Source models the movement of water through a river reach using a routing link. Three link types are available:
- Straight Through links
- Lagged Flow links
- Storage Routing links
Straight Through Routing
Straight Through links (no routing) directly transfer reach inflow to outflow in the same model time-step. This link type is provided mainly to allow modellers to connect model elements when no reach modelling is required
Lagged Flow Routing
Lagged Flow links directly translate reach inflow to outflow a specified number of model time steps later, without attenuation and without taking into account any lateral fluxes. This link type is provided for use when the lateral fluxes are insignificant, there is insufficient information available regarding reach processes, or these cannot be modelled due to constraints when integrating Source model elements with those from other products.
Storage Routing Links
Storage Routing links model the storage and movement of water through a length of river using a hydrologic routing method. Storage Routing links can model the travel time of water through a reach, the attenuation of flow rates that can occur due to channel shape and roughness and reach processes (lateral fluxes). Reach processes include such things as net evaporation from the water surface and exchanges between groundwater and surface water.
Storage Routing links offer a choice of several different hydrologic routing methods:
- linear Muskingum routing,
- non-linear Muskingum routing (using a power function),
- variable parameter Muskingum routing
Storage Routing links can also be configured to represent lag flow, equivalent to a Lagged Flow link, but with the capacity to include lateral fluxes, see here. For detailed information on Storage Routing links, see here.