Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 12.2. Connection of runoff signatures for ungauged basins (
Chapters 5
-
10) illustrated for Austria. From Viglione et al.(
2013b
).
The fact that multiple runoff signatures in Austria
respond to different individual process controls illustrates
the complex connectivity between process and response.
However, the connectivity of runoff signatures in other parts
of the world is still richer. Whereas mountains and snow-
packs control runoff variability in Austria, different factors
dominate in other locations and climates. Runoff variability
in the south-west of Western Australia, for example, is
strongly governed by the seasonality of the Mediterranean
climate, with cold wet winters and long dry and hot
summers, and the presence of the Darling mountain range,
whose combined effects are modulated by deep soils and
deep-rooted Eucalyptus forests, giving rise to a rich regional
runoff variability. Runoff variability across Sri Lanka, on
the other hand, is governed by tropical monsoon climate,
impacted by the north-east and south-west monsoons during
different
orographic effects caused by the central highlands. There
is thus a rich diversity of rainfall and runoff signatures
around the island (see
Figure 5.21
,
Chapter 5
, for details).
How well can we predict the signatures, individually?
Throughout the discussion of signatures in
Chapters 5
-
10,
an assessment of the performance of runoff prediction in
ungauged basins was performed at two levels: Level 1 (L1)
and Level 2 (L2). As mentioned in
Chapter 2
, the L1
assessments reported the average performance of distinct
studies, without subdividing the studies on the basis of the
size, extent, location etc. The L2 assessment assessed the
performance of individual catchments. The sample size
was larger in L1 than L2, with a wider range of climate
and catchment characteristics, but the information pro-
vided for local catchments was more detailed in L2. In this
section, we will classify and re-interpret the results of the
times of
the year, which are modulated by
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