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The study aims to quantify subsurface hydrological connectivity and its relationship with structural connectivity in headwater catchments.

April 17, 2026Water Resources ResearchOpen Access

Quantifying Subsurface Hydrological Connectivity and Its Coupling With Structural Connectivity in Headwater Catchments

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Framework quantifies hydrological connectivity in headwater catchments, suggesting improved hydrological modeling insights.

The study aims to quantify subsurface hydrological connectivity and its relationship with structural connectivity in headwater catchments.
Developed a framework integrating soil moisture dynamics and spatial distance to quantify hydrological process connectivity.
Introduced two indices: spatiotemporal fusion similarity index (SFSI) and hydrological connectivity index (HCI).
Applied the framework to the Shale Hills catchment across three rainfall events and conducted long-term analysis from 2011 to 2014.
SFSI and HCI increased systematically with runoff efficiency across rainfall events (p < 0.01).
HCI values indicated higher connectivity on the sunny hillslope (0.720) compared to the shady hillslope (0.686; p < 0.001).
Hydrological structural connectivity (HSC) explained 40% of the spatial variability in hydrological process connectivity, with a stronger impact on the sunny hillslope (41.1%) than the shady hillslope (34.5%).

Zhang et al. (2026) studied this question.

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