@article{UberVandervaereZinetal.2018, author = {Uber, Magdalena and Vandervaere, Jean-Pierre and Zin, Isabella and Braud, Isabelle and Heistermann, Maik and Legout, Cedric and Molinie, Gilles and Nord, Guillaume}, title = {How does initial soil moisture influence the hydrological response? A case study from southern France}, series = {Hydrology and earth system sciences : HESS}, volume = {22}, journal = {Hydrology and earth system sciences : HESS}, number = {12}, publisher = {Copernicus}, address = {G{\"o}ttingen}, issn = {1027-5606}, doi = {10.5194/hess-22-6127-2018}, pages = {6127 -- 6146}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The phi(ev) is calculated from high-resolution discharge and precipitation data for several rain events with a cumulative precipitation P-cum ranging from less than 5mm to more than 80 mm. Because of the high uncertainty of phi(ev) associated with the hydrograph separation method, phi(ev) is calculated with several methods, including graphical methods, digital filters and a tracer-based method. The results indicate that the hydrological response depends on (theta) over bar (ini): during dry conditions phi(ev) is consistently below 0.1, even for events with high and intense precipitation. Above a threshold of (theta) over bar (ini) = 34 vol \% phi(ev) can reach values up to 0.99 but there is a high scatter. Some variability can be explained with a weak correlation of phi(ev) with P-cum and rain intensity, but a considerable part of the variability remains unexplained. It is concluded that threshold-based methods can be helpful to prevent overestimation of the hydrological response during dry catchment conditions. The impact of soil moisture on the hydrological response during wet catchment conditions, however, is still insufficiently understood and cannot be generalized based on the present results.}, language = {en} }