INTRODUCTION OF THE SOIL VEGETATION/ATMOSPHERE CONTINUUM IN A CONCEPTUAL RAINFALL/RUNOFF MODEL/

This paper presents the inclusion of the soil-vegetation-atmosphere in teractions in a proven conceptual model. This new scheme simulates the daily streamflows over small catchments by taking into account the av erage characteristics of the surface (soil and vegetation) for the cal culation of actual evaporation and evapotranspiration. The model also simulates the daily evolution of soil moisture in two layers: the surf ace layer representing the first ten centimetres of the soil and the b ulk layer representing the root zone. The results of the model calibra tion on a test site, and the results of the model validation on 36 wat ersheds, show its good capability to simulate streamflows and soil moi sture in the surface layer and in the hulk soil layer. These first res ults are very encouraging and open the possibility of using these quan tities for hydrological applications.