One- and two-dimensional modelling of overland flow in semiarid shrubland, Jornada basin, New Mexico

Two distributed parameter models, a one-dimensional (1D) model and a two-dimensional (2D) model, are developed to simulate overland flow in two small semiarid shrubland watersheds in the Jornada basin, southern New Mexico. The models are event-based and represent each watershed by an array of 1-m2 cells, in which the cell size is approximately equal to the average area of the shrubs. Each model uses only six parameters, for which values are obtained from field surveys and rainfall simulation experiments. In the 1D model, flow volumes through a fixed network are computed by a simple finite-difference solution to the 1D kinematic wave equation. In the 2D model, flow directions and volumes are computed by a second-order predictor–corrector finite-difference solution to the 2D kinematic wave equation, in which flow routing is implicit and may vary in response to flow conditions. The models are compared in terms of the runoff hydrograph and the spatial distribution of runoff. The simulation results suggest that both the 1D and the 2D models have much to offer as tools for the large-scale study of overland flow. Because it is based on a fixed flow network, the 1D model is better suited to the study of runoff due to individual rainfall events, whereas the 2D model may, with further development, be used to study both runoff and erosion during multiple rainfall events in which the dynamic nature of the terrain becomes an important consideration. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.