Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure B1.1.1
Seasonal changes in catchment average infiltration capacities derived from analysis of rain-
fall and runoff data for individual events (after Horton, 1940; see also Beven, 2004b, with kind permission
of the American Geophysical Union).
This issue of the difference between simulation and analysis (model calibration) continues
to tax rainfall-runoff modelling and hydrological science today. The complexity of models that
can be calibrated robustly is restricted by the limitations of the data that are generally available
for any application. We are therefore in a similar situation to Horton: we would like to take
full account of the heterogeneity and changing characteristics of the processes that control
runoff in our rainfall-runoff models, but for practical applications it is always necessary to
compromise by making some simplifying assumptions.
