Rapid simulated hydrologic response within the variably saturated near surface

Column and field experiments have shown that the hydrologic response to increases in rainfall rates can be more rapid than expected from simple estimates. Physics‐based hydrologic response simulation, with the Integrated Hydrology Model (InHM), is used here to investigate rapid hydrologic response, within the variably saturated near surface, to temporal variations in applied flux at the surface boundary. The factors controlling the speed of wetting front propagation are discussed within the Darcy–Buckingham conceptual framework, including kinematic wave approximations. The Coos Bay boundary‐value problem is employed to examine simulated discharge, pressure head, and saturation responses to a large increase in applied surface flux. The results presented here suggest that physics‐based simulations are capable of representing rapid hydrologic response within the variably saturated near surface. The new InHM simulations indicate that the temporal discretization and measurement precision needed to capture the rapid subsurface response to a spike increase in surface flux, necessary for both data‐based analyses and evaluation of physics‐based models, are smaller than the capabilities of the instrumentation deployed at the Coos Bay experimental catchment. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.