Explanation of River Roughness Exercise

Exercise Objective

Exercise Explanation

1. Examine the image showing the two hydrographs, and determine whether you had selected the correct river form for each color.
2. Low roughness rivers will allow a flood wave or other runoff hydrograph to travel through the river more rapidly, creating a higher magnitude event with shorter duration, as shown in the blue hydrograph.
3. Hi roughness rivers will cause a flood wave or other runoff hydrograph to travel through the watershed more slowly, creating a lower magnitude event with longer duration, as shown in the red hydrograph.