View article

Studies describing runoff processes from different forest types are rare in tropical montane forests (TMFs) with steep slopes and complex geomorphology, such as the Himalaya. The study compares the hydrological functioning of three streams in Eastern Himalaya using a physically-based, data-driven mechanistic baseflow-separation filter developed by Furey and Gupta (2001). The filter uses the conservation of mass approach to empirically derive coefficients of quick/overland flow (c1), evapotranspiration (c2), and groundwater recharge (c3). The three instrumented catchments ranged from first (0.2 km2) to third (13.4 km2) orders, dominated by temperate broad-leaved (henceforth temperate) and sub-alpine conifer-mixed (henceforth alpine) forests, and cover wide elevation (1800-4050 masl) and precipitation (3750-4900 mm) gradients.