scholarly journals The Role of the Spatial Distribution of Radar Rainfall on Hydrological Modeling for an Urbanized River Basin in Japan

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shakti P. C. ◽  
Tsuyoshi Nakatani ◽  
Ryohei Misumi

Recently, the use of gridded rainfall data with high spatial resolutions in hydrological applications has greatly increased. Various types of radar rainfall data with varying spatial resolutions are available in different countries worldwide. As a result of the variety in spatial resolutions of available radar rainfall data, the hydrological community faces the challenge of selecting radar rainfall data with an appropriate spatial resolution for hydrological applications. In this study, we consider the impact of the spatial resolution of radar rainfall on simulated river runoff to better understand the impact of radar resolution on hydrological applications. Very high-resolution polarimetric radar rainfall (XRAIN) data are used as input for the Hydrologic Engineering Center–Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) to simulate runoff from the Tsurumi River Basin, Japan. A total of 20 independent rainfall events from 2012–2015 were selected and categorized into isolated/convective and widespread/stratiform events based on their distribution patterns. First, the hydrological model was established with basin and model parameters that were optimized for each individual rainfall event; then, the XRAIN data were rescaled at various spatial resolutions to be used as input for the model. Finally, we conducted a statistical analysis of the simulated results to determine the optimum spatial resolution for radar rainfall data used in hydrological modeling. Our results suggest that the hydrological response was more sensitive to isolated or convective rainfall data than it was to widespread rain events, which are best simulated at ≤1 km and ≤5 km, respectively; these results are applicable in all sub-basins of the Tsurumi River Basin, except at the river outlet.

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 2029-2042
Author(s):  
Tony E. Wong ◽  
William Kleiber ◽  
David C. Noone

Abstract Land surface models are notorious for containing many parameters that control the exchange of heat and moisture between land and atmosphere. Properly modeling the partitioning of total evapotranspiration (ET) between transpiration and evaporation is critical for accurate hydrological modeling, but depends heavily on the treatment of turbulence within and above canopies. Previous work has constrained estimates of evapotranspiration and its partitioning using statistical approaches that calibrate land surface model parameters by assimilating in situ measurements. These studies, however, are silent on the impacts of the accounting of uncertainty within the statistical calibration framework. The present study calibrates the aerodynamic, leaf boundary layer, and stomatal resistance parameters, which partially control canopy turbulent exchange and thus the evapotranspiration flux partitioning. Using an adaptive Metropolis–Hastings algorithm to construct a Markov chain of draws from the joint posterior distribution of these resistance parameters, an ensemble of model realizations is generated, in which latent and sensible heat fluxes and top soil layer temperature are optimized. A set of five calibration experiments demonstrate that model performance is sensitive to the accounting of various sources of uncertainty in the field observations and model output and that it is critical to account for model structural uncertainty. After calibration, the modeled fluxes and top soil layer temperature are largely free from bias, and this calibration approach successfully informs and characterizes uncertainty in these parameters, which is essential for model improvement and development. The key points of this paper are 1) a Markov chain Monte Carlo calibration approach successfully improves modeled turbulent fluxes; 2) ET partitioning estimates hinge on the representation of uncertainties in the model and data; and 3) despite these inherent uncertainties, constrained posterior estimates of ET partitioning emerge.


2013 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 802-818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seong-Sim Yoon ◽  
Deg-Hyo Bae

AbstractMore than 70% of South Korea has mountainous terrain, which leads to significant spatiotemporal variability of rainfall. The country is exposed to the risk of flash floods owing to orographic rainfall. Rainfall observations are important in mountainous regions because flood control measures depend strongly on rainfall data. In particular, radar rainfall data are useful in these regions because of the limitations of rain gauges. However, radar rainfall data include errors despite the development of improved estimation techniques for their calculation. Further, the radar does not provide accurate data during heavy rainfall in mountainous areas. This study presents a radar rainfall adjustment method that considers the elevation in mountainous regions. Gauge rainfall and radar rainfall field data are modified by using standardized ordinary cokriging considering the elevation, and the conditional merging technique is used for combining the two types of data. For evaluating the proposed technique, the Han River basin was selected; a high correlation between rainfall and elevation can be seen in this basin. Further, the proposed technique was compared with the mean field bias and original conditional merging techniques. Comparison with kriged rainfall showed that the proposed method has a lesser tendency to oversmooth the rainfall distribution when compared with the other methods, and the optimal mean areal rainfall is very similar to the value obtained using gauges. It reveals that the proposed method can be applied to an area with significantly varying elevation, such as the Han River basin, to obtain radar rainfall data of high accuracy.


2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1373-1390 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Sharma ◽  
A. Das Gupta ◽  
M. S. Babel

Abstract. Global Climate Models (GCMs) precipitation scenarios are often characterized by biases and coarse resolution that limit their direct application for basin level hydrological modeling. Bias-correction and spatial disaggregation methods are employed to improve the quality of ECHAM4/OPYC SRES A2 and B2 precipitation for the Ping River Basin in Thailand. Bias-correction method, based on gamma-gamma transformation, is applied to improve the frequency and amount of raw GCM precipitation at the grid nodes. Spatial disaggregation model parameters (β,σ2), based on multiplicative random cascade theory, are estimated using Mandelbrot-Kahane-Peyriere (MKP) function at q=1 for each month. Bias-correction method exhibits ability of reducing biases from the frequency and amount when compared with the computed frequency and amount at grid nodes based on spatially interpolated observed rainfall data. Spatial disaggregation model satisfactorily reproduces the observed trend and variation of average rainfall amount except during heavy rainfall events with certain degree of spatial and temporal variations. Finally, the hydrologic model, HEC-HMS, is applied to simulate the observed runoff for upper Ping River Basin based on the modified GCM precipitation scenarios and the raw GCM precipitation. Precipitation scenario developed with bias-correction and disaggregation provides an improved reproduction of basin level runoff observations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Miyuru B. Gunathilake ◽  
Yasasna V. Amaratunga ◽  
Anushka Perera ◽  
Imiya M. Chathuranika ◽  
Anura S. Gunathilake ◽  
...  

Water resources in Northern Thailand have been less explored with regard to the impact on hydrology that the future climate would have. For this study, three regional climate models (RCMs) from the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 (CMIP5) were used to project future climate of the upper Nan River basin. Future climate data of ACCESS_CCAM, MPI_ESM_CCAM, and CNRM_CCAM under Representation Concentration Pathways RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 were bias-corrected by the linear scaling method and subsequently drove the Hydrological Engineering Center-Hydrological Modeling System (HEC-HMS) to simulate future streamflow. This study compared baseline (1988–2005) climate and streamflow values with future time scales during 2020–2039 (2030s), 2040–2069 (2050s), and 2070–2099 (2080s). The upper Nan River basin will become warmer in future with highest increases in the maximum temperature of 3.8°C/year for MPI_ESM and minimum temperature of 3.6°C/year for ACCESS_CCAM under RCP8.5 during 2080s. The magnitude of changes and directions in mean monthly precipitation varies, with the highest increase of 109 mm for ACESSS_CCAM under RCP 4.5 in September and highest decrease of 77 mm in July for CNRM, during 2080s. Average of RCM combinations shows that decreases will be in ranges of −5.5 to −48.9% for annual flows, −31 to −47% for rainy season flows, and −47 to −67% for winter season flows. Increases in summer seasonal flows will be between 14 and 58%. Projection of future temperature levels indicates that higher increases will be during the latter part of the 20th century, and in general, the increases in the minimum temperature will be higher than those in the maximum temperature. The results of this study will be useful for river basin planners and government agencies to develop sustainable water management strategies and adaptation options to offset negative impacts of future changes in climate. In addition, the results will also be valuable for agriculturists and hydropower planners.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Cenci ◽  
Luca Pulvirenti ◽  
Giorgio Boni ◽  
Nazzareno Pierdicca

The next generation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems could foresee satellite missions based on a geosynchronous orbit (GEO SAR). These systems are able to provide radar images with an unprecedented combination of spatial (≤1 km) and temporal (≤12 h) resolutions. This paper investigates the GEO SAR potentialities for soil moisture (SM) mapping finalized to hydrological applications, and defines the best compromise, in terms of image spatio-temporal resolution, for SM monitoring. A synthetic soil moisture–data assimilation (SM-DA) experiment was thus set up to evaluate the impact of the hydrological assimilation of different GEO SAR-like SM products, characterized by diverse spatio-temporal resolutions. The experiment was also designed to understand if GEO SAR-like SM maps could provide an added value with respect to SM products retrieved from SAR images acquired from satellites flying on a quasi-polar orbit, like Sentinel-1 (POLAR SAR). Findings showed that GEO SAR systems provide a valuable contribution for hydrological applications, especially if the possibility to generate many sub-daily observations is sacrificed in favor of higher spatial resolution. In the experiment, it was found that the assimilation of two GEO SAR-like observations a day, with a spatial resolution of 100 m, maximized the performances of the hydrological predictions, for both streamflow and SM state forecasts. Such improvements of the model performances were found to be 45% higher than the ones obtained by assimilating POLAR SAR-like SM maps.


2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Sharma ◽  
A. Das Gupta ◽  
M. S. Babel

Abstract. Global Climate Models (GCMs) precipitation scenarios are often characterized by biases and coarse resolution that limit their direct application for basin level hydrological modeling. Bias-correction and spatial disaggregation methods are employed to improve the quality of ECHAM4/OPYC SRES A2 and B2 precipitation for the Ping River Basin in Thailand. Bias-correction method, based on gamma-gamma transformation, is applied to improve the frequency and amount of raw GCM precipitation at the grid nodes. Spatial disaggregation model parameters (β,σ2), based on multiplicative random cascade theory, are estimated using Mandelbrot-Kahane-Peyriere (MKP) function at q=1 for each month. Bias-correction method exhibits ability of reducing biases from the frequency and amount when compared with the computed frequency and amount at grid nodes based on spatially interpolated observed rainfall data. Spatial disaggregation model satisfactorily reproduces the observed trend and variation of average rainfall amount except during heavy rainfall events with certain degree of spatial and temporal variations. Finally, the hydrologic model, HEC-HMS, is applied to simulate the observed runoff for upper Ping River Basin based on the modified GCM precipitation scenarios and the raw GCM precipitation. Precipitation scenario developed with bias-correction and disaggregation provides an improved reproduction of basin level runoff observations.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bowen Zhu ◽  
Xianhong Xie ◽  
Chuiyu Lu ◽  
Shanshan Meng ◽  
Yi Yao ◽  
...  

Abstract. High-resolution hydrological modeling is important for understanding fundamental terrestrial processes associated with the effects of climate variability and human activities on water resources availability. However, the spatial resolution of current hydrological modeling studies is mostly constrained to a relative coarse resolution (~ 10–100 km) and they are therefore unable to address many of the water-related issues facing society. In this study, a high resolution (0.0625º, ~ 6 km) hydrological modeling for China was developed based on the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model, spanning the period from January of 1970 to June of 2016. Distinct from other modeling studies, the parameters in the VIC model were updated using newly developed soil and vegetation datasets, and an effective parameter estimation scheme was used to transfer parameters from gauged to ungauged basins. Simulated runoff, evapotranspiration (ET), and soil moisture (SM) were extensively evaluated using in-situ observations, which indicated that there was a great improvement due to the updated model parameters. The spatial and temporal distributions of simulated ET and SM were also consistent with remote sensing retrievals. Moreover, this high-resolution modeling is capable of capturing flood and drought events with respect to their timing, duration, and spatial extent. This study shows that the hydrological datasets produced from this high-resolution modeling are useful for understanding long-term climate change and water resource security. It also has great potential for coupling with the China Land Data Simulation System to achieve real-time hydrological forecasts across China.


Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrián Sucozhañay ◽  
Rolando Célleri

In places with high spatiotemporal rainfall variability, such as mountain regions, input data could be a large source of uncertainty in hydrological modeling. Here we evaluate the impact of rainfall estimation on runoff modeling in a small páramo catchment located in the Zhurucay Ecohydrological Observatory (7.53 km2) in the Ecuadorian Andes, using a network of 12 rain gauges. First, the HBV-light semidistributed model was analyzed in order to select the best model structure to represent the observed runoff and its subflow components. Then, we developed six rainfall monitoring scenarios to evaluate the impact of spatial rainfall estimation in model performance and parameters. Finally, we explored how a model calibrated with far-from-perfect rainfall estimation would perform using new improved rainfall data. Results show that while all model structures were able to represent the overall runoff, the standard model structure outperformed the others for simulating subflow components. Model performance (NSeff) was improved by increasing the quality of spatial rainfall estimation from 0.31 to 0.80 and from 0.14 to 0.73 for calibration and validation period, respectively. Finally, improved rainfall data enhanced the runoff simulation from a model calibrated with scarce rainfall data (NSeff 0.14) from 0.49 to 0.60. These results confirm that in mountain regions model uncertainty is highly related to spatial rainfall and, therefore, to the number and location of rain gauges.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-131
Author(s):  
Loi Thi Pham ◽  
Khoi Nguyen Dao

Assessing water resources under the influence of environmental change have gained attentions of scientists. The objective of this study was to analyze the impacts of land use change and climate change on water resources in terms quantity and quality in the 3S basin in the period 1981–2008 by using hydrological modeling (SWAT model). The results showed that streamflow and water quality (TSS, T-N, and T-P) tend to increase under individual and combined effects of climate change and land use change. In addition, the impact of land use change on the flow was smaller than the climate change impact. However, water balance components and water quality were equally affected by two factors of climate change and land use change. In general, the results of this study could serve as a reference for water resource management and planning in the river basin.


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