scholarly journals Calibrating a Hydrological Model by Stratifying Frozen Ground Types and Seasons in a Cold Alpine Basin

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 985 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Zhao ◽  
Zhuotong Nan ◽  
Wenjun Yu ◽  
Ling Zhang

Frozen ground and precipitation seasonality may strongly affect hydrological processes in a cold alpine basin, but the calibration of a hydrological model rarely considers their impacts on model parameters, likely leading to considerable simulation biases. In this study, we conducted a case study in a typical alpine catchment, the Babao River basin, in Northwest China, using the distributed hydrology–soil–vegetation model (DHSVM), to investigate the impacts of frozen ground type and precipitation seasonality on model parameters. The sensitivity analysis identified seven sensitive parameters in the DHSVM, amid which soil model parameters are found sensitive to the frozen ground type and land cover/vegetation parameters sensitive to dry and wet seasons. A stratified calibration approach that considers the impacts on model parameters of frozen soil types and seasons was then proposed and implemented by the particle swarm optimization method. The results show that the proposed calibration approach can obviously improve simulation accuracy in modeling streamflow in the study basin. The seasonally stratified calibration has an advantage in controlling evapotranspiration and surface flow in rainy periods, while the spatially stratified calibration considering frozen soil type enhances the simulation of base flow. In a typical cold alpine area without sufficient measured parametric values, this approach can outperform conventional calibration approaches in providing more robust parameter values. The underestimation in the April streamflow also highlights the importance of improved physics in a hydrological model, without which the model calibration cannot fully compensate the gap.

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 15375-15408 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Munyaneza ◽  
A. Mukubwa ◽  
S. Maskey ◽  
J. Wenninger ◽  
S. Uhlenbrook

Abstract. In the last couple of years, different hydrological research projects were undertaken in the Migina catchment (243.2 km2), a tributary of the Kagera river in Southern Rwanda. These projects were aimed to understand hydrological processes of the catchment using analytical and experimental approaches and to build a pilot case whose experience can be extended to other catchments in Rwanda. In the present study, we developed a hydrological model of the catchment, which can be used to inform water resources planning and decision making. The semi-distributed hydrological model HEC-HMS (version 3.5) was used with its soil moisture accounting, unit hydrograph, liner reservoir (for base flow) and Muskingum-Cunge (river routing) methods. We used rainfall data from 12 stations and streamflow data from 5 stations, which were collected as part of this study over a period of two years (May 2009 and June 2011). The catchment was divided into five sub-catchments each represented by one of the five observed streamflow gauges. The model parameters were calibrated separately for each sub-catchment using the observed streamflow data. Calibration results obtained were found acceptable at four stations with a Nash–Sutcliffe Model Efficiency of 0.65 on daily runoff at the catchment outlet. Due to the lack of sufficient and reliable data for longer periods, a model validation (split sample test) was not undertaken. However, we used results from tracer based hydrograph separation from a previous study to compare our model results in terms of the runoff components. It was shown that the model performed well in simulating the total flow volume, peak flow and timing as well as the portion of direct runoff and base flow. We observed considerable disparities in the parameters (e.g. groundwater storage) and runoff components across the five sub-catchments, that provided insights into the different hydrological processes at sub-catchment scale. We conclude that such disparities justify the need to consider catchment subdivisions, if such parameters and components of the water cycle are to form the base for decision making in water resources planning in the Migina catchment.


1994 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 145-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steen Christensen

A numerical hydrological model has been developed for a 450 km2 Danish catchment using comprehensive field data. The model integrates a simple evapotranspiration model, a lumped flow model for a phreatic aquifer found in till, and a traditional two-dimensional groundwater model for a confined fluvio-glacial aquifer. A minimal but adequate number of model parameters were calibrated by trial and error to make the model fit 29-year time series of hydraulic head and stream runoff data. By simulating a “semi-natural” hydrological situation unaffected by withdrawals it is demonstrated that groundwater development can change the water balance considerably. In the actual case withdrawals induce a 25% increase in leakage from the phreatic to the confined aquifer, and reduce stream base flow by up to 30% in normal years, and up to 35% in dry years. On the other hand the reduction in base flow is considerably smaller for the upper stream catchments.


Hydrology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Mouhamed Idrissou ◽  
Bernd Diekkrüger ◽  
Bernhard Tischbein ◽  
Boubacar Ibrahim ◽  
Yacouba Yira ◽  
...  

This study investigates the robustness of the physically-based hydrological model WaSiM (water balance and flow simulation model) for simulating hydrological processes in two data sparse small-scale inland valley catchments (Bankandi-Loffing and Mebar) in Burkina Faso. An intensive instrumentation with two weather stations, three rain recorders, 43 piezometers, and one soil moisture station was part of the general effort to reduce the scarcity of hydrological data in West Africa. The data allowed us to successfully parameterize, calibrate (2014–2015), and validate (2016) WaSiM for the Bankandi-Loffing catchment. Good model performance concerning discharge in the calibration period (R2 = 0.91, NSE = 0.88, and KGE = 0.82) and validation period (R2 = 0.82, NSE = 0.77, and KGE = 0.57) was obtained. The soil moisture (R2 = 0.7, NSE = 0.7, and KGE = 0.8) and the groundwater table (R2 = 0.3, NSE = 0.2, and KGE = 0.5) were well simulated, although not explicitly calibrated. The spatial transposability of the model parameters from the Bankandi-Loffing model was investigated by applying the best parameter-set to the Mebar catchment without any recalibration. This resulted in good model performance in 2014–2015 (R2 = 0.93, NSE = 0.92, and KGE = 0.84) and in 2016 (R2 = 0.65, NSE = 0.64, and KGE = 0.59). This suggests that the parameter-set achieved in this study can be useful for modeling ungauged inland valley catchments in the region. The water balance shows that evaporation is more important than transpiration (76% and 24%, respectively, of evapotranspiration losses) and the surface flow is very sensitive to the observed high interannual variability of rainfall. Interflow dominates the uplands, but base flow is the major component of stream flow in inland valleys. This study provides useful information for the better management of soil and scarce water resources for smallholder farming in the area.


Author(s):  
Jiuyuan Huo ◽  
Yaonan Zhang ◽  
Lihui Luo ◽  
Yinping Long ◽  
Zhengfang He ◽  
...  

How to make the existing models from different disciplines effectively interoperate and integrate is one of the primary challenges for scientists and decision-makers. Heihe river Open Modeling Environment (HOME) provides a convenient model coupling platform that enables researchers concentrate on the theory and applications of ecological and hydrological watershed models. The model parameter optimization is an important component and key step that links models and simulation of watershed. In this paper, through integration modules of existing models, an improved ABC algorithm (ORABC) based on optimization strategy and reservation strategy of the best individuals was introduced into HOME as a hydrological model parameter optimization module, and coupled with the Xinanjiang hydrological model to complete automatically task of model parameter optimization. The runoff simulation experiments in Heihe river watershed were taken to verify the parameter optimization in HOME, and the simulation results testified the efficiency and effectiveness of the method. It can significantly improve simulation accuracy and efficiency of hydrological and ecological models, and promote the scientific researches for watershed issues.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-92
Author(s):  
Manyuk Fauzi ◽  
Yohanna Lilis Handayani ◽  
Annisa Destiany

Information about low flow and water availability is one of the important factors in the management of water resources. The Rokan River Basin as one of the water resources in Riau Province is very important to know the condition of its water availability. One conceptual hydrological model for low flow analysis is the Tank Model developed by Sugawara. Data input needed in this research is daily rainfall data at Pasar Tangun Station, climatology data at Rambah Utama station and discharge data at AWLR Pasir Pengaraian. Model parameter search in the calibration stage is by trial and error. Using a 90% confidence interval a range of parameter values for the tank model is obtained, which is special for production store are surface flow 150.81 mm ≤ H1 ≤ 204.75 mm, intermediate flow 156.74 mm ≤ H2 ≤ 194.37 mm, sub base flow 141.24 mm ≤ H3 ≤ 176, 54 mm and base flow 139.43 mm ≤ H4 ≤ 176.12 mm.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 855-893
Author(s):  
J.-C. Huang ◽  
T.-Y. Lee ◽  
J.-Y. Lee ◽  
S.-C. Hsu ◽  
S.-J. Kao ◽  
...  

Abstract. The accurate stream flow composition simulated by different models is rarely discussed, and few studies addressed the model behaviors affected by the model structures. This study compared the simulated stream flow composition derived from two models, namely HBV and TOPMODEL. A total of 23 storms with a wide rainfall spectrum were utilized and independent geochemical data (to derive the stream composition using end-member mixing analysis, EMMA) were introduced. Results showed that both hydrological models generally perform stream discharge satisfactory in terms of the Nash efficiency coefficient, correlation coefficient, and discharge volume. However, the three simulated flows (surface flow, interflow, and base flow) derived from the two models were different with the change of storm intensity and duration. Both simulated surface flows showed the same patterns. The HBV simulated base flow dramatically increased with the increase of storm duration. However, the TOP-derived base flow remained stable. Meanwhile, the two models showed contrasting behaviors in the interflow. HBV prefers to generate less interflow but percolates more to the base flow to match the stream flow, which implies that this model might be suited for thin soil layer. The use of the models should consider more environmental background data into account. Compared with the EMMA-derived flows, both models showed a significant 2 to 4 h time lag, indicating that the base-flow responses were faster than the models represented. Our study suggested that model intercomparison under a wide spectrum of rainstorms and with independent validation data (geochemical data) is a good means of studying the model behaviors. Rethinking the characterization of the model structure and the watershed characteristics is necessary in selecting the more appropriate hydrological model.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 272
Author(s):  
Ning Li ◽  
Junli Xu ◽  
Xianqing Lv

Numerous studies have revealed that the sparse spatiotemporal distributions of ground-level PM2.5 measurements affect the accuracy of PM2.5 simulation, especially in large geographical regions. However, the high precision and stability of ground-level PM2.5 measurements make their role irreplaceable in PM2.5 simulations. This article applies a dynamically constrained interpolation methodology (DCIM) to evaluate sparse PM2.5 measurements captured at scattered monitoring sites for national-scale PM2.5 simulations and spatial distributions. The DCIM takes a PM2.5 transport model as a dynamic constraint and provides the characteristics of the spatiotemporal variations of key model parameters using the adjoint method to improve the accuracy of PM2.5 simulations. From the perspective of interpolation accuracy and effect, kriging interpolation and orthogonal polynomial fitting using Chebyshev basis functions (COPF), which have been proved to have high PM2.5 simulation accuracy, were adopted to make a comparative assessment of DCIM performance and accuracy. Results of the cross validation confirm the feasibility of the DCIM. A comparison between the final interpolated values and observations show that the DCIM is better for national-scale simulations than kriging or COPF. Furthermore, the DCIM presents smoother spatially interpolated distributions of the PM2.5 simulations with smaller simulation errors than the other two methods. Admittedly, the sparse PM2.5 measurements in a highly polluted region have a certain degree of influence on the interpolated distribution accuracy and rationality. To some extent, adding the right amount of observations can improve the effectiveness of the DCIM around existing monitoring sites. Compared with the kriging interpolation and COPF, the results show that the DCIM used in this study would be more helpful for providing reasonable information for monitoring PM2.5 pollution in China.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 5017-5031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron A. Mohammed ◽  
Igor Pavlovskii ◽  
Edwin E. Cey ◽  
Masaki Hayashi

Abstract. Snowmelt is a major source of groundwater recharge in cold regions. Throughout many landscapes snowmelt occurs when the ground is still frozen; thus frozen soil processes play an important role in snowmelt routing, and, by extension, the timing and magnitude of recharge. This study investigated the vadose zone dynamics governing snowmelt infiltration and groundwater recharge at three grassland sites in the Canadian Prairies over the winter and spring of 2017. The region is characterized by numerous topographic depressions where the ponding of snowmelt runoff results in focused infiltration and recharge. Water balance estimates showed infiltration was the dominant sink (35 %–85 %) of snowmelt under uplands (i.e. areas outside of depressions), even when the ground was frozen, with soil moisture responses indicating flow through the frozen layer. The refreezing of infiltrated meltwater during winter melt events enhanced runoff generation in subsequent melt events. At one site, time lags of up to 3 d between snow cover depletion on uplands and ponding in depressions demonstrated the role of a shallow subsurface transmission pathway or interflow through frozen soil in routing snowmelt from uplands to depressions. At all sites, depression-focused infiltration and recharge began before complete ground thaw and a significant portion (45 %–100 %) occurred while the ground was partially frozen. Relatively rapid infiltration rates and non-sequential soil moisture and groundwater responses, observed prior to ground thaw, indicated preferential flow through frozen soils. The preferential flow dynamics are attributed to macropore networks within the grassland soils, which allow infiltrated meltwater to bypass portions of the frozen soil matrix and facilitate both the lateral transport of meltwater between topographic positions and groundwater recharge through frozen ground. Both of these flow paths may facilitate preferential mass transport to groundwater.


1998 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
JF (Derick) Nixon ◽  
Nick Holl

A geothermal model is described that simulates simultaneous deposition, freezing, and thawing of mine tailings or sequentially placed layers of embankment soil. When layers of soil or mine tailings are placed during winter subfreezing conditions, frozen layers are formed in the soil profile that may persist with time. The following summer, warmer soil placement may not be sufficient to thaw out layers from the preceding winter. Remnant frozen soil layers may persist for many years or decades. The analysis is unique, as it involves a moving upper boundary and different surface snow cover functions applied in winter time. The model is calibrated based on two uranium mines in northern Saskatchewan. The Rabbit Lake scenario involves tailings growth to a height of 120 m over a period of 24 years. At Key Lake, tailings increase in height at a rate of 1.3 m/year. Good agreement between the observed position of frozen layers and those predicted by the model is obtained. Long-term predictions indicate that from 80 to 200 years would be required to thaw out the frozen layers formed during placement, assuming 1992 placement conditions continue. Deposition rates of 1.5-3 m/year give the largest amounts of frozen ground. The amount of frozen ground is sensitive to the assumed snow cover function during winter.Key words: geothermal, model, tailings, freezing, deposition.


2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 723-730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jihong Qin ◽  
Qing Liu

In the subalpine zone of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau of China, Dragon spruce (Picea asperata Mast.) is commonly used for reforestation. The aim of the present work was to study the effects of seasonally frozen soil on the germination of P. asperata seeds and to investigate whether these effects were associated with resumption of the antioxidant defense system. The nonfrozen treatment resulted in near failure of germination (1%) and was associated with relatively high levels of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and low activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and ascorbate peroxide (APX). Germination of P. asperata seeds at 10 cm under the seasonally frozen soil was higher than that at 5 cm by 26%; this higher germination rate was associated with the recovery of SOD, CAT, and APX activities. The levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) in seeds from seasonally frozen treatments were higher than those in the nonfrozen treatment, implying greater lipid peroxidation and that frozen seeds might have suffered from oxidative stress. The results indicate that seasonally frozen soil facilitated the germination of P. asperata seeds and that germination was closely related to the resumption of antioxidant enzymes activity. Overall, these findings suggest that the disappearance of seasonally frozen ground caused by global warming might result in failure of regeneration of P. asperata.


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