We examined changes in catchment-scale annual and seasonal evapotranspiration after 50% strip thinning, using runoff data from headwater catchments. The short-term water balance (STWB) method between periods from 8 to 100 days was applied to the treated (KT) and control (KC) catchments. The estimated evapotranspiration during the pre- and post-thinning periods were 840 and 910 and 780 and 860 mm/year in the catchments KT and KC, respectively. According to a paired catchment analysis of estimated evapotranspiration, monthly evapotranspiration increased from 3 to 20 mm from June to December, while it decreased from 7 to 31 mm from January to May. The estimated annual and monthly evapotranspiration was compatible with the values monitored in the plot-scale interception, canopy transpiration, and ground surface evapotranspiration. Our findings showed that the decreases in evapotranspiration due to 50% thinning were similar or different in different methods of measurement when compared with thinning in the other catchments around the world. The STWB model can evaluate the effects of timber harvesting on changes in evapotranspiration (ET), including the reproduction of seasonal patterns of ET.

We examined stream temperature response to 50% strip-thinning of a 20- to 50-year-old Japanese cedar and cypress plantation in a 17-ha headwater catchment. The thinning lines extended through the riparian zone. Paired-catchment analysis was applied to estimate changes in daily maximum, mean, and minimum stream temperatures for the first year following treatment. Significant effects on daily maximum stream temperature were found for April to August, ranging from 0.6 to 3.9 °C, similar to the magnitude of effect found in previous studies involving 50% random thinning. Multiple regression analysis revealed that treatment effects for maximum daily stream temperature were positively related to solar radiation and negatively related to discharge. Frequent precipitation during the summer monsoon season produced moderate increases in discharge (from 1 to 5 mm day-1), which mitigates stream temperature increases associated with solar radiation. Catchment hydrologic response to rain events can play an important role in controlling stream thermal response to forest management practices.

Changes in the catchment scale water balance have important social implications for usable water now and in the future. Stream discharge is also directly related to radionuclides flux in the river water system. The aim of this study was to clarify the water balance in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) under current and future climate conditions. A catchment scale hydrological model was used with long-term discharge data to project the future trend of radionuclides wash-off from the contaminated catchment at the CEZ in Ukraine. The Sakhan river catchment at the CEZ (51.41°N, 30.00°E) in Ukraine is one of the Pripyat river systems, and has a total surface area of 186.9 km2. We found that under the current climate, 84% of annual input (sum of rainfall and snowmelt) was consumed as evapotranspiration, and discharge was estimated to be 16%. In future climates, annual precipitation is expected to increase. However, a projected increase in the vapor pressure deficit led the consumption of precipitation as evapotranspiration and no significant increase in discharge. The study found that warmer winter and spring temperatures will decrease the snowfall, and increase the rainfall, but it was not enough to increase evapotranspiration. As a result, the peak of discharge shifted from April to March. The increase of future average discharge during the winter and spring came from a combination of (1) increasing rainfall in the winter and spring, and (2) relatively small levels of evapotranspiration, which enhanced the catchment scale water recharge in soil moisture and gave rise to greater discharge during winter and spring. The reduction of extreme river discharge from the hydrological projections could reduce the probability of high radionuclides concentration in the river water system in the future, owing to the reduction of surface runoff water from the contaminated surface soil and/or top layer of floodplain soils in the CEZ.