| Title: |
Controls on storm runoff behavior in a gullied blanket peatland |
| Authors: |
Edokpa, Donald; Milledge, David G.; Allott, Tim; Holden, Joseph; Shuttleworth, Emma; Kay, Martin; Johnston, Adam; Millin-Chalabi, Gail; Scott-Campbell, Matt; Chandler, David; Freestone, Jamie; Evans, Martin |
| Source: |
Edokpa, D, Milledge, D G, Allott, T, Holden, J, Shuttleworth, E, Kay, M, Johnston, A, Millin-Chalabi, G, Scott-Campbell, M, Chandler, D, Freestone, J & Evans, M 2022, 'Controls on storm runoff behavior in a gullied blanket peatland', EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23/05/22 - 27/05/22. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10081 |
| Publication Year: |
2022 |
| Collection: |
The University of Manchester: Research Explorer - Publications |
| Description: |
Many upland headwaters of the UK drain areas of blanket peat, much of which has been degraded through atmospheric deposition of pollutants, vegetation change, peat extraction, artificial drainage and erosion. These areas are increasingly the focus of interventions to restore some of the multiple-benefits lost through degradation. Understanding their runoff generation processes underpins analysis of their wider benefits including their potential to mitigate downstream flooding. Using a series of multivariate analysis techniques we examine controls on storm runoff in ten blanket peat catchments of 0.2-3.9 hectares all within 5 km of one another. We find that: 1) rainfall intensity is the dominant hydro-meteorological driver for both magnitude and timing of peak discharge for all ten catchments, with antecedent rainfall only relevant in small storms; 2) most of the inter-catchment variability in discharge predictability from rainfall can be explained by catchment characteristics, particularly catchment area; 3) runoff responses, particularly in small storms, are sensitive to scale even in an apparently homogenous and saturation-excess overland flow dominated peatland landscape; 4) peak discharge in large storms is strongly controlled by attenuation processes associated with the travel time distribution, and thus drainage network geometry; 5) peak discharge in smaller storms underlines the importance of hydrological connectivity at scales |
| Document Type: |
conference object |
| Language: |
English |
| DOI: |
10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10081 |
| Availability: |
https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/publications/8c1f70c6-2393-45f3-8936-bae513c4220a; https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10081 |
| Rights: |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess ; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.5C81BAD6 |
| Database: |
BASE |