Process Studies in Hillslope Hydrology (Hardback)

Hillslope hydrology is concered primarily with flow processes within the soil and over the soil surface. Precipitation is partitioned between various flow routes which attenuate and delay the flow to different extents, so that a knowledge of the relevant mechanisms is important. In addition, the quality of input water may be greatly transformed depending on its hydrological pathway. Hillslope hydrologists aim to understand the relationship between precipitation input and hillslope discharge output in terms of the changing distributions of variables such as soil moisture content and the location of source areas for surface runoff. Flow in a stream channel is usually treated separately from flow mechanisms on the hillslope. Thus, in a model of catchment hydrology, channel routing methods, which predict the changing magnitude, speed and shape of a flood wave as it propoages through a stream channel, may be coupled to a hillslope runoff model, but a fully integrated analysis is not yet possible. Process studies in hillslope hydrology serves two complementary purposes: small scale studies of hillslope flow processes can be conducted without reference to channel processes and these, in turn, can provide an input to larger-scale studies of the entire drainage basin.