scholarly journals Regional Parameter Estimation of the SWAT Model: Methodology and Application to River Basins in the Peruvian Pacific Drainage

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 3198
Author(s):  
Flavio Alexander Asurza-Véliz ◽  
Waldo Sven Lavado-Casimiro

This study presents a methodology for the regional parameters estimation of the SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) model, with the objective of estimating daily flow series in the Pacific drainage under the context of limited hydrological data availability. This methodology has been designed to obtain the model parameters from a limited number of basins (14) to finally regionalize them to basins without hydrological data based on physical-climatic characteristics. In addition, the bootstrapping method was selected to estimate the uncertainty associated with the parameters set selection in the regionalization process. In general, the regionalized parameters reduce the initial underestimation which is reflected in a better quantification of daily flows, and improve the low flows performance. Furthermore, the results show that the SWAT model correctly represents the water balance and seasonality of the hydrological cycle main components. However, the model does not correctly quantify the high flows rates during wet periods. These findings provide supporting information for studies of water balance and water management on the Peruvian Pacific drainage. The approach and methods developed can be replicated in any other region of Peru.

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8488
Author(s):  
Manfei Zhang ◽  
Xiao Wang ◽  
Weibo Zhou

In an arid and semi-arid irrigation district, water-saving practices are essential for the sustainable use of water resources. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to simulate hydrological processes under three water-saving scenarios for the Jinghui Canal irrigation district (JCID) in Northwest China. Due to the lack of available hydrometric stations in the study area, the model was calibrated by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Global Evaporation (MOD16) from 2001 to 2010 on monthly scale. The simulation results showed that using MOD16 to calibrate the SWAT model was an alternative approach when hydro-meteorological data were lacking. It also revealed that the annual average surface runoff (SURQ) decreased by 4.13%, 8.37% and 12.08% and the percolation (PERC) increased by 3.67%, 7.59% and 11.19%, with the improvement of the water-saving degree (the effective utilization coefficient of irrigation water (EUCIW) increased by 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3). Compared with the above two components, the change in actual evapotranspiration (ET) was not obvious. From the perspective of the spatial scale, the changes in every component in the east regions were generally greater than those in the west regions. On a monthly scale, the change in every component was mainly during these two periods. The analysis results of water balance in the study area showed that the proportion of SURQ in water balance decreased (from 14.02% to 12.33%), while that of PERC increased (from 10.99% to 12.22%) after the application of the water-saving irrigation. The decrease in the variation in soil water content indicates that the improvement of the water-saving degree plays a positive role in maintaining the sustainable development of water resources in irrigated areas. This study demonstrates the potential to use remotely sensed evapotranspiration data for hydrological model calibration and validation in a sparsely gauged region with reasonable accuracy. The results of this study also provide a reference for the effect of water-saving irrigation in the irrigated area.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve AMPOFO ◽  
Boateng AMPADU ◽  
Nangue Biyogue DOUTI ◽  
Michael Mba KUSIBU

Water is the most significant of all the requirements for plant growth and development. Its availability or scarcity in the soil can denote a successful harvest, reduction in yield, or complete failure. Though Tono is a small community in the Kassena Nankana East Municipality in Upper East Region of Ghana, farmers in the area contribute significantly to the availability of food products in neighboring communities, and even in some parts of southern Ghana. However, changing climate and landscape dynamics are perceived to be the primary cause of decreasing water availability and responsible for the dwindling farming fortunes. The study therefore investigated the changes to soil water balance occurring within the Tono dam watershed, as well as changes to the landuse/landcover (LULC) of the area and its impacts on crop production using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The LULC continues to change through anthropogenic activities thereby causing variations in the hydrological cycle over time. A 30-year period from 1984 to 2014 was used as the simulation period to run the model. Two (2) LULC maps and change scenarios for 1984 through to 2014 were assessed. The results revealed a relationship between landcover and the response to hydrology, in that, a decrease in landcover causes a decrease in surface water, soil moisture, and a corresponding infinitesimal decrease in evapotranspiration. The results showed a 17.6%, 9.6%, and 1.6% decrease in rainfall, soil moisture and evapotranspiration, respectively. The results showed the ability of the SWAT model to reveal spatio-temporal variation of the change in the landscape and the associated changes arising from climate change having significant effects on the Tono catchment.


2013 ◽  
Vol 726-731 ◽  
pp. 3792-3798
Author(s):  
Wen Ju Zhao ◽  
Wei Sun ◽  
Zong Li Li ◽  
Yan Wei Fan ◽  
Jian Shu Song ◽  
...  

SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) model is one of distributed hydrological model, based on spatial data offered by GIS and RS. This article mainly introduces the SWAT model principle, structure, and it is the application of stream flow simulation in China and other countries, then points out the deficiency existing in the process of model research. In order to service in water resources management work better, experts and scholars further research the rate constant and uncertainty of the simplification of the model parameters, and the combination of RS and GIS to use, and hydrological scale problems.


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 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 980-991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aidi Huo ◽  
Xiaofan Wang ◽  
Yan Liang ◽  
Cheng Jiang ◽  
Xiaolu Zheng

Abstract The likelihood of future global water shortages is increasing and further development of existing operational hydrologic models is needed to maintain sustainable development of the ecological environment and human health. In order to quantitatively describe the water balance factors and transformation relations, the objective of this article is to develop a distributed hydrologic model that is capable of simulating the surface water (SW) and groundwater (GW) in irrigation areas. The model can be used as a tool for evaluating the long-term effects of water resource management. By coupling the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and MODFLOW models, a comprehensive hydrological model integrating SW and GW is constructed. The hydrologic response units for the SWAT model are exchanged with cells in the MODFLOW model. Taking the Heihe River Basin as the study area, 10 years of historical data are used to conduct an extensive sensitivity analysis on model parameters. The developed model is run for a 40-year prediction period. The application of the developed coupling model shows that since the construction of the Heihe reservoir, the average GW level in the study area has declined by 6.05 m. The model can accurately simulate and predict the dynamic changes in SW and GW in the downstream irrigation area of Heihe River Basin and provide a scientific basis for water management in an irrigation district.


Hydrology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Ryan T. Bailey ◽  
Katrin Bieger ◽  
Jeffrey G. Arnold ◽  
David D. Bosch

Watershed models are used worldwide to assist with water and nutrient management under conditions of changing climate, land use, and population. Of these models, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and SWAT+ are the most widely used, although their performance in groundwater-driven watersheds can sometimes be poor due to a simplistic representation of groundwater processes. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new physically-based spatially-distributed groundwater flow module called gwflow for the SWAT+ watershed model. The module is embedded in the SWAT+ modeling code and is intended to replace the current SWAT+ aquifer module. The model accounts for recharge from SWAT+ Hydrologic Response Units (HRUs), lateral flow within the aquifer, Evapotranspiration (ET) from shallow groundwater, groundwater pumping, groundwater–surface water interactions through the streambed, and saturation excess flow. Groundwater head and groundwater storage are solved throughout the watershed domain using a water balance equation for each grid cell. The modified SWAT+ modeling code is applied to the Little River Experimental Watershed (LREW) (327 km2) in southern Georgia, USA for demonstration purposes. Using the gwflow module for the LREW increased run-time by 20% compared to the original SWAT+ modeling code. Results from an uncalibrated model are compared against streamflow discharge and groundwater head time series. Although further calibration is required if the LREW model is to be used for scenario analysis, results highlight the capabilities of the new SWAT+ code to simulate both land surface and subsurface hydrological processes and represent the watershed-wide water balance. Using the modified SWAT+ model can provide physically realistic groundwater flow gradients, fluxes, and interactions with streams for modeling studies that assess water supply and conservation practices. This paper also serves as a tutorial on modeling groundwater flow for general watershed modelers.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manoj Jha ◽  
Sayma Afreen

The frequency and severity of floods have been found to increase in recent decades, which have adverse effects on the environment, economics, and human lives. The catastrophe of such floods can be confronted with the advance prediction of floods and reliable analyses methods. This study developed a combined flood modeling system for the prediction of floods, and analysis of associated vulnerabilities on urban infrastructures. The application of the method was tested on the Blue River urban watershed in Missouri, USA, a watershed of historical significance for flood impacts and abundance of data availability for such analyses. The combined modeling system included two models: hydrodynamic model HEC-RAS (Hydrologic Engineering Center—River Analysis System) and hydrologic model SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool). The SWAT model was developed for the watershed to predict time-series hydrograph data at desired locations, followed by the setup of HEC-RAS model for the analysis and prediction of flood extent. Both models were calibrated and validated independently using the observed data. The well-calibrated modeling setup was used to assess the extent of impacts of the hazard by identifying the flood risk zones and threatened critical infrastructures in flood zones through inundation mapping. Results demonstrate the usefulness of such combined modeling systems to predict the extent of flood inundation and thus support analyses of management strategies to deal with the risks associated with critical infrastructures in an urban setting. This approach will ultimately help with the integration of flood risk assessment information in the urban planning process.


2011 ◽  
Vol 84-85 ◽  
pp. 238-243
Author(s):  
Yu Jie Fang ◽  
Wen Bin Zhou ◽  
Ding Gui Luo

Hydrological simulation is the basis of water resources management and utilization. In this study, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was applied to Jin River Basin for hydrological simulation on ArcView3.3 platform. The basic database of Jin river Basin was built using ArcGis9.2. Based on the LH-OAT parameter sensitivity analysis, the sensitive parameters of runoff were identified, including CN2, Gwqmn, rchrg_dp, ESCO, sol_z, SLOPE, SOL_AWC, sol_k, Gwrevap, and then model parameters related to runoff were calibrated and validated using data observed in weifang, yifeng, shanggao and gaoan hydrological stations during 2001-2008. The simulation showed that the simulated values were reasonably comparable to the observed data (Re<20%, R2 >0.7 and Nash-suttcliffe > 0.7), suggesting the validity of SWAT model in Jin River Basin.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharad K. Jain ◽  
Sanjay K. Jain ◽  
Neha Jain ◽  
Chong-Yu Xu

Abstract. A large population depends on runoff from Himalayan rivers which have high hydropower potential; floods in these rivers are also frequent. Current understanding of hydrologic response mechanism of these rivers and impact of climate change is inadequate due to limited studies. This paper presents results of modeling to understand the hydrologic response and compute the water balance components of a Himalayan river basin in India viz. Ganga up to Devprayag. Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was applied for simulation of the snow/rainfed catchment. SWAT was calibrated with daily streamflow data for 1992–98 and validated with data for 1999–2005. Manual calibration was carried out to determine model parameters and quantify uncertainty. Results indicate good simulation of streamflow; main contribution to water yield is from lateral and ground water flow. Water yield and ET for the catchments varies between 43–46 % and 57–58 % of precipitation, respectively. The contribution of snowmelt to lateral runoff for Ganga River ranged between 13–20 %. More attention is needed to strengthen spatial and temporal hydrometeorological database for the study basins for improved modeling.


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