Catchments - Hydrograph

13 important questions on Catchments - Hydrograph

What is a hydrograph?

It provides information about the timing and height of discharge peaks after precipitation events and the slow decrease of discharge in dry periods.

What are the 4 forms of quickflow/direct runoff?

-Drainpipe flow
-Macropore flow
-Saturation excess overland flow
-Infiltration excess overland flow
floods and inundations are often caused by quickflow

What is the difference between percolation and infiltration?

Infiltration is water coming into the soil, percolation is water sinking deeper into the soil
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Name four river types

-Rain-fed rivers
-mixed rivers, mixed rivers have a more constant discharge due to melting ice and snow in summer.
-Perennial streams: Streams which carry water year-round
-ephemeral streams: run dry part of the year

What are discharge dynamics?

Temporal variabilities of discharge.

What is the difference between perennial streams and ephemeral streams?

Only the first one carrys water year-round.

The catchment delays and attenuates (dampens) the precipitation signal. What does the amount of delay and attenuation depend on?

-catchment characteristics
-channel network
-precipitation event
-catchment wetness

How can hydrographs be separated?

In baseflow and quickflow

What is the slow decrease in baseflow during drier periods called?

Recession

What effect does elongation on the catchment have on the discharge peaks?

The discharge peaks will be more smoothn because the contribution of the quicklow is spread out more.

Which factors increase the probability of quickflow and high discharge peaks?

-Steep topography
-low infiltration capacity
-high drainage density
-high precipitation intensity
-wet initial conditions
-rain on snow
-uneven precipitation distribution:

When a large amount of precipitation falls on one location, the soil becomes saturated locally, leading to saturation excess overland flow. When the precipitation is more evenly distributed over the catchment, the soil will probably be able to store all the water.

With which two terms can the temporal dynamics of catchments be quantified?

-concentration time (tc): the time it takes for surface water at the most upstream point to reach the catchment outlet
-response/lag time (tr): time difference between a rainfall event and the resulting discharge peak

What is a width function of a river network?

Number of network links plotted as a function of distance to the catchment outlet

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