Journal article
Temporal variations and scaling of streamflow and baseflow and their nitrate-nitrogen concentrations and loads
Advances in water resources, Vol.28(7), pp.701-710
07/01/2005
DOI: 10.1016/j.advwatres.2004.12.014
Abstract
The patterns of temporal variations of precipitation (
P), streamflow (SF) and baseflow (BF) as well as their nitrate-nitrogen (nitrate) concentrations (
C) and loads (
L) from a long-term record (28 years) in the Raccoon River, Iowa, were analyzed using variogram and spectral analyses. The daily
P is random but scaling may exist in the daily SF and BF with a possible break point in the scaling at about 18 days and 45 days, respectively. The nitrate concentrations and loads are shown to have a half-year cycle while daily
P, SF, and BF have a one-year cycle. Furthermore, there may be a low-frequency cycle of 6–8 years in
C. The power spectra of
C and
L in both SF and BF exhibit fractal 1/
f scaling with two characteristic frequencies of half-year and one-year, and are fitted well with the spectrum of the gamma distribution. The nitrate input to SF and BF at the Raccoon watershed seems likely to be a white noise process superimposed on another process with a half-year and one-year cycle.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Temporal variations and scaling of streamflow and baseflow and their nitrate-nitrogen concentrations and loads
- Creators
- You-Kuan Zhang - University of IowaKeith Schilling - Iowa Department of Natural Resources
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Advances in water resources, Vol.28(7), pp.701-710
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.advwatres.2004.12.014
- ISSN
- 0309-1708
- eISSN
- 1872-9657
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 07/01/2005
- Academic Unit
- Earth and Environmental Sciences; IIHR--Hydroscience and Engineering
- Record Identifier
- 9984383307002771
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