Urban Water Storage Capacity Inferred From Observed Evapotranspiration Recession

H. J. Jongen; G. J. Steeneveld; J. Beringer; A. Christen; N. Chrysoulakis; K. Fortuniak; J. Hong; J. W. Hong; C. M.J. Jacobs; L. Järvi; F. Meier; W. Pawlak; M. Roth; N. E. Theeuwes; E. Velasco; R. Vogt; A. J. Teuling

doi:10.1029/2021GL096069

Urban Water Storage Capacity Inferred From Observed Evapotranspiration Recession

H. J. Jongen, G. J. Steeneveld, J. Beringer, A. Christen, N. Chrysoulakis, K. Fortuniak, J. Hong, J. W. Hong, C. M.J. Jacobs, L. Järvi, F. Meier, W. Pawlak, M. Roth, N. E. Theeuwes, E. Velasco, R. Vogt, A. J. Teuling

Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Water storage plays an important role in mitigating heat and flooding in urban areas. Assessment of the water storage capacity of cities remains challenging due to the inherent heterogeneity of the urban surface. Traditionally, effective storage has been estimated from runoff. Here, we present a novel approach to estimate effective water storage capacity from recession rates of observed evaporation during precipitation-free periods. We test this approach for cities at neighborhood scale with eddy-covariance based latent heat flux observations from 14 contrasting sites with different local climate zones, vegetation cover and characteristics, and climates. Based on analysis of 583 drydowns, we find storage capacities to vary between 1.3 and 28.4 mm, corresponding to e-folding timescales of 1.8–20.1 days. This makes the urban storage capacity at least five times smaller than all the observed values for natural ecosystems, reflecting an evaporation regime characterized by extreme water limitation.

Original language	English
Article number	e2021GL096069
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	49
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL096069
Publication status	Published - 2022 Feb 16

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Harro Jongen acknowledges this research was supported by the WIMEK PhD Grant 2020. The observations have been supported by Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute, project VIR16002), Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Project 864.14.007, Bert Heusinkveld (WUR) (Amsterdam), “Climate Proof Cities” within the second phase of the Knowledge for Climate Program, co‐financed by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, the strategic research program KBIV ‘Sustainable spatial development of ecosystems, landscapes, seas and regions’, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, Wageningen University and Research Centre (Project KB‐14‐002‐005; Arnhem), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) grant SCHE 750/8 and SCHE 750/9 within Research Unit 1736 “Urban Climate and Heat Stress in Mid Latitude Cities in View of Climate Change (UCaHS)” and the research programme “Urban Climate Under Change ([UC])”, funded by the German Ministry of Research and Education (FKZ 01LP1602A; Berlin), ICOS‐Finland and CarboCity (Grant No. 321 527) funded by the Acedamy of Finland (Helsinki), Municipality of Heraklion (Contract 105, 26/5/2 020), K. Politakos processing additional data (Heraklion), National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC) and Mexico City's Secretariat for the Environment through the Molina Center for Energy and the Environment (MCE2; Mexico City), National Research Foundation of Korea Grant from the Korean Government (MSIT; NRF‐2018R1A5A1024958; Seoul), National Research Foundation and the National University of Singapore (research grant R‐109‐000‐091‐112; Singapore), Discovery Grants of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS; Vancouver). 2

Funding Information:
Harro Jongen acknowledges this research was supported by the WIMEK PhD Grant 2020. The observations have been supported by Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute, project VIR16002), Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Project 864.14.007, Bert Heusinkveld (WUR) (Amsterdam), ?Climate Proof Cities? within the second phase of the Knowledge for Climate Program, co-financed by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, the strategic research program KBIV ?Sustainable spatial development of ecosystems, landscapes, seas and regions?, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, Wageningen University and Research Centre (Project KB-14-002-005; Arnhem), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) grant SCHE 750/8 and SCHE 750/9 within Research Unit 1736 ?Urban Climate and Heat Stress in Mid Latitude Cities in View of Climate Change (UCaHS)? and the research programme ?Urban Climate Under Change ([UC]2)?, funded by the German Ministry of Research and Education (FKZ 01LP1602A; Berlin), ICOS-Finland and CarboCity (Grant No. 321 527) funded by the Acedamy of Finland (Helsinki), Municipality of Heraklion (Contract 105, 26/5/2 020), K. Politakos processing additional data (Heraklion), National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC) and Mexico City's Secretariat for the Environment through the Molina Center for Energy and the Environment (MCE2; Mexico City), National Research Foundation of Korea Grant from the Korean Government (MSIT; NRF-2018R1A5A1024958; Seoul), National Research Foundation and the National University of Singapore (research grant R-109-000-091-112; Singapore), Discovery Grants of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS; Vancouver).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022. The Authors.

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Geophysics
Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)

UN SDGs

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

Access to Document

10.1029/2021GL096069

Cite this

Jongen, H. J., Steeneveld, G. J., Beringer, J., Christen, A., Chrysoulakis, N., Fortuniak, K., Hong, J., Hong, J. W., Jacobs, C. M. J., Järvi, L., Meier, F., Pawlak, W., Roth, M., Theeuwes, N. E., Velasco, E., Vogt, R., & Teuling, A. J. (2022). Urban Water Storage Capacity Inferred From Observed Evapotranspiration Recession. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(3), [e2021GL096069]. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL096069

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title = "Urban Water Storage Capacity Inferred From Observed Evapotranspiration Recession",

abstract = "Water storage plays an important role in mitigating heat and flooding in urban areas. Assessment of the water storage capacity of cities remains challenging due to the inherent heterogeneity of the urban surface. Traditionally, effective storage has been estimated from runoff. Here, we present a novel approach to estimate effective water storage capacity from recession rates of observed evaporation during precipitation-free periods. We test this approach for cities at neighborhood scale with eddy-covariance based latent heat flux observations from 14 contrasting sites with different local climate zones, vegetation cover and characteristics, and climates. Based on analysis of 583 drydowns, we find storage capacities to vary between 1.3 and 28.4 mm, corresponding to e-folding timescales of 1.8–20.1 days. This makes the urban storage capacity at least five times smaller than all the observed values for natural ecosystems, reflecting an evaporation regime characterized by extreme water limitation.",

author = "Jongen, {H. J.} and Steeneveld, {G. J.} and J. Beringer and A. Christen and N. Chrysoulakis and K. Fortuniak and J. Hong and Hong, {J. W.} and Jacobs, {C. M.J.} and L. J{\"a}rvi and F. Meier and W. Pawlak and M. Roth and Theeuwes, {N. E.} and E. Velasco and R. Vogt and Teuling, {A. J.}",

note = "Funding Information: Harro Jongen acknowledges this research was supported by the WIMEK PhD Grant 2020. The observations have been supported by Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute, project VIR16002), Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Project 864.14.007, Bert Heusinkveld (WUR) (Amsterdam), “Climate Proof Cities” within the second phase of the Knowledge for Climate Program, co‐financed by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, the strategic research program KBIV {\textquoteleft}Sustainable spatial development of ecosystems, landscapes, seas and regions{\textquoteright}, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, Wageningen University and Research Centre (Project KB‐14‐002‐005; Arnhem), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) grant SCHE 750/8 and SCHE 750/9 within Research Unit 1736 “Urban Climate and Heat Stress in Mid Latitude Cities in View of Climate Change (UCaHS)” and the research programme “Urban Climate Under Change ([UC])”, funded by the German Ministry of Research and Education (FKZ 01LP1602A; Berlin), ICOS‐Finland and CarboCity (Grant No. 321 527) funded by the Acedamy of Finland (Helsinki), Municipality of Heraklion (Contract 105, 26/5/2 020), K. Politakos processing additional data (Heraklion), National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC) and Mexico City's Secretariat for the Environment through the Molina Center for Energy and the Environment (MCE2; Mexico City), National Research Foundation of Korea Grant from the Korean Government (MSIT; NRF‐2018R1A5A1024958; Seoul), National Research Foundation and the National University of Singapore (research grant R‐109‐000‐091‐112; Singapore), Discovery Grants of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS; Vancouver). 2 Funding Information: Harro Jongen acknowledges this research was supported by the WIMEK PhD Grant 2020. The observations have been supported by Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute, project VIR16002), Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Project 864.14.007, Bert Heusinkveld (WUR) (Amsterdam), ?Climate Proof Cities? within the second phase of the Knowledge for Climate Program, co-financed by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, the strategic research program KBIV ?Sustainable spatial development of ecosystems, landscapes, seas and regions?, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, Wageningen University and Research Centre (Project KB-14-002-005; Arnhem), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) grant SCHE 750/8 and SCHE 750/9 within Research Unit 1736 ?Urban Climate and Heat Stress in Mid Latitude Cities in View of Climate Change (UCaHS)? and the research programme ?Urban Climate Under Change ([UC]2)?, funded by the German Ministry of Research and Education (FKZ 01LP1602A; Berlin), ICOS-Finland and CarboCity (Grant No. 321 527) funded by the Acedamy of Finland (Helsinki), Municipality of Heraklion (Contract 105, 26/5/2 020), K. Politakos processing additional data (Heraklion), National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC) and Mexico City's Secretariat for the Environment through the Molina Center for Energy and the Environment (MCE2; Mexico City), National Research Foundation of Korea Grant from the Korean Government (MSIT; NRF-2018R1A5A1024958; Seoul), National Research Foundation and the National University of Singapore (research grant R-109-000-091-112; Singapore), Discovery Grants of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS; Vancouver). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022. The Authors.",

year = "2022",

month = feb,

day = "16",

doi = "10.1029/2021GL096069",

language = "English",

volume = "49",

journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",

issn = "0094-8276",

publisher = "American Geophysical Union",

number = "3",

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Jongen, HJ, Steeneveld, GJ, Beringer, J, Christen, A, Chrysoulakis, N, Fortuniak, K, Hong, J, Hong, JW, Jacobs, CMJ, Järvi, L, Meier, F, Pawlak, W, Roth, M, Theeuwes, NE, Velasco, E, Vogt, R & Teuling, AJ 2022, 'Urban Water Storage Capacity Inferred From Observed Evapotranspiration Recession', Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 49, no. 3, e2021GL096069. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL096069

TY - JOUR

T1 - Urban Water Storage Capacity Inferred From Observed Evapotranspiration Recession

AU - Jongen, H. J.

AU - Steeneveld, G. J.

AU - Beringer, J.

AU - Christen, A.

AU - Chrysoulakis, N.

AU - Fortuniak, K.

AU - Hong, J.

AU - Hong, J. W.

AU - Jacobs, C. M.J.

AU - Järvi, L.

AU - Meier, F.

AU - Pawlak, W.

AU - Roth, M.

AU - Theeuwes, N. E.

AU - Velasco, E.

AU - Vogt, R.

AU - Teuling, A. J.

N1 - Funding Information: Harro Jongen acknowledges this research was supported by the WIMEK PhD Grant 2020. The observations have been supported by Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute, project VIR16002), Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Project 864.14.007, Bert Heusinkveld (WUR) (Amsterdam), “Climate Proof Cities” within the second phase of the Knowledge for Climate Program, co‐financed by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, the strategic research program KBIV ‘Sustainable spatial development of ecosystems, landscapes, seas and regions’, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, Wageningen University and Research Centre (Project KB‐14‐002‐005; Arnhem), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) grant SCHE 750/8 and SCHE 750/9 within Research Unit 1736 “Urban Climate and Heat Stress in Mid Latitude Cities in View of Climate Change (UCaHS)” and the research programme “Urban Climate Under Change ([UC])”, funded by the German Ministry of Research and Education (FKZ 01LP1602A; Berlin), ICOS‐Finland and CarboCity (Grant No. 321 527) funded by the Acedamy of Finland (Helsinki), Municipality of Heraklion (Contract 105, 26/5/2 020), K. Politakos processing additional data (Heraklion), National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC) and Mexico City's Secretariat for the Environment through the Molina Center for Energy and the Environment (MCE2; Mexico City), National Research Foundation of Korea Grant from the Korean Government (MSIT; NRF‐2018R1A5A1024958; Seoul), National Research Foundation and the National University of Singapore (research grant R‐109‐000‐091‐112; Singapore), Discovery Grants of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS; Vancouver). 2 Funding Information: Harro Jongen acknowledges this research was supported by the WIMEK PhD Grant 2020. The observations have been supported by Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute, project VIR16002), Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Project 864.14.007, Bert Heusinkveld (WUR) (Amsterdam), ?Climate Proof Cities? within the second phase of the Knowledge for Climate Program, co-financed by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, the strategic research program KBIV ?Sustainable spatial development of ecosystems, landscapes, seas and regions?, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, Wageningen University and Research Centre (Project KB-14-002-005; Arnhem), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) grant SCHE 750/8 and SCHE 750/9 within Research Unit 1736 ?Urban Climate and Heat Stress in Mid Latitude Cities in View of Climate Change (UCaHS)? and the research programme ?Urban Climate Under Change ([UC]2)?, funded by the German Ministry of Research and Education (FKZ 01LP1602A; Berlin), ICOS-Finland and CarboCity (Grant No. 321 527) funded by the Acedamy of Finland (Helsinki), Municipality of Heraklion (Contract 105, 26/5/2 020), K. Politakos processing additional data (Heraklion), National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC) and Mexico City's Secretariat for the Environment through the Molina Center for Energy and the Environment (MCE2; Mexico City), National Research Foundation of Korea Grant from the Korean Government (MSIT; NRF-2018R1A5A1024958; Seoul), National Research Foundation and the National University of Singapore (research grant R-109-000-091-112; Singapore), Discovery Grants of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS; Vancouver). Publisher Copyright: © 2022. The Authors.

PY - 2022/2/16

Y1 - 2022/2/16

N2 - Water storage plays an important role in mitigating heat and flooding in urban areas. Assessment of the water storage capacity of cities remains challenging due to the inherent heterogeneity of the urban surface. Traditionally, effective storage has been estimated from runoff. Here, we present a novel approach to estimate effective water storage capacity from recession rates of observed evaporation during precipitation-free periods. We test this approach for cities at neighborhood scale with eddy-covariance based latent heat flux observations from 14 contrasting sites with different local climate zones, vegetation cover and characteristics, and climates. Based on analysis of 583 drydowns, we find storage capacities to vary between 1.3 and 28.4 mm, corresponding to e-folding timescales of 1.8–20.1 days. This makes the urban storage capacity at least five times smaller than all the observed values for natural ecosystems, reflecting an evaporation regime characterized by extreme water limitation.

AB - Water storage plays an important role in mitigating heat and flooding in urban areas. Assessment of the water storage capacity of cities remains challenging due to the inherent heterogeneity of the urban surface. Traditionally, effective storage has been estimated from runoff. Here, we present a novel approach to estimate effective water storage capacity from recession rates of observed evaporation during precipitation-free periods. We test this approach for cities at neighborhood scale with eddy-covariance based latent heat flux observations from 14 contrasting sites with different local climate zones, vegetation cover and characteristics, and climates. Based on analysis of 583 drydowns, we find storage capacities to vary between 1.3 and 28.4 mm, corresponding to e-folding timescales of 1.8–20.1 days. This makes the urban storage capacity at least five times smaller than all the observed values for natural ecosystems, reflecting an evaporation regime characterized by extreme water limitation.

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U2 - 10.1029/2021GL096069

DO - 10.1029/2021GL096069

M3 - Letter

AN - SCOPUS:85125073083

SN - 0094-8276

VL - 49

JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

IS - 3

M1 - e2021GL096069

ER -

Urban Water Storage Capacity Inferred From Observed Evapotranspiration Recession

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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UN SDGs

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