High frequency water quality monitoring presents unique and unlimited opportunities of exploring spatio-temporal variation in water quality. Knowledge gained from analyzing high frequency water quality data can provide more clarity regarding transportation and processing of water constituents over time and space and scale. This study analyzes high frequency discharge, nitrate load and concentration data for three watersheds of different sizes - Cedar River Watershed, North Raccoon and Middle Raccoon. Each of these sites were monitored for 2-3 calendar years. Sudden spikes in discharge, nitrate concentration and load data, also defined as "events" were analyzed in great detail to understand the patterns in event occurrence and event intensity. Smaller watersheds seemed to have sharper and "flashier" events compared to bigger watersheds. Nitrate concentration events were flatter in shape compared to discharge and nitrogen load events. The relationship between nitrogen concentration and discharge was found to be varying over time, unlike the relationship between nitrate load and discharge, which were almost perfectly correlated for most site-year combinations. Based on more than 40,000 simulations, it was determined that high frequency water quality sampling is not only efficient in capturing minute spatio-temporal variations but can also capture nitrate exceedances to a greater degree. High frequency sampling was also associated with higher yield ratio in nitrate load estimates, not only during high flow periods, but also during the non-high-flow period.

Reducing agricultural nutrient loading in Iowa is critical to achieving Gulf of Mexico hypoxia water quality goals. Iowa comprises 4.4% of the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin but contributes an average of 29% of the annual nitrate (NO3-N) load to the Gulf of Mexico (Jones et al., 2018). The main goal of this research was to study nitrogen fate and transport in agricultural areas of Iowa at different spatial scales using a unique combination of water monitoring and numerical modeling. High-frequency, continuous water quality monitoring provided valuable insights into stream and wetland NO3-N dynamics. A biogeochemical model was written and coupled to a spatially distributed, surface-subsurface hydrologic model to perform continuous (multi-year) nitrogen fate and transport simulations at the field, wetland, and watershed scales. Field scale simulations of a tile-drained, corn-soybean rotation under conventional agricultural management over a 5-yr period illustrated strengths and weaknesses of the soil nitrogen model. Using a simplified approach to describe soil organic matter dynamics, the simulated annual nitrogen balance and NO3-N loss in tile drainage were comparable to observations and literature estimates. However, the model was not able to predict the correct response of NO3-N loss in tile drainage to fertilizer rate, which was attributed in part to limitations with the current plant uptake function which did not capture the nonlinear relationship expected between fertilizer rate and crop nitrogen uptake. NO3-N removal was quantified at one of Iowa’s largest constructed wetlands using high-frequency (15-min), continuous water quality monitoring and hydrologic modeling. The wetland reduced incoming NO3-N concentrations 49% and loads by an estimated 61 kg day-1 from May-Nov over a 3-yr period. Wetland removal was influenced by both hydrologic and biological conditions; mass removal was greatest in Jun when discharge and NO3-N loading were highest, while percent removal was greatest in Aug when discharge was low, water residence times in the wetland were high, and warm water temperatures enhanced processing. The high-frequency monitoring captured NO3-N dynamics not possible with traditional lower frequency grab sampling, including concentration dynamics connected to storm events telling of sources and pathways of NO3-N delivery, diurnal variations in concentration indicative of biological processes, and the marked variability in wetland removal performance during low and high flow conditions. Over 5600 wetlands of similar removal performance treating over 60% of Iowa’s area and costing $1.5 billion would be required to reduce the state’s baseline NO3-N load by 45%. The high-frequency monitoring guided and informed numerical simulations of nitrogen fate and transport at the wetland and watershed scales. Wetland simulations using imposed discharge and water quality conditions upstream of the wetland (inlet) and first order, temperature dependent kinetics produced satisfactory daily and monthly predictions of NO3-N concentration and water temperature downstream of the wetland (outlet) from May-Nov in 3/4 and 4/4 study years, respectively. NO3-N predictions were most sensitive to the denitrification first order rate constant and temperature during low discharge periods and least sensitive to both during storm events. Temperature dependent kinetics were necessary to accurately predict wetland NO3-N removal in late summer. The continuous watershed simulations produced satisfactory monthly predictions of inlet and outlet NO3-N concentration and outlet water temperature. Consistent with findings from other modeling studies, annual nitrogen components and NO3-N dynamics were simulated reasonably well under average hydrologic conditions, while simulated NO3-N dynamics weakened under extreme (wet) hydrologic conditions. Temperature was important for predicting the seasonality of wetland NO3-N removal during the growing season, while other factors such as organic carbon and dissolved oxygen may be more influential outside the growing season when removal can still occur despite cold conditions. A preliminary evaluation of six recently constructed wetlands that detain and process agricultural runoff from 12% of a 45 km2 watershed in north central Iowa estimated sizable flood and NO3-N reductions locally which diminished moving downstream. Continuous watershed simulations over a 13 month period following wetland implementation estimated peak flow reductions of 3-43% at the wetlands that dissipated with drainage area; similarly, the wetlands reduced NO3-N loads by an estimated 7-25% locally and 2% at the watershed outlet. Further refinements to the biogeochemical-hydrologic model are needed to improve simulated NO3-N dynamics in order to more reliably assess downstream flow and NO3-N reduction benefits. This work identified limitations with the current modeling approach, areas of future work, and offers recommendations to guide future conservation design. Sensible hydrologic predictions are imperative to the success and dependability of the water quality simulations, which may seem obvious but can be difficult to ascertain in ungauged catchments. Future work aspires to couple a complete agricultural systems model with a physically-based hydrologic model to simulate the nitrogen cycle in a more comprehensive manner to assess which field scale nitrogen processes are most important to accurately predict stream nutrient loading at the watershed scale. Constructed wetlands could provide greater flood and nutrient reduction benefits if the normal pool hydraulics were designed with smaller hydraulic structures that more effectively throttle down incoming flows and provide the opportunity for active rather than passive pool management. As the ultimate goal of this research and other like work is to quantify progress of water quality goals set forth by the Gulf Hypoxia Task Force and help guide future conservation practice implementation, continued investment in science-based water research, water monitoring, and water modeling is necessary.

L’érosion hydrique est un processus majeur de dégradation des sols dans le monde avec des conséquences multiples : perte de terres agricoles, envasement des cours d’eau, coulées boueuses. En France, la région Hauts-de-France est la zone la plus touchée par ces pertes en terres qui peuvent dépasser les 10 t ha-1 an-1. Si les processus à l’origine de ces transferts sédimentaires ont été largement étudiés par la communauté scientifique ces dernières années, il reste néanmoins des verrous liés aux variabilités spatio-temporelles. De plus, l’efficacité des politiques récentes de lutte contre l’érosion n’est pas quantifiée. Cette étude propose une analyse de la variabilité spatio-temporelle des transferts sédimentaires selon plusieurs échelles (1-1000 km²), et une première évaluation de l’efficacité des politiques d’aménagement au sein d’un bassin du Nord de la France (la Canche ; 1274 km²). Une station de mesure haute-fréquence, a été implémentée à l’exutoire d’un sous-bassin versant de la Canche (la Pommeroye ; 0,54 km²) pour quantifier les transferts hydro-sédimentaires sur deux années hydrologiques contrastées. Selon nos résultats, les transferts varient de 29,4 à 70 t km-2 an-1. 40% du flux est exporté au cours de 3 épisodes érosifs majeurs (sur 48 enregistrés) et les paramètres forçants sont liés à la durée d’un épisode pluvieux et la quantité de précipitations. Sur ce même bassin, la prédiction spatiale à l’échelle centimétrique des transferts hydro-sédimentaires a pu être effectuée via le nouveau modèle d’érosion des sols WATERSED (BRGM) et l’efficacité d’un plan d’aménagement de lutte contre l’érosion a été quantifiée. Nos résultats permettent de valider l’opérabilité du modèle sur ce territoire. Les transferts sédimentaires à l’échelle du parcellaire agricole peuvent atteindre les 76 t km-2 pour un évènement donné et sont influencés par l’état de surface du parcellaire agricole. Une réduction significative (jusqu’à 84%) des transferts par les aménagements d’hydraulique douce est également observée. A l’échelle du bassin de la Canche, l’utilisation de traceurs chimiques et spectrocolorimétriques dans un modèle de mélange (Sed_Sat ; USGS) a permis d’évaluer d’une part les contributions des affluents de la Canche et d’autre part les contributions des sols et des berges (respectivement 30-70%). Des variations spatio-temporelles significatives ont pu être observées et les résultats tendent à montrer un potentiel impact positif des politiques récentes d’aménagement du territoire. Cette étude montre également que de nouveaux traceurs liés à la signature spécifique des particules magnétiques sont particulièrement prometteurs dans ce contexte pour tracer un signal d’érosion des sols. A terme, ces données pourraient être incluses dans des approches sediment fingerprinting. L’analyse selon plusieurs modalités spatio-temporelles et le couplage expérimentation/modélisation améliore donc notre compréhension de la dynamique des transferts sédimentaires sur le bassin versant de la Canche. Cela fournit des résultats essentiels pour orienter les futures politiques de lutte contre l’érosion des sols. / Water erosion is a serious concern in global land degradation leading to multiple consequences: loss of arable lands, siltation of streams, mudflows. In France, the Hauts-de-France region is the most affected area, and soil loss can exceed 10 t ha-1 yr-1. Although hydro-sedimentary processes have been widely studied by the scientific community, there is still a lack of knowledge in the understanding of the spatio-temporal variabilities. Additionally, the effectiveness of recent erosion control policies so far cannot be quantified. This study proposes an analysis of the spatio-temporal variability of sedimentary transfer at different scaling (1-1000 km²), and an initial assessment of the effectiveness of management policies within a northern France catchment (the Canche river, 1274 km²). A high-frequency monitoring station was implemented at the outlet of a Canche sub-catchment (the Pommeroye, 0.54 km²) to quantify the hydro-sedimentary transfer over two contrasted hydrologic years. According to our results, sediment yield varies from 29.4 to 70 t km-2 yr-1. 40% of the flux is exported during 3 major erosive events (out of 48 recorded) and the forcing parameters are related to the duration and the amount of rainfall. In this sub-catchment, the centimeter-scale spatial prediction of the hydro-sedimentary transfer was carried out using the new soil erosion model WATERSED (BRGM) and the effectiveness of an anti-erosion management plan was quantified. Our results validate the operability of the model in this context. For a given event, sediment transfer can reach 76 t km-2 yr-1 in agricultural plots and are strongly depending on the soil surface state. A significant reduction (up to 84%) of sedimentary transfer by the anti-erosion plan was also observed. At the scale of the Canche catchment, the use of chemical and spectrocolorimetric tracers in a mixing model (Sed_Sat tool; USGS) evaluated the contributions of the Canche tributaries and sediment sources contributions (i.e. channel banks and soils; 30-70% respectively). Significant spatio-temporal variations have been observed and the results show a potential positive impact of the recent management policies. This study also shows that new tracers related to the specific signature of magnetic particles are promising in the context to trace soil erosion. For further analyses, this data could be included in sediment fingerprinting approaches. Thus, this study based on several spatio-temporal modalities and the coupling of experimentation and modelling improves our understanding of the Canche hydro-sedimentary dynamics. It provides essential results to guide the future erosion control policies.

This hydrogeophysical field experiment evaluated the ability of high frequency (450 & 900 MHz) ground penetrating radar (GPR) to characterize the release of gasoline over an annual cycle of in situ conditions. In August 2008, 200 liters of E10 gasoline were released into the unconfined sand aquifer at CFB Borden. The 900 MHz profiling clearly shows the development of shallow (i.e., above 10 ns) high reflectivity in the vicinity of the trench immediately after the release. Additional lateral extension of high reflectivity zone was observed over the following 20 days until the seasonal water table low stand occurred, after which no further lateral movement was observed. Throughout the remainder of the monitoring, the 900 MHz profiling observed a long-term dimming of reflectivity at the periphery of the impacted zone. While direct imaging of the shallow impacted zone by the 450 MHz antennas was significantly obscured by the superposition with the direct air-ground wave arrival; its improved depth of penetration allowed the measurement of a velocity “pull-up” of an underlying stratigraphic interface resulting from the displacement of low velocity water by high velocity gasoline. The maximum pull-up was observed during the water table low stand. The ongoing changes in the pull-up magnitude during the remainder of the observation period suggest the continued redistribution of fluids in the impacted zone. Because of the shallow depth of the gasoline impacted zone, the effects of freezing during the winter period were observed in the GPR imaging. The presence of the gasoline impacted zone appears to have affected the depth of freezing, causing a depression of the frozen soil base. The dimming of the direct air-ground wave complex indicates that the contaminant phase brought to the surface by the water table fluctuations have impacted the nature of the near-surface freezing.

This hydrogeophysical field experiment evaluated the ability of high frequency (450 & 900 MHz) ground penetrating radar (GPR) to characterize the release of gasoline over an annual cycle of in situ conditions. In August 2008, 200 liters of E10 gasoline were released into the unconfined sand aquifer at CFB Borden. The 900 MHz profiling clearly shows the development of shallow (i.e., above 10 ns) high reflectivity in the vicinity of the trench immediately after the release. Additional lateral extension of high reflectivity zone was observed over the following 20 days until the seasonal water table low stand occurred, after which no further lateral movement was observed. Throughout the remainder of the monitoring, the 900 MHz profiling observed a long-term dimming of reflectivity at the periphery of the impacted zone. While direct imaging of the shallow impacted zone by the 450 MHz antennas was significantly obscured by the superposition with the direct air-ground wave arrival; its improved depth of penetration allowed the measurement of a velocity “pull-up” of an underlying stratigraphic interface resulting from the displacement of low velocity water by high velocity gasoline. The maximum pull-up was observed during the water table low stand. The ongoing changes in the pull-up magnitude during the remainder of the observation period suggest the continued redistribution of fluids in the impacted zone. Because of the shallow depth of the gasoline impacted zone, the effects of freezing during the winter period were observed in the GPR imaging. The presence of the gasoline impacted zone appears to have affected the depth of freezing, causing a depression of the frozen soil base. The dimming of the direct air-ground wave complex indicates that the contaminant phase brought to the surface by the water table fluctuations have impacted the nature of the near-surface freezing.

La dynamique sédimentaire estuarienne joue un rôle très important pour la qualité de l'eau, les écosystèmes et la navigation. Les estuaires macrotidaux comme la Gironde se caractérisent par la formation de régions très chargées en matière en suspension (MES), appelées zones de turbidité maximale (ZTM), qui influencent le transport et le dépôt des sédiments fins, l'envasement des chenaux, la consommation d'oxygène dissous et le devenir des polluants. L'objectif de ce travail est de comprendre la dynamique hydro-sédimentaire, particulièrement de la ZTM, dans la section fluviale, encore peu étudié, de l'estuaire de la Gironde en lien avec les facteurs de forçage environnementaux et les perturbations du système (changements hydrologiques et morphologiques naturels et anthropiques). La méthodologie de ce travail est basée sur l'analyse de 10 années de données continues de turbidité enregistrées par le réseau de surveillance MAGEST. L'exploitation de telles séries de données, assez novatrice dans les estuaires, a notamment impliqué le développement d'une méthode d'analyse basée sur la combinaison de plusieurs méthodes spectrales. Cette approche est complétée par l'analyse des profils de turbidité et de vitesse de courant lors de cycles de marée, l'analyse de séries temporelles historiques de marée et l'exploitation d'un modèle semi-analytique 2DV. La dynamique sédimentaire de l'estuaire fluvial est d'abord détaillée à toutes les échelles de temps représentatives. A l'échelle de temps intratidale, la distribution verticale des MES et des courants, en deux points d'une même section transversale, a permis de détailler les mécanismes de transport sédimentaire. Les flux particulaires résiduels (totaux, advection, pompage tidal) ainsi estimés pour plusieurs conditions hydrologiques, démontrent le contrôle du pompage tidal sur les flux de MES lors de l'étiage. A l'échelle de temps subtidale, la réponse de la ZTM aux fluctuations hydrologiques (crues, périodes d'augmentation ou diminution continue du débit, variabilité inter-anuelle) est analysée. Ceci a permis de définir plusieurs indicateurs hydrologiques des caractéristiques de la ZTM, qui suggèrent l'intensification de la ZTM au cours des dernières décennies en lien avec la diminution des débit. La contribution relative des facteurs de forçage à la variabilité de la turbidité a été quantifiée pour différentes régions estuariennes et échelles de temps (saisonnière et plurianuelle). L'application de la méthodologique développée à l'estuaire de la Loire, qui dispose de séries de données similaires (réseau SYVEL), a permis de généraliser ces résultats. Enfin, l'effet des changements pluri-décennaux hydrologiques et morphologiques sur la propagation de la marée et la dynamique sédimentaire est détaillé dans la Garonne tidale. Il ressort une amplification du marnage et de la asymétrie de la marée au cours des six dernières décennies, principalement liée aux changements morphologiques naturels dans la Gironde en aval, les extractions de granulat et le changement de régime hydrologique. L'implémentation d'un modèle semi-analytique a permis de vérifier ces résultats et d'analyser leurs implications sur les concentrations de MES et la limite amont de la ZTM. / Estuarine suspended sediment dynamics play an important role in water quality, ecosystems and navigation. The formation of regions of high suspended sediments (SS) concentrations, called turbidity maximum zones (TMZ), is a characteristic feature of macrotidal estuaries, such as the Gironde. The TMZ influences the transport and deposition of fine sediments, channel siltation, oxygen conditions and the particulate transport of pollutants. This work aims to understand the hydro-sedimentary dynamics of the fluvial Gironde estuary, still poorly studied, in relation with environmental forcings and system perturbations (natural and anthropic hydrological and morphological changes). The methodology of this work is based on the analysis of the 10-years continuous time series of turbidity recorded by the MAGEST monitoring network. The exploitation of such time series, quite innovative in estuaries, required the development of an analysis method based on the combination of spectral techniques. This approach is completed by the analysis of turbidity and current velocity profiles over tidal cycles, the analysis of historical tide time series, and the exploitation of a 2DV semi-analytical model. First, SS dynamics of the fluvial Gironde is detailed at all representative time scales. At the intratidal time scale, the mechanisms of SS transport were described from the vertical depth of SSC and current velocities at two points of the same section. Residual fluxes (total, advective and tidal pumping), estimated for different hydrological conditions, demonstrated the control of tidal pumping on SS fluxes during periods of low river flow. At the subtidal time scale, the TMZ response to hydrological fluctuations (floods, periods of continuous river flow increase and decrease, interannual changes) was analyzed. Hydrological indicators of the TMZ features were thus defined, which suggest the TMZ intensification over the last decades in relation to the river flow decrease. The relative contributions of environmental forcings to the turbidity variability were quantified for different estuarine regions and time scales (seasonal and multiannual). The application of the same methodology to the Loire estuary, which counts on equivalent time series (SYVEL network), allowed the generalization of these results. Finally, the impact of pluri-decades hydrological and morphological changes on tidal propagation and suspended sediments dynamics is detailed in the tidal Garonne. Both tidal range and asymmetry appear to be amplified over the last six decades, mainly due to natural changes of the down Gironde, gravel extraction in the tidal Garonne and hydrological regime shifts. The implementation of an idealized model allowed verifying such results and analyzing their implications for SS concentrations and the upper TMZ limit.