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Hydroclimatology of the continental United States
Article first published online: 3 APR 2003
DOI: 10.1029/2002GL015937
Copyright 2003 by the American Geophysical Union.
Additional Information
How to Cite
, and (2003), Hydroclimatology of the continental United States, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 1363, doi:10.1029/2002GL015937, 7.
Publication History
- Issue published online: 3 APR 2003
- Article first published online: 3 APR 2003
- Manuscript Accepted: 26 DEC 2002
- Manuscript Revised: 2 OCT 2002
- Manuscript Received: 22 JUL 2002
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- hydroclimatology;
- hydrologic budget;
- water/energy interactions;
- runoff and streamflow
[1] The overall water balance and the sensitivity of watershed runoff to changes in climate are investigated using national databases of climate and streamflow for 1,337 watersheds in the U.S. We document that 1% changes in precipitation result in 1.5–2.5% changes in watershed runoff, depending upon the degree of buffering by storage processes and other factors. Unlike previous research, our approach to estimating climate sensitivity of streamflow is nonparametric and does not depend on a hydrologic model. The upper bound for precipitation elasticity of streamflow is shown to be the inverse of the runoff ratio. For over a century, investigators [Pike, 1964; Budyko, 1974; Ol'dekop, 1911; and Schreiber, 1904] have suggested that variations in watershed aridity alone are sufficient to predict spatial variations in long-term watershed runoff. We document that variations in soil moisture holding capacity are just as important as variations in watershed aridity in explaining the mean and variance of annual watershed runoff.