Instructive Surprises in the Hydrological Functioning of Landscapes
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Date
2023-05-31
Publication Type
Review Article
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yes
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Abstract
Landscapes receive water from precipitation and then transport, store, mix, and release it, both downward to streams and upward to vegetation. How they do this shapes floods, droughts, biogeochemical cycles, contaminant transport, and the health of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Because many of the key processes occur invisibly in the subsurface, our conceptualization of them has often relied heavily on physical intuition. In recent decades, however, much of this intuition has been overthrown by field observations and emerging measurement methods, particularly involving isotopic tracers. Here we summarize key surprises that have transformed our understanding of hydrological processes at the scale of hillslopes and drainage basins. These surprises have forced a shift in perspective from process conceptualizations that are relatively static, homogeneous, linear, and stationary to ones that are predominantly dynamic, heterogeneous, nonlinear, and nonstationary.
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Publication status
published
Editor
Book title
Journal / series
Volume
51
Pages / Article No.
277 - 299
Publisher
Annual Reviews
Event
Edition / version
Methods
Software
Geographic location
Date collected
Date created
Subject
hydrology; ecohydrology; isotopes; catchment; hillslope; runoff
Organisational unit
03798 - Kirchner, James W. (emeritus) / Kirchner, James W. (emeritus)