Transit Time Estimation in Catchments: Recent Developments and Future Directions

Paolo Benettin; Nicolas B. Rodriguez; Matthias Sprenger; Minseok Kim; Julian Klaus; Ciaran J. Harman; Ype van der Velde; Markus Hrachowitz; Gianluca Botter; Kevin J. McGuire; James W. Kirchner; Andrea Rinaldo; Jeffrey J. McDonnell

doi:10.1029/2022WR033096

Transit Time Estimation in Catchments: Recent Developments and Future Directions

Paolo Benettin^*, Nicolas B. Rodriguez, Matthias Sprenger, Minseok Kim, Julian Klaus, Ciaran J. Harman, Ype van der Velde, Markus Hrachowitz, Gianluca Botter, Kevin J. McGuire, James W. Kirchner, Andrea Rinaldo, Jeffrey J. McDonnell

^*Corresponding author for this work

Earth and Climate

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Water transit time is now a standard measure in catchment hydrological and ecohydrological research. The last comprehensive review of transit time modeling approaches was published 15+ years ago. But since then the field has largely expanded with new data, theory and applications. Here, we review these new developments with focus on water-age-balance approaches and data-based approaches. We discuss and compare methods including StorAge-Selection functions, well/partially mixed compartments, water age tracking through spatially distributed models, direct transit time estimates from controlled experiments, young water fractions, and ensemble hydrograph separation. We unify some of the heterogeneity in the literature that has crept in with these many new approaches, in an attempt to clarify the key differences and similarities among them. Finally, we point to open questions in transit time research, including what we still need from theory, models, field work, and community practice.

Original language	English
Article number	e2022WR033096
Pages (from-to)	1-36
Number of pages	36
Journal	Water Resources Research
Volume	58
Issue number	11
Early online date	8 Nov 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2022WR033096
Publication status	Published - Nov 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
P.B. thanks ENAC school at EPFL for financial support. M.S. was supported by the US Department of Energy Office of Science under contract DE‐AC02‐05CH11231 as part of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Watershed Function Science Focus Area. All authors thank the Associate Editor Riccardo Rigon, Stefanie Lutz, Marialaura Bancheri and one anonymous referee for their comments.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022. The Authors.

Funding

P.B. thanks ENAC school at EPFL for financial support. M.S. was supported by the US Department of Energy Office of Science under contract DE‐AC02‐05CH11231 as part of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Watershed Function Science Focus Area. All authors thank the Associate Editor Riccardo Rigon, Stefanie Lutz, Marialaura Bancheri and one anonymous referee for their comments.

Funders	Funder number
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Not added	103586
Office of Science	DE‐AC02‐05CH11231

Keywords

catchment
review
tracer
transit time
transport
water age

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1029/2022WR033096

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Benettin, P., Rodriguez, N. B., Sprenger, M., Kim, M., Klaus, J., Harman, C. J., van der Velde, Y., Hrachowitz, M., Botter, G., McGuire, K. J., Kirchner, J. W., Rinaldo, A., & McDonnell, J. J. (2022). Transit Time Estimation in Catchments: Recent Developments and Future Directions. Water Resources Research, 58(11), 1-36. Article e2022WR033096. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022WR033096

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Transit Time Estimation in Catchments: Recent Developments and Future Directions

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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