Overview of Terminology

Before using MUSIC, it is necessary to understand the basic modelling components, and their associated terminology:

• Catchment is the term used for the entire catchment being simulated. The Catchment File (a file of the simulation you are working with) can be saved for later modification and use.
• A Catchment is made up of a number of Nodes, joined together by Drainage Links.
• The Catchment may contain a number of sub-catchments, which are called Source Nodes.
• There are several types of Source Node. Firstly there are three default land-uses: Urban, Agricultural and Forested. These Source Nodes differ only in their default baseflow and stormflow pollutant concentrations. You can modify Source Nodes to simulate any type of land-use (eg. road runoff), using their own water quality data. For this reason, music also offers a User Defined Source Node, which operates in exactly the same manner, but has no land-use-specific icon, and is not loaded with default water quality parameters. Finally there is an Imported Data Node which does not calculate flows and concentrations at all, but reads them instead from a specified input file.
• A Catchment contains only one Receiving Node, which represents the receiving waterway (e.g. river, lake, bay).
• A Catchment may also have a number of Junction Nodes, which simply act as confluences. These have no effect on flow or water quality; they simply join multiple upstream nodes into one.
• Treatment Nodes are used to represent stormwater treatment measures within the Catchment. A range of treatment measures are available within music (refer to Toolbar and Menu Items).