Ricardo Sánchez‐Murillo

The University of Texas at Arlington

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Germain Esquivel‐Hernández

Universidad Nacional

Christian Birkel

Universidad de Costa Rica

Jan Boll

Washington State University

Ana María Durán‐Quesada

Universidad de Costa Rica

Chris Soulsby

Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries

Lucía Ortega

International Atomic Energy Agency

Didier Gastmans

Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)

Vinícius dos Santos

Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)

Rolando Sánchez‐Gutiérrez

Universidad Nacional

Doerthe Tetzlaff

Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries

Cooperative Institutions

Universidad Nacional

Universidad de Costa Rica

Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)

International Atomic Energy Agency

Oregon State University

University of Cuenca

Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

University of Idaho

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries

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Hydrological dataset of a sub-humid continental plain basin (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Data in Brief (2020)

María Emilia Zabala Ricardo Sánchez‐Murillo Sebastián Dietrich Martín Gorocito Luis Vives

The Chaco-Pampean Plain (Argentina) is the strongest economic region and the most inhabited in the country, comprising approximately 66% of the country's population (26,500 million) [1]. In this region, surface slopes are very low (<0.1%) and due to the current climatological features, floods and droughts alternate over time. Salinity and alkalinity of water and soil increase towards the flattest sector of the basin, as well as the contents of arsenic and fluoride, which restrict their human use. Worldwide, population growth and global warming, in addition to political decisions, are leading to abrupt land use changes. Under this premise, identifying and quantifying the hydrological processes that control water quantity and its chemical quality become an imperative task [2]. This data article provides a long-term hydrological dataset from a sector of the Chaco-Pampean Plain, the Del Azul creek basin. Hydrological data such as flow rates and piezometric levels, and physical–chemical (i.e., major and minor solutes, and trace elements) and isotopic (δ18O, δ2H; and d-excess) data from rainwater, surface (creek and wetland) and groundwater (at two depths) are available. Rainwater samples are derived from three precipitation collectors installed at different altitudes (monitoring period: 2010–2019; n = 57). Surface water samples were collected at three sampling sites located along the Del Azul Creek and six wetlands (monitoring period: 2018–2019; n = 12). Groundwater samples were collected from 17 piezometers with depths ranging between 3 and 10 m, and from 12 piezometers of 30 m depth, all located throughout the entire basin (monitoring period: 2018–2019; n = 115). Sampling campaigns were performed during the austral dry (summer) and wet (spring) seasons. This dataset provides useful information to understand a) how water moves from recharge to discharge areas, b) how water acquires salinity, and c) how particular solutes of concern, such as arsenic and fluoride, are distributed in space and time across in an extensive plain.

Piezometer

Rainwater Harvesting

10.1016/j.dib.2020.106400

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Data Descriptor: Daily observations of stable isotope ratios of rainfall in the tropics

Scientific Reports (2019)

Niels C. Munksgaard Naoyuki Kurita Ricardo Sánchez‐Murillo N. Ahmed L. Araguás

Abstract We present precipitation isotope data (δ 2 H and δ 18 O values) from 19 stations across the tropics collected from 2012 to 2017 under the Coordinated Research Project F31004 sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Rainfall samples were collected daily and analysed for stable isotopic ratios of oxygen and hydrogen by participating laboratories following a common analytical framework. We also calculated daily mean stratiform rainfall area fractions around each station over an area of 5° x 5° longitude/latitude based on TRMM/GPM satellite data. Isotope time series, along with information on rainfall amount and stratiform/convective proportions provide a valuable tool for rainfall characterisation and to improve the ability of isotope-enabled Global Circulation Models to predict variability and availability of inputs to fresh water resources across the tropics.

Longitude

10.1038/s41598-019-50973-9

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Climate and Water Conflicts Coevolution from Tropical Development and Hydro‐Climatic Perspectives: A Case Study of Costa Rica

JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association (2017)

Germain Esquivel‐Hernández Ricardo Sánchez‐Murillo Christian Birkel Jan Boll

Abstract Costa Rica is a nation with a vast wealth of water resources; however, recently the country has faced water conflicts (WC) due to social, economic, legal, and political impediments in response to limited water availability during El Niño events and inefficient use of its water resources. This study presents a spatial distribution and temporal analysis of WC in Costa Rica from 2005 to 2015. In total, 719 WC were analyzed of which 54% were among private individuals and government. The largest urban areas and the Grande de Tárcoles Basin were identified as the main “hot spot” for the conflicts. WC were mainly caused by spills of wastewater, water pollution, water shortage, infrastructure damage, and flooding, and can be predicted using a multiple linear model including the population size and the number of hydro‐meteorological events (HME) ( R 2 = 0.77). The identified HME also coevolved significantly with the changes in precipitation regimes ( r = 0.67, p = 0.021). Our results suggest that there is a need to recognize that water infrastructure longevity across the country concatenates and amplifies WC, mainly in the most populated area located in the Central Valley. Implications of our findings include the need for truly integrated water resources management plans that include, for example, WC as indicators of hydro‐climatic changing conditions and water supply and sanitation infrastructure status.

10.1111/1752-1688.12617

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Headwaters drive streamflow and lowland tracer export in a large‐scale humid tropical catchment

Hydrological Processes (2020)

Christian Birkel Alicia Correa Marco Martinez‐Martinez Sebastián Granados-Bolaños Nelson Venegas‐Cordero

Abstract Headwaters are generally assumed to contribute the majority of water to downstream users, but how much water, of what quality and where it is generated are rarely known in the humid tropics. Here, using monthly monitoring in the data scarce (2,370 km 2 ) San Carlos catchment in northeastern Costa Rica, we determined runoff‐area relationships linked to geochemical and isotope tracers. We established 46 monitoring sites covering the full range of climatic, land use and geological gradients in the catchment. Regression and cluster analysis revealed unique spatial patterns and hydrologically functional landscape units. These units were used for seasonal and annual Bayesian tracer mixing models to assess spatial water source contributions to the outlet. Generally, the Bayesian mixing analysis showed that the chemical and isotopic imprint at the outlet is throughout the year dominated by the adjacent lowland catchments (68%) with much less tracer influence from the headwaters. However, the headwater catchments contributed the bulk of water and tracers to the outlet during the dry season (>50%) despite covering less than half of the total catchment area. Additionally, flow volumes seemed to be linearly scaled by area maintaining a link between the headwaters and the outlet particularly during high flows of the rainy season. Stable isotopes indicated mean recharge elevations above the mean catchment altitude, which further supports that headwaters were the primary source of downstream water. Our spatially detailed “snap‐shot” sampling enabled a viable alternative source of large‐scale hydrological process knowledge in the humid tropics with limited data availability.

TRACER

Base flow

Wet season

Catchment hydrology

Dry season

10.1002/hyp.13841

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Transpiration is the youngest water flux in the humid tropics

AGUFM (2019)

A. B. Correa Barahona Christian Birkel Jason Gutierrez Joni Dehaspe Ana María Durán‐Quesada

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Deciphering key processes controlling rainfall isotopic variability during extreme tropical cyclones

Nature Communications (2019)

Ricardo Sánchez‐Murillo Ana María Durán‐Quesada Germain Esquivel‐Hernández Daniela Rojas-Cantillano Christian Birkel

10.1038/s41467-019-12062-3

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Citations (77)

Author response for "Stable isotope tempestology of tropical cyclones across the North Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Ocean basins"

Ricardo Sánchez‐Murillo Dimitris A. Herrera Kegan K. Farrick Germain Esquivel‐Hernández Rolando Sánchez‐Gutiérrez

Atlantic hurricane

Pacific basin

Oceanic basin

10.1111/nyas.15274/v3/response1

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Demystifying the art of isotope-enabled hydrological and climate modelling

The Science of The Total Environment (2025)

Christian Birkel Jodie Miller Andrew Watson Duc Anh Trinh Ana María Durán‐Quesada

Over the last 20 years, we have dramatically improved hydrometeorological data including isotopes, but are we making the most of this data? Stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen in the water molecule (stable water isotopes - SWI) are well known tracers of the global hydrological cycle producing critical climate science. Despite this, stable water isotopes are not explicitly included in influential climate reports (e.g. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC) except for paleoclimate reconstructions. Continuous developments in modelling approaches have now made isotope-enabled modelling of climate and hydrology more powerful and easier to perform, reducing prediction uncertainty and providing more robust simulations. We argue that it is time to incorporate stable water isotopes and isotope-enabled modelling into mainstream hydroclimatic forecasting with the prospect of vastly improving climate change predictions and evidence.

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.178242

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Deciphering complex groundwater age distributions and recharge processes in a tropical and fractured volcanic multi‐aquifer system

Hydrological Processes (2022)

Ricardo Sánchez‐Murillo Irene Montero‐Rodríguez José Leonardo Corrales-Salazar Germain Esquivel‐Hernández Laura Castro‐Chacón

Abstract Groundwater recharge in highly fractured volcanic aquifers in the humid tropics remains poorly understood. In this region, rapid demographic growth and unregulated land use change are resulting in extensive surface water pollution and a large dependency on groundwater extraction. Here we present a multi‐tracer approach including δ 18 Oδ 2 H, 3 H/ 3 He dating, and noble gases (NG) within the most prominent multi‐aquifer system of central Costa Rica, with the objective to assess dominant groundwater recharge mechanisms and age distributions. We sampled wells and large springs across an elevation gradient from 868 to 2421 m asl. Our results indicate relatively young apparent ages ranging from 0.0 ± 3.2 up to 43.5 ± 7.6 years within the unconfined aquifer system. Helium isotopes (R/R a up to 5.4) indicate a dominant signal from the upper mantle and preclude 3 H/ 3 He dating in 50% of the samples. Potential recharge elevations (based on NG and δ 18 O) ranged from ~1350 to 2670 m asl. NG‐derived recharge temperatures ranged from 11.0°C to 19.4°C. Recharge estimates varied from 129 ± 78 to 1605 ± 196 mm/yr with a mean value of 642 ± 117 mm/yr, representing 20.1 ± 4.0% of the total mean annual rainfall as effective recharge. The shallow unconfined aquifer is characterized by young and rapidly infiltrating water, whereas the deeper aquifer units have relatively older water (>60 years). These results are intended to guide the delineation and mapping of critical recharge areas in mountain headwaters to enhance water security and sustainability in the most important headwater dependent systems of Costa Rica.

Depression-focused recharge

10.1002/hyp.14521

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Tracing Urban Drinking Water Sources: Global State of the Art and Insights From an IAEA‐Coordinated Research Project

Hydrological Processes (2024)

Ricardo Sánchez‐Murillo Lucía Ortega Polona Vreča Klara Žagar Suprina Shrestha

ABSTRACT Climate change, inter‐annual precipitation variability, recurrent droughts and flash flooding, coupled with increasing water needs, are shaping the co‐evolution of socioeconomic and cultural assemblages, water laws and regulations, and equitable drinking water access and allocation worldwide. Recognising the need for mitigation strategies for drinking water availability in urban areas, the Isotope Hydrology Section of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) coordinated a state‐of‐the‐art global assessment to evaluate water sources and distribution of drinking water supply in urban centres, an initiative entitled ‘Use of Isotope Techniques for the Evaluation of Water Sources for Domestic Supply in Urban Areas (2018–2023)’. Here, we report on (a) current research trends for studying urban drinking water systems during the last two decades and (b) the development, testing and integration of new methodologies, aiming for a better assessment, mapping and management of water resources used for drinking water supply in urban settings. Selected examples of water isotope applications (Canada, USA, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Morocco, Botswana, Romania, Slovenia, India and Nepal) provide context to the insights and recommendations reported and highlight the versatility of water isotopes to underpin seasonal and temporal variations across various environmental and climate scenarios. The study revealed that urban areas depend on a large spectrum of water recharge across mountain ranges, extensive local groundwater extraction and water transfer from nearby or distant river basins. The latter is reflected in the spatial isotope snapshot variability. High‐resolution monitoring (hourly and sub‐hourly) isotope sampling revealed large diurnal variations in the wet tropics (Costa Rica) (up to 1.5‰ in δ 18 O) and more uniform diurnal variations in urban centres fed by groundwater sources (0.08‰ in δ 18 O) (Ljubljana, Slovenia). Similarly, while d ‐excess was fairly close to the global mean value (+10‰) across all urban centres (10‰–15‰), reservoir‐based drinking water systems show lower values (up to ~ −20‰) (Arlington, TX, USA and Gaborone, Botswana), as a result of strong evapoconcentration processes. δ 18 O time series and depth‐integrated sampling highlighted the influence of the catchment damping ratio in the ultimate intake water composition. By introducing new, traceable spatial and temporal tools that span from the water source to the end‐user and are linked to the engineered and socio‐economic structure of the water distribution system, governmental, regional or community‐based water operators and practitioners could enhance drinking water treatment strategies (including more accurate surface water blending estimations) and improve urban water management and conservation plans in the light of global warming.

Tracing

10.1002/hyp.15312

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