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The first catchment water balance: new insights into Pierre Perrault, his perceptual model and his peculiar catchment

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

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The first catchment water balance: new insights into Pierre Perrault, his perceptual model and his peculiar catchment. / McDonnell, Jeffrey J.; Beven, Keith; Morgenstern, Uwe et al.
In: Hydrological Sciences Journal, Vol. 70, No. 1, 02.01.2025, p. 27-36.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

McDonnell, JJ, Beven, K, Morgenstern, U & Pfister, L 2025, 'The first catchment water balance: new insights into Pierre Perrault, his perceptual model and his peculiar catchment', Hydrological Sciences Journal, vol. 70, no. 1, pp. 27-36. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2024.2427890

APA

McDonnell, J. J., Beven, K., Morgenstern, U., & Pfister, L. (2025). The first catchment water balance: new insights into Pierre Perrault, his perceptual model and his peculiar catchment. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 70(1), 27-36. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2024.2427890

Vancouver

McDonnell JJ, Beven K, Morgenstern U, Pfister L. The first catchment water balance: new insights into Pierre Perrault, his perceptual model and his peculiar catchment. Hydrological Sciences Journal. 2025 Jan 2;70(1):27-36. Epub 2024 Nov 29. doi: 10.1080/02626667.2024.2427890

Author

McDonnell, Jeffrey J. ; Beven, Keith ; Morgenstern, Uwe et al. / The first catchment water balance : new insights into Pierre Perrault, his perceptual model and his peculiar catchment. In: Hydrological Sciences Journal. 2025 ; Vol. 70, No. 1. pp. 27-36.

Bibtex

@article{87ec40cc42a84206adbf03f45cf276d3,
title = "The first catchment water balance: new insights into Pierre Perrault, his perceptual model and his peculiar catchment",
abstract = "Pierre Perrault{\textquoteright}s 1674 book De l{\textquoteright}Origine des Fontaines is widely acknowledged in hydrology as the first formal articulation of the catchment water balance based on field data. Many summaries of his work have now been written, but few of these summaries have examined Perrault{\textquoteright}s perceptual model in detail and none that we are aware of have gone back to his study catchment to collect new data in which to frame these historic findings in a modern context. Here we report new insights (with re-calculations of some of his analyses) into Perrault{\textquoteright}s work, his perceptual model of streamflow generation and his rather peculiar 119 km2 headwater catchment of the Seine River basin. We show the uncertainty of his flow and catchment area estimates, some errors in perception about hydrological flowpaths and new age estimates for the spring-fed site where he worked.",
author = "McDonnell, {Jeffrey J.} and Keith Beven and Uwe Morgenstern and Laurent Pfister",
year = "2025",
month = jan,
day = "2",
doi = "10.1080/02626667.2024.2427890",
language = "English",
volume = "70",
pages = "27--36",
journal = "Hydrological Sciences Journal",
issn = "0262-6667",
publisher = "TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD",
number = "1",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - The first catchment water balance

T2 - new insights into Pierre Perrault, his perceptual model and his peculiar catchment

AU - McDonnell, Jeffrey J.

AU - Beven, Keith

AU - Morgenstern, Uwe

AU - Pfister, Laurent

PY - 2025/1/2

Y1 - 2025/1/2

N2 - Pierre Perrault’s 1674 book De l’Origine des Fontaines is widely acknowledged in hydrology as the first formal articulation of the catchment water balance based on field data. Many summaries of his work have now been written, but few of these summaries have examined Perrault’s perceptual model in detail and none that we are aware of have gone back to his study catchment to collect new data in which to frame these historic findings in a modern context. Here we report new insights (with re-calculations of some of his analyses) into Perrault’s work, his perceptual model of streamflow generation and his rather peculiar 119 km2 headwater catchment of the Seine River basin. We show the uncertainty of his flow and catchment area estimates, some errors in perception about hydrological flowpaths and new age estimates for the spring-fed site where he worked.

AB - Pierre Perrault’s 1674 book De l’Origine des Fontaines is widely acknowledged in hydrology as the first formal articulation of the catchment water balance based on field data. Many summaries of his work have now been written, but few of these summaries have examined Perrault’s perceptual model in detail and none that we are aware of have gone back to his study catchment to collect new data in which to frame these historic findings in a modern context. Here we report new insights (with re-calculations of some of his analyses) into Perrault’s work, his perceptual model of streamflow generation and his rather peculiar 119 km2 headwater catchment of the Seine River basin. We show the uncertainty of his flow and catchment area estimates, some errors in perception about hydrological flowpaths and new age estimates for the spring-fed site where he worked.

U2 - 10.1080/02626667.2024.2427890

DO - 10.1080/02626667.2024.2427890

M3 - Journal article

VL - 70

SP - 27

EP - 36

JO - Hydrological Sciences Journal

JF - Hydrological Sciences Journal

SN - 0262-6667

IS - 1

ER -