Size relationships of water inflow into lakes: Empirical regressions suggest geometric scaling

作者：Hendriks A Jan^*; Schipper Aafke M; Caduff Marloes; Huijbregts Mark A J

来源：Journal of Hydrology, 2012, 414: 482-490.

DOI：10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.11.025

• Area
• Volume
• Residence time
• Retention
• OLS
• SMA

While lake and reservoir abundance has been correlated to size, water inflow has not been linked to the volume or area of water bodies. We therefore investigated relationships between water depth, surface area, volume and inflow for four categories of water bodies: unregulated lakes, regulated lakes, reservoirs and a combination of unregulated lakes and seas. Data on the physical dimensions of the water bodies (n = 652) were selected from databases and literature. To facilitate interpretation, the empirical regressions derived were compared with a theoretical framework comprising a minimum of equations with independently derived parameter values. %26lt;br%26gt;All empirical regressions were highly significant (p %26lt; 0.0001) and, with exception of some correlations for reservoirs, explained a large fraction (r(2) %26gt; 0.6) of the variability. The analysis showed that overall patterns in natural systems can be represented by cones or troughs with near-uniform scaling, supporting the model and parameter assumptions made. Water inflow in lakes scaled geometrically to catchment size, lake surface area and lake volume. Seas fitted into the patterns observed for lakes, but size scaling of man-made reservoirs was different. %26lt;br%26gt;Inflow increased with lake size at exponents that were opposite to those previously reported for lake abundance. Combining the relationships for inflow and abundance, a water equivalency hypothesis was postulated. While water can flow into a few large or many small lakes, it is suggested that, within a region, the total amount of water flowing into all lakes of a given size is independent of that size, similar to the energy equivalence rule in ecology.

• 出版日期2012-1-11