Joakim Riml

Spectral scaling of heat fluxes in streambed sediments

Advancing our predictive capabilities of heat fluxes in streams and rivers is important because of the effects on ecology and the general use of heat fluxes as analogues for solute transport. Along ...

Response functions for in‐stream solute transport in river networks

This paper analyzes the effects of different hydrological mechanisms on the solute response in watershed stream networks. Important processes are due to the hydraulic and chemical retention of reac ...

Evaluating the fate of six common pharmaceuticals using a reactive transport model: insights from a stream tracer test

Quantitative information regarding the capacity of rivers to self-purify pharmaceutical residues is limited. To bridge this knowledge gap, we present a methodology for quantifying the governing processes affecting the fate of pharmaceuticals in streaming waters and, especially, to evaluate their relative significance for tracer observations. A tracer test in Säva Brook, Sweden was evaluated using a coupled physical-biogeochemical model framework containing surface water transport together with a representation of transient storage in slow/immobile zones of the stream, which are presumably important for the retention and attenuation of pharmaceuticals. To assess the key processes affecting the environmental fate of the compounds, we linked the uncertainty estimates of the reaction rate coefficients to the relative influence of transformation and sorption that occurred in different stream environments. The hydrological and biogeochemical contributions to the fate of the pharmaceuticals were decoupled, and the results indicate a moderate hydrological retention in the hyporheic zone as well as in the densely vegetated parts of the stream. Biogeochemical reactions in these transient storage zones further affected the fate of the pharmaceuticals, and we found that sorption was the key process for bezafibrate, metoprolol, and naproxen, while primary transformation was the most important process for clofibric acid and ibuprofen. Conversely, diclofenac was not affected by sorption or transformation.

Spatiotemporal decomposition of solute dispersion in watersheds

Information about the effect of different dispersion mechanisms on the solute response in watersheds is crucial for understanding the temporal dynamics of many water quality problems. However, to quantify these processes from stream water quality time series may be difficult because the governing mechanisms responsible for the concentration fluctuations span a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. In an attempt to address the quantification problem, we propose a novel methodology that includes a spectral decomposition of the watershed solute response using a distributed solute transport model for the network of transport pathways in surface and subsurface water. Closed form solutions of the transport problem in both the Laplace and Fourier domains are used to derive formal expressions of (i) the central temporal moments of a solute pulse response and (ii) the power spectral response of a solute concentration time series. By evaluating high-frequency hydrochemical data from the Upper Hafren Watershed, Wales, we linked the watershed dispersion mechanisms to the damping of the concentration fluctuations in different frequency intervals reflecting various environments responsible for the damping. The evaluation of the frequency-dependent model parameters indicate that the contribution of the different environments to the concentration fluctuations at the watershed effluent varies with period. For the longest periods (predominantly groundwater transport pathways) we found that the frequency typical transport time of chloride was 100 times longer and that sodium had a 2.5 times greater retardation factor compared with the shortest periods (predominantly shallow groundwater and surface water transport pathways).

Change in streamflow response in unregulated catchments in Sweden over the last century

Through distributed stream network routing, it has quantitatively been shown that the relationship between flow travel time and discharge varies strongly nonlinearly with stream stage and with catchment-specific properties.Physically derived distributions of water travel times through a stream network were successfully used to parameterise the streamflow response function of a compartmental hydrological model. Predictions were found to improve compared to conventional statistically based parameterisation schemes, for most of the modelled scenarios, particularly for peakflow conditions.A Fourier spectral analysis of 55-110 years of daily discharge time series from 79 unregulated catchments in Sweden revealed that the discharge power spectral slope has gradually increased over time, with significant increases for 58 catchments. The results indicated that the catchment scaling function power spectrum had steepened in most of the catchments for which historical precipitation series were available. These results suggest that (local) land-use changes within the catchments may affect the discharge power spectra more significantly than changes in precipitation (climate change).A case study from an agriculturally intense catchment using historical (from the 1880s) and modern stream network maps revealed that the average stream network flow distance as well as average water levels were substantially diminished over the past century, while average bottom slopes increased. The study verifies the hypothesis that anthropogenic changes (determined through scenario modelling using a 1D distributed routing model) of stream network properties can have a substantial influence on the travel times through the stream networks and thus on the discharge hydrographs.The findings stress the need for a more hydrodynamically based approach to adequately describe the variation of streamflow response, especially for predictions of higher discharges. An increased physical basis of response functions can be beneficial in improving discharge predictions during conditions in which conventional parameterisation based on historical flow patterns may not be possible - for example, for extreme peak flows and during periods of nonstationary conditions, such as during periods of climate and/or land use change.

Design of Remediation Actions for Nutrient Mitigation in the Hyporheic Zone

Although hyporheic exchange has been shown to be of great importance for the overall water quality of streams, it is rarely considered quantitatively in stream remediation projects. A main driver of hyporheic exchange is the hydraulic head fluctuation along the streambed, which can be enhanced by modifications of the streambed topography. Here we present an analytical 2D spectral subsurface flow model to estimate the hyporheic exchange associated with streambed topographies over a wide range of spatial scales; a model that was validated using tracer-test-results and measurements of hydraulic conductivity. Specifically, engineered steps in the stream were shown to induce a larger hyporheic exchange velocity and shorter hyporheic residence times compared to the observed topography in Tullstorps Brook, Sweden. Hyporheic properties were used to parameterize a longitudinal transport model that accounted for reactions in terms of first-order decay and instantaneous adsorption. Theoretical analyses of the mitigation effect for nitrate due to denitrification in the hyporheic zone shows that there is a Damkohler number of the hyporheic zone, associated with several different stream geomorphologies, that optimizes nitrate mass removal on stream reach scale. This optimum can be limited by the available hydraulic head gradient given by the slope of the stream and the geological constraints of the streambed. The model illustrates the complex interactions between design strategies for nutrient mitigation, hyporheic flow patterns and stream biogeochemistry, and highlights the importance to diagnose a stream prior remediation, specifically to evaluate if remediation targets are transport or reaction controlled.

Spectral decomposition of regulatory thresholds for climate‐driven fluctuations in hydro‐ and wind power availability

Climate-driven fluctuations in the runoff and potential energy of surface water are generally large in comparison to the capacity of hydropower regulation, particularly when hydropower is used to balance the electricity production from covarying renewable energy sources such as wind power. To define the bounds of reservoir storage capacity, we introduce a dedicated reservoir volume that aggregates the storage capacity of several reservoirs to handle runoff from specific watersheds. We show how the storage bounds can be related to a spectrum of the climate-driven modes of variability in water availability and to the co-variation between water and wind availability. A regional case study of the entire hydropower system in Sweden indicates that the longest regulation period possible to consider spans from a few days of individual sub-watersheds up to several years, with an average limit of a couple of months. Watershed damping of the runoff substantially increases the longest considered regulation period and capacity. The high covariance found between the potential energy of the surface water and wind energy significantly reduces the longest considered regulation period when hydropower is used to balance the fluctuating wind power.