| Abstract |
Land surface hydrology controls runoff production and the associated transport of sediments, and a wide variety of anthropogenic organic chemicals, and nutrients from upland landscape areas and hillslopes to streams and other water bodies. Based on interactions between landscape characteristics and precipitation inputs, watersheds respond differently to different climatic inputs (e.g. precipitation and solar radiation). This study compares the hydrologic responses of the Mid-Atlantic watersheds, and identifies the landscape and climatic descriptors that control those responses. Our approach was to select representative watersheds from the Mid-Atlantic region, group the watersheds by physiographic province and ecoregion, and then collect landscape, climate, and hydrologic response descriptor data for each selected watershed. For example, we extracted extensive landscape descriptor data from soil, land use and land cover, and digital elevation model geographic information system (GIS) databases. |
