Quantifying the contribution of riparian total evaporation to streamflow transmission losses: Preliminary investigations along the Groot Letaba river

Publication date: Available online 8 November 2019Source: Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/CAuthor(s): S. Gokool, E.S. Riddell, J.M. Nel, R. Raubenheimer, T. Strydom, A. Swemmer, K.T. ChettyAbstractThe Groot Letaba River, situated in the semi-arid north-eastern region of South Africa is an example of a river system in which the uncertainty associated with transmission losses (TL) has limited the effective management of environmental water requirement (EWR) flows. TL along the river significantly impacts EWR flows, as it is often the case that specified EWR releases are not adequately received further downstream. Due to the limited understanding of the magnitude of TL, as well as the dominant contributing processes to TL within the region, it remains a challenge to operate the river using downstream targets far from the source of operations. In an attempt to address this knowledge gap, detailed characterizations of hydrological processes were performed along the lower reaches of the river, which centred around the estimation of riparian total evaporation and quantifying the rapport between surface and subsurface water flow processes. Riparian total evaporation was estimated using the satellite-based surface energy balance system model, soil water evaporation measurements and open water evaporation estimates. Losses from the river to the adjacent aquifer were determined from the continuous monitoring of the groundwater phreatic surface and characterization of aquif...
Source: Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts ABC - Category: Science Source Type: research