Using isotopes to understand evaporation, moisture stress and re-wetting in catchment forest and grassland soils of the summer drought of 2018

Abstract. In drought sensitive lowland catchments, ecohydrological feedbacks to climatic anomalies can give valuable insights into ecosystem functioning in the context of alarming climate change projections. However, the dynamic influences of vegetation on spatio-temporal processes in water cycling in the critical zone of catchments are not yet fully understood. We used stable isotopes to investigate the impacts of the 2018 drought on dominant soil-vegetation units of the mixed land-use Demnitzer Mill Creek (DMC, NE Germany) catchment (66 km²). The isotope sampling was carried out in conjunction with hydroclimatic, soil, groundwater, and vegetation monitoring. Drying soils, falling groundwater levels, cessation of stream flow and reduced crop yields demonstrated the failure of catchment water storage to support blue and green water fluxes. We further conducted monthly bulk soil water isotope sampling to assess the spatio-temporal dynamics of water soil storage under forest and grassland vegetation. Forest soils were drier than the grassland mainly due to higher interception and transpiration losses. However, the forest soils also had more freely draining shallow layers, and were dominated by rapid young (age   2 months), though the lack of deep percolation produced water ages ~ 1 year under forest. We found the displacement of any drought signal within the soil profile limited to the isotopic signatures and no displacement or memory effect in d-excess over the monthly time step, indicating rapid mixing of new rainfall. Our findings suggest that contrasting soil-vegetation assemblages communities have distinct impacts on ecohydrological partitioning and water ages in the sub surface. Such insights will be invaluable for developing sustainable land management strategies appropriate to water availability and build resilience to climate change.