Is there an average time (or order of magnitude) that rainwater resides on a soil surface? A kind of residence time or ponding time? I am looking at a natural soil (not urban), normal topography (not too steep, not too flat), moderate vegetation (grass but not trees), made of compacted clay (quite impermeable) in a temperate climate (e.g. Europe)
Thanks!
Dear Dr Mercedes
I send you an attached thesis, I think you will find answers to your question.
Best reagrds
Its dependent on the scale of your study. If you assume a 1 sq m surface with a storage capacity of s mm, the storage time would be s / (throughfall - unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of soil). So, my guess would be in the order of hours. If you are talking about a large-scale model grids in the order of 10^4 km2, the value of s will vary depending on roughness, elevation, lakes, ponds, among many other factors, and would lead to residence in the order of days to months.
Well,
Horton identified the interception process through one rainstorm (attached table).
I= a+bPn
Where I(mm) is the intercept and P(mm) is the rain while a, b are constants of tree species.
Now, from the water balance, we can calculate the change in storage(ds)
The retention time=(ds- I)mm/ evapotranspiration during a dry pond period (mm/day)
Regards
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