Francisco Balocchi

• Dr. Recursos Hidricos / MSc Hydrology and water resources
• Researcher at Bioforest SA

Estimating intensity−duration−frequency (IDF) curves requires local historical information of precipitation intensity. When such information is unavailable, as in areas without rain gauges, it is necessary to consider other methods to estimate curve parameters. In this study, three methods were explored to estimate IDF curves in ungauged areas: Kri...

The availability of water in Chile has shown signs of decline in recent decades. This is problematic because Chile’s economy depends on mining, forestry, and agricultural activities, all limited by the availability of water resources. In this study, daily, monthly and annual flows in 31 basins located in the arid–semiarid zones (29°12′ S–33°58′ S)...

Sediment production and transport in a basin are generally a function of the degree of soil protection, normally represented by plant cover. In this study, two basins located at similar latitudes but with different hydrological regimens and plant covers were studied, one with a pluvial regimen and forest plantations (Purapel) and another one with t...

This paper reviews the current knowledge of hydrological processes in Chilean temperate forests which extend along western South America from latitude 29° S to 56° S. This geographic region includes a diverse range of natural and planted forests and a broad sweep of vegetation, edaphic, topographic, geologic, and climatic settings which create a un...

This paper reviews the current knowledge of hydrological processes in Chilean temperate forests which extend along western South America from latitude 29° S to 56° S. This geographic region includes a diverse range of natural and planted forests and a broad sweep of vegetation, edaphic, topographic, geologic, and climatic settings which create a un...

El recurso agua es limitado en la zona norte de Chile por tratarse de una zona árida, de ahí la importancia de estudiar si en ellas se están verificando cambios hidrológicos que pudiesen alertar sobre un incremento de tal situación. Para ello, se estudiaron las tendencias de los caudales punta (caudal máximo instantáneo) de la Región de Coquimbo, a...

The freeze–thaw process controls several hydrologic processes, including infiltration, runoff, and soil erosion. Simulating this process is important, particularly in cold and mountainous regions. The Soil and Cold Regions Model (SCRM) was used to simulate, study, and understand the behavior of twelve homogenous soils subject to a freeze–thaw proce...

Land cover change and its effect on water resources has been a continuous concern in south-central Chile. In this regard, we use two methodologies to study the effect of different land covers on the hydrological processes in several experimental catchments (<100km2) located between 36°S to 39°S. These experimental catchments include native forest a...

Wildfires are an important disturbance affecting catchments’ soil and hydrological processes within. Wildfires are predicted to increase in both frequency and severity under climate change. Here, we present measurements of tritium (³H) in surface water of three streams before and after the ‘las Máquinas’ megafire of January 2017 in central Chile an...

There are more than 4 billion hectares of forests in the world, which corresponds to 31 % of the surface of our planet. In Chile, 17 million ha of forests cover the country where more than 3 million correspond to plantations. The role of vegetation cover in the dynamics of precipitation, in the generation of runoff and in the protection and conserv...

We used the lumped rainfall-runoff hydrologic models Génie Rural à 4, 5, 6 paramètres Journalier (GR4J, GR5J and GR6J) to evaluate the most robust model for simulating discharge on four forested small catchments (<40 ha) in south-central Chile. Different evapotranspiration methods were evaluated: Oudin, Hargreaves-Samani and Priestley-Taylor. Oudin...

The water-use of plantations compared to alternative land uses is an important natural resource management issue in central Chile. The need for local data is heightened by a drying trend in the local climate, the potential for planted forests to store carbon and local plans to replace plantations of Pinus radiata D. Don with Eucalyptus globulus Lab...

In central Chile, many communities rely on water obtained from small catchments in the coastal mountains. Water security for these communities is most vulnerable during the summer dry season and, from 2010 to 2017, rainfall during the dry season was between 20% and 40% below the long‐term average. The rate of decrease in stream flow after a rainfal...

Forestal Arauco (FA), a global manufacturer of forest products, manages more than one million hectares of forest plantations and oversees the conservation of more than half a million hectares of native forest and vegetation in Brazil, Argentina and Chile. In 2008, FA responded to local concerns about the effect of plantations on water resources and...

The large wildfires of January 2017 burned more than 500,000 ha, including areas of high conservation value native forest, in central Chile. Runoff, streamflow and water balance were measured in a native forest catchment for 7 years before and 2 years after the fires. The annual peak flows and runoff coefficients decreased after the fire as did sum...

The transpiration of Nothofagus glauca (Phil.) Krasser and advanced Pinus radiata D. Don. regeneration was measured in a fragment of native N. glauca forest. Over the eight months of this study, P. radiata contributed approximately 60% of the total stand transpiration. This was out of proportion with the approximately 34% of the stand sapwood area...

The positive contribution of tree-related mycorrhizae in the soil to plant ecosystems is well known, through symbiotic relationships. The regeneration and establishment of Peumus boldus (boldo), an endemic species of major economic and environmental relevance in Chile, is a complicated natural process, and the identification of tree-related mycorrh...

The sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) is one of the most important starchy foods worldwide due to its low fat content and high nutritional value. This study is the first analysis of the sweet chestnut fruit in forest plantations where the morphological properties are characterized, in terms of caliber, size, shape, and internal cracking, damag...

Balocchi, F., Pizarro, R., Meixner, T., & Urbina, F. (November- December, 2017). Annual and monthly runoff analysis in the Elqui River, Chile, a semi-arid snow-glacier fed basin. Water Technology and Sciences (in Spanish), 8(6), 23-35, DOI: 10.24850/j-tyca-2017-06-02. Climate change and its relationship to temperature are critical factors affect...

Trees have been around for more than 370 million years, and today there are about 80 thousand species of them, occupying 3.5 billion hectares worldwide, including 250 million ha of commercial plantations. While forests can provide tremendous environmental, social, and economic benefits to nations, they also affect the hydrologic cycle in different...

Trees have been around for more than 370 million years, and today there are about 80 thousand species of them, occupying 3.5 billion hectares worldwide, including 250 million ha of commercial plantations. While forests can provide tremendous environmental, social, and economic benefits to nations, they also affect the hydrologic cycle in different...

Mining is the most important economic activity in Chile; causing significant degradation of the environment in the arid regions. The Coquimbo Region has suffered serious soil and water pollution because of heavy metals from mining, particularly copper. Implementation of measures that help to minimize the environmental impact of mining tailings requ...

En el presente estudio se analizaron cuatro modelos matemáticos de estimación de caudales recesivos, con el fin de determinar cuál de ellos obtiene los mejores resultados en una cuenca andina del Maule, zona mediterránea de Chile central. Esto se realizó a través del análisis de 25 crecidas en la época estival 1971-2003, en donde se consideró el ap...

This study analyzed four mathematical models for recessive flow estimation in order to determine which one would provide the best results for an Andean basin in Maule, central Chile. This was accomplished through the analysis of 25 summer floods occurring between 1971 and 2003, which identified groundwater as the exclusive supply as of the third in...

Chile has a unique geography that provides an extraordinary variety of climatic conditions and availability of water resources. The objective of this manuscript was to describe and analyze the spatial and temporal distribution patterns, as well as the management of water resources, along a country with a narrow distance from the Andes Mountains to...

En el presente artículo se realiza un análisis comparativo de tres métodos para obtener hidrogramas unitarios sintéticos (HUS). Los métodos de Snyder, de “U.S. Bureau of Reclamation” y el de Témez se analizaron en dos cuencas de la zona mediterránea de Chile. Para ello, se realizó una caracterización morfológica y vegetacional de cada cuenca. Ademá...

Abstract Two methods that define the point of baseflow recession onset were compared using storm hydrograph data for 27 storm events that occurred between 1982-1995 in the Upeo watershed located in the Andes mountain range in central Chile (Figure 1). Three well-known baseflow recession equations were used to determine whether the method we are pr...

This paper compares three methods to obtain synthetic unit hydrographs (SUH). The Snyder (modified for Chile by Astorga and Benítez), the US Bureau of Reclamation, and the Témez methods are analyzed on two watersheds located in Mediterranean areas of Chile. To do so, each watershed was characterized in terms of its morphology and vegetation type. I...

This study analyzed the influence of climate change on peak flow behavior in the metropolitan region, Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins region and the area of Maule, central Chile. To this end, the Gumbel's PDF was applied, with which the best results for fitting peak flows were obtained, considering return periods of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 years. Than...

Abstract This study analyzed the influence of climate change on peak flow behavior in the metropolitan region, Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins region and the area of Maule, central Chile. To this end, the Gumbel’s PDF was applied, with which the best results for fitting peak flows were obtained, considering return periods of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 y...

Abstract Analysis of precipitation observations from Chile indicated that man-made water reservoirs might be affecting the intensity of extreme precipitation events. Fifty rain gauges were used to evaluate rainfall intensities under different climates, using the Gumbel method (T = 5 and 100 years) and average maximum recorded rainfall intensities...

Chile se caracteriza por tener una amplia variedad de condiciones climáticas y topográficas en sus más de 4.000 km de largo, que van entre las latitudes 17° y 56°S. Como elementos topográficos destacan la Cordillera de los Andes en su límite oriental, con alturas máximas superiores a los 6800 msnm y la Cordillera de la Costa hacia el poniente, con...

As a way to contribute to proper use of IDF curves in Chile, this chapter describes the relationship among four crucial climatic variables: rainfall intensity, storm duration, rainfall frequency and rainfall distribution. Graphical and mathematical representations of IDF curves were developed towards the selection of 1-, 2-, 6-, 12-, and 24-hr dura...

The study and analysis of precipitation has become a crucial tool in understanding the temporal and spatial behavior of water resources, in terms of availability and impact on extreme events. The objective of this study was to evaluate different rainfall parameters (intensities for 1-h duration D = 1 h and return periods of T = 5 and 100 yr, and me...

The study and analysis of precipitation has become a crucial tool in understanding the temporal and spatial behavior of water resources, in terms of availability and impact on extreme events. The objective of this study was to evaluate different rainfall parameters (intensities for 1-h duration D = 1 h and return periods of T = 5 and 100 yr, and me...

This study compared the behavior of an Oak-Hualo secondary forest, where the dominant species are Nothofagus obliqua and Nothofagus glauca, with that of a 12-year-old Pinus radiata D. Don plantation in the precipitation-interception process. The study was conducted at the El Picazo Experimental Station in the town of San Clemente, Maule region, bet...

En el presente documento, se analiza la erosión hídrica superficial junto al conglomerado de procesos erosivos que toman lugar en la IV Región de Coquimbo, a través del método de parcelas de clavos de erosión. Los datos fueron obtenidos mediante mediciones realizadas en parcelas experimentales, en 30 sectores a lo largo de la Región, durante los año...

Climate change, when associated with inappropriate land management practices, is a major issue since it can frequently result in irreversible damages. In Chile, several climatic extreme events have increased during the last few decades, many of them associated to global warming. Although the events have been reported in most of the country, they ar...

El suelo se encuentra sometido a una creciente presión medioambiental en todo el planeta Tierra, provocada principalmente por la actividad humana ligada a usos agrícolas, forestales o mineros, los que no siempre aplican las adecuadas medidas de conservación. Asimismo, las actividades industriales, relacionadas con el movimiento de suelos o la ocupa...

Este estudio evalúa la aplicabilidad de distintos métodos para la estimación de datos faltantes de precipitación puntual, en ocho estaciones pluviográficas de la Región del Maule, Chile. Estos métodos corresponden a correlación lineal, completación por razones de distancia, completación por promedios vecinales, completación por razones promedio y c...