Skip to main content
Dryad

Conceptualizing relationships among hyporheic exchange, storage, and water age: data represented in published figures

Data files

Jan 12, 2022 version files 10.58 MB

Abstract

Hyporheic exchange is a key driver of ecosystem processes in streams, yet stream ecologists often fail to leverage detailed conceptual models developed by engineers and hydrologists describing the relationship between water storage, water balance, and water age (time elapsed since a conceptual parcel of water entered the hyporheic zone) in hyporheic zones.  In a companion paper (G.C. Poole et al. Hyporheic Hydraulic Geometry: Conceptualizing relationships among hyporheic exchange, storage, and water age, published in PLoS ONE; doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0262080), we provide visualizations of these relationships in an effort to allow non-hydrologists to grasp four primary concepts along with associated research and management implications: 1) the rate of hyporheic exchange, size of the hyporheic zone, and hyporheic water age are inexorably linked; 2) such linkages can be leveraged to build understanding of hyporheic processes; 3) the age distribution of hyporheic water and hyporheic discharge is heavily skewed toward young water ages -- at any temporal scale of observation (minutes, hours, days, or months) older hyporheic water is rare relative to younger water; 4) the age distribution of water discharged from any hyporheic zone is not the same as the age distribution of water stored within that hyporheic zone. The data set presented here represents the numerical values represented by the figures published in the companion paper.