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Precipitation‐runoff relations for very small semiarid rangeland watersheds
Author(s) -
Osborn H. B.,
Lane L.
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr005i002p00419
Subject(s) - surface runoff , watershed , environmental science , hydrograph , precipitation , hydrology (agriculture) , runoff curve number , rangeland , lag , time of concentration , runoff model , soil science , geography , geology , meteorology , ecology , agroforestry , computer network , geotechnical engineering , machine learning , computer science , biology
Simple linear regression models for predicting total volume of runoff, peak rate of runoff, duration of runoff, and hydrograph lag‐time were developed using three years of data from four small (0.56 to 11.0 acres) watersheds. The models developed indicated that runoff volume was most strongly correlated to total precipitation; that peak rate of runoff was most strongly correlated to the maximum 15‐minute depth of precipitation; that flow duration was most strongly correlated to watershed length; and that lag time was most strongly correlated to watershed area. These independent variables accounted for 70, 70, 50, and 30%, respectively, of the variance in the predicted variables. The exponential decay form of the antecedent precipitation equation accounted for 8% of the variation in runoff on one watershed but was insignificant on the others. Analysis indicates that the data represent the high frequency events. It is possible that these models will not accurately predict the low frequency events.