Stream Temperature Responses to Summer Urban Rain Events Along the Savannah River

Journal Article · Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2025 · Journal of South Carolina Water Resources

OSTI ID:3023083

Wermter, Joseph E. ^[1]; Turner, Vivian L. ^[1]; Appelbaum, Max K. ^[2]; Shepherd, James M. ^[3]; Lott, Jacob Z. ^[4]

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1. Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), Aiken, SC (United States)
2. Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (United States)
3. Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA (United States)
4. Phinizy Center for Water Sciences

The hydrological urban heat island (HUHI) is a recent facet of the urban heat island (UHI), describing thermal enhancement of bodies of water in response to urbanization. Although the forefront of this work has been studied for large Metropolitan areas, this effect on developing cities is currently unknown. To locally measure and quantify HUHI effects in a developing city, we utilized Multi-Radar Multi Sensor (MRMS) radar-derived rainfall data to estimate rainfall in the Augusta Metropolitan Area (AMA) and the Savannah Metropolitan Area (SMA), two developing communities adjacent to the Savannah River. We analyzed mean temperature trends of two stream gauges measuring temperature at, and downstream of the central AMA and the SMA. Results show overall peak stream temperatures within AMA are reached within a 2hr timeframe with surge temperatures between 1-2 K, perhaps assisted by the presence of the Augusta Shoals further upstream. The SMA appears to have little HUHI effects due to urban greening and impacts to coastal meteorology. It is suggested that Moderate rainfall events (10-25mm of rainfall) have a significant correlation (~0.1 correlation coefficient with a significance level of 0.05) between stream temperature and rainfall, indicating potential warmer runoff input into the Savannah River. Although results seem promising, further research into moderate rainfall events are needed to determine the extent of the HUHI for AMA.

• Research Organization: Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), Aiken, SC (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM)
• DOE Contract Number: 89303321CEM000080
• OSTI ID: 3023083
• Report Number(s): SRNL-STI-2023-00575
• Journal Information: Journal of South Carolina Water Resources, Journal Name: Journal of South Carolina Water Resources Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 10; ISSN 2334-4962
• Publisher: Available at https://open.clemson.edu/jscwr/vol10/iss1/1/
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English