Scientific Results

This catalogue is obtained by conducting a systematic literature review of scientific studies and reviews related to monitoring, forecasting, and simulating the inland water cycle. The analysis maps scientific expertise across research groups and classifies findings by the type of inland water studied, application focus, and geographical scope. A gap analysis will identify missing research areas and assess their relevance to policymaking.

ID â–Č Type Year Authors Title Venue/Journal DOI Research type Water System Technical Focus Abstract Link with Projects Link with Tools Related policies ID
publications-2571 Peer reviewed articles 2020 Harriet L. Wilson, Ana I. Ayala, Ian D. Jones, Alec Rolston, Don Pierson, Elvira de Eyto, Hans-Peter Grossart, Marie-Elodie Perga, R. Iestyn Woolway, Eleanor Jennings Variability in epilimnion depth estimations in lakes Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 10.5194/hess-24-5559-2020 Cloud Technologies Uncategorized Abstract. The epilimnion is the surface layer of a lake typically characterised as well mixed and is decoupled from the metalimnion due to a steep change in density. The concept of the epilimnion (and, more widely, the three-layered structure of a stratified lake) is fundamental in limnology, and calculating the depth of the epilimnion is essential to understanding many physical and ecological lake processes. Despite the ubiquity of the term, however, there is no objective or generic approach for defining the epilimnion, and a diverse number of approaches prevail in the literature. Given the increasing availability of water temperature and density profile data from lakes with a high spatio-temporal resolution, automated calculations, using such data, are particularly common, and they have vast potential for use with evolving long-term globally measured and modelled datasets. However, multi-site and multi-year studies, including those related to future climate impacts, require robust and automated algorithms for epilimnion depth estimation. In this study, we undertook a comprehensive comparison of commonly used epilimnion depth estimation methods, using a combined 17-year dataset, with over 4700 daily temperature profiles from two European lakes. Overall, we found a very large degree of variability in the estimated epilimnion depth across all methods and thresholds investigated and for both lakes. These differences, manifesting over high-frequency data, led to fundamentally different understandings of the epilimnion depth. In addition, estimations of the epilimnion depth were highly sensitive to small changes in the threshold value, complex thermal water column structures, and vertical data resolution. These results call into question the custom of arbitrary method selection and the potential problems this may cause for studies interested in estimating the ecological processes occurring within the epilimnion, multi-lake comparisons, or long-term time series analysis. We also identified important systematic differences between methods, which demonstrated how and why methods diverged. These results may provide rationale for future studies to select an appropriate epilimnion definition in light of their particular purpose and with awareness of the limitations of individual methods. While there is no prescribed rationale for selecting a particular method, the method which defined the epilimnion depth as the shallowest depth, where the density was 0.1 kg m−3 more than the surface density, may be particularly useful as a generic method. 722518
publications-2572 Peer reviewed articles 2020 Essa Q. Shahra, Wenyan Wu Water contaminants detection using sensor placement approach in smart water networks Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing 10.1007/s12652-020-02262-x IoT & Sensors Uncategorized No abstract available 765921
publications-2573 Peer reviewed articles 2019 Sara FernĂĄndez, SaĂșl RodrĂ­guez‐MartĂ­nez, Jose L. MartĂ­nez, Eva Garcia‐Vazquez, Alba Ardura How can eDNA contribute in riverine macroinvertebrate assessment? A metabarcoding approach in the NalĂłn River (Asturias, Northern Spain) Environmental DNA 10.1002/edn3.40 Uncategorized Uncategorized AbstractBackgroundBioassessment of rivers is a fundamental method to determine surface water quality. One of the groups most commonly employed as bioindicators of aquatic ecosystems are benthic macroinvertebrates. Their conventional assessment is based on morphological identification and entails several limitations, such as being time‐consuming and requires trained experts for taxonomic identification. The use of genetic tools to solve these limitations offers an alternative way to evaluate rivers status. The use of environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding has increased in recent years for different purposes, but its use in water quality evaluation is yet to be tested. Here, morphological and eDNA based inventories of macroinvertebrates were compared from the same seven sampling sites in the Upper NalĂłn River Basin (Asturias, Spain).Materials & MethodsHigh‐Throughput Sequencing (HTS) of the cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene was carried out on DNA from water samples using an Ion Torrent platform. Biotic water quality indices were calculated from morphological and molecular data and compared with independent physico‐chemical habitat assessment to validate eDNA based approach.ResultsHighly positive and significant correlation was found between eDNA metabarcoding and morphological methods (Morphological and eDNA indices, r = 0.798, 5 degrees of freedom d.f., P = 0.031;) and a highly significant negative correlation was found between molecular and habitat quality indices (Stress score & eDNA, ρ = ‐0.878 and P = 0.009; Stress score & Visual, ρ = ‐0.949 and P = 0.0002).DiscussionThe similarity of results from the two approaches and the correlation of eDNA metabarcoding data with the habitat quality indices, suggest that eDNA performs as well as conventional methods for calculating biotic indices in this system, positioning eDNA metabarcoding of macroinvertebrate communities to transform how river bioassessment can be achieved.ConclusionThe usefulness of eDNA metabarcoding to assess rivers water quality based on macroinvertebrates assessment has been demonstrated in a dammed river basin. 689682
publications-2574 Peer reviewed articles 2019 MatjaĆŸ Glavan, Ć pela Ćœeleznikar, Gerard Velthof, Sandra Boekhold, Sindre Langaas, Marina Pintar How to Enhance the Role of Science in European Union Policy Making and Implementation: The Case of Agricultural Impacts on Drinking Water Quality Water 10.3390/w11030492 Uncategorized Uncategorized Throughout the European Union (EU), high concentrations of nitrates and pesticides are among the major polluting components of drinking water and have potential long-term impacts on the environment and human health. Many research projects co-funded by the European Commission have been carried out, but the results often do not influence policy making and implementation to the extent that is duly justified. This paper assesses several issues and barriers that weaken the role of science in EU policy making and EU policy implementation in the case of agricultural impacts on drinking water quality. It then proposes improvements and solutions to strengthen the role of science in this process. The analysis is conceptual but supported empirically by a desk study, a workshop, and complementary individual interviews, mostly with representatives of organizations working at the EU level. The results indicate that perceived barriers are mostly observed on the national or regional level and are connected with a lack of political will, scarce instruction on the legislation implementation process, and a lack of funding opportunities for science to be included in policy making and further EU policy implementation. In response to that, we suggest translating scientific knowledge on technological, practical or environmental changes and using dissemination techniques for specific audiences and in local languages. Further, the relationship between data, information and decision making needs to change by implementing monitoring in real-time, which will allow for the quick adaptation of strategies. In addition, we suggest project clustering (science, policy, stakeholders, and citizens) to make science and research more connected to current policy challenges and stakeholder needs along with citizen involvement with an aim of establishing sustainable long-term relationships and communication flows. 727984
publications-2575 Peer reviewed articles 2019 R. J. P. Schmitt, S. Bizzi, A. Castelletti, J. J. Opperman, G. M. Kondolf Planning dam portfolios for low sediment trapping shows limits for sustainable hydropower in the Mekong Science Advances 10.1126/sciadv.aaw2175 Uncategorized Uncategorized Strategic planning in the Mekong Basin could improve trade-offs between hydropower and sediment supply to the Mekong Delta. 689682
publications-2576 Peer reviewed articles 2020 J.P. Mesman, A.I. Ayala, R. Adrian, E. De Eyto, M.A. Frassl, S. Goyette, J. Kasparian, M. Perroud, J.A.A. Stelzer, D.C. Pierson, B.W. Ibelings Performance of one-dimensional hydrodynamic lake models during short-term extreme weather events Environmental Modelling & Software 10.1016/j.envsoft.2020.104852 AI & Machine Learning Uncategorized No abstract available 722518
publications-2577 Peer reviewed articles 2020 Ana I. Ayala, Simone Moras, Donald C. Pierson Simulations of future changes in thermal structure of Lake Erken: proof of concept for ISIMIP2b lake sector local simulation strategy Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 10.5194/hess-24-3311-2020 IoT & Sensors Natural Water Bodies Abstract. This paper, as a part of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP2b), assesses the impacts of different levels of global warming on the thermal structure of Lake Erken (Sweden). The General Ocean Turbulence Model (GOTM) one-dimensional hydrodynamic model was used to simulate water temperature when using ISIMIP2b bias-corrected climate model projections as input. These projections have a daily time step, while lake model simulations are often forced at hourly or shorter time steps. Therefore, it was necessary to first test the ability of GOTM to simulate Lake Erken water temperature using daily vs hourly meteorological forcing data. In order to do this, three data sets were used to force the model as follows: (1) hourly measured data, (2) daily average data derived from the first data set, and (3) synthetic hourly data created from the daily data set using generalised regression artificial neural network methods. This last data set is developed using a method that could also be applied to the daily time step ISIMIP scenarios to obtain hourly model input if needed. The lake model was shown to accurately simulate Lake Erken water temperature when forced with either daily or synthetic hourly data. Long-term simulations forced with daily or synthetic hourly meteorological data suggest that by the late 21st century the lake will undergo clear changes in thermal structure. For the representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenario, namely RCP2.6, surface water temperature was projected to increase by 1.79 and 1.36 ∘C when the lake model was forced at daily and hourly resolutions respectively, and for RCP6.0 these increases were projected to be 3.08 and 2.31 ∘C. Changes in lake stability were projected to increase, and the stratification duration was projected to be longer by 13 and 11 d under RCP2.6 scenario and 22 and 18 d under RCP6.0 scenario for daily and hourly resolutions. Model changes in thermal indices were very similar when using either the daily or synthetic hourly forcing, suggesting that the original ISIMIP climate model projections at a daily time step can be sufficient for the purpose of simulating lake water temperature. 722518
publications-2578 Peer reviewed articles 2019 Soomets, Uudeberg, Jakovels, Zagars, Reinart, Brauns, Kutser Comparison of Lake Optical Water Types Derived from Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 Remote Sensing 10.3390/rs11232883 IoT & Sensors Natural Water Bodies Inland waters play a critical role in our drinking water supply. Additionally, they are important providers of food and recreation possibilities. Inland waters are known to be optically complex and more diverse than marine or ocean waters. The optical properties of natural waters are influenced by three different and independent sources: phytoplankton, suspended matter, and colored dissolved organic matter. Thus, the remote sensing of these waters is more challenging. Different types of waters need different approaches to obtain correct water quality products; therefore, the first step in remote sensing of lakes should be the classification of the water types. The classification of optical water types (OWTs) is based on the differences in the reflectance spectra of the lake water. This classification groups lake and coastal waters into five optical classes: Clear, Moderate, Turbid, Very Turbid, and Brown. We studied the OWTs in three different Latvian lakes: Burtnieks, Lubans, and Razna, and in a large Estonian lake, Lake VÔrtsjÀrv. The primary goal of this study was a comparison of two different Copernicus optical instrument data for optical classification in lakes: Ocean and Land Color Instrument (OLCI) on Sentinel-3 and Multispectral Instrument (MSI) on Sentinel-2. We found that both satellite OWT classifications in lakes were comparable (R2 = 0.74). We were also able to study the spatial and temporal changes in the OWTs of the study lakes during 2017. The comparison between two satellites was carried out to understand if the classification of the OWTs with both satellites is compatible. Our results could give us not only a better overview of the changes in the lake water by studying the temporal and spatial variability of the OWTs, but also possibly better retrieval of Level 2 satellite products when using OWT guided approach. 730066
publications-2579 Peer reviewed articles 2020 Hyojin Kim, Nicolas Surdyk, Ingelise Mþller, Morten Graversgaard, Gitte Blicher-Mathiesen, Abel Henriot, Tommy Dalgaard, Birgitte Hansen Lag Time as an Indicator of the Link between Agricultural Pressure and Drinking Water Quality State Water 10.3390/w12092385 Data Management & Analytics Uncategorized Diffuse nitrogen (N) pollution from agriculture in groundwater and surface water is a major challenge in terms of meeting drinking water targets in many parts of Europe. A bottom-up approach involving local stakeholders may be more effective than national- or European-level approaches for addressing local drinking water issues. Common understanding of the causal relationship between agricultural pressure and water quality state, e.g., nitrate pollution among the stakeholders, is necessary to define realistic goals of drinking water protection plans and to motivate the stakeholders; however, it is often challenging to obtain. Therefore, to link agricultural pressure and water quality state, we analyzed lag times between soil surface N surplus and groundwater chemistry using a cross correlation analysis method of three case study sites with groundwater-based drinking water abstraction: Tunþ and Aalborg-Drastrup in Denmark and La Voulzie in France. At these sites, various mitigation measures have been implemented since the 1980s at local to national scales, resulting in a decrease of soil surface N surplus, with long-term monitoring data also being available to reveal the water quality responses. The lag times continuously increased with an increasing distance from the N source in Tunþ (from 0 to 20 years between 1.2 and 24 m below the land surface; mbls) and La Voulzie (from 8 to 24 years along downstream), while in Aalborg-Drastrup, the lag times showed a greater variability with depth—for instance, 23-year lag time at 9–17 mbls and 4-year lag time at 21–23 mbls. These spatial patterns were interpreted, finding that in Tunþ and La Voulzie, matrix flow is the dominant pathway of nitrate, whereas in Aalborg-Drastrup, both matrix and fracture flows are important pathways. The lag times estimated in this study were comparable to groundwater ages measured by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs); however, they may provide different information to the stakeholders. The lag time may indicate a wait time for detecting the effects of an implemented protection plan while groundwater age, which is the mean residence time of a water body that is a mixture of significantly different ages, may be useful for planning the time scale of water protection programs. We conclude that the lag time may be a useful indicator to reveal the hydrogeological links between the agricultural pressure and water quality state, which is fundamental for a successful implementation of drinking water protection plans. 727984
publications-2580 Peer reviewed articles 2018 Mehdi Khoury, Michael J. Gibson, Dragan Savic, Albert S. Chen, Lydia Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia, Harry Langford, Sarah Wigley A Serious Game Designed to Explore and Understand the Complexities of Flood Mitigation Options in Urban–Rural Catchments Water 10.3390/w10121885 Uncategorized Natural Water Bodies Flood prevention in mixed urban–rural environments has become a greater concern due to climate change. It is a complex task requiring both efficient management of resources and the involvement of multiple stakeholders from diverse backgrounds. As Serious Games (games used for purposes other than mere entertainment) have emerged as an effective means of engaging stakeholders, this work proposes a new Serious Game applied to flood mitigation in the village of Millbrook in the UK. Results show that the game has both an informative and a transformative effect (statistical significance levels from 0.01 to 0.05), improving participants’ understanding of the problem, and helping them to find a new and improved approach to flood risk management in Millbrook, with the potential to improve resilience significantly. Furthermore, the game successfully transformed participants into “citizen scientists” in the purest sense of the term—it led them to use inductive reasoning from data produced by the game to correctly confirm or reject hypotheses and resulted in more than 70% of the participants revising their initial assumptions. Interestingly, the game instigated the formation of new local partnerships and helped to prioritize the discussion of natural flood management measures in Millbrook Parish Council meetings. 689150