Print Email Facebook Twitter Climate controls how ecosystems size the root zone storage capacity at catchment scale Title Climate controls how ecosystems size the root zone storage capacity at catchment scale Author Gao, H. Hrachowitz, M. Schymanski, S.J. Fenicia, F.F. Sriwongsitanon, N. Savenije, H.H.G. Faculty Civil Engineering and Geosciences Department Water Management Date 2014-11-28 Abstract The root zone moisture storage capacity (SR) of terrestrial ecosystems is a buffer providing vegetation continuous access to water and a critical factor controlling land-atmospheric moisture exchange, hydrological response, and biogeochemical processes. However, it is impossible to observe directly at catchment scale. Here, using data from 300 diverse catchments, it was tested that, treating the root zone as a reservoir, the mass curve technique (MCT), an engineering method for reservoir design, can be used to estimate catchment-scale SR from effective rainfall and plant transpiration. Supporting the initial hypothesis, it was found that MCT-derived SR coincided with model-derived estimates. These estimates of parameter SR can be used to constrain hydrological, climate, and land surface models. Further, the study provides evidence that ecosystems dynamically design their root systems to bridge droughts with return periods of 10–40 years, controlled by climate and linked to aridity index, inter-storm duration, seasonality, and runoff ratio. Subject catchment hydrologyecohydrologystorage capacityhydroclimatologyecosystemsrooting depth To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:7b722f2c-62fb-47c3-a945-adb17ab5458a Publisher American Geophysical Union Embargo date 2015-05-28 ISSN 0094-8276 Source Geophysical Research Letters, 41 (22), 2014 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2014 American Geophysical Union Files PDF 312632.pdf 1.37 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:7b722f2c-62fb-47c3-a945-adb17ab5458a/datastream/OBJ/view