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Concentration‐Discharge Relationships Revisited: Overused But Underutilised?

Knapp, Julia L. A.; Musolff, Andreas

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Authors

Andreas Musolff



Abstract

Over the past 50 years, concentration‐discharge (cQ) relationships have been widely used to analyse water quality dynamics. Nowadays improved availability of concentration (c) and discharge (Q) data at different spatial and temporal scales have led to a high popularity of cQ applications. However, despite their widespread use, we see persistent challenges in the integration of cQ relationships across temporal scales, and in the identification of the encoded processes. In this commentary, we show that different catchment processes may lead to similar cQ responses resulting in a lack of clear causality. We emphasise that cQ relationships applied at different time scales integrate different parts of the catchment and may, therefore, convey different information. Finally, we advocate for the careful use of cQ relationship as one, but not the only, tool in addressing ecohydrological questions.

Citation

Knapp, J. L. A., & Musolff, A. (2024). Concentration‐Discharge Relationships Revisited: Overused But Underutilised?. Hydrological Processes, 38(11), Article e15328. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.15328

Journal Article Type Commentary
Acceptance Date Oct 21, 2024
Online Publication Date Nov 10, 2024
Publication Date Nov 1, 2024
Deposit Date Nov 19, 2024
Publicly Available Date Nov 19, 2024
Journal Hydrological Processes
Print ISSN 0885-6087
Electronic ISSN 1099-1085
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 38
Issue 11
Article Number e15328
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.15328
Keywords concentration discharge relationships, challenges, catchment hydrology, high‐frequency
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3096212

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