Negative Output Values

[James Gilbert]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone could share some insight on how to interpret negative discharge values? I assume it just means that in theory there were no flows, I'm just not sure how to interpret negative values rather than just a zero. It's a very small catchment, so no flow is genuinely possible.

Many thanks,

James

[James Gilbert]

That graph wasn't formatted correctly when I attached it to the original post. See attached for info.

[Steve Birkinshaw]

Hi James,

Normally you do not get negative discharge values. They do occasionally appear in some catchments but only for short periods of time. I think there are more in this catchment because it it very small. As for the reason I am not entirely sure. There are some corrections to the flows to make sure there is conservation of mass and I think this might be what is happening here. I agree that it probably just means there are no flows.

Regards,
Steve

[James Gilbert]

Hi Steve,

again thanks very much for the quick reply!

I thought as much. These sub-catchments are almost field scale - Devon fields at that... so no discharge is very much expected at certain points of the year. Thanks for confirming my assumptions.

Kind regards,

James