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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-2711</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Hydrological spatial coupling within an abandoned Mediterranean terraced microcatchment</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Company</surname>
<given-names>Jaume</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3768-7507</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Cuello-Llobell</surname>
<given-names>Francisco</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>García-Comendador</surname>
<given-names>Julián</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Fortesa</surname>
<given-names>Josep</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Tomàs-Burguera</surname>
<given-names>Miquel</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Mir-Gual</surname>
<given-names>Miquel</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1134-0006</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Turnbull</surname>
<given-names>Laura</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Wainwright</surname>
<given-names>John</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Moreno-de-las-Heras</surname>
<given-names>Mariano</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3366-5060</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Cristóbal</surname>
<given-names>Jordi</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Calvo-Cases</surname>
<given-names>Adolfo</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8497-4571</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Estrany</surname>
<given-names>Joan</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Natural Risks and Emergencies Observatory of the Balearic Islands – RiscBal, University of the Balearic Islands, Department of Geography and Institute of Agro-Environmental &amp; Water Economy Research – INAGEA; Centre Bit Raiguer, Carrer dels Selleters 25, 07300 Inca, Mallorca – Spain</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Grupo de Investigaciones Ambientales Mediterráneas (GRAM), Department of Geography, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>Department of Geography, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Campus de Bellaterra, Edifici B, Carrer de la Fortuna, s/n, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff5">
<label>5</label>
<addr-line>Inter-University Institute for Local Development, Universitat de València, València, Spain</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>22</day>
<month>05</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>36</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Jaume Company et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2711/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2711/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2711/egusphere-2026-2711.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2711/egusphere-2026-2711.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Runoff (R) generation in Mediterranean headwater catchments is highly episodic and shaped by the interplay of precipitation (P), seasonal soil moisture (SM) dynamics, and terrain structure. In terraced landscapes, land abandonment has driven a forest transition that increases fuel loads and wildfire occurrence, while legacy features such as stone walls modify storage and flow pathways, affecting hydrological spatial coupling. Wildfires further reduce vegetation cover, induce soil water repellence, and lower infiltration capacity, enhancing R generation and reorganising connectivity during a post-fire window of disturbance, but their interaction with terrace structure at event scale is poorly understood. This study investigates how P, seasonal evolving SM, and terrain structure control R in a 4.7 ha terraced microcatchment in Mallorca, Spain, affected by a high-severity wildfire in 2013. Hydrological conditions were classified into four periods (wet, drying-down, dry, and wetting-up). P, SM, and discharge (Q) were continuously monitored over four years (2021&amp;ndash;2024), with SM measured at representative hillslope and terrace locations. Of 186 P events analyzed, only 17% generated measurable outlet Q, with R highly concentrated in time: November 2021 alone accounted for 73% of total R volume. Maximum SM consistently emerged as the strongest indicator of R occurrence across seasons, while event-scale changes in SM (&amp;Delta;SM) were particularly informative during transitional periods; antecedent SM showed limited predictive power, especially under partially coupled conditions. Hillslopes responded rapidly to P but with weak coupling between local SM and outlet Q, whereas farm terraces exhibited storage-controlled behaviour in well-connected positions and delayed or suppressed responses in disconnected mid-terrace areas. Overall, R emerges from the interaction between P forcing, dynamically evolving SM, and spatially variable structural connectivity, rather than from static thresholds, highlighting the need for connectivity-aware, event-scale approaches to inform land management in Mediterranean landscapes under global change.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="36"/></counts>
<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades</funding-source>
<award-id>PID2021-123707OB-I00</award-id>
<award-id>PRE2022-101607</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs2">
<funding-source>Universitat de les Illes Balears</funding-source>
<award-id>FPI-UIB</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs3">
<funding-source>Digital Europe Programme</funding-source>
<award-id>Floods and Droughts - GenAI-enabled solutions for water resilience and citizen-centered crisis management</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
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<back>
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