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Innovative Approaches in Hydrology Applied to the Study of River and Lakes Systems

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A Special Issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441) belonging to the section "Hydrology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2027 | Viewed by 2949

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Editors

Dr. Paweł Burandt

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Water Resources and Climatology, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Olsztyn, Poland
Interests: hydrology; groundwater quality; rivers; lakes; wetlands; hydrologic and water resource modeling and simulation; hydrogeochemistry; water resources; water resources management

Dr. Szymon Kobus

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Water Resources, Climatology and Environmental Management, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Olsztyn, Poland
Interests: rivers; lakes; hydrology; water quality; eutrophication; water quality monitoring; wetland ecology; wetlands; soil and water conservation; watershed management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, titled “Innovative Approaches in Hydrology Applied to the Study of River and Lakes Systems”, presents the latest developments in hydrology, with particular emphasis on their practical applications in river and lake systems. The contributions showcase innovative methods in hydrological monitoring, remote sensing, numerical modeling, and advanced data analysis techniques, which enhance our understanding of water flow, sediment transport, and related physicochemical processes. Topics also include water quality assessments and the physicochemical properties of waterbed sediments, examined in the context of both natural processes and anthropogenic influences.

The articles cover the development of new measurement methods, including observations using drones and satellites and their application to simulate surface runoff, erosion, sediment dynamics, and water quality under various hydrological conditions.

Both theoretical progress and practical applications are highlighted, with a focus on innovative hydrological tools and their application in the analysis of river morphology, sedimentation processes, chemical composition, and aquatic environmental assessment. By connecting innovative research across different catchment types, from mountainous areas to lowland river and lake systems, this issue supports the more accurate assessment of functioning systems through informed decision-making.

The aim of this Special Issue is to promote interdisciplinary knowledge exchange among hydrologists, geomorphologists, water quality specialists, environmental chemists, and water resource managers, encouraging the use of innovative hydrological methods to support the management of sustainable river and lake systems.

Dr. Paweł Burandt
Dr. Szymon Kobus
Guest Editors

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Keywords

innovative hydrological methods
river and lakes systems
water quality
physicochemical properties of bottom sediments
remote sensing in hydrology
numerical modeling
hydrological monitoring
water resource management
monitoring techniques
sedimentation processes

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 23616 KB

Open AccessArticle

Asymmetric Warming and Seasonal Reversal of the Mixed Layer in Plateau Lakes of the Northern Hemisphere

by Haijun Wang, Xiangdong Kong, Wei Qiu, Tianxiu Lu, Guihua Yi, Jingji Li, Onanong Phewnil, Yuyan Dai and Weiju Jia

Water 2026, 18(18), 2354; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18182354 - 21 Sep 2026

Viewed by 345

Abstract

Plateau lakes serve as important indicators of climate warming; however, systematic comparisons of regional differences in thermodynamic evolution and their driving mechanisms across different plateaus are still lacking. Based on ERA5 reanalysis data from 1980 to 2023, this study employed the Theil–Sen trend estimation, the Morlet wavelet period extraction, and the XGBoost–SHAP attribution analysis to investigate the variation mechanisms of mixed layer temperature (LMLT) and mixed layer depth (LMLD) in 18 lakes across five major plateaus in the mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The results show that summer LMLT increased significantly at rates of 0.22–0.39 °C per decade, with the fastest warming on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, while winter LMLT remained nearly stagnant, forming an asymmetric pattern of “summer warming, winter non-warming”. LMLT responded significantly to global warming (summer r = 0.60–0.87). Volcanic eruptions caused summer LMLT to rise by 0.07–0.28 °C, and compound heatwaves led to increases of 0.38–1.04 °C. Lake mixed layer depth exhibited a seasonal reversal: summer evaporation (SHAP = 49.2%) indirectly influenced mixed layer development through temperature, whereas intense winter evaporation (SHAP = 62.0%) caused water level decline, making the mixed layer appear shallower. Both linear and nonlinear models consistently identified evaporation as the key factor controlling mixed layer depth. The LMLD patterns of the five plateaus can be summarised into three driving modes: temperature-evaporation-dominated (Qinghai–Tibetan and Iranian), temperature-wind-synergistic (Rocky and Pamir), and wind-dominated (Mongolian). These findings reveal the sensitive response of plateau lake thermodynamics to global change, highlight the key role of evaporation in modulating mixed layer depth and its seasonal reversal effect, and complement the traditional temperature-centred paradigm of lake mixing mechanisms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Approaches in Hydrology Applied to the Study of River and Lakes Systems)

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39 pages, 8016 KB

Open AccessArticle

Semiparametric Trivariate D-Vine Copula Modelling of River Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen, and Flow for Compound Water-Quality Risk in the Yamuna and Tungabhadra Rivers, India

by Shahid Latif, Taha B. M. J. Ouarda and Shaik Rehana

Water 2026, 18(17), 2063; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18172063 - 22 Aug 2026

Viewed by 323

Abstract

Concurrent high river water temperature (RWT), low dissolved oxygen (DO), and low river flow (RF) can degrade water quality and aquatic habitat, but their joint probability is rarely quantified in a fully trivariate framework. This study develops a semiparametric trivariate drawable-vine (D-vine) copula model that uses Gaussian kernel density estimation (GKDE) margins with parametric pair-copulas to estimate compound thermal–oxygen–low-flow hazards. The framework provides conditional exceedance probabilities and AND- and OR-joint return periods (RPs) for monthly synchronized RWT–RF–DO states. The analysis uses 117 synchronized monthly triplets from the Tungabhadra and 152 from the Yamuna. Kendall’s

τ

values for RWT–RF and RF–DO are

- 0.12

and

+ 0.12

, respectively, at the Tungabhadra, compared with

+ 0.24

and

- 0.24

at the Yamuna, indicating contrasting basin-specific dependence pathways. Candidate D-vine orderings are evaluated through permutation-based centred-variable selection and compared with a minimum-spanning-tree heuristic. The final selection uses information criteria, scoring rules, and calibration diagnostics. The selected structure is RF-centred for the Tungabhadra and DO-centred for the Yamuna. Bootstrap analysis supports the stability of the principal dependence structure but shows higher uncertainty in some conditional tail components. For an RWT threshold of

30 ° C

, conditioned on DO and RF below their fifth percentiles, the fitted exceedance probability is approximately 0.90 at the Tungabhadra and 0.99 at the Yamuna. Within the available records, the Yamuna shows higher fitted co-occurrence probabilities and generally shorter trivariate AND-joint recurrence intervals than the Tungabhadra. The findings support risk-based screening of warm, low-flow, oxygen-stressed periods while emphasizing the need for local recalibration of margins, dependence structures, and management thresholds. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Approaches in Hydrology Applied to the Study of River and Lakes Systems)

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21 pages, 11456 KB

Open AccessArticle

Flood Propagation and Inundation Responses Across the Sudd Wetland

by Robert Galla, Hiroshi Ishidaira, Jun Magome and Kazuyoshi Souma

Water 2026, 18(12), 1477; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18121477 - 16 Jun 2026

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 656

Abstract

Flooding is one of the most common and destructive natural disasters worldwide, and projections indicate that its intensity will increase across various climate regions during this century. South Sudan is particularly vulnerable due to a combination of factors, including hydrological releases from Lake Victoria, local rainfall patterns, and wetland retention dynamics. These factors raise important questions regarding the hydrological connectivity between Lake Victoria and the Nile system. This study examined how upstream hydrological conditions impact flood dynamics in South Sudan’s flood-prone regions, specifically in the states of Jonglei and Unity along the River Nile. To statistically estimate flood propagation lag time from Lake Victoria to the Sudd wetland, we used Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) remote sensing data and water-level altimetry from both Lake Victoria and the River Nile at Mangalla. The analytical methods included moving block bootstrap (MBB) cross-correlation and Gaussian process (GP) modeling. Furthermore, we validated the event-based propagation and inundation patterns using flood event reports from the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM). The findings indicate that the statistical propagation signals took approximately 106 days during the wet season (95% confidence interval [CI]: 60–150 days) and 134 days during the dry season (95% CI: 75–195 days) for the downstream water level response to reach the River Nile at Mangalla, and 3–4 weeks to reach the adjacent floodplains downstream. Residual stationarity diagnostics showed augmented Dickey–Fuller (ADF) statistics below −7 across the analyzed propagation pathways, indicating statistically stationary lag-adjusted residual behavior. Consistent temporal correspondence between inferred flood arrival windows and independently reported DTM flood-impact periods provides cautious support for the hydrological plausibility of the estimated propagation structure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Approaches in Hydrology Applied to the Study of River and Lakes Systems)

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14 pages, 10823 KB

Open AccessArticle

Spatial Distribution and Sedimentology Implications of Man-Made Flood Deposits in the Lowermost Reach of the Yellow River, China

by Shuai Gao, Yijun Xu, Weihan Cao, Yan Liu, Yiming Tang, Hongwei Wang, Dexin Kong and Shuwei Zheng

Water 2026, 18(3), 330; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18030330 - 28 Jan 2026

Viewed by 998

Abstract

Man-made floods from dams are intentional for different purposes, e.g., spreading sediment and helping deltaic development. Less is known about their effects on slack-water deposits (SWDs) in downstream channels. Since the implementation of the Water and Sediment Regulation Project (WSRP) through a large dam on China’s Yellow River (YR) in 2002, the dynamic sedimentary environment of the river has undergone significant changes. To understand the sedimentary responses of the downstream channels to the man-made floods, this study was conducted following a 24-day man-made flood period in 2021 to investigate SWDs on the floodplains. Sediment samples were collected from four floodplain sites in the lowermost reach of the YR. The study showed that the median grain size (D₅₀) of the man-made flood SWDs on the floodplains ranges from 17 to 131 μm, with an average of 44.14 μm, classifying them as fine-grained deposits. Spatially, D₅₀ of 57.2% of the sampled SWDs exhibited an increasing trend from the riverbank to the main channel. This finding indicates that during the deposition process of floodplain floods, differences may exist in the direction perpendicular to the riverbank. Along the upstream-to-downstream direction, no obvious regularity was observed. Moreover, there is no positive correlation between sediment discharge and the average grain size of suspended sediment. These findings indicate that large man-made floods by a dam will not allow finer particles to settle. Such changes in sediment transport may have a long-term effect on Yellow River deltaic development and stability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Approaches in Hydrology Applied to the Study of River and Lakes Systems)

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