Volume 34 (2012): Issue 2 (October 2012)

Groundwater table levels in a river valley depend, among other factors, on meteorological and hydrogeological conditions, land use and water levels in watercourses. The primary role of a watercourse is to collect surface and groundwater, and it becomes an infiltrating watercourse at high water levels. Changes in groundwater levels and the range of these changes depend chiefly on the shape, height and duration of the flood wave in the river channel.

The assessment of flood wave impact on groundwater was based on long-term measurements of groundwater levels in the Odra valley and observations of water levels in the river channel. Simulations were performed with the use of in-house software FIZ (Filtracja i Zanieczyszczenia; Filtration and Contamination), designed for modelling unsteady water flows within a fully saturated zone. A two-dimensional model with two spatial variables was employed. The process of groundwater flow through a porous medium, non-homogeneous in terms of water permeability, was described with Boussinesq equation. The equation was solved with the use of finite element method. The model was applied to assess groundwater level fluctuations in the Odra valley in the context of actual flood waves on the river.

Variations in groundwater table in the valley were analysed in relation to selected actual flood water levels in the Odra in 2001-2003 and 2010. The period from 2001 to 2003 was used to verify the model. A satisfactory agreement between the calculated and the measured values was obtained. Based on simulation calculations, it was proved that flood waves observed in 2010 caused a rise in groundwater table levels in a belt of approximately 1000 metres from the watercourses. It was calculated that at the end of hydrological year 2009/2010, the highest growths, of up to 0.80 m, were observed on piezometers located close to the Odra river channel. The passage of several flood waves on the Odra caused an increase of subsurface retention by 3.0% compared to the initial state.

The article presents a simulation of urbanization impact on runoff changes in an urbanized catchment. Application of a distributed hydrological WetSpa model enabled comprehensive use of Landsat satellite images as a source of data about contemporary and historical land cover in the catchment. The analyses conducted for the Biała river catchment, with over 60% of the area being urbanized, revealed a significant influence of changes in the size of urbanized area on runoff hydrograph.

The aim of this article is to present the results of statistical analyses of laboratory experiment results obtained from an ITB ZW-K2 apparatus, Kamieński tubes and grain-size distribution curves. Beside basic statistical parameters (mean, sum, minimum and maximum), correlation analysis and multivariate analysis of variance at significance levels α < 0.01 and α < 0.05 were taken into account, as well as calculations of LSD confidence half-intervals.

The research material was collected from the valley of the Odra river near the town of Słubice in Lubuskie province. The research involved mineral, non-rock fine-grained, non-cohesive soils lying at the depth of 0.3-1.5 m.

The experiment described was one of the elements of research into sediment transport conducted by the Division of Geotechnics of West-Pomeranian University of Technology. The experimental analyses were performed within the framework of the project “Building a knowledge transfer network on the directions and perspectives of developing wave laboratory and in situ research using innovative research equipment” launched by the Institute of Hydroengineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Gdańsk. The objective of the experiment was to determine relations between sediment transport and wave motion parameters and then use the obtained results to modify formulas defining sediment transport in rivers, like Ackers-White formula, by introducing basic parameters of wave motion as the force generating bed material transport. The article presents selected results of the experiment concerning sediment velocity field analysis conducted for different parameters of wave motion. The velocity vectors of particles suspended in water were measured with a Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) apparatus registering suspended particles in a measurement flume by producing a series of laser pulses and analysing their displacement with a high-sensitivity camera connected to a computer. The article presents velocity fields of suspended bed material particles measured in the longitudinal section of the wave flume and their comparison with water velocity profiles calculated for the definite wave parameters. The results presented will be used in further research for relating parameters essential for the description of monochromatic wave motion to basic sediment transport parameters and „transforming” mean velocity and dynamic velocity in steady motion to mean wave front velocity and dynamic velocity in wave motion for a single wave.

Climate change, regardless of the causes shaping its rate and direction, can have far-reaching environmental, economic and social impact. A major aspect that might be transformed as a result of climate change are water resources of a catchment. The article presents a possible method of predicting water resource changes by using a meteorological data generator and classical hydrological models. The assessment of water resources in a catchment for a time horizon of 30-50 years is based on an analysis of changes in annual runoff that might occur in changing meteorological conditions. The model used for runoff analysis was the hydrological rainfall-runoff NAM model. Daily meteorological data essential for running the hydrological model were generated by means of SWGEN model. Meteorological data generated for selected climate change scenarios (GISS, CCCM and GFDL) for the years 2030 and 2050 enabled analysing different variants of climate change and their potential effects. The presented results refer to potential changes in water resources of the Kaczawa catchment. It should be emphasized that the obtained results do not say which of the climate change scenarios is more likely, but they present the consequences of climate change described by these scenarios.

Groundwater table levels in a river valley depend, among other factors, on meteorological and hydrogeological conditions, land use and water levels in watercourses. The primary role of a watercourse is to collect surface and groundwater, and it becomes an infiltrating watercourse at high water levels. Changes in groundwater levels and the range of these changes depend chiefly on the shape, height and duration of the flood wave in the river channel.

The assessment of flood wave impact on groundwater was based on long-term measurements of groundwater levels in the Odra valley and observations of water levels in the river channel. Simulations were performed with the use of in-house software FIZ (Filtracja i Zanieczyszczenia; Filtration and Contamination), designed for modelling unsteady water flows within a fully saturated zone. A two-dimensional model with two spatial variables was employed. The process of groundwater flow through a porous medium, non-homogeneous in terms of water permeability, was described with Boussinesq equation. The equation was solved with the use of finite element method. The model was applied to assess groundwater level fluctuations in the Odra valley in the context of actual flood waves on the river.

Variations in groundwater table in the valley were analysed in relation to selected actual flood water levels in the Odra in 2001-2003 and 2010. The period from 2001 to 2003 was used to verify the model. A satisfactory agreement between the calculated and the measured values was obtained. Based on simulation calculations, it was proved that flood waves observed in 2010 caused a rise in groundwater table levels in a belt of approximately 1000 metres from the watercourses. It was calculated that at the end of hydrological year 2009/2010, the highest growths, of up to 0.80 m, were observed on piezometers located close to the Odra river channel. The passage of several flood waves on the Odra caused an increase of subsurface retention by 3.0% compared to the initial state.

The article presents a numerical model designed for determining groundwater dynamics and water balance of the catchments of the Oziąbel (Czarna Woda) river and the Wołczyński Strumień river in Wołczyn region. Hydrogeological mapping and modelling research covered the area of 238.9 km2. As a result of measurements performed in 2008-2009, flows were determined in major rivers and water table positions were measured at 26 points. In the major part of the area described, the water table, lying at the depth of 1.5-18.7 m, has unconfined character, and the aquifer is built of Neogene (Quaternary) sands and gravels. In the area under study, groundwaters are drawn from 6 wells with total withdrawal of 6133 m3/d. The numerical modelling was performed with the use of Visual Modflow 3.1.0 software. The area was partitioned by a discretization grid with a step size l = 250 m. The conceptual model of the hydrogeological system is based on hydrological data gathered over a period of one year, data from HYDRO bank database, cross-sections and maps. The boundaries of the modelled hydrogeological system were established on the watersheds of the Wołczyński Strumień river and the Oziąbel river, apart from the areas where they run together. The modelled area was extended (271.5 km2) around the Wołczyński Strumień river catchment to achieve a more effective mapping of the anthropogenic impact on its balance and the hydrodynamic system of the catchment area. The structure is characterised by the occurrence of one or rarely two aquifers separated by a pack of Quaternary clays. The investigation produced a detailed water balance and its components.

The paper presents a 1D hydrodynamic flood flow model employing a data assimilation procedure based on Newtonian nudging. Data assimilation was used to determine correctly the upstream boundary condition defined as a discharge hydrograph. In the model developed, “nudging to individual observations” method was used. The data chosen for assimilation were water table levels recorded by a D-Diver automatic sensor installed in the river channel c. 1.5 km below a computational cross-section opening the analysed stretch of the river and the adjacent valley. This hydrological model of flood flow containing the data assimilation procedure is based on a one-dimensional Saint-Venant system of equations (dynamic wave model). The calculations were performed for the 2010 spring flood event at a 20-km stretch of the river and the floodplain in the upper part of the Lower Biebrza Basin. Modifying the boundary condition by using data assimilation has dramatically improved the accuracy of water table predictions during floods in the area of the Lower Biebrza Basin.