Inferring the effect of catchment complexity on mesoscale hydrologic response

Abstract

The effect of catchment complexity on hydrologic and hydrochemical catchment response was characterized in the mesoscale Dill catchment (692 km2), Germany. This analysis was developed using multivariate daily stream concentration and discharge data at the basin outlet, in connection with less frequently sampled catchment-wide end-member chemistries. The link between catchment-wide runoff sources and basin output was observed through a combination of concentration-discharge (C-Q) analysis and multivariate end-member projection. Subsurface stormflow, various groundwater and wastewater sources, as well as urban surface runoff emerged in catchment output chemistry. Despite the identification of multiple sources, several runoff sources observed within the catchment failed to display consistent links with the output chemistry. This failure to associate known source chemistry with outlet chemistry may have resulted from a lack of hydraulic connectivity between sources and basin outlet, from different arrival times of subbasin-scale runoff contributions, and also from an overlap of source chemistries that subsumed discrete runoff sources in catchment output. This combination of catchment heterogeneity and complexity simply suggests that the internal spatial organization of the catchment impeded the application of lumped mixing calculations at the 692 km2 outlet. Given these challenges, we suggest that in mesoscale catchment research, the potential effects of spatial organization should be included in any interpretation of highly integrated response signals, or when using those signals to evaluate numerical rainfall-runoff models. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.