Kyllmar, Katarina
- Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Optimal nutrient pollution monitoring and management in catchments requires an in-depth understanding of spatial and temporal factors controlling nutrient dynamics. Such an understanding can potentially be obtained by analysing stream concentration-discharge (C-Q) relationships for hysteresis behaviours and export regimes. Here, a classification scheme including nine different C-Q types was applied to a total of 87 Nordic streams draining mini-catchments (0.1-65 km(2)). The classification applied is based on a combination of stream export behaviour (dilution, constant, enrichment) and hysteresis rotational pattern (clock-wise, no rotation, anti-clockwise). The scheme has been applied to an 8-year data series (2010-2017) from small streams in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland on daily discharge and discrete nutrient concentrations, including nitrate (NO3-), total organic N (TON), dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP), and particulate phosphorus (PP). The dominant nutrient export regimes were enrichment for NO(3)(-)and constant for TON, DRP, and PP. Nutrient hysteresis patterns were primarily clockwise or no hysteresis. Similarities in types of C-Q relationships were investigated using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) considering effects of catchment size, land use, climate, and dominant soil type. The PCA analysis revealed that land use and air temperature were the dominant factors controlling nutrient C-Q types. Therefore, the nutrient export behaviour in streams draining Nordic mini-catchments seems to be dominantly controlled by their land use characteristics and, to a lesser extent, their climate.
Keywords
water quality; concentration-discharge relationship; export behaviour; hysteresis; PCA
Published in
Water
2020, volume: 12, number: 6, article number: 1776
Publisher: MDPI
SLU Authors
Futter, Martyn
- Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Global goals (SDG)
SDG6 Clean water and sanitation
UKÄ Subject classification
Oceanography, Hydrology, Water Resources
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/w12061776
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/107131