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Runoff is the flow of water across the earth, and is a major component in the hydrological cycle. Runoff that flows over land before reaching a watercourse is referred to as surface runoff or overland flow. Once in a watercourse, runoff is referred to as streamflow, channel runoff, or river runoff. Urban runoff is surface runoff created by ...
Surface runoff (also known as overland flow or terrestrial runoff) is the unconfined flow of water over the ground surface, in contrast to channel runoff (or stream flow). It occurs when excess rainwater , stormwater , meltwater , or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil .
The runoff from the land flows into streams and rivers and discharges into the ocean, which completes the global cycle. [26] The water cycle is a key part of Earth's energy cycle through the evaporative cooling at the surface which provides latent heat to the atmosphere, as atmospheric systems play a primary role in moving heat upward.
A runoff models or rainfall-runoff model describes how rainfall is converted into runoff in a drainage basin (catchment area or watershed). More precisely, it produces a surface runoff hydrograph in response to a rainfall event, represented by and input as a hyetograph. Rainfall-runoff models need to be calibrated before they can be used.
Rain falling over a drainage basin in Scotland.Understanding the cycling of water into, through, and out of catchments is a key element of hydrology. Hydrology (from Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (húdōr) 'water' and -λογία () 'study of') is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and ...
In hydrology, run-on refers to surface runoff from an external area that flows on to an area of interest. A portion of run-on can infiltrate once it reaches the area of interest. Run-on is common in arid and semi-arid areas with patchy vegetation cover and short but intense thunderstorms. In these environments, surface runoff is usually ...
Streamflow, or channel runoff, is the flow of water in streams and other channels, and is a major element of the water cycle. It is one runoff component, the movement of water from the land to waterbodies , the other component being surface runoff .
Surface-water hydrology is the sub-field of hydrology concerned with above-earth water (surface water), in contrast to groundwater hydrology that deals with water below the surface of the Earth. Its applications include rainfall and runoff , the routes that surface water takes (for example through rivers or reservoirs ), and the occurrence of ...