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Surface runoff from a hillside after soil is saturated. Surface runoff is defined as precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, or hail) that reaches a surface stream without ever passing below the soil surface.
When water "runs off" the land surface, that’s runoff! Due to gravity, the water you wash your car with runs down the driveway as you work, and rain runs downhill. Runoff is an important component of the water cycle.
Oct 19, 2023 · Runoff occurs when there is more water than land can absorb. The excess liquid flows across the surface of the land and into nearby creeks, streams, or ponds. Runoff can come from both natural processes and human activity. The most familiar type of natural runoff is snowmelt.
Surface Runoff. If the amount of water falling on the ground is greater than the infiltration rate of the surface, runoff or overland flow will occur. Runoff specifically refers to the water leaving an area of drainage and flowing across the land surface to points of lower elevation.
Runoff may be classified according to speed of appearance after rainfall or melting snow as direct runoff or base runoff, and according to source as surface runoff, storm interflow, or groundwater runoff.
Feb 26, 2019 · Surface runoff, or overland flow, is a fundamental process of interest in hydrology. Surface runoff generation can occur at multiple scales, ranging from small pools of excess water that propagate downhill to stream networks that drain large catchments.
Runoff, in hydrology, quantity of water discharged in surface streams. Runoff includes not only the waters that travel over the land surface and through channels to reach a stream but also interflow, the water that infiltrates the soil surface and travels by means of gravity toward a stream channel.
Sep 15, 2014 · Runoff is the water that is pulled by gravity across land’s surface, replenishing groundwater and surface water as it percolates into an aquifer or moves into a river, stream or watershed.
Jun 8, 2019 · Soil saturation: Like a wet sponge, soil already saturated from previous rainfall can't absorb much more ... thus more rainfall will become surface runoff. Land cover: Some land covers have a great impact on infiltration and rainfall runoff. Vegetation can slow the movement of runoff, allowing more time for it to seep into the ground.
Surface runoff (also known as overland flow or terrestrial runoff) is the unconfined flow of water over the ground surface, in contrast to channel runoff (or stream flow ). It occurs when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil.
