---
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: free access
_id: '22481'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Water transit times and flow pathways are crucial elements in characterizing
    catchment hydrologic response. Understanding their variability in space and time
    sheds light on the link between discharge formation and water quality at the catchment
    scale. Here, we introduce a novel modeling framework to explore water transport
    mechanisms using the Hafren catchment in Wales (UK) as a case study. We show that
    a fully distributed hydrological model coupled with a transport component for
    conservative tracers is useful in analyzing how hydrometeorological conditions
    and spatial heterogeneity may affect water transit times and age distributions
    in a real catchment. We use the model to track the paths of water parcels that
    entered the catchment as rainfall over 2 years, labeling each day of rain individually.
    There is a reasonable agreement between tracer simulations and observations, suggesting
    that dynamic transit time distributions (TTDs) both forward and backward in time
    can be approximated using a high spatial and temporal resolution hydrochemical
    model, without assuming a priori any transit and storage selection functions at
    the catchment scale. TTDs are quantified for the modeled internal dynamics of
    the study catchment. TTDs conditional on a given rainfall time are mostly correlated
    to the season in which the rain event occurs, whereas TTDs conditional on a given
    exit time are mostly affected by catchment wetness. When TTDs for individual rainfall
    events are re‐scaled as functions of cumulative discharge, they collapse around
    a single common distribution, suggesting a potential characteristic catchment
    function.
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Federica
  full_name: Remondi, Federica
  last_name: Remondi
- first_name: James W.
  full_name: Kirchner, James W.
  last_name: Kirchner
- first_name: Paolo
  full_name: Burlando, Paolo
  last_name: Burlando
- first_name: Simone
  full_name: Fatichi, Simone
  id: cf8e546b-a9b0-11f0-a43b-aa89ed1b56d6
  last_name: Fatichi
citation:
  ama: Remondi F, Kirchner JW, Burlando P, Fatichi S. Water flux tracking with a distributed
    hydrological model to quantify controls on the spatio-temporal variability of
    transit time distributions. <i>Water Resources Research</i>. 2018;54(4):3081-3099.
    doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/2017wr021689">10.1002/2017wr021689</a>
  apa: Remondi, F., Kirchner, J. W., Burlando, P., &#38; Fatichi, S. (2018). Water
    flux tracking with a distributed hydrological model to quantify controls on the
    spatio-temporal variability of transit time distributions. <i>Water Resources
    Research</i>. American Geophysical Union. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/2017wr021689">https://doi.org/10.1002/2017wr021689</a>
  chicago: Remondi, Federica, James W. Kirchner, Paolo Burlando, and Simone Fatichi.
    “Water Flux Tracking with a Distributed Hydrological Model to Quantify Controls
    on the Spatio-Temporal Variability of Transit Time Distributions.” <i>Water Resources
    Research</i>. American Geophysical Union, 2018. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/2017wr021689">https://doi.org/10.1002/2017wr021689</a>.
  ieee: F. Remondi, J. W. Kirchner, P. Burlando, and S. Fatichi, “Water flux tracking
    with a distributed hydrological model to quantify controls on the spatio-temporal
    variability of transit time distributions,” <i>Water Resources Research</i>, vol.
    54, no. 4. American Geophysical Union, pp. 3081–3099, 2018.
  ista: Remondi F, Kirchner JW, Burlando P, Fatichi S. 2018. Water flux tracking with
    a distributed hydrological model to quantify controls on the spatio-temporal variability
    of transit time distributions. Water Resources Research. 54(4), 3081–3099.
  mla: Remondi, Federica, et al. “Water Flux Tracking with a Distributed Hydrological
    Model to Quantify Controls on the Spatio-Temporal Variability of Transit Time
    Distributions.” <i>Water Resources Research</i>, vol. 54, no. 4, American Geophysical
    Union, 2018, pp. 3081–99, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/2017wr021689">10.1002/2017wr021689</a>.
  short: F. Remondi, J.W. Kirchner, P. Burlando, S. Fatichi, Water Resources Research
    54 (2018) 3081–3099.
das_tickbox: '1'
date_created: 2026-07-27T12:30:23Z
date_published: 2018-04-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-07-30T05:57:58Z
day: '01'
doi: 10.1002/2017wr021689
extern: '1'
fulldoi: https://doi.org/10.1002/2017wr021689
intvolume: '        54'
issue: '4'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
  url: https://doi.org/10.1002/2017WR021689
month: '04'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: 3081-3099
publication: Water Resources Research
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 1944-7973
  issn:
  - 0043-1397
publication_status: published
publisher: American Geophysical Union
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Water flux tracking with a distributed hydrological model to quantify controls
  on the spatio-temporal variability of transit time distributions
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 54
year: '2018'
...