TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of drought on groundwater-fed lake areas in the Nebraska Sand Hills
AU - Shrestha, Nawaraj
AU - Mittelstet, Aaron R.
AU - Gilmore, Troy E.
AU - Zlotnik, Vitaly
AU - Neale, Christopher M.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the U.S. Department of Agriculture - National Institute of Food and Agriculture (Hatch project 1015698), Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Water Sustainability Fund , Nebraska Natural Resource Commission . The authors would thank the insgithful comments and suggestions from editors and anonymous reviewers for improving the quality of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors
PY - 2021/8
Y1 - 2021/8
N2 - Study region: The Nebraska Sand Hills (NSH) lies in the western part of Nebraska, United States. We chose the north-eastern, central, and western parts of NSH with distinct climate, topography, and hydrology. Study focus: The study assesses the response of hundreds of shallow groundwater-fed lakes to drought. Total lake area (TLA), determined by classifying Landsat satellite images from 1984 to 2018, was juxtaposed with published Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and detrended cumulative PDSI (DeCumPDSI) at monthly and annual timescales. The PDSI and DeCumPDSI were time lagged to incorporate the preceding climatic effect (groundwater time lag) and evaluated against TLA using Bayesian regression analysis. New hydrologic insight for the region: TLA in the NSH respond to the seasonal as well as long-term climatic effects moderated by topography, surface, and subsurface hydrology. A higher determination coefficient R2 and lower mean square error of TLA at annual PDSI and DeCumPDSI illustrate the effect of long-term climatic fluctuations and groundwater influence: the evaporative losses from lakes are modulated by the lake-groundwater exchange, but the groundwater recharge has a longer response time to the drought. The study provides a simple method of assessment of the climate impact that results from the satellite data, gridded climate observation, and statistics for sensitive landscape of the NSH.
AB - Study region: The Nebraska Sand Hills (NSH) lies in the western part of Nebraska, United States. We chose the north-eastern, central, and western parts of NSH with distinct climate, topography, and hydrology. Study focus: The study assesses the response of hundreds of shallow groundwater-fed lakes to drought. Total lake area (TLA), determined by classifying Landsat satellite images from 1984 to 2018, was juxtaposed with published Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and detrended cumulative PDSI (DeCumPDSI) at monthly and annual timescales. The PDSI and DeCumPDSI were time lagged to incorporate the preceding climatic effect (groundwater time lag) and evaluated against TLA using Bayesian regression analysis. New hydrologic insight for the region: TLA in the NSH respond to the seasonal as well as long-term climatic effects moderated by topography, surface, and subsurface hydrology. A higher determination coefficient R2 and lower mean square error of TLA at annual PDSI and DeCumPDSI illustrate the effect of long-term climatic fluctuations and groundwater influence: the evaporative losses from lakes are modulated by the lake-groundwater exchange, but the groundwater recharge has a longer response time to the drought. The study provides a simple method of assessment of the climate impact that results from the satellite data, gridded climate observation, and statistics for sensitive landscape of the NSH.
KW - Drought
KW - Lake area
KW - Nebraska Sand Hills
KW - Palmer drought severity index
KW - Remote sensing
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ejrh.2021.100877
DO - 10.1016/j.ejrh.2021.100877
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85111329841
VL - 36
JO - Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies
JF - Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies
SN - 2214-5818
M1 - 100877
ER -