Sequential Precipitation Input Tagging (SPIT) to Estimate Water Transit
Times and Hydrologic Tracer Dynamics within Water-Tagging Enabled
Hydrologic Models
Abstract
The hydrologic community uses geochemical tracers to determine the age
distribution of water exiting a catchment, with transit time
distributions (TTDs) important for understanding groundwater storage and
mixing. New water-tagging capabilities within models track precipitation
events as they move through simulated storages. Here, we present a
‘sequential precipitation input tagging’ (SPIT) framework to tag all
input precipitation events at regular intervals over an extended period
(monthly tags over seven years). SPIT is applied at six National
Ecological Observatory Network sites to calculate TTDs and derive from
these mean transit times (MTT), fractions of young water (Fyw), and
hydrologic tracer concentrations (δQ-δ18O and δ2H) within a
water-tagging enabled version of the Weather Research and Forecast
hydrologic model. Throughout seven simulation years, the fraction of
simulated discharge derived from tagged events increased each year, with
the final year’s tagged stream water fraction (TSWF) ranging 21% to
100%. When the TSWF was ≥75%, simulated MTTs range 190 days to 850
days and Fyw 1% to 24%, with a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 456
days and 14.5%. The RMSE for δ18O is 1.08‰ and δ2H 6.58‰. Low TSWF
values early in the simulation period highlights the need to apply SPIT
over many years to fully understand the TTD. At daily timescales, model
MTT and Fyw exhibit a power-law relationship with precipitation,
discharge, and groundwater. The successful implementation of SPIT within
a tracer-enabled version of an operational hydrologic model allows for a
reproducible approach to calculate water transit times and hydrologic
tracers.