Labs WMT Hydrology StreamResponsetoRain

Hydrology Modeling - Stream response to Rainfall Event

Classroom organization
If you have never used the Web Modeling Tool, learn how to use it here. The WMT allows you to set up simulations, but once you are ready to run them, you will need an account on the CSDMS supercomputer to submit your job. More information on getting an account can be found here HPCC Access

This lab is one of the more advanced labs in a series of hydrology labs, it will likely take ~ 3hours to complete fully. These labs use TOPOFLOW components to simulate basic hydrological processes such as the energy budget, precipitation, snowmelt, evaporation, infiltration etc.
TOPOFLOW components are designed to be coupled and to model water runoff in a landscape, i.e. in a 'spatially-distributed' hydrological model. This lab couples the meteorology component and the channels kinematic wave component to model the runoff in response to a rainstorm. Associated notes on the concept of a hydrograph and rainfall runoff dynamics (download the presentation slides here). In the model simulations we will generate 3 different rainfall events and see how the runoff in a small watershed is routed.

Learning objectives'

• concepts of watershed and runoff
• relation between rain and runoff in absence of evaporation and infiltration
  

Key concepts

• Conservation of Mass