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Scale invariance of daily runoff time series in agricultural watersheds
1Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
2Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
3Soil and Water Science Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32601, USA
Abstract. Fractal scaling behavior of long-term records of daily runoff time series in 32 sub-watersheds covering a wide range of size were examined using the shifted box-counting method and Hurst rescaled range (R/S) analysis. These sub-watersheds were associated with four agricultural watersheds of different climate and topography. The results showed that the records of daily runoff rate exhibited scale invariance over certain time scales. Two scaling ranges were identified from the shifted box-counting plots with a break point at about 12 months. The Hurst R/S analysis showed that the runoff time series displayed strong long-term persistence which dissipated after 15~18 months. The same fractal dimensions and Hurst exponents were obtained for the sub-watersheds within each watershed, indicating that the runoff of these sub-watersheds have similar distribution of occurrence and similar long-term memory. The existence of scale invariance in runoff time series from agricultural watersheds may have implications for extrapolating observations from gauged to ungauged watersheds.
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Citation: Zhou, X., Persaud, N., and Wang, H.: Scale invariance of daily runoff time series in agricultural watersheds, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., 2, 1757-1786, 2005. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager
