Seasonal variability and seasonal shifts of suspended sediment transport in large German river system

Suspended sediment transport is an integral part of river systems and provides important services for ecological functioning and human use of river channels. Thus, measuring and monitoring suspended sediment is of great importance to understand the implications of suspended sediment transport and to improve sustainable river management. Suspended sediment in the German waterways is monitored at 62 monitoring stations by the German Water and Shipping Authorities staring in the 1960ties. The dataset provides valuable information on the long-term developments of suspended sediment transport in Germany. After the analysis of suspended sediment rating (Hoffmann et al. 2020) and the long-term trend (Hoffmann et al. 2022) based on the extensive suspended sediment dataset, we present first results on the seasonal variation and the seasonal shifts of suspended sediment transport in Germany. The results indicate that river systems in Germany are characterized by strongly differential seasonal behavior despite modest spatial variations of climatic conditions in Germany. These results will be discussed in terms of seasonal shifts during the last 50 years and the expected changes of the sediment regimes in German river systems due to future climate changes.

 

References:

Hoffmann, T.O., Baulig, Y., Fischer, H., Blöthe, J., 2020. Scale breaks of suspended sediment rating in large rivers in Germany induced by organic matter. Earth Surface Dynamics, 8(3), 661-678.

Hoffmann, T.O., Baulig, Y., Vollmer, S., Blöthe, J., Fiener, P., 2022. Back to pristine levels: a meta-analysis of suspended sediment transport in large German river channels. Earth Surf. Dynam. Discuss., 2022, 1-28.