Development of runoff generation models in the former USSR and Russia: a historical overview.

The paper presents a historical overview of the development of hydrological models in the former USSR and Russia since the 1930s. An overwhelming number of hydrological papers were published in Russian, and they are not sufficiently well known to the world hydrological community. The purpose of the review is to fill the gap and present the main achievements, some of which were pioneering for their time. The period under consideration is divided into three sub-periods. Pre-computer, the 1930–1950s were associated, first of all, with the development of models of unsteady water flow in river channels and linear flood-routing models; in the 1960–1980s, many theoretical and practical foundations for modelling the processes of the hydrological cycle and the formation of river runoff were developed; and in the Russian era, following 1991, several notable advancements in the considered field were also made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]