Measurement and modelling of changes in the runoff regime following calamitous decay and regeneration of forest stands in small catchments in the Jeseníky Mountains
The article presents partial results of monitoring and modelling in the experimental forest catchments of Suchý, Sokolí, and Slučí streams, the right-handed tributaries of the Černá Opava in the Jeseníky PLA. These results have been generated since 2022 thanks to the NAZV project No. QK22010189 “The impact of deforestation on the water regime of small river basins” with the working title DEFOREST, which also evokes the main goal of the project; to try to capture changes in the dynamics of stands (decay, controlled and spontaneous succession, etc.) and in the runoff regime of these river basins with regard to bark beetle outbreak and the subsequent damage clearing. In all these experimental river basins, monitoring of selected hydrological regime elements (e.g. precipitation on the open area, under-canopy precipitation, volumetric soil moisture, snow gauge sensors) was established, including stationary measurement of water levels in the closing profiles of all three sub-river basins. For modelling of stand changes and hydrological response to these changes, forest stand models (including the self-developed DEFOREST application) and hydrological models HEC-HMS, SIMWE, MIKE SHE and SWAT were used. The extreme flood in September 2024 largely destroyed the water gauging stations and remodelled the watercourse beds, so in 2025 the project team will focus on restoring monitoring.
