Stream-Discharge Surges Generated by Groundwater Flow

Abstract

Catchments respond to rainfall by storing and releasing water according to their internal dynamics. Groundwater had long been treated as the slow reservoir in this process, but isotopic measurements showed how responsive it can be. Here, we investigate the mechanics of groundwater's contribution to floods. To do so, we monitored over 3 years the shape of the water table in, and the runoff out of, a small tropical catchment. We find that groundwater and runoff respond within minutes of a rainfall event. Using an asymptotic theory inspired by recent laboratory experiments, we suggest that the peak water discharge at the catchment's outlet increases like the rainfall rate to the power of 3/2. This formula consistently predicts the stream's response to the 137 isolated rainfall events recorded during our field survey. In addition, its prefactor yields an estimate of the average groundwater storage.