snow cover due to the additional load. This finding was supported by a multiple regression model, which further suggested that effective pore pressures at the slip surface were partially differing from the borehole observations and were related to preferential infiltration and subsurface flow in adjacent areas. It appears that in a setting like the Heumoser landslide, hydrologic processes delicately influence slope mobility through their control on pore pressure dynamics and the weight of the landslide body, which challenges observation and modeling. Moreover, it appears that their simplicity, and especially their high sensitivity to parameter variations, limits the conclusions that can be drawn from infinite slope models. Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2009.0182 SN - 1539-1663 VL - 10 IS - 2 SP - 496 EP - 511 PB - Soil Science Society of America CY - Madison ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bronstert, Axel A1 - Creutzfeldt, Benjamin A1 - Gräff, Thomas A1 - Hajnsek, Irena A1 - Heistermann, Maik A1 - Itzerott, Sibylle A1 - Jagdhuber, Thomas A1 - Kneis, David A1 - Lueck, Erika A1 - Reusser, Dominik A1 - Zehe, Erwin T1 - Potentials and constraints of different types of soil moisture observations for flood simulations in headwater catchments JF - Natural hazards : journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards N2 - Flood generation in mountainous headwater catchments is governed by rainfall intensities, by the spatial distribution of rainfall and by the state of the catchment prior to the rainfall, e. g. by the spatial pattern of the soil moisture, groundwater conditions and possibly snow. The work presented here explores the limits and potentials of measuring soil moisture with different methods and in different scales and their potential use for flood simulation. These measurements were obtained in 2007 and 2008 within a comprehensive multi-scale experiment in the Weisseritz headwater catchment in the Ore-Mountains, Germany. The following technologies have been applied jointly thermogravimetric method, frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) sensors, spatial time domain reflectometry (STDR) cluster, ground-penetrating radar (GPR), airborne polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (polarimetric SAR) and advanced synthetic aperture radar (ASAR) based on the satellite Envisat. We present exemplary soil measurement results, with spatial scales ranging from point scale, via hillslope and field scale, to the catchment scale. Only the spatial TDR cluster was able to record continuous data. The other methods are limited to the date of over-flights (airplane and satellite) or measurement campaigns on the ground. For possible use in flood simulation, the observation of soil moisture at multiple scales has to be combined with suitable hydrological modelling, using the hydrological model WaSiM-ETH. Therefore, several simulation experiments have been conducted in order to test both the usability of the recorded soil moisture data and the suitability of a distributed hydrological model to make use of this information. The measurement results show that airborne-based and satellite-based systems in particular provide information on the near-surface spatial distribution. However, there are still a variety of limitations, such as the need for parallel ground measurements (Envisat ASAR), uncertainties in polarimetric decomposition techniques (polarimetric SAR), very limited information from remote sensing methods about vegetated surfaces and the non-availability of continuous measurements. The model experiments showed the importance of soil moisture as an initial condition for physically based flood modelling. However, the observed moisture data reflect the surface or near-surface soil moisture only. Hence, only saturated overland flow might be related to these data. Other flood generation processes influenced by catchment wetness in the subsurface such as subsurface storm flow or quick groundwater drainage cannot be assessed by these data. One has to acknowledge that, in spite of innovative measuring techniques on all spatial scales, soil moisture data for entire vegetated catchments are still today not operationally available. Therefore, observations of soil moisture should primarily be used to improve the quality of continuous, distributed hydrological catchment models that simulate the spatial distribution of moisture internally. Thus, when and where soil moisture data are available, they should be compared with their simulated equivalents in order to improve the parameter estimates and possibly the structure of the hydrological model. KW - Soil moisture KW - Remote sensing KW - Hydrological modelling KW - Flood forecasting KW - Soil moisture measurement comparison Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-011-9874-9 SN - 0921-030X SN - 1573-0840 VL - 60 IS - 3 SP - 879 EP - 914 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gräff, Thomas A1 - Zehe, Erwin A1 - Schlaeger, Stefan A1 - Morgner, Markus A1 - Bauer, Andreas A1 - Becker, Rolf A1 - Creutzfeldt, Benjamin A1 - Bronstert, Axel T1 - A quality assessment of Spatial TDR soil moisture measurements in homogenous and heterogeneous media with laboratory experiments N2 - Investigation of transient soil moisture profiles yields valuable information of near- surface processes. A recently developed reconstruction algorithm based on the telegraph equation allows the inverse estimation of soil moisture profiles along coated, three rod TDR probes. Laboratory experiments were carried out to prove the results of the inversion and to understand the influence of probe rod deformation and solid objects close to the probe in heterogeneous media. Differences in rod geometry can lead to serious misinterpretations in the soil moisture profile, but have small influence on the average soil moisture along the probe. Solids in the integration volume have almost no effect on average soil moisture, but result in locally slightly decreased moisture values. Inverted profiles obtained in a loamy soil with a clay content of about 16% were in good agreement with independent measurements. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.copernicus.org/EGU/hess/hess.html U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-14-1007-2010 SN - 1027-5606 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tietjen, Britta A1 - Jeltsch, Florian A1 - Zehe, Erwin A1 - Classen, Nikolaus A1 - Groengroeft, Alexander A1 - Schiffers, Katja A1 - Oldeland, Jens T1 - Effects of climate change on the coupled dynamics of water and vegetation in drylands N2 - Drylands worldwide are exposed to a highly variable environment and face a high risk of degradation. The effects of global climate change such as altered precipitation patterns and increased temperature leading to reduced water availability will likely increase this risk. At the same time, an elevated atmospheric CO2 level could mitigate the effects of reduced water availability by increasing the water use efficiency of plants. To prevent degradation of drylands, it is essential to understand the underlying processes that affect water availability and vegetation cover. Since water and vegetation are strongly interdependent in water-limited ecosystems, changes can lead to highly non- linear effects. We assess these effects by developing an ecohydrological model of soil moisture and vegetation cover. The water component of the model simulates the daily dynamics of surface water and water contents in two soil layers. Vegetation is represented by two functional types: shrubs and grasses. These compete for soil water and strongly influence hydrological processes. We apply the model to a Namibian thornbush savanna and evaluate the separate and combined effects of decreased annual precipitation, increased temperature, more variable precipitation and elevated atmospheric CO2 on soil moisture and on vegetation cover. The results show that two main factors control the response of plant types towards climate change, namely a change in water availability and a change in water allocation to a specific plant type. Especially, reduced competitiveness of grasses can lead to a higher risk of shrub encroachment in these systems. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/114209870/home U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/Eco.70 SN - 1936-0584 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zehe, Erwin A1 - Gräff, Thomas A1 - Morgner, Markus A1 - Bauer, Andreas A1 - Bronstert, Axel T1 - Plot and field scale soil moisture dynamics and subsurface wetness control on runoff generation in a headwater in the Ore Mountains N2 - This study presents an application of an innovative sampling strategy to assess soil moisture dynamics in a headwater of the Weisseritz in the German eastern Ore Mountains. A grassland site and a forested site were instrumented with two Spatial TDR clusters (STDR) that consist of 39 and 32 coated TDR probes of 60 cm length. Distributed time series of vertically averaged soil moisture data from both sites/ensembles were analyzed by statistical and geostatistical methods. Spatial variability and the spatial mean at the forested site were larger than at the grassland site. Furthermore, clustering of TDR probes in combination with long-term monitoring allowed identification of average spatial covariance structures at the small field scale for different wetness states. The correlation length of soil water content as well as the sill to nugget ratio at the grassland site increased with increasing average wetness and but, in contrast, were constant at the forested site. As soil properties at both the forested and grassland sites are extremely variable, this suggests that the correlation structure at the forested site is dominated by the pattern of throughfall and interception. We also found a very strong correlation between antecedent soil moisture at the forested site and runoff coefficients of rainfall-runoff events observed at gauge Rehefeld. Antecedent soil moisture at the forest site explains 92% of the variability in the runoff coefficients. By combining these results with a recession analysis we derived a first conceptual model of the dominant runoff mechanisms operating in this catchment. Finally, we employed a physically based hydrological model to shed light on the controls of soil- and plant morphological parameters on soil average soil moisture at the forested site and the grassland site, respectively. A homogeneous soil setup allowed, after fine tuning of plant morphological parameters, most of the time unbiased predictions of the observed average soil conditions observed at both field sites. We conclude that the proposed sampling strategy of clustering TDR probes is suitable to assess unbiased average soil moisture dynamics in critical functional units, in this case the forested site, which is a much better predictor for event scale runoff formation than pre-event discharge. Long term monitoring of such critical landscape elements could maybe yield valuable information for flood warning in headwaters. We thus think that STDR provides a good intersect of the advantages of permanent sampling and spatially highly resolved soil moisture sampling using mobile rods. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.copernicus.org/EGU/hess/hess.html U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-14-873-2010 SN - 1027-5606 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gräff, Thomas A1 - Zehe, Erwin A1 - Schläger, Stefan A1 - Morgner, Markus A1 - Bauer, Andreas A1 - Becker, Rolf A1 - Creutzfeldt, Benjamin A1 - Bronstert, Axel T1 - A quality assessment of spatial TDR soil moisture measurements in homogenous and heterogeneous media with laboratory experiments N2 - Investigation of transient soil moisture profiles yields valuable information of near- surface processes. A recently developed reconstruction algorithm based on the telegraph equation allows the inverse estimation of soil moisture profiles along coated, three rod TDR probes. Laboratory experiments were carried out to prove the results of the inversion and to understand the influence of probe rod deformation and solid objects close to the probe in heterogonous media. Differences in rod geometry can lead to serious misinterpretations in the soil moisture profile but have small influence on the average soil moisture along the probe. Solids in the integration volume have almost no effect on average soil moisture but result in locally slightly decreased moisture values. Inverted profiles obtained in a loamy soil with a clay content of about 16% were in good agreement with independent measurements. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci-discuss.net/volumes_and_issues.html U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/hessd-7-269-2010 SN - 1812-2108 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ehret, Uwe A1 - Zehe, Erwin T1 - Series distance : an intuitive metric for hydrograph comparison N2 - Applying metrics for hydrograph comparison is a central task in hydrological modelling, used both in model calibration and the evaluation of simulations or forecasts. Motivated by the shortcomings of standard objective metrics such as the Root Mean Square Error or the Mean Peak Time Error and the advantages of visual inspection as a powerful tool for simultaneous, case-specific and multi-criteria (yet subjective) evaluation, we propose a new objective metric termed Series Distance, which is in close accordance with visual evaluation. The Series Distance is an event-based method and consists of three parts, namely a Threat Score which evaluates overall agreement of event occurrence, and the overall distance of matching observed and simulated events with respect to amplitude and timing. The novelty of the latter two is the way in which matching point pairs on the observed and simulated hydrographs are identified, namely by the same relative position in matching segments (rise or recession) of matching events. Thus, amplitude and timing errors are calculated simultaneously but separately, from point pairs that also match visually, considering complete events rather than only individual points (which is for example the case with metrics related to Peak Time Errors). After presenting the Series Distance theory, we discuss its properties and compare it to those of standard metrics and visual inspection, both at the example of simple, artificial hydrographs and an ensemble of realistic forecasts. The results suggest that the Series Distance compares and evaluates hydrographs in a way comparable to visual inspection, but in an objective, reproducible way. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci-discuss.net/volumes_and_issues.html U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/hessd-7-8387-2010 SN - 1812-2108 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Köhler, Birgit A1 - Zehe, Erwin A1 - Corre, Marife D. A1 - Veldkamp, Edzo T1 - An inverse analysis reveals limitations of the soil-CO2 profile method to calculate CO2 production and efflux for well-structured soils N2 - Soil respiration is the second largest flux in the global carbon cycle, yet the underlying below-ground process, carbon dioxide (CO2) production, is not well understood because it can not be measured in the field. CO2 production has frequently been calculated from the vertical CO2 diffusive flux divergence, known as "soil-CO2 profile method". This relatively simple model requires knowledge of soil CO2 concentration profiles and soil diffusive properties. Application of the method for a tropical lowland forest soil in Panama gave inconsistent results when using diffusion coefficients (D) calculated based on relationships with soil porosity and moisture ("physically modeled" D). Our objective was to investigate whether these inconsistencies were related to (1) the applied interpolation and solution methods and/or (2) uncertainties in the physically modeled profile of D. First, we show that the calculated CO2 production strongly depends on the function used to interpolate between measured CO2 concentrations. Secondly, using an inverse analysis of the soil-CO2 profile method, we deduce which D would be required to explain the observed CO2 concentrations, assuming the model perception is valid. In the top soil, this inversely modeled D closely resembled the physically modeled D. In the deep soil, however, the inversely modeled D increased sharply while the physically modeled D did not. When imposing a constraint during the fit parameter optimization, a solution could be found where this deviation between the physically and inversely modeled D disappeared. A radon (Rn) mass balance model, in which diffusion was calculated based on the physically modeled or constrained inversely modeled D, simulated observed Rn profiles reasonably well. However, the CO2 concentrations which corresponded to the constrained inversely modeled D were too small compared to the measurements. We suggest that, in well-structured soils, a missing description of steady state CO2 exchange fluxes across water-filled pores causes the soil-CO2 profile method to fail. These fluxes are driven by the different diffusivities in inter- vs. intra-aggregate pores which create permanent CO2 gradients if separated by a "diffusive water barrier". These results corroborate other studies which have shown that the theory to treat gas diffusion as homogeneous process, a precondition for use of the soil-CO2 profile method, is inaccurate for pore networks which exhibit spatial separation between CO2 production and diffusion out of the soil. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.copernicus.org/EGU/bg/bg.html U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-7-2311-2010 SN - 1726-4170 ER -