ASCE will be sunsetting the Civil Engineering Database (CEDB) in the coming months. We encourage you to start using the ASCE Library to perform content searches. In the ASCE Library, you can save your search results as well as receive email content alerts when new content relevant to your area of interest is published. Try it out today at https://ascelibrary.org.

 

Chaotic Characteristics of Snowmelt Runoff: A Preliminary Study

by Bradford P. Wilcox, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, United States,
Mark S. Seyfried, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, United States,
Wilbert H. Blackburn, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, United States,
Thor H. Matison, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Watershed Planning and Analysis in Action

Abstract:

Chaos, the study of nonlinear dynamic systems, offers a way of observing order in systems previously thought to be random. In this study, we analyze snowmelt runoff from a small watershed (25 ha) in southwestern Idaho, for chaotic dynamics. The question we pose is: does runoff behave in a random fashion, or is it deterministic, controlled by a limited number of state variables? Results of this study suggest that runoff is deterministic and could be described using a model that requires only a few nonlinear equations. Unfortunately, chaos theory gives no indication of the make-up of these controlling equations.

Subject Headings: Snowmelt | Runoff | Watersheds | Nonlinear response | Nonlinear analysis | Dynamic analysis | Mathematics | Idaho | United States

Services: Buy this book/Buy this article

 

Return to search