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HydrologyBenchmark Papers in Hydrology

This IAHS series collects together, by theme, the scientific papers that provided the foundations for hydrology in the 20th century. Published across a wide spectrum of disciplines, these papers define the field and provide an overview of the development of ideas that led to our current concepts and understanding in hydrology.

Keith Loague charts the development of rainfall–runoff modelling up to 1989 with 30 benchmark papers. He begins with Mulvany’s (1851) presentation of the rational method for estimating peak flow, regarded by many as the first rainfall–runoff model. The original papers on other empirical approaches, such as Sherman (1932) introducing the unit-hydrograph method, and Mockus (1949) which provided the basis for the SCS curve number approach, are included. So too are Richards (1931) and Smith & Parlange (1978) soil physics papers presenting equations central to physically-based rainfall–runoff modelling. The innovative contributions of Alan Freeze, and later Keith Beven, to physically-based modelling are represented by several of their respective papers. The seminal papers of Moore & Clarke (1981), a statistical distribution approach to rainfall–runoff modelling, and Abbott et al. (1986), the well known process-based SHE model, are also included.

Loague notes that hundreds, if not thousands, of hydrologic-response models have been developed over the years, but that not all were created equal. This volume presents papers that exemplify the best in rainfall–runoff modelling. It forms a natural companion to the first Benchmark Papers in Hydrology volume, Streamflow Generation Processes by Keith Beven.

Keith Loague is Professor in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at Stanford University in California, USA. A primary research interest for Keith is in understanding hydrologically-driven response as it relates to landscape evolution at the catchment scale. His research efforts focus on the combined field characterization and physics-based numerical simulation of surface and near-surface processes. Keith has published widely, with several colleagues, on rainfall–runoff modelling for many years.

Jeffrey J. McDonnell (Series Editor) is the Richardson Chair in Watershed Science at the Department of Forest Engineering, Resources and Management at Oregon State University, USA. He has held fellowships at universities in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and the UK. He is the past President of the IAHS International Commission on Tracers and past Chair of the IAHS Decade on Prediction in Ungauged Basins. He has authored over 150 scientific journal articles in the area of streamflow generation processes and modelling, and has served as an Associate Editor or Editorial Board member for Ecohydrology, Water Resources Research, Journal of Hydrology, Hydrological Processes, Hydrological Sciences Journal, and Hydrological and Earth Systems Science. He also served as Senior Advisory Editor for the Encyclopaedia of Hydrological Sciences.

International Association of Hydrological Sciences

Association Internationale des Sciences Hydrologiques

ISBN 978-1-907161-06-3

www.iahs.info

Benchmark Papers in Hydrology ISSN 1993-4572

RAINFALL–RUNOFFMODELLINGSelection, Introduction and Commentary byKeith Loague

Series Editor: Jeffrey J. McDonnellInternational Association of Hydrological Sciences / Association Internationale des Sciences Hydrologique

Series sponsored by SAHRA, the Center for Sustainability of semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas, University of Arizona

Rainfall Cover (PPC).indd 1 9/11/09 12:18:09

Contents

Paper 1 Mulvany, T. J. (1851) On the use of self-registering rain and flood gauges in making observations of the relations of rain fall and of flood discharges in a given catchment. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland 4, 18-33.

Paper 2 Ross, C. N. (1921) The calculation of flood discharge by the use of a time contour plan. Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia 2, 85-92.

Paper 3 Richards, L. A. (1931) Capillary conduction of liquids through porous mediums. Physics 1, 318-333.

Paper 4 Sherman, L. K. (1932) Streamflow from rainfall by unit-graph method. Engineering News Record 108, 501-505.

Paper 5 Mockus, V. (1949) Estimation of total (and peak rates of) surface runoff for individual storms. Exhibit A, Appendix B, Interim Survey Report, Grand (Neosho) River Watershed, US Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, USA.

Paper 6 Dooge, J. C. I. (1959) A general theory of the unit hydrograph. Journal of Geophysical Research 64, 241-256.

Paper 7 Linsley, R. K. & Crawford, N. H. (1960) Computation of a synthetic streamflow record on a digital computer. International Association of Scientific Hydrology Publication 51, 526-538.

Paper 8 Henderson, F. M. & Wooding, R. A. (1964) Overland flow and groundwater flow from a steady rainfall of finite duration. Journal of Geophysical Research 69, 1531-1540.

Paper 9 Ragan, R. M. (1966) Laboratory evaluation of a numerical flood-routing technique for channels subject to lateral inflows. Water Resources Research 2, 111-121.

Paper 10 Woolhiser, D. A. & Liggett, J. A. (1967) Unsteady, one-dimensional flow over a plane – the rising hydrograph. Water Resources Research 3, 753-771.

Paper 11 Freeze, R. A. & Harlan, R. L. (1969) Blueprint for a physically-based digitally-simulated, hydrologic response model. Journal of Hydrology 9, 237-258.

Paper 12 Freeze, R. A. (1971) Three-dimensional, transient, saturated–unsaturated flow in a groundwater basin. Water Resources Research 7, 347-366.

Paper 13 Smith, R. E. & Woolhiser, D. A. (1971) Overland flow on an infiltrating surface. Water Resources Research 7, 899-913.

Paper 14 Freeze, R. A. (1972) Role of subsurface flow in generating surface runoff: 1. Base flow contributions to channel flow. Water Resources Research 8, 609-623.

Paper 15 Freeze, R. A. (1972) Role of subsurface flow in generating surface runoff: 2. Upstream source areas. Water Resources Research 8, 1272-1283.

Paper 16 Engman, E. T. & Rogowski, A. S. (1974) A partial area model for storm flow synthesis. Water Resources Research 10, 464-472.

Paper 17 Stephenson, G. R. & Freeze, R. A. (1974) Mathematical simulation of subsurface flow contributions to snowmelt runoff, Reynolds Creek Watershed, Idaho. Water Resources Research 10, 284-294.

Paper 18 Wood, E. F. (1976) An analysis of the effects of parameter uncertainty in deterministic hydrologic models. Water Resources Research 12, 925-932.

Paper 19 Beven, K. (1977) Hillslope hydrographs by the finite element method. Earth Surface Processes 2, 13-28.

Paper 20 Smith, R. E. & Parlange, J. Y. (1978) A parameter-efficient hydrologic infiltration model. Water Resources Research 14, 533-538.

Paper 21 Beven, K. & Kirkby, M. J. (1979) A physically based, variable contributing area model of basin hydrology. Hydrological Sciences Bulletin 24, 43-69.

Paper 22 Freeze, R. A. (1980) A stochastic-conceptual analysis of rainfall–runoff processes on a hillslope. Water Resources Research 16, 391-408.

Paper 23 Moore, R. J. & Clarke, R.T. (1981) A distribution function approach to rainfall runoff modeling. Water Resources Research 17, 1367-1382.

Paper 24 Beven, K. (1982) On subsurface stormflow: predictions with simple kinematic theory for saturated and unsaturated flow. Water Resources Research 18, 1627-1633.

Paper 25 Smith, R. E. & Hebbert, R. H. B. (1983) Mathematical simulation of interdependent surface and subsurface hydrologic processes. Water Resources Research 19, 987-1001.

Paper 26 Loague, K. M. & Freeze, R. A. (1985) A comparison of rainfall–runoff modeling techniques on small upland catchments. Water Resources Research 21, 229-248.

Paper 27 Abbott, M. B., Bathurst, J. C., Cunge, J. A., O’Connell, P. E. & Rasmussen, J. (1986) An introduction to the European Hydrologic System – Système Hydrologique Européen, “SHE”, 1: History and philosophy of a physically-based, distributed modelling system. Journal of Hydrology 87, 45-59.

Paper 28 Sivapalan, M., Beven, K. & Wood, E. F. (1987) On hydrologic similarity. 2. A scaled model of storm runoff production. Water Resources Research 23, 2266-2278.

Paper 29 Binley, A. M., Beven, K. & Elgy, J. (1989) A physically based model of heterogeneous hillslopes. 2. Effective hydraulic conductivities. Water Resources Research 25, 1227-1233.

Paper 30 Beven, K. J. (1989) Changing ideas in hydrology – the case of physically-based models. Journal of Hydrology 105, 157-172.