[Abstract] Soil surface roughness is considered an important parameter which affects hydraulic properties of the soil surface. The evaluation of maximum water depressional storage (MDS), i.e. the absolute volume of water which can be stored at a rough surface before water runoff starts, will improve the results of overland flow modelling at a catchment scale. An amount of 25 roughness measurements in a cropped land were measured from December 1998 to May 1999 after mouldboard plough. A pinmeter was used for elevation measurements using a 2 cm x 2 cm grid on ca. 1.80 m 2 plots. Four roughness indices: random roughness, limiting elevation, limiting slope and tortuosity were calculated. Subsequently the temporary water retention was estimated. MDS showed a great variability ranging from 1.76 l/m2 to 20.36 l/m2.