Dry, drier, driest: Differentiating flow patterns across a gradient of intermittency

Intermittent streams exhibit regular patterns of drying and are widespread, but the patterns of drying among streams within geographic proximity are not fully understood. We compared annual patterns of flow and drying among 10 intermittent streams within a single drainage basin and assessed how trad...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inRiver research and applications Vol. 40; no. 7; pp. 1273 - 1285
Main Authors Kelly, Benjamin T., Bruckerhoff, Lindsey A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.09.2024
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects
Drainage basins
Drying
Flow distribution
Flow pattern
flow regime
hydrologic metrics
Intermittency
Intermittent streams
Rivers
Soil water
Stream discharge
stream drying
Stream flow
Streams
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Summary:Intermittent streams exhibit regular patterns of drying and are widespread, but the patterns of drying among streams within geographic proximity are not fully understood. We compared annual patterns of flow and drying among 10 intermittent streams within a single drainage basin and assessed how traditional hydrologic metrics described variation between streams. We installed stream intermittency sensors and evaluated stage height using low‐cost methods and evaluated landscape factors as potential drivers of flow patterns. Intermittent streams varied based on both high‐ and low‐flow metrics, driven by a variety of landscape‐level factors, especially watershed size. Additionally, we compared the observed flow regimes within our system with predictions generated using an established Soil and Water Assessment Tool, finding that modeled streamflow patterns generally underrepresented observed drying within the system.
ISSN:1535-1459
1535-1467
DOI:10.1002/rra.4289