Abstract
A simplified, vertically-averaged model of soil moisture interpreted at the daily time scale and forced by a stochastic process of instantaneous rainfall events is compared with a vertically-averaged model which uses a nonoverlapping rectangular pulse rainfall model and a more physically based description of infiltration. The models are compared with respect to the importance of short time-scale (intra-storm) variable infiltration in determining the probabilistic structure of soil-moisture dynamics at the daily time-scale. Differences in approach to infiltration modelling show only minor effects on the probabilistic structure of soil-moisture dynamics as simulated in the two models. The partitioning of losses during a single rainfall event are examined closely and the conditions under which surface-controlled runoff is significant, as a proportion of total losses, are delineated.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 861-871 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2006 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Water Science and Technology
- Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)