On the relation between dynamic storage and runoff: A discussion on thresholds, efficiency, and function

[1] Unit hydrograph theory as derived by Nash (1957), Dooge (1959), and Wooding (1965) provides a foundation for evaluating the function controlling catchment runoff. Past literature has often investigated this function converting catchment storage to runoff with probabilistic or statistical approaches. A geophysically based framework is missing. The objective of the research reported here is to evaluate this function explicitly, using empirical nested measurements of surface storage and runoff in a Canadian Prairie catchment during the 2006 spring snowmelt. Variation in the value of this function, K at the basin scale, or k at the sub-basin scale, was found to embody the hydrological processes acting upon a catchment. It is the relative difference between the runoff rate and the change in storage that indicates the hydrological function of a sub-basin, and k is indicative of the efficiency of this functioning. Field results show that previous assumptions of instantaneously responding reservoirs within catchments are not applicable in this landscape. Storage thresholds control the value of the transfer function by influencing when runoff production occurs. In doing so, storage thresholds play a crucial role in the efficiency with which a catchment can transfer water to its outlet. The transfer function and storage threshold, by dictating runoff, can be considered hydrological signatures. Applying these signatures within a geophysically based framework has proven to be successful in predicting the efficiency of runoff production in this particular catchment and is proposed as an approach to evaluate the interrelationships between catchment stores and runoff production. Furthermore, if hydrological processes or physioclimatic predictors can be related to these hydrological signatures in a dimensionally consistent framework, this framework could be tested as a bridging mechanism between hydrological processes at the sub-basin scale and prediction of runoff at the basin scale.

[1]  C. Spence.  The Effect of Storage on Runoff from a Headwater Subarctic Shield Basin , 2000 .

[2]  M. Woo,et al.  Hydrology of subarctic Canadian Shield: heterogeneous headwater basins , 2006 .

[3]  V. Gupta,et al.  A geomorphologic synthesis of nonlinearity in surface runoff , 1981 .

[4]  J. McDonnell,et al.  On the need for catchment classification , 2004 .

[5]  Thomas A. McMahon,et al.  Simple Nonlinear Model for Flood Estimation , 1974 .

[6]  R. J. Granger,et al.  Simulating infiltration into frozen Prairie soils in streamflow models , 1985 .

[7]  V. Klemeš.  Conceptualization and scale in hydrology , 1983 .

[8]  R. Horton.  EROSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF STREAMS AND THEIR DRAINAGE BASINS; HYDROPHYSICAL APPROACH TO QUANTITATIVE MORPHOLOGY , 1945 .

[9]  Masaki Hayashi,et al.  Water and solute transfer between a prairie wetland and adjacent uplands, 1. Water balance , 1998 .

[10]  Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe,et al.  On Scales, Gravity and Network Structure in Basin Runoff , 1986 .

[11]  R. Wooding,et al.  A hydraulic model for the catchment-stream problem: I. Kinematic-wave theory , 1965 .

[12]  Masaki Hayashi,et al.  Water and solute transfer between a prairie wetland and adjacent uplands, 2. Chloride cycle , 1998 .

[13]  Jeffrey J. McDonnell,et al.  Threshold relations in subsurface stormflow: 2. The fill and spill hypothesis , 2006 .

[14]  J. McDonnell,et al.  Functional intercomparison of hillslopes and small catchments by examining water source, flowpath and mean residence time , 2006 .

[15]  F. M. Conly,et al.  A practical approach to monitoring water levels in Prairie wetlands , 2004, Wetlands.

[16]  C. Spence,et al.  Quantifying the Impact of Hydrometric Network Reductions on Regional Streamflow Prediction in Northern Canada , 2007 .

[17]  Irena F. Creed,et al.  Controls on runoff from a partially harvested aspen‐forested headwater catchment, Boreal Plain, Canada , 2005 .

[18]  D. Acton,et al.  THE EFFECT OF GROUNDWATER ON SOIL FORMATION IN A MORAINAL LANDSCAPE IN SASKATCHEWAN , 1985 .

[19]  M. Sivapalan,et al.  On the relative roles of hillslope processes, channel routing, and network geomorphology in the hydrologic response of natural catchments , 1995 .

[20]  Eric D. Soulis,et al.  Modeling Mackenzie Basin Surface Water Balance during CAGES with the Canadian Regional Climate Model , 2003 .

[21]  F. R. Hall.  Base‐Flow Recessions—A Review , 1968 .

[22]  Peter A. Troch,et al.  Effective water table depth to describe initial conditions prior to storm rainfall in humid regions , 1993 .

[23]  J. Dooge.  A general theory of the unit hydrograph , 1959 .

[24]  Oscar J. Mesa,et al.  On the Relative Role of Hillslope and Network Geometry in Hydrologic Response , 1986 .

[25]  Ming-ko Woo,et al.  Slope runoff processes and flow generation in a subarctic, subalpine catchment , 2001 .

[26]  N. Roulet,et al.  Runoff generation in zero‐order precambrian shield catchments: The stormflow response of a heterogeneous landscape , 1994 .

[27]  Mj Boyd,et al.  A storage routing model based on catchment geomorphology , 1979 .

[28]  V. Gupta,et al.  On the formulation of an analytical approach to hydrologic response and similarity at the basin scale , 1983 .

[29]  Murugesu Sivapalan,et al.  Pattern, Process and Function: Elements of a Unified Theory of Hydrology at the Catchment Scale , 2006 .

[30]  N. Minshall.  Predicting Storm Runoff on Small Experimental Watersheds , 1960 .

[31]  I. Rodríguez‐Iturbe,et al.  The geomorphologic structure of hydrologic response , 1979 .

[32]  L. Tallaksen.  A review of baseflow recession analysis , 1995 .

[33]  Christopher Spence,et al.  Hydrological processes and streamflow in a lake dominated watercourse , 2006 .

[34]  Ming-ko Woo,et al.  Hydrology of subarctic Canadian shield: soil-filled valleys , 2003 .

[35]  Keith Beven,et al.  Catchment geomorphology and the dynamics of runoff contributing areas , 1983 .

[36]  M. Hayashi,et al.  Focused infiltration of snowmelt water in partially frozen soil under small depressions , 2003 .

[37]  J. E. Nash,et al.  The form of the instantaneous unit hydrograph , 1957 .

[38]  M. Waiser,et al.  Effects of Atmospheric Change and Agriculture on the Biogeochemistry and Microbial Ecology of Prairie Wetlands , 1998 .

[39]  John L. Nieber,et al.  Regionalized drought flow hydrographs from a mature glaciated plateau , 1977 .