scholarly journals Performance of HEC-HMS and SWAT to simulate streamflow in the sub-humid tropical Hemavathi catchment

Author(s):  
N. C. Sanjay Shekar ◽  
D. C. Vinay

Abstract The present study was conducted to examine the accuracy and applicability of the hydrological models Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC)- Hydrologic Modeling System (HMS) to simulate streamflows. Models combined with the ArcGIS interface have been used for hydrological study in the humid tropical Hemavathi catchment (5,427 square kilometer). The critical focus of the streamflow analysis was to determine the efficiency of the models when the models were calibrated and optimized using observed flows in the simulation of streamflows. Daily weather gauge stations data were used as inputs for the models from 2014–2020 period. Other data inputs required to run the models included land use/land cover (LU/LC) classes resulting from remote sensing satellite imagery, soil map and digital elevation model (DEM). For evaluating the model performance and calibration, daily stream discharge from the catchment outlet data were used. For the SWAT model calibration, available water holding capacity by soil (SOL_AWC), curve number (CN) and soil evaporation compensation factor (ESCO) are identified as the sensitive parameters. Initial abstraction (Ia) and lag time (Tlag) are the significant parameters identified for the HEC-HMS model calibration. The models were subsequently adjusted by autocalibration for 2014–2017 to minimize the variations in simulated and observed streamflow values at the catchment outlet (Akkihebbal). The hydrological models were validated for the 2018–2020 period by using the calibrated models. For evaluating the simulating daily streamflows during calibration and validation phases, performances of the models were conducted by using the Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency (NSE) and coefficient of determination (R2). The SWAT model yielded high R2 and NSE values of 0.85 and 0.82 for daily streamflow comparisons for the catchment outlet at the validation time, suggesting that the SWAT model showed relatively good results than the HEC-HMS model. Also, under modified LU/LC and ungauged streamflow conditions, the calibrated models can be later used to simulate streamflows for future predictions. Overall, the SWAT model seems to have done well in streamflow analysis capably for hydrological studies.

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamzeh Noor ◽  
Mahdi Vafakhah ◽  
Masoud Taheriyoun ◽  
Mahnoosh Moghadasi

Abstract Mountainous regions in Iran are important sources of surface water supply and groundwater recharge. Therefore, accurate simulation of hydrologic processes in mountains at large scales is important for water resource management and for watershed management planning. Snow hydrology is the more important hydrologic process in mountainous watersheds. Therefore, streamflow simulation in mountainous watersheds is often challenging because of irregular topography and complex hydrological processes. In this study, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to model daily runoff in the Taleghan mountainous watershed (800.5 km2) in west of Tehran, Iran. Most of the precipitation in the study area takes place as snow, therefore, modeling daily streamflow in this river is very complex and with large uncertainty. Model calibration was performed with Particle Swarm Optimization. The main input data for simulation of SWAT including Digital Elevation Model (DEM), land use, soil type and soil properties, and hydro-climatological data, were appropriately collected. Model performance was evaluated both visually and statistically where a good relation between observed and simulated discharge was found. The results showed that the coefficient of determination R2 and the Nash- Sutcliffe coefficient NS values were 0.80 and 0.78, respectively. The calibrated model was most sensitive to snowmelt parameters and CN2 (Curve Number). Results indicated that SWAT can provide reasonable predictions daily streamflow from Taleghan watersheds.


Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Majid Fereidoon ◽  
Manfred Koch ◽  
Luca Brocca

Hydrological models are widely used for many purposes in water sector projects, including streamflow prediction and flood risk assessment. Among the input data used in such hydrological models, the spatial-temporal variability of rainfall datasets has a significant role on the final discharge estimation. Therefore, accurate measurements of rainfall are vital. On the other hand, ground-based measurement networks, mainly in developing countries, are either nonexistent or too sparse to capture rainfall accurately. In addition to in-situ rainfall datasets, satellite-derived rainfall products are currently available globally with high spatial and temporal resolution. An innovative approach called SM2RAIN that estimates rainfall from soil moisture data has been applied successfully to various regions. In this study, first, soil moisture content derived from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth observing system (AMSR-E) is used as input into the SM2RAIN algorithm to estimate daily rainfall (SM2R-AMSRE) at different sites in the Karkheh river basin (KRB), southwest Iran. Second, the SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) hydrological model was applied to simulate runoff using both ground-based observed rainfall and SM2R-AMSRE rainfall as input. The results reveal that the SM2R-AMSRE rainfall data are, in most cases, in good agreement with ground-based rainfall, with correlations R ranging between 0.58 and 0.88, though there is some underestimation of the observed rainfall due to soil moisture saturation not accounted for in the SM2RAIN equation. The subsequent SWAT-simulated monthly runoff from SM2R-AMSRE rainfall data (SWAT-SM2R-AMSRE) reproduces the observations at the six gauging stations (with coefficient of determination, R² > 0.71 and NSE > 0.56), though with slightly worse performances in terms of bias (Bias) and root-mean-square error (RMSE) and, again, some systematic flow underestimation compared to the SWAT model with ground-based rainfall input. Additionally, rainfall estimates of two satellite products of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), 3B42 and 3B42RT, are used in the calibrated SWAT- model after bias correction. The monthly runoff predictions obtained with 3B42- rainfall have 0.42 < R2 < 0.72 and−0.06 < NSE < 0.74 which are slightly better than those obtained with 3B42RT- rainfall, but not as good as the SWAT-SM2R-AMSRE. Therefore, despite the aforementioned limitations, using SM2R-AMSRE rainfall data in a hydrological model like SWAT appears to be a viable approach in basins with limited ground-based rainfall data.


Author(s):  
X. Cui ◽  
W. Sun ◽  
J. Teng ◽  
H. Song ◽  
X. Yao

Abstract. Calibration of hydrological models in ungauged basins is now a hot research topic in the field of hydrology. In addition to the traditional method of parameter regionalization, using discontinuous flow observations to calibrate hydrological models has gradually become popular in recent years. In this study, the possibility of using a limited number of river discharge data to calibrate a distributed hydrological model, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), was explored. The influence of the quantity of discharge measurements on model calibration in the upper Heihe Basin was analysed. Calibration using only one year of daily discharge measurements was compared with calibration using three years of discharge data. The results showed that the parameter values derived from calibration using one year’s data could achieve similar model performance with calibration using three years’ data, indicating that there is a possibility of using limited numbers of discharge data to calibrate the SWAT model effectively in poorly gauged basins.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evgenia Koltsida ◽  
Nikos Mamassis ◽  
Andreas Kallioras

Abstract. SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) is a continuous time, semi-distributed river basin model that has been widely used to evaluate the effects of alternative management decisions on water resources. This study, demonstrates the application of SWAT model for streamflow simulation in an experimental basin with daily and hourly rainfall observations to investigate the influence of rainfall resolution on model performance. The model was calibrated for 2018 and validated for 2019 using the SUFI-2 algorithm in the SWAT-CUP program. Daily surface runoff was estimated using the Curve Number method and hourly surface runoff was estimated using the Green and Ampt Mein Larson method. A sensitivity analysis conducted in this study showed that the parameters related to groundwater flow were more sensitive for daily time intervals and channel routing parameters were more influential for hourly time intervals. Model performance statistics and graphical techniques indicated that the daily model performed better than the sub-daily model. The Curve Number method produced higher discharge peaks than the Green and Ampt Mein Larson method and estimated better the observed values. Overall, the general agreement between observations and simulations in both models suggests that the SWAT model appears to be a reliable tool to predict discharge over long periods of time.


Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 962 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lili Wang ◽  
Zhonggen Wang ◽  
Changming Liu ◽  
Peng Bai ◽  
Xiaocong Liu

It is important to simulate streamflow with hydrological models suitable for the particular study areas, as the hydrological characteristics of water cycling processes are distinctively different due to spatial heterogeneity at the watershed scale. However, most existing hydrological models cannot be customized to simulate water cycling processes of different areas due to their fixed structures and modes. This study developed a HydroInformatic Modeling System (HIMS) model with a flexible structure which had multiple equations available to describe each of the key hydrological processes. The performance of the HIMS model was evaluated with the recommended structure for semi-arid areas by comparisons with two datasets of observed streamflow: the first one of 53 Australian watersheds, the second one of the Lhasa River basin in China. Based on the first dataset, the most appropriate watersheds were identified for the HIMS model utilization with areas of 400–600 km2 and annual precipitation of 800–1200 mm. Based on the second dataset, the model performance was statistically satisfied with Nash-Sutcliffe Efficient (NSE) greater than 0.87 and Water Error (WE) within ±20% on the streamflow simulation at hourly, daily, and monthly time steps. In addition, the water balance was mostly closed with respect to precipitation, streamflow, actual evapotranspiration (ET), and soil moisture change at the annual time steps in both the periods of calibration and validation. Therefore, the HIMS model was reliable in estimating streamflow and simulating the water cycling processes for the structure of semi-arid areas. The simulated streamflow of HIMS was compared with those of the Variable Infiltration Capacity model (VIC) and Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) models and we found that the HIMS model performed better than the SWAT model, and had similar results to the VIC model with combined runoff generation mechanisms.


Author(s):  
Sarvat Gull ◽  
Shagoofta Rasool Shah

Abstract In this study, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was used to examine the spatial variability of sediment yield, quantify runoff, and soil loss at the sub-basin level and prioritize sub-basins in the Sindh watershed due to its computational efficiency in complex watersheds. The Sequential Uncertainty Fitting-2 approach was used to determine the sensitivity and uncertainty of model parameters. The parameter sensitivity analysis showed that Soil Conservation Services Curve Number II is the most sensitive model parameter for streamflow simulation, whereas linear parameters for sediment re-entrainment is the most significant parameter for sediment yield simulation. This study used daily runoff and sediment event data from 2003 to 2013; data from 2003 to 2008 were utilized for calibration and data from 2009 to 2013 were used for validation. In general, the model performance statistics showed good agreement between observed and simulated values of streamflow and sediment yield for both calibration and validation periods. The noticed insights of this research show the ability of the SWAT model in simulating the hydrology of the Sindh watershed and its reliability to be utilized as a decision-making tool by decision-makers and researchers to influence strategies in the management of watershed processes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (6A) ◽  
pp. 896-909
Author(s):  
Thair S. Khayyun ◽  
Imzahim A. Alwan ◽  
Ali M. Hayder

In this study, the watershed’s runoff of Derbendi-Khan dam reservoir within the upper part of Diyala River reach the northeast of Iraq was modeled by Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The model calibration and validation were based on monthly measured inflow to the dam reservoir. They extended for a period between 1979 and 2008 with a warm-up period of two years, twenty-year for calibration, and eight-year for validation. Sequential Uncertainty Fitting version 2 (SUFI2) automatic calibration algorithm method used for model calibration and sensitivity analysis. Results demonstrate that the model performance for the studied watershed which is evaluated, with many statistical criteria, was very good. The sensitivity analysis pointed parameters (CH_K2, CN2 ALPHA_BF, SFTMP, SOL_AWC, and CH_N2) are the most useful parameters on runoff calibration for the studied watershed. Moreover, it was found that the average annual areal snowmelt ratio to the average annual areal precipitation during the simulation period is approximately 24%. 


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Jin ◽  
Yanxiang Jin

The calibration of hydrological models is often complex in regions with scarce data, and generally only uses site-based streamflow data. However, this approach will yield highly generalised values for all model parameters and hydrological processes. It is therefore necessary to obtain more spatially heterogeneous observation data (e.g., satellite-based evapotranspiration (ET)) to calibrate such hydrological models. Here, soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) models were built to evaluate the advantages of using ET data derived from the Global Land surface Evaporation Amsterdam Methodology (GLEAM) to calibrate the models for the Bayinhe River basin in northwest China, which is a typical data-scarce basin. The result revealed the following: (1) A great effort was required to calibrate the SWAT models for the study area to obtain an improved model performance. (2) The SWAT model performance for simulating the streamflow and water balance was reliable when calibrated with streamflow only, but this method of calibration grouped the hydrological processes together and caused an equifinality issue. (3) The combination of the streamflow and GLEAM-based ET data for calibrating the SWAT model improved the model performance for simulating the streamflow and water balance. However, the equifinality issue remained at the hydrologic response unit (HRU) level.


Water Policy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 178-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Xue ◽  
Peng Shi ◽  
Simin Qu ◽  
Jianjin Wang ◽  
Yanming Zhou

Abstract The spatial variability of precipitation is often considered to be a major source of uncertainty for hydrological models. The widely used Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is insufficient to calculate a sub-basin's mean areal precipitation (MAP) since it only uses data from the rainfall station nearest to the centroid of each sub-basin. Therefore, Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), Thiessen Polygons (TP) and Ordinary Kriging (OK) were applied as alternative interpolation methods in this study to calculate sub-basin MAP. The MAP results from the four methods used for the Xixian Basin were quite different in terms of amount and spatial distribution. The SWAT model performance was then assessed at monthly and daily timescales, based on Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), the Coefficient of Determination (R2) as well as Percentage Bias (PBIAS) at the basin outlet. The results under different network densities and spatial distributions of gauge stations indicated that the modified MAP models did not have an advantage over the default Nearest Neighbour (NN) method in simulating monthly streamflow. However, the modified areal precipitation obtained through IDW and TP showed relatively high accuracy in simulating daily flows as the applied rainfall stations changed. The difference in terms of estimated rainfall and streamflow in this study confirmed that evaluation of interpolation methods is necessary before building a SWAT model.


Hydrology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Nura Boru Jilo ◽  
Bogale Gebremariam ◽  
Arus Edo Harka ◽  
Gezahegn Weldu Woldemariam ◽  
Fiseha Behulu

It is anticipated that climate change will impact sediment yield in watersheds. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impacts of climate change on sediment yield from the Logiya watershed in the lower Awash Basin, Ethiopia. Here, we used the coordinated regional climate downscaling experiment (CORDEX)-Africa data outputs of Hadley Global Environment Model 2-Earth System (HadGEM2-ES) under representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). Future scenarios of climate change were analyzed in two-time frames: 2020–2049 (2030s) and 2050–2079 (2060s). Both time frames were analyzed using both RCP scenarios from the baseline period (1971–2000). A Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was constructed to simulate the hydrological and the sedimentological responses to climate change. The model performance was calibrated and validated using the coefficient of determination (R2), Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), and percent bias (PBIAS). The results of the calibration and the validation of the sediment yield R2, NSE, and PBIAS were 0.83, 0.79, and −23.4 and 0.85, 0.76, and −25.0, respectively. The results of downscaled precipitation, temperature, and estimated evapotranspiration increased in both emission scenarios. These climate variable increments were expected to result in intensifications in the mean annual sediment yield of 4.42% and 8.08% for RCP4.5 and 7.19% and 10.79% for RCP8.5 by the 2030s and the 2060s, respectively.


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