Specific discharge

From Glossary of Meteorology



specific discharge

  1. In surface water hydrology, discharge per unit area of an upstream watershed.

  2. In open channel flow, discharge per unit width of channel.

  3. In groundwater, the volumetric flow rate per unit area of a porous media, also known as flow velocity or specific flux; if computed using Darcy's law, known as Darcy's flux.


Copyright 2024 American Meteorological Society (AMS). For permission to reuse any portion of this work, please contact permissions@ametsoc.org. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S. Code § 107) or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S.Copyright Act (17 USC § 108) does not require AMS’s permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a website or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, require written permission or a license from AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy statement.