Developing Parsimonious Models of Water Flow and Nutrient Transport Across Scales
How complex do we need models to be? How do water and solute signals generated in hillslopes get modified through the river network? And finally, how do humans modify these signals?
Answering these questions helps in the development of parsimonious, minimum calibration models of water flow, nutrient and pesticide transport across scales. Specifically, we are developing reactive travel time based models at the field and the stream network scale. |
Modelling Subsurface Drainage in Agricultural Landscapes
How has artificial subsurface drainage changed surface and subsurface water storage, residence times, peak flows, and nutrient transport – from the field to the catchment scale? We have coupled the field-scale model DRAINMOD with a routing algorithm to understand catchment scale impacts of tile drainage. Current work involves understanding how nutrient transport is impacted at the catchment scale due to tile drainage.
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Fate and Transport of Emerging Contaminants (Hormones and Pharmaceuticals) in the Watershed
Natural and synthetic hormones are widely used in the animal agriculture industry. Common assumption is that hormones do not pose a risk to downstream waters because they sorb strongly to soils and degrade rapidly under aerobic conditions. Nevertheless, measurable concentrations of many hormones have been detected in streams, which lead one to question this assumption. In this study, we couple laboratory experiments with field data and numerical modeling to understand how hormones from concentrated animal feeding operations are transported through the field-tile-ditch-stream network continuum, and why they persist in natural environments.
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Relevant Publications
Gall, H. E., Basu, N. B., Mashtare, M. L., C. Rao, P. S., & Lee, L. S. (2016). Assessing the impacts of anthropogenic and hydro-climatic drivers on estrogen legacies and trajectories. Advances in Water Resources, 87, 19–28. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2015.10.012
Sloan, B. P., Basu, N. B., & Mantilla, R. (2016). Hydrologic impacts of subsurface drainage at the field scale: Climate, landscape and anthropogenic controls. Agricultural Water Management, 165, 1–10. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2015.10.008
Boland-Brien, S. J., Basu, N. B., & Schilling, K. E. (2014). Homogenization of spatial patterns of hydrologic response in artificially drained agricultural catchments. Hydrological Processes, 28(19), 5010–5020. http://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.9967
Ye, S., Covino, T. P., Sivapalan, M., Basu, N. B., Li, H.-Y., & Wang, S.-W. (2012). Dissolved nutrient retention dynamics in river networks: A modeling investigation of transient flows and scale effects. Water Resources Research, 48. http://doi.org/10.1029/2011WR010508
Basu, N. B., Rao, P. S. C., Thompson, S. E., Loukinova, N. V., Donner, S. D., Ye, S., & Sivapalan, M. (2011). Spatiotemporal averaging of in-stream solute removal dynamics. Water Resources Research, 47(10), n/a–n/a. http://doi.org/10.1029/2010WR010196
Botter, G., Basu, N. B., Zanardo, S., ..& Rinaldo, A. (2010). Stochastic modeling of nutrient losses in streams: Interactions of climatic, hydrologic, and biogeochemical controls. Wat. Resour. Res., 46(8), http://doi.org/10.1029/2009WR008758
Basu, N. B., Rao, P. S. C., Winzeler, H. E., Kumar, S., Owens, P., & Merwade, V. (2010). Parsimonious modeling of hydrologic responses in engineered watersheds: Structural heterogeneity versus functional homogeneity. Water Resources Research, 46(4). http://doi.org/10.1029/2009WR007803
Gall, H. E., Basu, N. B., Mashtare, M. L., C. Rao, P. S., & Lee, L. S. (2016). Assessing the impacts of anthropogenic and hydro-climatic drivers on estrogen legacies and trajectories. Advances in Water Resources, 87, 19–28. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2015.10.012
Sloan, B. P., Basu, N. B., & Mantilla, R. (2016). Hydrologic impacts of subsurface drainage at the field scale: Climate, landscape and anthropogenic controls. Agricultural Water Management, 165, 1–10. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2015.10.008
Boland-Brien, S. J., Basu, N. B., & Schilling, K. E. (2014). Homogenization of spatial patterns of hydrologic response in artificially drained agricultural catchments. Hydrological Processes, 28(19), 5010–5020. http://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.9967
Ye, S., Covino, T. P., Sivapalan, M., Basu, N. B., Li, H.-Y., & Wang, S.-W. (2012). Dissolved nutrient retention dynamics in river networks: A modeling investigation of transient flows and scale effects. Water Resources Research, 48. http://doi.org/10.1029/2011WR010508
Basu, N. B., Rao, P. S. C., Thompson, S. E., Loukinova, N. V., Donner, S. D., Ye, S., & Sivapalan, M. (2011). Spatiotemporal averaging of in-stream solute removal dynamics. Water Resources Research, 47(10), n/a–n/a. http://doi.org/10.1029/2010WR010196
Botter, G., Basu, N. B., Zanardo, S., ..& Rinaldo, A. (2010). Stochastic modeling of nutrient losses in streams: Interactions of climatic, hydrologic, and biogeochemical controls. Wat. Resour. Res., 46(8), http://doi.org/10.1029/2009WR008758
Basu, N. B., Rao, P. S. C., Winzeler, H. E., Kumar, S., Owens, P., & Merwade, V. (2010). Parsimonious modeling of hydrologic responses in engineered watersheds: Structural heterogeneity versus functional homogeneity. Water Resources Research, 46(4). http://doi.org/10.1029/2009WR007803