The Hupsel Brook Catchment: Insights from Five Decades of Lowland Observations

Abstract

The 6.5-km2 Hupsel Brook catchment has been used as an example rural lowland area to understand rainfall–runoff processes, land–atmosphere interactions, and solute transport and to investigate how they are affected by changes in land use and water management. Meteorological and hydrological variables have been measured nearly continuously since 1964, including the 1976 drought and 2010 flood. In addition, more than 2200 water quality samples have been analyzed since the 1980s, with dedicated field campaigns focused on soil physics, evapotranspiration, and rainfall measurement. Novel insights based on these observations include the conclusion that shallow groundwater tables result in a coupled saturated–unsaturated zone and sustain evaporation in dry periods. Partitioning of rainwater between various flow paths is storage driven and therefore catchment wetness determines, together with groundwater–surface water interaction, the response of runoff to rainfall as well as solute transport.