Water Balance

6 important questions on Water Balance

What does is mean if an area has a aridity index around 1?

Roughly as much water available from precipitation as there is demand from the atmosphere to evaporate.

What are three advantages of the Budyko water balance model?


• Understanding how catchments function, without needing much complexity.
• Predictions of the water balance (Q/P and E/P) where no streamflow or evaporation measurements are available.
• Simple model to estimate hydrologic effects of climate change.

When will w (in the Budyko equation) increase?

• The ratio of soil hydraulic conductivity / rainfall rate
• The ratio of soil-water storage capacity / potential evapotranspiration
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When will w (in the Budyko equation) decrease?

With the average watershed slope.

What does low values of w (in the Budyko equation) characterize?

Regions with relatively small storage (rocky, steeply sloping watershed where rainfall is quickly converted to runoff).

What is a hyetograph?


A graph of water input (rain) versus time.

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