ALBERT

Description: Fourier and wavelet analyses were used to reveal the dominant trends and coherence of a more than one-century-long time series of precipitation and discharge in several watersheds in Sweden, two of which were subjected to hydropower and intensive agriculture. During the 20th century, there was a gradual, significant drift of the dominant discharge periodicity in agricultural watersheds. This study shows that the steepness of the Fourier spectrum of runoff from the May to October period each year increased gradually during the century, which suggests a more predictable intra-annual runoff pattern (more apart from white-noise). In the agricultural watershed, the coherence spectrum of precipitation and runoff is generally high with a consistent white-noise relationship for precipitation during the 20th century, indicating that precipitation is not controlling the drift of the discharge spectrum. In the hydropower regulated watershed, there was a sudden decrease of the discharge spectrum slope when regulation commenced in the 1920s. This study develops a new theory in which the runoff spectrum is related to the hydraulic and hydro-morphological characteristics of the watershed. Using this theory, we explain the changes in runoff spectra in the two watersheds by the anthropogenic change in surface water volume and, hence, changes in kinematic wave celerity and water transit times. The reduced water volume in the agricultural watershed would also contribute to decreasing evaporation, which could explain a slightly increasing mean discharge during the 20th century despite the fact that precipitation was statistically constant in the area. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Description: The process of development and application of the Hydrologiska Byråns Vattenbalansavdelning hydrological model over a time period of more than 40years is reviewed and discussed. Emphasis is on the early modelling strategy and physical considerations based on contemporary research on runoff formation processes in the drainage basin. This includes areal considerations on the catchment scale, soil moisture and evapotranspiration and storages and discharge as represented by the response function of the model. The introduction of the concept of dynamic recharge and discharge areas is also addressed as well as the modelling of snow accumulation and melt. Some operational international experiences are also addressed. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Description: The effect of soil frost on runoff was investigated using a comprehensive data set collected at the Svartberget Experimental Forest, near Vindeln, Västerbotten in northern Sweden. Measurements of snow depth, soil temperature, frost depth and other climate parameters have been made at three sites since 1981, as part of a long-term climate monitoring programme. Simulation residuals from the HBV rainfall-runoff model, in which no effect of soil frost is assumed, were compared with 16 years of measured soil frost conditions. A simple model for simulation of soil frost depth was developed and incorporated into the HBV model. The model parameters were calibrated to observations of snow depth, soil frost depth, groundwater levels and runoff, by use of a simple weighted optimization criterion. No clear effect of soil frost could be seen on the timing and magnitude of runoff in this analysis, or when analysing data on the conservative oxygen isotope 18O. The soil at the forested site froze in only slightly more than half the years, despite the high latitude and low winter temperatures. Furthermore, the soil had often thawed before the start of the spring flood. Almost all spring floods, therefore, occurred when the soil was unfrozen. Snow depth and soil frost depths were inversely related, with the deepest soil frost during winters with little snow. Soil frost therefore is unlikely to aggravate the very high floods in forested basins of this type, except perhaps under exceptional circumstances such as large rain events on frozen ground. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Description: The expanding use and increased complexity of hydrological runoff models has given rise to a concern about overparameterization and risks for compensating errors. One proposed way out is the calibration and validation against additional observations, such as snow, soil moisture, groundwater or water quality. A general problem, however, when calibrating the model against more than one variable is the strategy for parameter estimation. The most straightforward method is to calibrate the model components sequentially. Recent results show that in this way the model may be locked up in a parameter setting, which is good enough for one variable but excludes proper simulation of other variables. This is particularly the case for water quality modelling, where a small compromise in terms of runoff simulation may lead to dramatically better simulations of water quality. This calls for an integrated model calibration procedure with a criterion that integrates more aspects on model performance than just river runoff. The use of multi-variable parameter estimation and internal control of the HBV hydrological model is discussed and highlighted by two case studies. The first example is from a forested basin in northern Sweden and the second one is from an agricultural basin in the south of the country. A new calibration strategy, which is integrated rather than sequential, is proposed and tested. It is concluded that comparison of model results with more measurements than only runoff can lead to increased confidence in the physical relevance of the model, and that the new calibration strategy can be useful for further model development. © 2002 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.

Description: Based on the Baltic Earth Assessment Reports of this thematic issue in Earth System Dynamics and recent peer-reviewed literature, current knowledge of the effects of global warming on past and future changes in climate of the Baltic Sea region is summarised and assessed. The study is an update of the Second Assessment of Climate Change (BACC II) published in 2015 and focuses on the atmosphere, land, cryosphere, ocean, sediments, and the terrestrial and marine biosphere. Based on the summaries of the recent knowledge gained in palaeo-, historical, and future regional climate research, we find that the main conclusions from earlier assessments still remain valid. However, new long-term, homogenous observational records, for example, for Scandinavian glacier inventories, sea-level-driven saltwater inflows, so-called Major Baltic Inflows, and phytoplankton species distribution, and new scenario simulations with improved models, for example, for glaciers, lake ice, and marine food web, have become available. In many cases, uncertainties can now be better estimated than before because more models were included in the ensembles, especially for the Baltic Sea. With the help of coupled models, feedbacks between several components of the Earth system have been studied, and multiple driver studies were performed, e.g. projections of the food web that include fisheries, eutrophication, and climate change. New datasets and projections have led to a revised understanding of changes in some variables such as salinity. Furthermore, it has become evident that natural variability, in particular for the ocean on multidecadal timescales, is greater than previously estimated, challenging our ability to detect observed and projected changes in climate. In this context, the first palaeoclimate simulations regionalised for the Baltic Sea region are instructive. Hence, estimated uncertainties for the projections of many variables increased. In addition to the well-known influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation, it was found that also other low-frequency modes of internal variability, such as the Atlantic Multidecadal Variability, have profound effects on the climate of the Baltic Sea region. Challenges were also identified, such as the systematic discrepancy between future cloudiness trends in global and regional models and the difficulty of confidently attributing large observed changes in marine ecosystems to climate change. Finally, we compare our results with other coastal sea assessments, such as the North Sea Region Climate Change Assessment (NOSCCA), and find that the effects of climate change on the Baltic Sea differ from those on the North Sea, since Baltic Sea oceanography and ecosystems are very different from other coastal seas such as the North Sea. While the North Sea dynamics are dominated by tides, the Baltic Sea is characterised by brackish water, a perennial vertical stratification in the southern subbasins, and a seasonal sea ice cover in the northern subbasins.