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COMMON UNITGRAPHS FOR SETS OF RUNOFF EVENTS. PART 1: UNITGRAPH IDENTIFICATION FROM STREAMFLOW DATA
Author(s) -
CHAPMAN TOM G.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
hydrological processes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.222
H-Index - 161
eISSN - 1099-1085
pISSN - 0885-6087
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1085(199606)10:6<773::aid-hyp370>3.0.co;2-s
Subject(s) - hydrograph , baseflow , surface runoff , streamflow , environmental science , hydrology (agriculture) , kinematic wave , drainage basin , runoff model , identification (biology) , data set , runoff curve number , geology , statistics , mathematics , cartography , geography , ecology , botany , geotechnical engineering , biology
It is demonstrated that a unitgraph can be obtained without using rainfall data, provided data from at least two runoff events are available. A numerical method has been devised which calculates this common unitgraph for a set of surface runoff events and at the same time determines the input (rainfall excess) for each event. The method has been successfully tested on catchments ranging in size from 0.4 to 600 km 2 ; it requires streamflow observations taken at intervals which retain all significant frequencies in the runoff hydrographs. The method also requires application of a baseflow separation procedure which is consistent for all events. The new approach has the potential to lead to more objective studies of the effects of catchment changes on the unitgraph and provides scope for comparisons of the common unitgraphs with geomorphological instantaneous unitgraphs.