HYDROLOGY
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Hydrological analysis of the Avonmore House Catchment Upstream from Avoca Valley by Patrick Matthew Collins
Introduction
The Avonmore house in the Avoca valley of Wicklow is one of the significant gauging stations major water catchment areas in Ireland, as shown by figures 1 and 2 below, respectively. The water catchment provides vital water for many functions in Ireland and the neighboring societies. The river gauge, therefore, helps to conserve and enhance the natural environment along with the river gauge that is rapidly affected by frequent. The essay below provides a detailed analysis of the Avonmore house water catchment point, as shown in figure 2 below.
Figure 1:
Location map for river gauge 10039, Avonmore house
Map source: EPA Hydro net
Figure 2:
10039 Avonmore house at
Image source: EPA Hydro net
Catchment characteristics
Figures 1, 2, and 3 above; provide the exact location of the Avonmore house, a much detailed and more precise picture of the water catchment area, and a view of the main stations that are used to gauge the river flow, respectively. The catchment area has been represented by a size of is 99 sq units, thus covering a fairly full estimate of the Avonmore house.
The city also has plenty of essential life-supporting resources, mainly water and well-drained loamy Clonroche and peat soils downwards, which are with impressive structures with the Clonegall being moderately drained. The cold atmospheric conditions along the region have further been the reason for the survival of many plants and animal species. These living things have a great form of heritage for the Irish communities, along with the river gauge station and the entire nation. Peat soils are also highly permeable, thus allowing easy drainage of water through their structure.
The Avonmore house is a lowland water catchment point which receives water from the Rye water and is constructed to help check on the pressure of water, which originated from even greater upland areas. Kabdebo & Woods (1988) explained that the Avonmore catchment area has plenty of plant and animal lives, which have all along been supported by the natural state of the environment, which exists along with the place.
Catchment Description
Figure 3A: Map showing the location of the river flow gauging stations
Figure 3A above shows the various gauging stations that are located along the watercourse. Station 10039 is the Avonmore house, which is the point of focus in the discussion.
The Avonmore has a few areas of poor drainage that are among the leading causes of severe flooding in the area. The situation led to the need to adapt reliable methods of safeguarding the environment. This step made it necessary for the construction of the project.
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Figure 4: Soils and soil drainage in the Avonmore catchment. Layers used: Hydrometric Gauges; WFD Subcatchments; SIS National Soils; River Network. Map generated by Patrick Collins using “EPA Maps“(https://gis.epa.ie/EPAMaps/). (Accessed April 20, 2020).
Fine Loamy soils that contain silicon stones are the most dominant as the area has a moderate to a proper drainage system. The soil structures are responsible for the different plant and animal species that are present in the area. They also offer broad regions along with the Avonmore house that creates adequate room for different irrigation related activities that are highly practiced in the region, as depicted in figure 5 below.
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Figure 5: Land-cover in the Avonmore catchment. Layers used: Hydrometric Gauges; WFD Subcatchments; Corine 2018; River Network. Map generated by PatrickCollins using “EPA Maps”(https://gis.epa.ie/EPAMaps/). (Accessed April 23, 2020).
Description of the Storm Ciara Event
Storm Ciara rainfall event
Figure 6: Rainfall graphs for Storm Ciara at Casement. Met Eireann (2020).Available at: https://www.met.ie/climate/available-data/daily-data (accessed 2oth February 2020)
| Casement Rainfall | |
| Storm Ciara event duration | |
| Event start | 08-02-2020 at 18.00 |
| Event End | 09-02-2020 at 12.00 |
| Number of RF peaks | |
| First Rainfall peak | |
| Time of first RF peak | 09-02-2020 at 09.00 |
| Depth of first RF peak | 13.5 mm |
| Second rainfall peak (if applicable) | |
| Time of second RF peak | |
| Depth of second RF peak | |
Table 1: Storm Ciara rainfall event
The storm Ciara event was a deep storm that originated from the Atlantic Ocean from the deep Storm, namely Ciara, thus affecting the United Kingdom and Ireland by causing havoc in Island areas of the two nations (Parry et al., 2020. The Storm was characterized by deep, strong waves with high frequencies and strong winds that lasted for nearly 18 hours from February 8 to February 9, the year 2020, as indicated by the figure 6 above. The recorded RF peak was 13.5mm, as the rainfall distribution of 2mm over time was recorded.
The Storm hydrograph below in figure 7 shows the effects of the Ciara storm that affected the Avonmore house water catchment of Ireland. The massive Ciara storm was the main reason for the rising limb between 9th to 10th at high speed of 24.5 M 3/s. The recession curve between 10th to 11th was due to weakened speed of the Ciara storm to 7 M 3/s.
The agricultural pastures, along with the river gauge, together with the presence of natural and semi-natural plantations, provided less barrier against the speed of the Storm. Thus a rise in rate between the first two days. The lowland topography of the station was also responsible for increased strengths of the Storm, penetrated easily through the mainland.
Storm Hydrograph
Figure7: Storm Ciara Hydrograph for the Avonmore House
Data downloaded from EPA Hydro net (http://www.epa.ie/hydronet/). Accessed on February 20, 2020
Figure 8 below is an illustration from the Avonmore house regarding the strength of the event for three months, as table 2 contains further final records about the same.
Figure 8: Three-month hydrograph for the Avonmore at from 27-11-2019 to 27-02-2020.Data downloaded from EPA Hydro net (http://www.epa.ie/hydronet/). Accessed on February 20, 2020
Table 2: Group 4 data for Storm Ciara event
Analysis
The Storm Ciara affected the Avonmore house together with its structure and roles. However, the well-drained loamy soils in the area only provide support to the natural, semi-natural, agricultural pastures and already wetlands that provided less protection against the forces of the Ciara storm. Thus allowed the high water levels to drain the mainland as a result of the heavy rainfall that occurred afterward. The fine structure of the loamy Clonroche soil that is the most dominant in the area allowed less drainage of the waters, thereby allowing for high volumes to submerge the surroundings.
The stable loamy silicious loamy structure of the soil, however, aided in the situation by providing a firm barrier to the prolonged effects of soil erosion.
The main similarity between the Avonmore house and the other catchment points is that they both conserve the natural environment from the impacts of floods, such as the ones originating from the Ciara storm. The main difference, however, is that the catchments experience various effects of the wind. These effects depend on wind speed at that particular point, as well as the topography of the river gauge.
References
Kabdebo, T., and Woods, P., 1988. Avonmore house College Library. North Irish Roots, 2(3), pp.86-88.
Parry, S., Barker, L., Sefton, C., Hannaford, J., Turner, S., Muchan, K., Matthews, B., and Pennington, C., 2020. Briefing note. The severity of the February 2020 floods-preliminary analysis.