A river network based hydrological model for predicting natural and influenced flow statistics at ungauged sites: Micro LOW FLOWS

Information on the magnitude and variability of flow regimes at the river reach scale is a central component of most aspects of water resource and water quality management. Within the UK the number of river reaches that are gauged represent less than 1% of the total number of river stretches mapped at a scale of 1:50,000. The paper is the first of two papers that describe the development and application of procedures within Micro LOW FLOWS for estimating the variability and magnitude of flow regimes at ungauged sites as represented by flow duration and mean flow statistics. This paper describes the development of the models whilst Young et al. (this volume) describes a pragmatic approach for applying the model to a river basin with complex water use patterns.