scholarly journals Hydrological Simulation and Runoff Component Analysis over a Cold Mountainous River Basin in Southwest China

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weidong Xuan ◽  
Qiang Fu ◽  
Guanghua Qin ◽  
Cong Zhu ◽  
Suli Pan ◽  
...  

Assessment of water resources from mountainous catchments is crucial for the development of upstream rural areas and downstream urban communities. However, lack of data in these mountainous catchments prevents full understanding of the response of hydrology or water resources to climate change. Meanwhile, hydrological modeling is challenging due to parameter uncertainty. In this work, one tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin (the upper stream of the Brahmaputra River) was used as a case study for hydrological modeling. Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM 3B42V7) data were utilized as a substitute for gauge-based rainfall data, and the capability of simulating precipitation, snow, and groundwater contributions to total runoff by the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was investigated. The uncertainty in runoff proportions from precipitation, snowmelt, and groundwater was quantified by a batch-processing module. Hydrological signatures were finally used to help identify if the hydrological model simulated total runoff and corresponding proportions properly. The results showed that: (1) TRMM data were very useful for hydrological simulation in high and cold mountainous catchments; (2) precipitation was the primary contributor nearly all year round, reaching 56.5% of the total runoff on average; (3) groundwater occupied the biggest proportion during dry seasons, whereas snowmelt made a substantial contribution only in late spring and summer; and (4) hydrological signatures were useful for helping to evaluate the performance of the hydrological model.

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 3552
Author(s):  
Xinxin Geng ◽  
Chengpeng Zhang ◽  
Feng’e Zhang ◽  
Zongyu Chen ◽  
Zhenlong Nie ◽  
...  

Karst watershed refers to the total range of surface and underground recharge areas of rivers (including subterranean rivers and surface rivers) in karst areas. Karst water resources, as the primary source of domestic water supply in southwest China, are vital for the social and economic development of these regions. These resources are greatly significant for guiding water resources management in karst areas to establish a high-precision hydrological model of karst watersheds. Choosing the Daotian river basin in the Wumeng Mountains of Southwest China as the study area, this paper proposed a method for simplifying karst subterranean rivers into surface rivers by modifying the digital elevation model (DEM) based on a field survey and tracer test. This method aims to solve the inconsistency between the topographical drainage divides and actual catchment boundaries in karst areas. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was modified by replacing the single-reservoir model in the groundwater module with a three-reservoir model to depict the constraints of multiple media on groundwater discharge in the karst system. The results show that the catchment areas beyond topographic watershed were effectively identified after simplifying subterranean rivers to surface rivers based on the modified DEM data, which ensured the accuracy of the basic model. For the calibration and two validation periods, the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiencies (NSE) of the modified SWAT model were 0.87, 0.83, and 0.85, respectively, and R2 were 0.88, 0.84, and 0.86, respectively. The NSE of the modified SWAT model was 0.09 higher than that of the original SWAT model in simulating baseflow, which effectively improved the simulation accuracy of daily runoff. In addition, the modified SWAT model had a lower uncertainty within the same parameter ranges than the original one. Therefore, the modified SWAT model is more applicable to karst watersheds.


Author(s):  
Pulendra Dutta ◽  
Arup Kumar Sarma

Abstract A robust hydrological assessment is a challenging task in regions of limited hydro-climatological information. This level of uncertainty is further augmented in studies of flood hydrology for regions like the Brahmaputra River basin, where spatial variations of topography, land use, soil, and weather components are very high. The present study describes the development of a suitable hydrologic model for the data-scarce transboundary Brahmaputra River basin occupying an area of more than 5,42,000 km2. The main objective is to provide hydrologic assessment of the Brahmaputra River basin, even at locations having hardly any historical records. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is calibrated and validated using observed discharge of three sections located on the main stem. The results show a fair strength of the statistical parameters. Moreover, the model has been found to produce a satisfactory replica of historical flows at the tributaries with a fair value of correlation (R2 = 0.77) at Golaghat. The results of this model would facilitate the ability of the local authorities with science-based elements to carry out decisions on the management of water resources at the main basin, and even at the sub-basin level.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7560
Author(s):  
Dinesh Singh Bhati ◽  
Swatantra Kumar Dubey ◽  
Devesh Sharma

Hydrological modeling is an important tool used for basin management and studying the impacts of extreme events in a river basin. In streamflow simulations, precipitation plays an essential role in hydrological models. Meteorological satellite precipitation measurement techniques provide highly accurate rainfall information with high spatial and temporal resolution. In this analysis, the tropical rainfall monitoring mission (TRMM) 3B42 V7 precipitation products were employed for simulating streamflow by using the soil water assessment tool (SWAT) model. With India Metrological Department and TRMM data, the SWAT model can be used to predict streamflow discharge and identify sensitive parameters for the Mahi basin. The SWAT model was calibrated for 2 years and then independently validated for 2 years by comparing observed and simulated streamflow. A strong correlation was observed between the calibration and validation results for the Paderdibadi station, with a Nash­–Sutcliffe efficiency of >0.34 and coefficient of determination (R2) of >0.77. The SWAT model was used to adequately simulate the streamflow for the Upper Mahi basin with a satisfactory R2 value. The analysis indicated that TRMM 3B42 V7 is useful in SWAT applications for predicting streamflow and performance and for sensitivity analysis. In addition, satellite data may require correction before its utilization in hydrological modeling. This study is helpful for stakeholders in monitoring and managing agricultural, climatic, and environmental changes.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1313
Author(s):  
George Akoko ◽  
Tu Hoang Le ◽  
Takashi Gomi ◽  
Tasuku Kato

The soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) is a well-known hydrological modeling tool that has been applied in various hydrologic and environmental simulations. A total of 206 studies over a 15-year period (2005–2019) were identified from various peer-reviewed scientific journals listed on the SWAT website database, which is supported by the Centre for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD). These studies were categorized into five areas, namely applications considering: water resources and streamflow, erosion and sedimentation, land-use management and agricultural-related contexts, climate-change contexts, and model parameterization and dataset inputs. Water resources studies were applied to understand hydrological processes and responses in various river basins. Land-use and agriculture-related context studies mainly analyzed impacts and mitigation measures on the environment and provided insights into better environmental management. Erosion and sedimentation studies using the SWAT model were done to quantify sediment yield and evaluate soil conservation measures. Climate-change context studies mainly demonstrated streamflow sensitivity to weather changes. The model parameterization studies highlighted parameter selection in streamflow analysis, model improvements, and basin scale calibrations. Dataset inputs mainly compared simulations with rain-gauge and global rainfall data sources. The challenges and advantages of the SWAT model’s applications, which range from data availability and prediction uncertainties to the model’s capability in various applications, are highlighted. Discussions on considerations for future simulations such as data sharing, and potential for better future analysis are also highlighted. Increased efforts in local data availability and a multidimensional approach in future simulations are recommended.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 1113-1144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abolanle E. Odusanya ◽  
Bano Mehdi ◽  
Christoph Schürz ◽  
Adebayo O. Oke ◽  
Olufiropo S. Awokola ◽  
...  

Abstract. The main objective of this study was to calibrate and validate the eco-hydrological model Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) with satellite-based actual evapotranspiration (AET) data from the Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM_v3.0a) and from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Global Evaporation (MOD16) for the Ogun River Basin (20 292 km2) located in southwestern Nigeria. Three potential evapotranspiration (PET) equations (Hargreaves, Priestley–Taylor and Penman–Monteith) were used for the SWAT simulation of AET. The reference simulations were the three AET variables simulated with SWAT before model calibration took place. The sequential uncertainty fitting technique (SUFI-2) was used for the SWAT model sensitivity analysis, calibration, validation and uncertainty analysis. The GLEAM_v3.0a and MOD16 products were subsequently used to calibrate the three SWAT-simulated AET variables, thereby obtaining six calibrations–validations at a monthly timescale. The model performance for the three SWAT model runs was evaluated for each of the 53 subbasins against the GLEAM_v3.0a and MOD16 products, which enabled the best model run with the highest-performing satellite-based AET product to be chosen. A verification of the simulated AET variable was carried out by (i) comparing the simulated AET of the calibrated model to GLEAM_v3.0b AET, which is a product that has different forcing data than the version of GLEAM used for the calibration, and (ii) assessing the long-term average annual and average monthly water balances at the outlet of the watershed. Overall, the SWAT model, composed of the Hargreaves PET equation and calibrated using the GLEAM_v3.0a data (GS1), performed well for the simulation of AET and provided a good level of confidence for using the SWAT model as a decision support tool. The 95 % uncertainty of the SWAT-simulated variable bracketed most of the satellite-based AET data in each subbasin. A validation of the simulated soil moisture dynamics for GS1 was carried out using satellite-retrieved soil moisture data, which revealed good agreement. The SWAT model (GS1) also captured the seasonal variability of the water balance components at the outlet of the watershed. This study demonstrated the potential to use remotely sensed evapotranspiration data for hydrological model calibration and validation in a sparsely gauged large river basin with reasonable accuracy. The novelty of the study is the use of these freely available satellite-derived AET datasets to effectively calibrate and validate an eco-hydrological model for a data-scarce catchment.


Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dandan Guo ◽  
Hantao Wang ◽  
Xiaoxiao Zhang ◽  
Guodong Liu

Highly accurate and high-quality precipitation products that can act as substitutes for ground precipitation observations have important significance for research development in the meteorology and hydrology of river basins. In this paper, statistical analysis methods were employed to quantitatively assess the usage accuracy of three precipitation products, China Meteorological Assimilation Driving Datasets for the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model (CMADS), next-generation Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement (IMERG) and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), for the Jinsha River Basin, a region characterized by a large spatial scale and complex terrain. The results of statistical analysis show that the three kinds of data have relatively high accuracy on the average grid scale and the correlation coefficients are all greater than 0.8 (CMADS:0.86, IMERG:0.88 and TMPA:0.81). The performance in the average grid scale is superior than that in grid scale. (CMADS: 0.86(basin), 0.6 (grid); IMERG:0.88 (basin),0.71(grid); TMPA:0.81(basin),0.42(grid)). According to the results of hydrological applicability analysis based on SWAT model, the three kinds of data fail to obtain higher accuracy on hydrological simulation. CMADS performs best (NSE:0.55), followed by TMPA (NSE:0.50) and IMERG (NSE:0.45) in the last. On the whole, the three types of satellite precipitation data have high accuracy on statistical analysis and average accuracy on hydrological simulation in the Jinsha River Basin, which have certain hydrological application potential.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 3277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Senent-Aparicio ◽  
Sitian Liu ◽  
Julio Pérez-Sánchez ◽  
Adrián López-Ballesteros ◽  
Patricia Jimeno-Sáez

Climate change and the land-use and land-cover changes (LULC) resulting from anthropic activity are important factors in the degradation of an ecosystem and in the availability of a basin’s water resources. To know how these activities affect the quantity of the water resources of basins, such as the Segura River Basin, is of vital importance. In this work, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used for the study of the abovementioned impacts. The model was validated by obtaining a Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) of 0.88 and a percent bias (PBIAS) of 17.23%, indicating that SWAT accurately replicated monthly streamflow. Next, land-use maps for the years of 1956 and 2007 were used to establish a series of scenarios that allowed us to evaluate the effects of these activities on both joint and individual water resources. A reforestation plan applied in the basin during the 1970s caused that the forest area had almost doubled, whereas the agricultural areas and shrubland had been reduced by one-third. These modifications, together with the effect of climate change, have led to a decrease of 26.3% in the quantity of generated water resources, not only due to climate change but also due to the increase in forest area.


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