| |
The rapid development in one of the most important watersheds in Central America has caused unintended and cascading consequences for the environment and ecosystem in the region. Located in the province of Guanacaste in the Northwest region of Costa Rica, the Tempisque-Bebedero watershed has faced severe ecological degradation during the past four decades due to water transfer for hydropower generation and irrigation infrastructure systems. The basin outlet forms Palo Verde’s coastal wetland, part of the Palo Verde National Park, which is a critical protected area for North American migratory birds and has been identified under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland of international importance, especially as waterfowl habitat. A spatially explicit link-node hydrological model is developed and tested to study the spatial temporal dynamics and decouple the human and natural system interactions in the Tempisque-Bebedero watershed.
The model integrates and evaluates rainfall-runoff processes from gridded locations into daily summaries of water movement at 57 nodes, each with a temporally detailed set of hydrological processes, from the upper sections of the watershed to the Palo Verde National Park at the outlet. The findings serve to produce spatial maps series with detailed, 5-minute hydrograph time series (extent, depth and duration of flooding) used to understand the role of water and its different sources, the impact of human disturbances, and inform management alternatives. |
