RUNOFF AND FREEZING

RUNOFF - is similar to overland flow, except that we assume runoff to occur within the unit model. Therefore in our case it is an instantaneous process that delivers all the excess of the surface water, that has not been infiltrated over one time step, into the river/stream network. Within the temporal and spatial scales that we chose for our model, we do not need to distinguish between standing surface water and surface water in rivers/streams. We assume that over one model time step all the surface water is collected into the network, unless the whole area is over already saturated ground, in which case we are dealing with a water body or a wetland.

FREEZE - is another process that can remove surface water. When temperatures drop below 0^o(C) the moisture delivered by precipitation arrives as snow and does not add to the SURFACE WATER compartment, but goes directly to SNOW/ICE .

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