scholarly journals A Regional Sensitivity Analysis of a Multi-Variable Hydrological Model: A Case Study of a Greek Catchment

Proceedings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Panagiota Venetsanou ◽  
Christina Anagnostopoulou ◽  
Athanasios Loukas ◽  
Konstantinos Voudouris

The importance of climate data in hydrological process simulation is widely recognized. Evaluation of the hydrological budget response to climate variability is required, especially in water resource management. The present paper illustrates a case study of a sensitivity analysis for the hydrological model SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) using climate data from the Havrias river basin in northern Greece. The ERA-Interim reanalysis daily climate data were used as input data to drive the SWAT model. The SWAT model was calibrated for the period from 1981 to 2000. The sensitivity of the hydrological parameters to the alteration of the climate data was analyzed by using eleven hypothetical scenarios. These scenarios regard different combinations of temperature, wind speed, precipitation, and relative humidity. The results show that the changes of precipitation temperature and relative humidity have a significant influence in evapotranspiration and percolation (and consequently recharge) in the study region. On the contrary, the wind speed negligibly affects the hydrological components. Overall, the Havrias river basin hydrological budget is sensitive to shifts in climate data and the utilization of reliable and accurate climate models outputs is necessary in order for water managers to be able to build scenarios providing sustainability against potential future climate change impacts.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald A Corzo P ◽  
Fabio Aguilar Carrillo ◽  
Juan Manuel Cotrino Palma ◽  
German Ricardo Santos Granados

<p><strong>Title: </strong></p><p>Evaluation of the spatio-temporal development of hydrological droughts and its sensitivity to the choice of different parameters of the hydrological model. Case study: Magdalena-Cauca River basin – Colombia</p><p><strong>Abstract: </strong></p><p>Droughts in Colombia have been studied using local and regional indicators; however, the nature of events and the heterogeneity of mountains, and the high variability of climate and hydrological process, indicate that this should follow a more dynamic spatiotemporal analysis. In previous studies about drought, it has been possible to identify how natural drought phenomena tend to spread irregularly through large regions. This research aims to develop a spatiotemporal evaluation of hydrological droughts in Colombia. The process of the analysis followed three main components, one estimating the drought indicator to the interpolated data set from the local agency IDEAM. This step aims to find the optimal combination of parameters sets to characterize the hydrological behavior; to determine standardized runoff, soil moisture and evaporation deficit indices (SRI, SSMI, SEDI respectively). Second, the determination of the patterns using the Contiguous Drought Area (CDA) and Non-Contiguous Drought Area (NCDA) methodologies to characterise the spatio-temporal behaviour of the hydrological droughts. And before concluding an assessment of the robustness of the drought events, a threshold sensitivity analysis was performed. The body of the study includes a complete conceptual framework with the definition of hydrological droughts and drought indices (DI). This methodology is based on the characterization spatiotemporal droughts that examines the patterns of events using results from previous studies. The results of this analysis are key for the preparedness of the region to extreme events.</p>


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1957
Author(s):  
Papa Malick Ndiaye ◽  
Ansoumana Bodian ◽  
Lamine Diop ◽  
Abdoulaye Deme ◽  
Alain Dezetter ◽  
...  

Understanding evapotranspiration and its long-term trends is essential for water cycle studies, modeling and for water uses. Spatial and temporal analysis of evapotranspiration is therefore important for the management of water resources, particularly in the context of climate change. The objective of this study is to analyze the trend of reference evapotranspiration (ET0) as well as its sensitivity to climatic variables in the Senegal River basin. Mann-Kendall’s test and Sen’s slope were used to detect trends and amplitude changes in ET0 and climatic variables that most influence ET0. Results show a significant increase in annual ET0 for 32% of the watershed area over the 1984–2017 period. A significant decrease in annual ET0 is observed for less than 1% of the basin area, mainly in the Sahelian zone. On a seasonal scale, ET0 increases significantly for 32% of the basin area during the dry season and decreases significantly for 4% of the basin during the rainy season. Annual maximum, minimum temperatures and relative humidity increase significantly for 68%, 81% and 37% of the basin, respectively. However, a significant decrease in wind speed is noted in the Sahelian part of the basin. The wind speed decrease and relative humidity increase lead to the decrease in ET0 and highlight a “paradox of evaporation” in the Sahelian part of the Senegal River basin. Sensitivity analysis reveals that, in the Senegal River basin, ET0 is more sensitive to relative humidity, maximum temperature and solar radiation.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 1548
Author(s):  
Suresh Marahatta ◽  
Deepak Aryal ◽  
Laxmi Prasad Devkota ◽  
Utsav Bhattarai ◽  
Dibesh Shrestha

This study aims at analysing the impact of climate change (CC) on the river hydrology of a complex mountainous river basin—the Budhigandaki River Basin (BRB)—using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological model that was calibrated and validated in Part I of this research. A relatively new approach of selecting global climate models (GCMs) for each of the two selected RCPs, 4.5 (stabilization scenario) and 8.5 (high emission scenario), representing four extreme cases (warm-wet, cold-wet, warm-dry, and cold-dry conditions), was applied. Future climate data was bias corrected using a quantile mapping method. The bias-corrected GCM data were forced into the SWAT model one at a time to simulate the future flows of BRB for three 30-year time windows: Immediate Future (2021–2050), Mid Future (2046–2075), and Far Future (2070–2099). The projected flows were compared with the corresponding monthly, seasonal, annual, and fractional differences of extreme flows of the simulated baseline period (1983–2012). The results showed that future long-term average annual flows are expected to increase in all climatic conditions for both RCPs compared to the baseline. The range of predicted changes in future monthly, seasonal, and annual flows shows high uncertainty. The comparative frequency analysis of the annual one-day-maximum and -minimum flows shows increased high flows and decreased low flows in the future. These results imply the necessity for design modifications in hydraulic structures as well as the preference of storage over run-of-river water resources development projects in the study basin from the perspective of climate resilience.


2018 ◽  
pp. 70-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Viet Thang ◽  
Dao Nguyen Khoi ◽  
Ho Long Phi

In this study, we investigated the impact of climate change on streamflow and water quality (TSS, T-N, and T-P loads) in the upper Dong Nai River Basin using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological model. The calibration and validation results indicated that the SWAT model is a reasonable tool for simulating streamflow and water quality for this basin. Based on the well-calibrated SWAT model, the responses of streamflow, sediment load, and nutrient load to climate change were simulated. Climate change scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) were developed from five GCM simulations (CanESM2, CNRM-CM5, HadGEM2-AO, IPSL-CM5A-LR, and MPI-ESM-MR) using the delta change method. The results indicated that climate in the study area would become warmer and wetter in the future. Climate change leads to increases in streamflow, sediment load, T-N load, and T-P load. Besides that, the impacts of climate change would exacerbate serious problems related to water shortage in the dry season and soil erosion and degradation in the wet season. In addition, it is indicated that changes in sediment yield and nutrient load due to climate change are larger than the corresponding changes in streamflow.


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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Nazari-Sharabian ◽  
Masoud Taheriyoun ◽  
Moses Karakouzian

Abstract This study investigates the impact of different digital elevation model (DEM) resolutions on the topological attributes and simulated runoff, as well as the sensitivity of runoff parameters in the Mahabad Dam watershed in Iran. The watershed and streamlines were delineated in ArcGIS, and the hydrologic analyses were performed using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The sensitivity analysis on runoff parameters was performed, using the Sequential Uncertainties FItting Ver. 2 algorithm, in the SWAT Calibration and Uncertainty Procedures (SWAT-CUP) program. The results indicated that the sensitivity of runoff parameters, watershed surface area, and elevations changed under different DEM resolutions. As the distribution of slopes changed using different DEMs, surface parameters were most affected. Furthermore, higher amounts of runoff were generated when DEMs with finer resolutions were implemented. In comparison with the observed value of 8 m3/s at the watershed outlet, the 12.5 m DEM showed more realistic results (6.77 m3/s). Comparatively, the 12.5 m DEM generated 0.74% and 2.73% more runoff compared with the 30 and 90 m DEMs, respectively. The findings of this study indicate that in order to reduce computation time, researchers may use DEMs with coarser resolutions at the expense of minor decreases in accuracy.


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