The effect of rainfall intensity on storm flow and peak discharge from forest land

作者：John D. Hewlett, James Camp Fortson, G. B. Cunningham · 发表于：Water Resources Research · 年份：1977 · DOI：10.1029/wr013i002p00259 · 被引用次数：95 · 研究领域：Landslides and related hazards、Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies、Soil erosion and sediment transport

Analysis of an excellent 30‐year record of rainfall and storm flow (545 events) from a 3‐mi2 forested watershed in the southern Appalachians was made to determine whether rainfall intensity influences storm flow volume or peak discharge per unit area. For all practical purposes, hourly and minutely rainfall intensities during storms had no effect on storm flow volumes delivered by the basin. Storm rainfall P, antecedent flow I, season (winter or summer), and duration of the rainstorm D accounted for 86.4% of the total variation in the log of storm flow. Addition of maximum 60‐, 30‐, 15‐, and 5‐min intensities raised this to 86.7% (the increase was not significant at the 0.05 level) but reduced the standard error (0.354 in logs) by less than ½%. The same four variables (P, I,S, and D) accounted for 72% of the variation in the log of peak flow. Addition of the intensity variables raised this to 76.7% (increase significant at the 0.01 level). Thus only 4.7% of the total variation in the log of peak flow was attributable to intensity. Analysis by eight storm rainfall classes reinforced the conclusion that intensity added nothing to storm rainfall as a predictor of storm flow regardless of storm magnitude. P, I, S, and D accounted for 25–65% of the total variation in the log peak flows within storm classes; addition of all intensity variables raised this to 36–85%, but the increases were nonsignificant at the 0.05 level in four of the eight classes. A strong inference is made that...