---
OA_type: closed access
_id: '22549'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: "The time that rainfall takes to reach the outlet of a catchment as discharge
    (transit time) is a fundamental and\r\nintegrated measure of catchment hydrological
    processes and solute transport mechanisms. As such, many efforts\r\nhave been
    dedicated to its understanding and quantification. However, defining and ranking
    which factors,\r\ninternal and external to the system, control the distributions
    of transit time is still an open challenge. Here, we\r\ndevelop a two-stage approach
    to explore climate and topography controls on transit time, using a fully distributed
    hydrological model coupled with a transport component. Specifically, we apply
    the model to two\r\nsynthetic topographies under five observed climate regimes.
    With this setup, water fluxes from two years of daily\r\nrainfall events are singularly
    tracked across the catchments to then derive the distributions of transit time
    and\r\nfraction of young water for each combination of topography and climate.
    Results highlight a considerable\r\nvariability of transit times in all climates
    and a pronounced effect of topography within a given climate. They\r\nfurther
    reveal that for wet climates it is possible to define a curve describing water
    transit time as a function of\r\ncumulative discharge that only depends on topographic
    properties. On the contrary, in dry climates the variability of transit time and
    young water fraction is much larger and not amenable to a simple summary. Despite\r\nsimplifications,
    quantitative model-based inferences of transit time distributions are useful to
    better understand\r\nhow climate and topography affect catchment functioning."
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Federica
  full_name: Remondi, Federica
  last_name: Remondi
- first_name: Martina
  full_name: Botter, Martina
  last_name: Botter
- 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, Botter M, Burlando P, Fatichi S. Variability of transit time distributions
    with climate and topography: A modelling approach. <i>Journal of Hydrology</i>.
    2019;569:37-50. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.11.011">10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.11.011</a>'
  apa: 'Remondi, F., Botter, M., Burlando, P., &#38; Fatichi, S. (2019). Variability
    of transit time distributions with climate and topography: A modelling approach.
    <i>Journal of Hydrology</i>. Elsevier. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.11.011">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.11.011</a>'
  chicago: 'Remondi, Federica, Martina Botter, Paolo Burlando, and Simone Fatichi.
    “Variability of Transit Time Distributions with Climate and Topography: A Modelling
    Approach.” <i>Journal of Hydrology</i>. Elsevier, 2019. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.11.011">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.11.011</a>.'
  ieee: 'F. Remondi, M. Botter, P. Burlando, and S. Fatichi, “Variability of transit
    time distributions with climate and topography: A modelling approach,” <i>Journal
    of Hydrology</i>, vol. 569. Elsevier, pp. 37–50, 2019.'
  ista: 'Remondi F, Botter M, Burlando P, Fatichi S. 2019. Variability of transit
    time distributions with climate and topography: A modelling approach. Journal
    of Hydrology. 569, 37–50.'
  mla: 'Remondi, Federica, et al. “Variability of Transit Time Distributions with
    Climate and Topography: A Modelling Approach.” <i>Journal of Hydrology</i>, vol.
    569, Elsevier, 2019, pp. 37–50, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.11.011">10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.11.011</a>.'
  short: F. Remondi, M. Botter, P. Burlando, S. Fatichi, Journal of Hydrology 569
    (2019) 37–50.
das_tickbox: '1'
date_created: 2026-07-27T12:30:24Z
date_published: 2019-02-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-08-06T08:12:57Z
day: '01'
doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.11.011
extern: '1'
intvolume: '       569'
keyword:
- Transit time distributions
- Young water
- Climate
- Topography
- Distributed hydrological modelling
language:
- iso: eng
month: '02'
oa_version: None
page: 37-50
publication: Journal of Hydrology
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 1879-2707
  issn:
  - 0022-1694
publication_status: published
publisher: Elsevier
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: 'Variability of transit time distributions with climate and topography: A modelling
  approach'
type: journal_article
user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd
volume: 569
year: '2019'
...