Carina Almeida

From eutrophic to mesotrophic: modelling watershed management scenarios to change the trophic status of a reservoir.

Management decisions related with water quality in lakes and reservoirs require a combined land-water processes study approach. This study reports on an integrated watershed-reservoir modeling methodology: the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to estimate the nutrient input loads from the watershed, used afterwards as boundary conditions to the reservoir model, CE-QUAL-W2. The integrated modeling system was applied to the Torrão reservoir and drainage basin. The objective of the study was to quantify the total maximum input load that allows the reservoir to be classified as mesotrophic. Torrão reservoir is located in the Tâmega River, one of the most important tributaries of the Douro River in Portugal. The watershed is characterized by a variety of land uses and urban areas, accounting for a total Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP) discharge of ~100,000 p.e. According to the criteria defined by the National Water Institute (based on the WWTP Directive), the Torrão reservoir is classified as eutrophic. Model estimates show that a 10% reduction in nutrient loads will suffice to change the state to mesotrophic, and should target primarily WWTP effluents, but also act on diffuse sources. The method applied in this study should provide a basis for water environmental management decision-making.

Improving remotely sensed actual evapotranspiration estimation with raster meteorological data

Evapotranspiration is a process driven by weather, vegetation, and soil conditions. The complex interrelations among these parameters have been modelled by numerous remote-sensing energy balance algorithms. When estimating evapotranspiration on a regional scale, the spatial variability of the weather parameters is important and thus closer attention to the meteorological input data is required. The aim of this work is to improve the accuracy of estimating actual evapotranspiration by integrating outputs from a meteorological model into a remotely sensed energy balance model. In order to achieve this, a time series of Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite images were processed to retrieve daily evapotranspiration values using raster meteorological data. The ITA-MyWater tool implementing the ReSET-Raster algorithm was used in the Tâmega trans-boundary watershed shared by Portugal and Spain. The results were compared to the global MODIS evapotranspiration products for validation, achieving a coefficient of correlation of 0.61 and a root mean square error of 0.92 mm day–1. Compared with an actual evapotranspiration map that was generated using weather station data, there were improvements in the spatial distribution, especially in dry areas where differences between evapotranspiration estimations of up to 1.88 mm day–1 were noticed. The proposed methodology contributes to the improved estimation of water use, an important parameter of water cycles, using satellite remote-sensing data.

Understanding multiple stressors in a Mediterranean basin: Combined effects of land use, water scarcity and nutrient enrichment

River basins are extremely complex hierarchical and directional systems that are affected by a multitude of interacting stressors. This complexity hampers effective management and conservation planning to be effectively implemented, especially under climate change. The objective of this work is to provide a wide scale approach to basin management by interpreting the effect of isolated and interacting factors in several biotic elements (fish, macroinvertebrates, phytobenthos and macrophytes). For that, a case study in the Sorraia basin (Central Portugal), a Mediterranean system mainly facing water scarcity and diffuse pollution problems, was chosen. To develop the proposed framework, a combination of process-based modelling to simulate hydrological and nutrient enrichment stressors and empirical modelling to relate these stressors - along with land use and natural background - with biotic indicators, was applied. Biotic indicators based on ecological quality ratios from WFD biomonitoring data were used as response variables. Temperature, river slope, % of agriculture in the upstream catchment and total N were the variables more frequently ranked as the most relevant. Both the two significant interactions found between single hydrological and nutrient enrichment stressors indicated antagonistic effects. This study demonstrates the potentialities of coupling process-based modelling with empirical modelling within a single framework, allowing relationships among different ecosystem states to be hierarchized, interpreted and predicted at multiple spatial and temporal scales. It also demonstrates how isolated and interacting stressors can have a different impact on biotic quality. When performing conservation or management plans, the stressor hierarchy should be considered as a way of prioritizing actions in a cost-effective perspective.

Streamflow forecasts due precipitation water in a tropical large watershed at Brazil for flood early warning, based on SWAT model

The research reported here was supported by National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development - CNPQ, Brazil - UNIVERSAL CALL – MCTI/CNPq No 14/2014 and Environment and Conservation Research Laboratory - LaPMAC of Federal University of the Para, Brazil.