Investigating hydrological regimes and processes in a set of catchments with temporary waters in Mediterranean Europe

Gallart, F., Amaxidis, Y., Botti, P., Cané, G., Castillo, V., Chapman, P., Froebich, J., Garcia-Pintado, J., Latron, J., Llorens, P., Lo Porto, A., Morais, M., Neves, R., Ninov, P., Perrin, J.-L., Ribarova, I., Skoulikidis, N. and Tournoud, M.-G. (2008) Investigating hydrological regimes and processes in a set of catchments with temporary waters in Mediterranean Europe. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 53 (3). pp. 618-628. ISSN 2150-3435 doi: 10.1623/hysj.53.3.618

Abstract/Summary

Seven catchments of diverse size in Mediterranean Europe were investigated in order to understand the main aspects of their hydrological functioning. The methods included the analysis of daily and monthly precipitation, monthly potential evapotranspiration rates, flow duration curves, rainfall runoff relationships and catchment internal data for the smaller and more instrumented catchments. The results showed that the catchments were less dry than initially considered. Only one of them was really semi-arid throughout the year. All the remaining catchments showed wet seasons when precipitation exceeded potential evapotrans-piration, allowing aquifer recharge, wet runoff generation mechanisms and relevant baseflow contribution. Nevertheless, local infiltration excess (Hortonian) overland flow was inferred during summer storms in some catchments and urban overland flow in some others. The roles of karstic groundwater, human disturbance and low winter temperatures were identified as having an important impact on the hydrological regime in some of the catchments.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/37820
Identification Number/DOI	10.1623/hysj.53.3.618
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Environmental Systems Science Centre Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Uncontrolled Keywords	flow regimes, runoff generation, baseflow, Mediterranean, régimes hydrologiques, génération de l'écoulement, débit de base, Méditerranée
Publisher	Taylor and Francis
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