Abstract
Global warming portends an accelerated water cycle as increased evaporation feeds atmospheric moisture and precipitation. To monitor effects on surface water levels, we describe a low-cost hydrologic observatory suitable for small to medium size lakes. The observatory comprises sensor platforms that were built in-house to compile continuous, sub-daily water budgets. The variables measured directly are lake stage (S), evaporation (E), and precipitation (P). A net inflow term (Qnet) is estimated as a residual in the continuity equation: ∆S = P − E + Qnet. We describe how to build in-lake stilling wells and floating evaporation pans using readily available materials. We assess their performance in laboratory tests and field trials. A 3-month deployment on a small Wisconsin lake (18 ha, 10 m deep) confirms that continuous estimates of ∆S, E, P, and Qnet can be made with good precision and accuracy at hourly time scales. During that deployment, daily estimates of E from the floating evaporation pans were comparable with estimates made using the more data-intensive Bowen ratio energy balance method and a mass transfer model. Since small lakes are numerically dominant and widely distributed across the globe, a network of hydrologic observatories would enable the calibration and validation of climate models and consumptive use policies at local and regional scales. And since the observatories are inexpensive and relatively simple to maintain, citizen scientists could facilitate the expansion of spatial coverage with minimal training.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Peter Blanken (University of Colorado at Boulder) for providing the monitoring buoy used to collect the BREB and MT data. This paper is a joint contribution from the WDNR Water Quality Bureau and the Trout Lake Research Station, Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Funding
This study was financially supported by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources grant no. I02E01485 (New Innovations in Lake Monitoring)
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Supplemental Figure 1.
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Supplemental Figure 3.
Comparison of daily and 5-day E-pan measurements with BREB and MT results during the common time period of available data (1 September to 26 October 2018). Panels show results for A. BREB vs. E-pan 1, B. MT vs. E-pan 1, C. BREB vs. E-pan 2, and D. MT vs. E-pan 2, with occasional daily gaps filled via regression and/or interpolation. Similar comparisons of BREB and MT estimates (not shown) reveal comparable results for daily (R2 = 0.81) and 5-day (R2 = 0.91) regressions. (DOCX 324 kb)
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Watras, C.J., Michler, J.R., Lenters, J.D. et al. A low-cost hydrologic observatory for monitoring the water balance of small lakes. Environ Monit Assess 191, 548 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7712-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7712-9