Articles | Volume 20, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-479-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-479-2016
Research article
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28 Jan 2016
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 28 Jan 2016

Does the Budyko curve reflect a maximum-power state of hydrological systems? A backward analysis

M. Westhoff, E. Zehe, P. Archambeau, and B. Dewals

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Cited articles

Aalbers, E.: Evaporation in conceptual rainfall-runoff models: testing model realism using remotely sensed evaporation, Master's thesis, Delft University of Technology, available at: http://repository.tudelft.nl/view/ir/uuid:a2edc688-2270-4823-aa93-cb861cf481a2/, last access: 10 August 2015.
Budyko, M. I.: Climate and Life, 508 pp., Academic Press, New York , 1974.
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Short summary
We derived mathematical formulations of relations between relative wetness and gradients driving run-off and evaporation for a one-box model such that, when conductances are optimized with the maximum power principle, the model leads exactly to a point on the Budyko curve. With dry spells and dynamics in actual evaporation added, the model compared well with catchment observations without calibrating any parameter. The maximum-power principle may thus be used to derive the Budyko curve.