Abstractions from Precipitation 99

3.18 The mass curve of an isolated storm in a 500 ha watershed is as follows:

Time from start (h) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

Cumulative rainfall
(cm) 0 0.8 2.6 2.8 4.1 7.3 10.8 11.8 12.4 12.6

If the direct runoff produced by the storm is measured at the outlet of the watershed as
0.340 Mm3, estimate the j-index of the storm and duration of rainfall excess.
3.19 The mass curve of an isolated storm over a watershed is given below.

Time from 0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0
start (h)
Cummulative
rainfall (cm) 0 0.25 0.50 1.10 1.60 2.60 3.50 5.70 6.50 7.30 7.70

If the storm produced a direct runoff of 3.5 cm at the outlet of the watershed, estimate the
j-index of the storm and duration of rainfall excess.
3.20 In a 140-min storm the following rates of rainfall were observed in successive 20-min
intervals: 6.0, 6.0, 18.0, 13.0, 2.0, 2.0 and 12.0 mm/h. Assuming the j-index value as
3.0 mm/h and an initial loss of 0.8 mm, determine the total rainfall, net runoff and
W-index for the storm.
3.21 The mass curve of rainfall of duration 100 min is given below. If the catchment had an
initial loss of 0.6 cm and a j-index of 0.6 cm/h, calculate the total surface runoff from
the catchment.

Time from start of rainfall (min) 0 20 40 60 80 100

Cummulative rainfall (cm) 0 0.5 1.2 2.6 3.3 3.5

3.22 An isolated 3-h storm occurred over a basin in the following fashion:

% of catchment j–index (cm/h) Rainfall (cm)

area 1st hour 2nd hour 3rd hour
20 1.00 0.8 2.3 1.5
30 0.75 0.7 2.1 1.0
50 0.50 1.0 2.5 0.8

Estimate the runoff from the catchment due to the storm.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS
3.1 If ew and ea are the saturated vapour pressures of the water surface and air respectively,
the Dalton’s law for evaporation EL in unit time is given by EL =
(a) (ew – ea) (b) K ew ea (c) K (ew – ea) (d) K (ew + ea)
3.2 The average pan coefficient for the standard US Weather Bureau class A pan is
(a) 0.85 (b) 0.70 (c) 0.90 (d) 0.20
3.3 A canal is 80 km long and has an average surface width of 15 m. If the evaporation
measured in a class A pan is 0.5 cm/day, the volume of water evaporated in a month of
30 days is (in m3)
(a) 12600 (b) 18000 (c) 180000 (d) 126000
3.4 The ISI standard pan evaporimeter is the
(a) same as the US class A pan
(b) has an average pan coefficient value of 0.60