Partitioning daily evapotranspiration from a marsh wetland using stable isotopes in a semiarid region

Abstract

Abstract The hydrological process of evapotranspiration (ET) plays an important role in water circulation in wetlands, and understanding the contributions of wetland ET to local and regional water cycles can help in designing effective wetland management strategies. In this paper, a numerical model, vegetation indexes, and stable isotopes were integrated to partition ET in the Momoge Wetland to understand hydrological processes and calculate the contribution of wetland ET to local hydrological cycling. The results of the non-steady state (NSS) model indicated clear deviation of leaf water enrichment (δLb) from an isotopic steady state (ISS) for Phragmites australis, and the model accuracy improved particularly in the early morning and evening when air moisture was highest during the day. The isotopic mass balance showed that E and T contributed approximately 62% and 38% to ET, respectively. Using the estimated proportion of T to ET, in combination for the measured leaf transpiration, total ET was estimated at approximately 8.76 mm d−1. Additionally, the amount of ET clearly changed on an hourly scale, with most primarily occurring at approximately noon. Based on comparison among internationally important wetlands distributed in northeast China, the results in this study are reasonable and will provide theoretical data for wetland water resources management.