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Seeing the landscape for the trees: metrics to guide riparian shade management in river catchments

Johnson, Matthew F.; Wilby, Robert L.

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Authors

Robert L. Wilby



Abstract

Rising water temperature (Tw) due to anthropogenic climate change may have serious consequences for river ecosystems. Conservation and/or expansion of riparian shade could counter warming and buy time for ecosystems to adapt. However, sensitivity of river reaches to direct solar radiation is highly heterogeneous in space and time, so benefits of shading are also expected to be site specific. We use a network of high-resolution temperature measurements from two upland rivers in the UK, in conjunction with topographic shade modelling, to assess the relative significance of landscape and riparian shade to the thermal behaviour of river reaches. Trees occupy 7% of the study catchments (comparable with the UK national average) yet shade covers 52% of the area and is concentrated along river corridors. Riparian shade is most beneficial for managing Tw at distances 5 to 20 km downstream from the source of the rivers where discharge is modest, flow is dominated by near-surface hydrological pathways, there is a wide floodplain with little landscape shade, and where cumulative solar exposure times are sufficient to affect Tw. For the rivers studied, we find that approximately 0.5 km of complete shade is necessary to off-set Tw by 1°C during July (the month with peak Tw) at a headwater site; whereas 1.1 km of shade is required 25 km downstream. Further research is needed to assess the integrated effect of future changes in air temperature, sunshine duration, direct solar radiation and downward diffuse radiation on Tw to help tree planting schemes achieve intended outcomes.

Citation

Johnson, M. F., & Wilby, R. L. (2015). Seeing the landscape for the trees: metrics to guide riparian shade management in river catchments. Water Resources Research, 51(5), https://doi.org/10.1002/2014WR016802

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 2, 2015
Online Publication Date May 6, 2015
Publication Date May 27, 2015
Deposit Date Jul 3, 2015
Publicly Available Date Jul 3, 2015
Journal Water Resources Research
Print ISSN 0043-1397
Electronic ISSN 1944-7973
Publisher American Geophysical Union
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 51
Issue 5
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/2014WR016802
Keywords Riparian; buffer strip; heat capacity; climate change; thermal refugia; water temperature
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/751232
Publisher URL http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014WR016802/full
Additional Information An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2015 American Geophysical Union.

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