Hydrology and Earth System Sciences www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net 1027-5606 1607-7938 11 2 2007 10.5194/hess-11-677-2007 http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/11/677/2007/ http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/11/677/2007/hess-11-677-2007.html http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/11/677/2007/hess-11-677-2007.pdf 677 693 2007-01-17 Effect of spatial distribution of daily rainfall on interior catchment response of a distributed hydrological model J. M. Schuurmans h.schuurmans@geo.uu.nl M. F. P. Bierkens Department of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80115, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands TNO Built Environment and Geosciences, P.O. Box 80015, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands We investigate the effect of spatial variability of daily rainfall on soil moisture, groundwater level and discharge using a physically-based, fully-distributed hydrological model. This model is currently in use with the district water board and is considered to represent reality. We focus on the effect of rainfall spatial variability on day-to-day variability of the interior catchment response, as well as on its effect on the general hydrological behaviour of the catchment. The study is performed in a flat rural catchment (135 km²) in the Netherlands, where the climate is semi-humid (average precipitation 800 mm/year, evapotranspiration 550 mm/year) and rainfall is predominantly stratiform (i.e. large scale). Both range-corrected radar data (resolution 2.5×2.5 km²) as well as data from a dense network of 30 raingauges are used, observed for the period March–October 2004. Eight different rainfall scenarios, either spatially distributed or spatially uniform, are used as input for the hydrological model. 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