Increasing our understanding of the main processes acting in small Mediterranean catchments is essential to planning effective soil and water conservation practices in semi-arid areas. A monitoring program of a Sicilian catchment started in 1996 and ended in 2006. The factors driving the hydrological response for 170 events with runoff generation and 46 with sediment production were specified. The catchment response varied greatly over the year. Rainfall intensity was a poor driver of runoff generation, whereas both the simulations made with the Thornthwaite-Mather water balance model and hydrograph recession analyses, pointed to the chief importance of wet antecedent conditions and soil saturation processes in runoff generation. The influence of rainfall spatial variability was also examined. SSC-Q relationships, classified by following their shapes for all sediment production events, suggested that the principal role of small poorly vegetated hillslope patches was as sediment sources and confirmed the complexity of the hydrological response in this small Mediterranean catchment.
The climatic variability and climate changes in the geological history of Earth are correlated with the environmental development. A special attention is paid to the impact of changing climate on the water resources and hydrological cycle. Possible impact of man's activities on the climatic variability is also discussed. Can the regulation of such activities slow down or bring to a stop the forthcoming climate change? A comparison of data from the Holocene period and from modern history indicates that the climatic variability and climate change have been always produced by external periodic phenomena and occasional cataclysmic events. In other words, the climate has never been stable and administrative measures limiting man's influence on the climate can bring only partial results. Considering that the climatic change is an unavoidable process, following measures should be taken: First, alternative scenarios of possible climatic development, would it be cooling or warming, should be set up. Second, preventive and protective methodologies need to be prepared for each scenario well in advance. Third, technologies facilitating man's survival and everyday life under changed climatic situation should be developed. and Klimatická variabilita a změny klimatu jsou sledovány v geologické historii Země a korelovány s historií životního prostředí. Zvláštní pozornost se věnuje vlivu měnícího se klimatu na vodní zdroje a hydrologický cyklus. Také je diskutován vliv činnosti člověka ve vztahu ke klimatu. Je možné redukcí takových aktivit zpomalit nebo zcela zastavit klimatické změny? Porovnání dat z holocénu a moderní historie ukazuje, že klimatická variabilita a změny byly vždycky vyvolávány mimozemskými periodickými vlivy, případně občasnými katastrofickými jevy. Jinými slovy, klima nikdy nebylo stabilní. Proto také administrativní opatření, omezující vliv člověka na klima, mohou být úspěšná pouze do jisté míry. Uvážíme-li, že klimatická variabilita i její hydrologické následky jsou nevyhnutelné, je třeba připravit příslušné scénáře možných klimatických změn, ať už souvisí s ochlazováním nebo oteplováním. Pro každý ze scénářů je třeba navrhnout metody preventivních a ochranných opatření s dostatečným předstihem. Konečně bude třeba vypracovat nové technologie usnadňující život člověka ve změněných klimatických podmínkách.
The paper evaluates the results of a 6-year-monitoring of the eco-hydrological influence of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and European beech (Fagus silvatica L.) forest stands on the hydro-physical properties of snow cover. The experiment was carried out in the artificially regenerated 20-25-year-old forest stands approaching the pole timber stage in the middle mountain region of the Polana Mts. - Biosphere reserve situated at about 600 m a.s.l. during the period of maximum snow supply in winters of years 2004 -2009. Forest canopy plays a decisive role at both the snow cover duration and spring snow melting and runoff generation. A spruce stand is the poorest of snow at the beginning of winter. High interception of spruce canopy hampers the throughfall of snow to soil. During the same period, the soil surface of a beech stand accumulates greater amount of snow. However, a spruce stand accumulates snow by creating snow heaps during the periods of maximum snow cumulation and stand´s microclimate slows down snow melting. These processes are in detail discussed in the paper. The forest stands of the whole biosphere reserve slow down to a significant extent both the snow cover melting and the spring runoff of the whole watershed. and Práca hodnotí výsledky 6-ročného terénneho monitoringu eko-hydrologického vplyvu porastov smreka obyčajného (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) a buka lesného (Fagus silvatica L.) na hydrofyzikálne vlastnosti snehovej pokrývky. Experiment prebiehal v rokoch 2004 - 2009 počas obdobia s maximálnou zásobou snehu na výskumnej ploche v stredohorskej oblasti (nadmorská výška okolo 600 m n.m.) v Biosférickej rezervácii Poľana v 20- až 25- ročnom umelo obnovenom poraste vo fáze žrďoviny. Koruny porastu zohrávajú rozhodujúcu úlohu, ako pri topení snehu, tak aj pri formování odtoku. Začiatkom zimnej sezóny sa v smrekovom poraste nachádza menej snehu. Vysoká intercepcia smrekov bráni v prenikaní snehu k pôde. V rovnakom období sa na pôde v bukovom poraste akumuluje vačšie množstvo snehu. Smrekový porast však vďaka akumulovaniu snehu pri tvorbe snehových kôp počas obdobia s maximálnou kumuláciou snehu ako aj vďaka porastovej mikroklíme spomaľuje topenie snehu. V článku podrobne opisujeme tieto procesy. Porasty celej biosférickej rezervácie sa významne podieľajú na spomaľovaní ako topenia sa snehu, tak aj jarného odtoku z celého povodia.
The problem of understand natural processes as factors that restrict, limit or even jeopardize the interests of human society is currently of great concern. The natural transformation of flood waves is increasingly affected and disturbed by artificial interventions in river basins. The Danube River basin is an area of high economic and water management importance. Channel training can result in changes in the transformation of flood waves and different hydrographic shapes of flood waves compared with the past. The estimation and evolution of the transformation of historical flood waves under recent river conditions is only possible by model simulations. For this purpose a nonlinear reservoir cascade model was constructed. The NLN-Danube nonlinear reservoir river model was used to simulate the transformation of flood waves in four sections of the Danube River from Kienstock (Austria) to Štúrovo (Slovakia) under relatively recent river reach conditions. The model was individually calibrated for two extreme events in August 2002 and June 2013. Some floods that occurred on the Danube during the period of 1991-2002 were used for the validation of the model. The model was used to identify changes in the transformational properties of the Danube channel in the selected river reach for some historical summer floods (1899, 1954 1965 and 1975). Finally, a simulation of flood wave propagation of the most destructive Danube flood of the last millennium (August 1501) is discussed.
We computed annual precipitation totals for six catchments in the West and High Tatra Mountains (Roháčska, Jalovecká, Žiarska, Račkova, Tichá and Kôprová dolina) for hydrological years 1989-1998 using different interpolation and extrapolation methods. Precipitation estimates for the entire period as well as for particular hydrological years were used to compute evapotranspiration from the hydrological balance equation. The results have shown that although we used all existing precipitation data from the region along with the sophisticated methods to estimate catchment precipitation, yet, the water balance of the mountain catchments was not explained satisfactorily. and V práci sú vypočítané ročné zrážkové úhrny v šiestich povodiach Západných a Vysokých Tatier (Roháčska, Jalovecká, Žiarska, Račkova, Tichá a Kôprová dolina) pomocou rôznych interpolačných a extrapolačných metód pre hydrologické roky 1989 až1998, aj pre priemerné ročné úhrny za celé obdobie. Pre zrážkové úhrny určené rôznymi metódami bol z rovnice hydrologickej bilancie vypočítaný výpar a výsledky boli vyhodnotené opäť pre celé obdobie, aj pre jednotlové hydrologické roky. Získané výsledky ukazujú, že ani pri použití všetkých existujúcich údajov a moderných výpočtových metód existujúca meracia sieť nedáva uspokojivú odpoveď na pochybnosti, ktoré vznikajú pri určení základných prvkov hydrologickej bilancie v jednotlivých horských povodiach.