Effect of streamflow stochasticity on bedform-driven hyporheic exchange

The interactions between the stream and the geomorphologic units that compose the stream channel result in an exchange of water, heat, and chemicals that is an important component of the flows of energy and nutrients in the river ecosystem. This exchange is characterized by complex spatial and temporal dynamics that depend on the characteristics of the stream flow and morphology. At present, many studies have addressed the development of spatial patterns of hyporheic exchange that are induced by many geomorphological factors at different scales. However, much less is known about the temporal evolution of the surface–subsurface exchange in response to the dynamics of the stream discharge. In order to investigate this problem, the present work analyzes the influence of streamflow variability on the hyporheic exchange induced by fluvial bedforms. A stochastic approach is employed to generate streamflow series whose statistical properties are representative of streams with different hydrological regimes. The resulting exchange fluxes and travel times are then computed, and the relationships between the streamflow regime and the dynamics of the exchange flux and travel times are investigated. The results show that the mean stream discharge can be used to estimate the average features of the temporal dynamics of hyporheic exchange. Moreover, exchange fluxes and residence times distributions exhibit significant fluctuations, which are tightly related to the coefficient of variation of the streamflow hydrograph.