In the study, researchers figured out a way to work out how water runs off in different parts of a watershed during storms. They used rainfall and water flow data to estimate this. By looking at a 16.8-hectare area in Queensland, Australia, they found that only 10% of the time did all the water run off from the entire area. Most of the time, about two-thirds actually, the runoff only came from 15% of the area with the least space to hold water. This method helped them understand where the runoff was coming from in the watershed over a 15-year period.