Generation of Total Runoff Hydrographs Using a Method Derived from a Digital Filter Algorithm

A reliable prediction of the total runoff hydrograph is necessary for water resources management. This study investigates two approaches to generate total runoff hydrograph by adding baseflow to direct runoff hydrographs. The first approach uses a method, derived from a digital filter algorithm for hydrograph separation, to generate baseflow hydrographs from direct runoff hydrographs. The method appears to perform well in producing the overall shape of the total runoff hydrographs and the acceptable mass balance errors for a year of water cycle. For application, the recession baseflow constant needs to be estimated reliably and the initial baseflow could be approximated to the long-term mean dry weather flow. The second approach assumes a constant baseflow rate. Although this approach is still capable of producing the overall hydrograph shape, it yields high mass balance errors in the total runoff hydrographs for both monthly and long-term periods. Further analysis shows that two-third of the mass balance errors are contributed from periods with direct runoff, implying that the constant baseflow assumption could introduce significant errors into the computations of total runoff hydrograph.