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Diel stream temperature regimes of Bukovsky regions of the conterminous United States
Author(s) -
Ferencz Stephen B.,
Cardenas M. Bayani
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2017gl072641
Subject(s) - diel vertical migration , streams , biogeochemical cycle , environmental science , range (aeronautics) , atmospheric sciences , climatology , ecology , geology , biology , computer network , materials science , computer science , composite material
Stream temperature which varies over daily to seasonal timescales is a primary control on myriad ecological, biogeochemical, and physical processes. Yet geographic patterns of its diel variations have not been fully characterized. Using daily temperature records spanning 15 years (2000–2014), monthly averaged mean daily temperature and diel temperature range were calculated for streams distributed across six Bukovsky regions of the conterminous U.S. Across all six regions, diel temperature fluctuations were lowest during the winter, around 1–2°C. During the summer there was wide distribution in diel temperatures (2°C–12°C). The regions revealed distinct differences in diel patterns for small and medium streams, but not for large streams. Small and medium streams exhibited notable hysteresis in their annual progression of diel temperature ranges, with larger diel temperature fluctuations in the spring than in the fall.