Articles | Volume 26, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2715-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2715-2022
Research article
 | 
24 May 2022
Research article |  | 24 May 2022

Quantifying multi-year hydrological memory with Catchment Forgetting Curves

Alban de Lavenne, Vazken Andréassian, Louise Crochemore, Göran Lindström, and Berit Arheimer

Data sets

Database of watershed-scale hydroclimatic observations in France, Université Paris-Saclay O. Delaigue, B. Génot, L. Lebecherel, P. Brigode, and P. Y. Bourgin https://webgr.inrae.fr/base-de-donnees

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Short summary
A watershed remembers the past to some extent, and this memory influences its behavior. This memory is defined by the ability to store past rainfall for several years. By releasing this water into the river or the atmosphere, it tends to forget. We describe how this memory fades over time in France and Sweden. A few watersheds show a multi-year memory. It increases with the influence of groundwater or dry conditions. After 3 or 4 years, they behave independently of the past.