Date:
Wednesday, November 15, 2017, 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Location:
Geological Museum Room 204
“The surprisingly simple relationship between rainfall intensity and streamflow variability”
Abstract: In the last decade, probabilistic rainfall-runoff models have developed into a new and powerful method for how rainfall is converted into streamflow. These models are simple, with few parameters, making them ideal for predicting streamflow in ungauged basins. They also have an advantage in basins subject to unprecendent climate forcing, where traditional models which are heavily parameterized with historical flow data may fail. I will expand on established theory describing the climatic controls on streamflow mean and variability, revealing a simple positive relationship between mean rainfall intensity and streamflow variability. This relationship has important implications in light of the numerous predictions that climate change will increase rainfall intensity in many places around the globe.