Increased dry season water yield in burned watersheds in Southern California
The current work evaluates the effects of the 2003 Old Fire on semi-arid systems in the San Bernardino Mountains, California. Pre- and post-fire daily streamflow are used to analyze flow regimes in two burned watersheds. The average pre-fire runoff ratios in Devil Canyon and City Creek are 0.14 and...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2015-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/1/014003 |
| Summary: | The current work evaluates the effects of the 2003 Old Fire on semi-arid systems in the San Bernardino Mountains, California. Pre- and post-fire daily streamflow are used to analyze flow regimes in two burned watersheds. The average pre-fire runoff ratios in Devil Canyon and City Creek are 0.14 and 0.26, respectively, and both increase to 0.34 post-fire. Annual flow duration curves are developed for each watershed and the low flow is characterized by a 90% exceedance probability threshold. Post-fire low flow is statistically different from the pre-fire values ( α = 0.05). In Devil Canyon the annual volume of pre-fire low flow increases on average from 2.6E + 02 to 3.1E + 03 m ^3 (1090% increase) and in City Creek the annual low flow volume increases from 2.3E + 03 to 5.0E + 03 m ^3 (118% increase). Predicting burn system resilience to disturbance (anthropogenic and natural) has significant implications for water sustainability and ultimately may provide an opportunity to utilize extended and increased water yield. |
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| ISSN: | 1748-9326 |