Contributions of Robert E. Horton

Hall, F.

doi:10.1029/hg003p0113

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Hydrologists need no introduction to some of Horton's contributions like infiltration theory, overland flow, geomorphological laws, etc. What may not be widely known is that he published an estimated 200 papers and reports, mostly single authored (~90%), but of these, only about 80 works are available from readily accessible sources (Hall, 1987). Horton's unpublished works are held at the U.S. National Archives in College Park, Maryland (cataloguing and organization was done by Walter Langbein).…”

Section: Horton's Broader Contributions and Bibliographymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the last few decades, Dr. Keith Beven from Lancaster University and Dr. Jim Smith from Princeton University examined a portion of the archive contents and presented their findings via publications (Beven, 2004 a, b, c) and an AMS Horton lecture (Smith, 2010). About 80 of Horton's contributions were provided by Hall (1987) and curated by the AGU Virtual Hydrology Project (see Foufoula-Georgiou, accessed 2021-05-19). A more complete list of Horton's works was collated by Dr. Elizabeth Clark, which includes ~135 works, for an American Meteorological Society (AMS) Horton Lecture delivered by Dr. Dennis Lettenmaier (Lettenmaier, 2008).…”

Section: Horton's Broader Contributions and Bibliographymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Re-discovering Robert E. Horton's Lake Evaporation Formulae: New Directions for Evaporation Physics

Vimal

Singh

2021

Preprint

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Abstract. Evaporation from open water is among the most rigorously studied problems in hydrology. Robert E. Horton, unbeknownst to most investigators on the subject, studied it in great detail by conducting experiments and heuristically relating his observations to physical laws. His work furthered known theories of lake evaporation, but it appears that it got dismissed as simply empirical. This is unfortunate, because Horton’s century-old insights on the topic, which we summarize here, seem relevant for contemporary climate change-era problems. In re-discovering his overlooked lake evaporation works, in this paper we: 1) examine his several publications in the period 1915–1944 and identify his theory sources for evaporation physics among scientists of the late 1800s; 2) illustrate his lake evaporation formulae which require several equations, tables, thresholds, and conditions based on physical factors and assumptions; and 3) assess his evaporation results over continental U.S., and analyse the performance of his formula in a subarctic Canadian catchment by comparing it with five other calibrated (aerodynamic and mass transfer) evaporation formulae of varying complexity. We find that Horton’s method, due to its unique variable vapor pressure deficit (VVPD) term, outperforms all other methods by ~ 3–15 % of R2 consistently across timescales (days to months), and an order of magnitude higher at sub-daily scales (we assessed up to 30 mins). Surprisingly, when his method uses input vapor pressure disaggregated from reanalysis data, it still outperforms other methods which use local measurements. This indicates that the vapor pressure deficit (VPD) term currently used in all other evaporation methods is not as good an independent control for lake evaporation as Horton's VVPD. Therefore, Horton's evaporation formula is held to be a major improvement in lake evaporation theory which, in part, may: A) supplant or improve existing evaporation formulae including the aerodynamic part of the combination (Penman) method; B) point to new directions in lake evaporation physics as it leads to a "constant" and a non-dimensional ratio – the former is due to him, John Dalton (1802), and Gustav Schübler (1831), and the latter to him and Josef Stefan (1881); C) offer better insights behind the physics of the evaporation paradox (i.e. globally, decreasing trends in pan evaporation are unanimously observed, while the opposite is expected due to global warming). Curiously, his rare observations of convective vapor plumes from lakes may also help explain the mythical origins of Greek deity Venus and the dancing Nereids.

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Section: Horton's Broader Contributions and Bibliographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Horton's Broader Contributions and Bibliographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-discovering Robert E. Horton's Lake Evaporation Formulae: New Directions for Evaporation Physics

Vimal

Singh

2021

Preprint

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“…Infiltration excess overland flow is surface runoff produced at the ground surface when the rainfall intensity exceeds the infiltration capacity. It is named after Horton, who in the 1930's claimed that runoff peaks are generated by this mechanism only (Hall, 1987). Saturation excess overland flow occurs when, on part of the drainage basin, the surface horizon of the soil becomes saturated as a result of either the build up of a saturated zone above a soil horizon of lower hydraulic conductivity or the rise of a shallow water table to the surface (Maidment, 1993).…”

Section: Flood Generating Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Appropriate modelling of climate change impacts on river flooding

Booij

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APPROPRIATE MODELLING OF CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON RIVER FLOODINGPROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Twente, op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. F.A. van Vught, volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op vrijdag 12 april 2002 te 13.15 uur. door Martijn Jan Booij geboren op 27 oktober 1972 te Geldrop Dit proefschrift is goedgekeurd door de promotor: prof. dr. ir. C.B. Vreugdenhil In dierbare herinnering aan mijn vader Voorwoord viii European Environmental Agency supplied me with the soil and land use data. Eric Sprokkereef of RIZA gave me essential Meuse basin data and Joop Gerretsen of Rijkswaterstaat Limburg made discharge data available. Finally, Sten Bergström of the Swedish Hydrological and Meteorological Institute kindly provided the HBV model.De woon-werk situatie heeft geresulteerd in aardig wat kilometers met de betrouwbare vierwieler N. Sunny. Alsof de auto wilde aangeven dat vier jaar onderzoek wel genoeg was geweest, begaf die het net voor het gereedkomen van dit boekwerk. Menigmaal vroegen collega's verwonderd of ik nog steeds op en neer tufte tussen de Rijn en de Dinkel. Jazeker, en dat tuffen was de moeite waard. Ik heb een hele leuke tijd gehad met mijn collega's en hoop dat nog even voort te zetten. Een aantal van hen wil ik speciaal noemen. Ik wil Anke bedanken voor de talloze hand-en spandiensten en lekkere koffie die altijd klaar stond. René, bedankt voor je hulp bij het bewerken en omzetten van allerhande databestanden met soms wel erg rare 'formats'. Tenslotte wil ik mijn (voormalige) kamergenoten bedanken voor hun gezelschap. Jean-Luc, Chris en Caroline gedurende de eerste jaren en Michiel sinds een paar maanden. Een groot deel van de tijd deelde ik mijn kamer met één van mijn paranimfen. Frans, bedankt voor je prettige gezelschap, je gevoel voor humor en de goede discussies.Gelukkig was er de afgelopen jaren voldoende tijd voor andere dingen dan promotieonderzoek. Weekendjes weg, feesten en partijen dichtbij en ver weg, goede gesprekken in de Vlaam of een tripje naar Heeze of Delden. Beste (schoon)familie en vrienden, bedankt voor alle gezelligheid en plezier deze jaren en natuurlijk de interesse in mijn onderzoek. Ik hoop dat het door dit proefschrift duidelijker wordt, waar ik al die jaren mee bezig ben geweest.Dit promotieonderzoek wordt op 12 april 2002 afgesloten met de verdediging van het proefschrift. Wim van Leussen, Cor Schuurmans, Alfred Stein, Peter Troch en Herman Wind, bedankt voor het lezen van mijn proefschrift. Ik voel me vereerd dat jullie mijn opponenten zijn tijdens de verdediging.Elsbeth en Frans, bedankt dat jullie mijn paranimfen willen zijn en mij willen helpen en steunen voorafgaand en tijdens de verdediging.Mijn laatste dank gaat uit naar twee personen. Mamma, bedankt voor alle steun en vertrouwen, niet alleen tijdens dit promotietraject, maar ook gedurende heel mijn leven daarvoor. Lieve Simone, ondanks dat je zelf zegt dat je niet zo veel hebt bijgedragen aan dit boekwerk, denk ik ...

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2012

Rainfall‐Runoff Modelling

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Contributions of Robert E. Horton

Cited by 5 publications

References 51 publications

Re-discovering Robert E. Horton's Lake Evaporation Formulae: New Directions for Evaporation Physics

Re-discovering Robert E. Horton's Lake Evaporation Formulae: New Directions for Evaporation Physics

Appropriate modelling of climate change impacts on river flooding

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