Articles | Volume 20, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4525-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4525-2016
Research article
 | 
11 Nov 2016
Research article |  | 11 Nov 2016

Multiple runoff processes and multiple thresholds control agricultural runoff generation

Shabnam Saffarpour, Andrew W. Western, Russell Adams, and Jeffrey J. McDonnell

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Cited articles

Adams, R., Arafat, Y., Eate, V., Grace, M. R., Saffarpour, S., Weatherley, A. J., and Western, A. W.: A catchment study of sources and sinks of nutrients and sediments in south-east Australia, J. Hydrol., 515, 166–179, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.04.034, 2014.
Ali, G., Oswald, C. J., Spence, C., Cammeraat, E. L., McGuire, K. J., Meixner, T., and Reaney, S. M.: Towards a unified threshold based hydrological theory: necessary components and recurring challenges, Hydrol. Process., 27, 313–318, 2013.
APHA: Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 21st edition, American Public Health Association, 1200 pp., 2005.
Beven, K.: Introduction: Modelling hydrological and nutrient transport processes, in Agriculture, hydrology, and water quality, edited by: Haygarth, P. M. and Jarvis, S. C., North Wyke Research Station, Devon, UK, Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, CABI, 194–196, 2002.
Beven, K. J. and Germann, P.: Macropores and water flow in soils, Water Resour. Res., 18, 1311–1325, 1982.
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Short summary
A variety of threshold mechanisms influence the transfer of rainfall to runoff from catchments. Some of these mechanisms depend on the occurrence of intense rainfall and others depend on the catchment being wet. This article first provides a framework for considering which mechanisms are important in different situations and then uses that framework to examine the behaviour of a catchment in Australia that exhibits a mix of both rainfall intensity and catchment wetness dependent thresholds.
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