Event-based model diagnosis of rainfall-runoff model structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stanzel, P.

2012-01-01

The objective of this research is a comparative evaluation of different rainfall-runoff model structures. Comparative model diagnostics facilitate the assessment of strengths and weaknesses of each model. The application of multiple models allows an analysis of simulation uncertainties arising from the selection of model structure, as compared with effects of uncertain parameters and precipitation input. Four different model structures, including conceptual and physically based approaches, are compared. In addition to runoff simulations, results for soil moisture and the runoff components of overland flow, interflow and base flow are analysed. Catchment runoff is simulated satisfactorily by all four model structures and shows only minor differences. Systematic deviations from runoff observations provide insight into model structural deficiencies. While physically based model structures capture some single runoff events better, they do not generally outperform conceptual model structures. Contributions to uncertainty in runoff simulations stemming from the choice of model structure show similar dimensions to those arising from parameter selection and the representation of precipitation input. Variations in precipitation mainly affect the general level and peaks of runoff, while different model structures lead to different simulated runoff dynamics. Large differences between the four analysed models are detected for simulations of soil moisture and, even more pronounced, runoff components. Soil moisture changes are more dynamical in the physically based model structures, which is in better agreement with observations. Streamflow contributions of overland flow are considerably lower in these models than in the more conceptual approaches. Observations of runoff components are rarely made and are not available in this study, but are shown to have high potential for an effective selection of appropriate model structures (author) [de

Multi-Site Calibration of Linear Reservoir Based Geomorphologic Rainfall-Runoff Models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bahram Saeidifarzad

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Multi-site optimization of two adapted event-based geomorphologic rainfall-runoff models was presented using Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II method for the South Fork Eel River watershed, California. The first model was developed based on Unequal Cascade of Reservoirs (UECR and the second model was presented as a modified version of Geomorphological Unit Hydrograph based on Nash’s model (GUHN. Two calibration strategies were considered as semi-lumped and semi-distributed for imposing (or unimposing the geomorphology relations in the models. The results of models were compared with Nash’s model. Obtained results using the observed data of two stations in the multi-site optimization framework showed reasonable efficiency values in both the calibration and the verification steps. The outcomes also showed that semi-distributed calibration of the modified GUHN model slightly outperformed other models in both upstream and downstream stations during calibration. Both calibration strategies for the developed UECR model during the verification phase showed slightly better performance in the downstream station, but in the upstream station, the modified GUHN model in the semi-lumped strategy slightly outperformed the other models. The semi-lumped calibration strategy could lead to logical lag time parameters related to the basin geomorphology and may be more suitable for data-based statistical analyses of the rainfall-runoff process.

Assessment of Runoff Contributing Catchment Areas in Rainfall Runoff Modelling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorndahl, Søren Liedtke; Johansen, C.; Schaarup-Jensen, Kjeld

2005-01-01

to determine with significant precision the hydrological reduction factor is implemented to account all hydrological losses except the initial loss. This paper presents an inconsistency between calculations of the hydrological reduction factor, based on measurements of rainfall and runoff, and till now...... recommended literary values for residential areas. It is proven by comparing rainfall-runoff measurements from four different residential catchments that the literary values of the hydrological reduction factor are over-estimated for this type of catchments. In addition, different catchment descriptions...

Modeling of the Monthly Rainfall-Runoff Process Through Regressions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Campos-Aranda Daniel Francisco

2014-10-01

Full Text Available To solve the problems associated with the assessment of water resources of a river, the modeling of the rainfall-runoff process (RRP allows the deduction of runoff missing data and to extend its record, since generally the information available on precipitation is larger. It also enables the estimation of inputs to reservoirs, when their building led to the suppression of the gauging station. The simplest mathematical model that can be set for the RRP is the linear regression or curve on a monthly basis. Such a model is described in detail and is calibrated with the simultaneous record of monthly rainfall and runoff in Ballesmi hydrometric station, which covers 35 years. Since the runoff of this station has an important contribution from the spring discharge, the record is corrected first by removing that contribution. In order to do this a procedure was developed based either on the monthly average regional runoff coefficients or on nearby and similar watershed; in this case the Tancuilín gauging station was used. Both stations belong to the Partial Hydrologic Region No. 26 (Lower Rio Panuco and are located within the state of San Luis Potosi, México. The study performed indicates that the monthly regression model, due to its conceptual approach, faithfully reproduces monthly average runoff volumes and achieves an excellent approximation in relation to the dispersion, proved by calculation of the means and standard deviations.

Toward an operational tool to simulate green roof hydrological impact at the basin scale: a new version of the distributed rainfall-runoff model Multi-Hydro.

Science.gov (United States)

Versini, Pierre-Antoine; Gires, Auguste; Tchinguirinskaia, Ioulia; Schertzer, Daniel

2016-10-01

Currently widespread in new urban projects, green roofs have shown a positive impact on urban runoff at the building scale: decrease and slow-down of the peak discharge, and decrease of runoff volume. The present work aims to study their possible impact at the catchment scale, more compatible with stormwater management issues. For this purpose, a specific module dedicated to simulating the hydrological behaviour of a green roof has been developed in the distributed rainfall-runoff model (Multi-Hydro). It has been applied on a French urban catchment where most of the building roofs are flat and assumed to accept the implementation of a green roof. Catchment responses to several rainfall events covering a wide range of meteorological situations have been simulated. The simulation results show green roofs can significantly reduce runoff volume and the magnitude of peak discharge (up to 80%) depending on the rainfall event and initial saturation of the substrate. Additional tests have been made to assess the susceptibility of this response regarding both spatial distributions of green roofs and precipitation. It appears that the total area of greened roofs is more important than their locations. On the other hand, peak discharge reduction seems to be clearly dependent on spatial distribution of precipitation.

Analysis of rainfall distribution in Kelantan river basin, Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Che Ros, Faizah; Tosaka, Hiroyuki

2018-03-01

Using rainfall gauge on its own as input carries great uncertainties regarding runoff estimation, especially when the area is large and the rainfall is measured and recorded at irregular spaced gauging stations. Hence spatial interpolation is the key to obtain continuous and orderly rainfall distribution at unknown points to be the input to the rainfall runoff processes for distributed and semi-distributed numerical modelling. It is crucial to study and predict the behaviour of rainfall and river runoff to reduce flood damages of the affected area along the Kelantan river. Thus, a good knowledge on rainfall distribution is essential in early flood prediction studies. Forty six rainfall stations and their daily time-series were used to interpolate gridded rainfall surfaces using inverse-distance weighting (IDW), inverse-distance and elevation weighting (IDEW) methods and average rainfall distribution. Sensitivity analysis for distance and elevation parameters were conducted to see the variation produced. The accuracy of these interpolated datasets was examined using cross-validation assessment.

Isotopic composition of rainfall and runoff in a small arid basin with implications for deep percolation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dody, A.

1995-08-01

The aim of this work was to characterize the isotopic composition of potential recharge in an arid rocky watershed. Unique field observations were obtained from an arid watershed in the Negev Highlands, Israel, through utilization of the dynamic variations in the isotopic composition of rainfall and runoff. The hydrological system's inputs are rainfall and its isotopic composition. Rainfall and runoff were sampled in eight storms. High variability in the isotopic composition of rainfall was observed during any single rainstorm. The isotopic distribution in the runoff at the outlet of the basin appeared often not to be correlated to the isotopic patterns of the associated rain storm. A new mathematical model was developed to describe these physical processes. The model called A Double-Component Kinematic Wave Flow and Transport Approach, was designated to assess the dynamic isotopic distribution in arid rain storms and runoff. This model simulates the transport of rainfall into overland flow and runoff in an arid rocky watershed with uniformly distributed shallow depression storage. A numerical solution for the problem was developed, to estimate the depression storage parameters. The model also reflects the isotopic memory effect due to the depression storage between sequential rain showers. A good agreement between the observed and computed hydrograph and the change of the δ 18O values in runoff in time confirms the validity of the model. (author) 138 figs., 125 refs

Runoff Analysis Considering Orographical Features Using Dual Polarization Radar Rainfall

Science.gov (United States)

Noh, Hui-seong; Shin, Hyun-seok; Kang, Na-rae; Lee, Choong-Ke; Kim, Hung-soo

2013-04-01

Recently, the necessity for rainfall estimation and forecasting using the radar is being highlighted, due to the frequent occurrence of torrential rainfall resulting from abnormal changes of weather. Radar rainfall data represents temporal and spatial distributions properly and replace the existing rain gauge networks. It is also frequently applied in many hydrologic field researches. However, the radar rainfall data has an accuracy limitation since it estimates rainfall, by monitoring clouds and precipitation particles formed around the surface of the earth(1.5-3km above the surface) or the atmosphere. In a condition like Korea where nearly 70% of the land is covered by mountainous areas, there are lots of restrictions to use rainfall radar, because of the occurrence of beam blocking areas by topography. This study is aiming at analyzing runoff and examining the applicability of (R(Z), R(ZDR) and R(KDP)) provided by the Han River Flood Control Office(HRFCO) based on the basin elevation of Nakdong river watershed. For this purpose, the amount of radar rainfall of each rainfall event was estimated according to three sub-basins of Nakdong river watershed with the average basin elevation above 400m which are Namgang dam, Andong dam and Hapcheon dam and also another three sub-basins with the average basin elevation below 150m which are Waegwan, Changryeong and Goryeong. After runoff analysis using a distribution model, Vflo model, the results were reviewed and compared with the observed runoff. This study estimated the rainfall by using the radar-rainfall transform formulas, (R(Z), R(Z,ZDR) and R(Z,ZDR,KDP) for four stormwater events and compared the results with the point rainfall of the rain gauge. As the result, it was overestimated or underestimated, depending on rainfall events. Also, calculation indicates that the values from R(Z,ZDR) and R(Z,ZDR,KDP) relatively showed the most similar results. Moreover the runoff analysis using the estimated radar rainfall is

Real Time Updating in Distributed Urban Rainfall Runoff Modelling

OpenAIRE

Borup, Morten; Mikkelsen, Peter Steen; Grum, Morten; Madsen, Henrik

2014-01-01

When it rains on urban areas the rainfall runoff is transported out of the city via the drainage system. Frequently, the drainage system cannot handle all the rain water, which results in problems like flooding or overflows into natural water bodies. To reduce these problems the systems are equipped with basins and automated structures that allow for a large degree of control of the systems, but in order to do this optimally it is required to know what is happening throughout the system. For ...

Integrating Artificial Neural Networks into the VIC Model for Rainfall-Runoff Modeling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Changqing Meng

2016-09-01

Full Text Available A hybrid rainfall-runoff model was developed in this study by integrating the variable infiltration capacity (VIC model with artificial neural networks (ANNs. In the proposed model, the prediction interval of the ANN replaces separate, individual simulation (i.e., single simulation. The spatial heterogeneity of horizontal resolution, subgrid-scale features and their influence on the streamflow can be assessed according to the VIC model. In the routing module, instead of a simple linear superposition of the streamflow generated from each subbasin, ANNs facilitate nonlinear mappings of the streamflow produced from each subbasin into the total streamflow at the basin outlet. A total of three subbasins were delineated and calibrated independently via the VIC model; daily runoff errors were simulated for each subbasin, then corrected by an ANN bias-correction model. The initial streamflow and corrected runoff from the simulation for individual subbasins serve as inputs to the ANN routing model. The feasibility of this proposed method was confirmed according to the performance of its application to a case study on rainfall-runoff prediction in the Jinshajiang River Basin, the headwater area of the Yangtze River.

Bayesian estimation of extreme flood quantiles using a rainfall-runoff model and a stochastic daily rainfall generator

Science.gov (United States)

Costa, Veber; Fernandes, Wilson

2017-11-01

Extreme flood estimation has been a key research topic in hydrological sciences. Reliable estimates of such events are necessary as structures for flood conveyance are continuously evolving in size and complexity and, as a result, their failure-associated hazards become more and more pronounced. Due to this fact, several estimation techniques intended to improve flood frequency analysis and reducing uncertainty in extreme quantile estimation have been addressed in the literature in the last decades. In this paper, we develop a Bayesian framework for the indirect estimation of extreme flood quantiles from rainfall-runoff models. In the proposed approach, an ensemble of long daily rainfall series is simulated with a stochastic generator, which models extreme rainfall amounts with an upper-bounded distribution function, namely, the 4-parameter lognormal model. The rationale behind the generation model is that physical limits for rainfall amounts, and consequently for floods, exist and, by imposing an appropriate upper bound for the probabilistic model, more plausible estimates can be obtained for those rainfall quantiles with very low exceedance probabilities. Daily rainfall time series are converted into streamflows by routing each realization of the synthetic ensemble through a conceptual hydrologic model, the Rio Grande rainfall-runoff model. Calibration of parameters is performed through a nonlinear regression model, by means of the specification of a statistical model for the residuals that is able to accommodate autocorrelation, heteroscedasticity and nonnormality. By combining the outlined steps in a Bayesian structure of analysis, one is able to properly summarize the resulting uncertainty and estimating more accurate credible intervals for a set of flood quantiles of interest. The method for extreme flood indirect estimation was applied to the American river catchment, at the Folsom dam, in the state of California, USA. Results show that most floods

Analysis and Modeling of Time-Correlated Characteristics of Rainfall-Runoff Similarity in the Upstream Red River Basin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiuli Sang

2012-01-01

Full Text Available We constructed a similarity model (based on Euclidean distance between rainfall and runoff to study time-correlated characteristics of rainfall-runoff similar patterns in the upstream Red River Basin and presented a detailed evaluation of the time correlation of rainfall-runoff similarity. The rainfall-runoff similarity was used to determine the optimum similarity. The results showed that a time-correlated model was found to be capable of predicting the rainfall-runoff similarity in the upstream Red River Basin in a satisfactory way. Both noised and denoised time series by thresholding the wavelet coefficients were applied to verify the accuracy of model. And the corresponding optimum similar sets obtained as the equation solution conditions showed an interesting and stable trend. On the whole, the annual mean similarity presented a gradually rising trend, for quantitatively estimating comprehensive influence of climate change and of human activities on rainfall-runoff similarity.

Runoff prediction using rainfall data from microwave links: Tabor case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Stransky, David; Fencl, Martin; Bares, Vojtech

2018-05-01

Rainfall spatio-temporal distribution is of great concern for rainfall-runoff modellers. Standard rainfall observations are, however, often scarce and/or expensive to obtain. Thus, rainfall observations from non-traditional sensors such as commercial microwave links (CMLs) represent a promising alternative. In this paper, rainfall observations from a municipal rain gauge (RG) monitoring network were complemented by CMLs and used as an input to a standard urban drainage model operated by the water utility of the Tabor agglomeration (CZ). Two rainfall datasets were used for runoff predictions: (i) the municipal RG network, i.e. the observation layout used by the water utility, and (ii) CMLs adjusted by the municipal RGs. The performance was evaluated in terms of runoff volumes and hydrograph shapes. The use of CMLs did not lead to distinctively better predictions in terms of runoff volumes; however, CMLs outperformed RGs used alone when reproducing a hydrograph's dynamics (peak discharges, Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient and hydrograph's rising limb timing). This finding is promising for number of urban drainage tasks working with dynamics of the flow. Moreover, CML data can be obtained from a telecommunication operator's data cloud at virtually no cost. That makes their use attractive for cities unable to improve their monitoring infrastructure for economic or organizational reasons.

Isotopic composition of rainfall and runoff in a small arid basin with implications for deep percolation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dody, A [Ben-Gurion Univ. of the Negev, Beersheba (Israel)

1995-08-01

The aim of this work was to characterize the isotopic composition of potential recharge in an arid rocky watershed. Unique field observations were obtained from an arid watershed in the Negev Highlands, Israel, through utilization of the dynamic variations in the isotopic composition of rainfall and runoff. The hydrological system`s inputs are rainfall and its isotopic composition. Rainfall and runoff were sampled in eight storms. High variability in the isotopic composition of rainfall was observed during any single rainstorm. The isotopic distribution in the runoff at the outlet of the basin appeared often not to be correlated to the isotopic patterns of the associated rain storm. A new mathematical model was developed to describe these physical processes. The model called A Double-Component Kinematic Wave Flow and Transport Approach, was designated to assess the dynamic isotopic distribution in arid rain storms and runoff. This model simulates the transport of rainfall into overland flow and runoff in an arid rocky watershed with uniformly distributed shallow depression storage. A numerical solution for the problem was developed, to estimate the depression storage parameters. The model also reflects the isotopic memory effect due to the depression storage between sequential rain showers. A good agreement between the observed and computed hydrograph and the change of the {delta}{sup 18O} values in runoff in time confirms the validity of the model. (author) 138 figs., 125 refs.

Multi-catchment rainfall-runoff simulation for extreme flood estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Paquet, Emmanuel

2017-04-01

The SCHADEX method (Paquet et al., 2013) is a reference method in France for the estimation of extreme flood for dam design. The method is based on a semi-continuous rainfall-runoff simulation process: hundreds of different rainy events, randomly drawn up to extreme values, are simulated independently in the hydrological conditions of each day when a rainy event has been actually observed. This allows generating an exhaustive set of crossings between precipitation and soil saturation hazards, and to build a complete distribution of flood discharges up to extreme quantiles. The hydrological model used within SCHADEX, the MORDOR model (Garçon, 1996), is a lumped model, which implies that hydrological processes, e.g. rainfall and soil saturation, are supposed to be homogeneous throughout the catchment. Snow processes are nevertheless represented in relation with altitude. This hypothesis of homogeneity is questionable especially as the size of the catchment increases, or in areas of highly contrasted climatology (like mountainous areas). Conversely, modeling the catchment with a fully distributed approach would cause different problems, in particular distributing the rainfall-runoff model parameters trough space, and within the SCHADEX stochastic framework, generating extreme rain fields with credible spatio-temporal features. An intermediate solution is presented here. It provides a better representation of the hydro-climatic diversity of the studied catchment (especially regarding flood processes) while keeping the SCHADEX simulation framework. It consists in dividing the catchment in several, more homogeneous sub-catchments. Rainfall-runoff models are parameterized individually for each of them, using local discharge data if available. A first SCHADEX simulation is done at the global scale, which allows assigning a probability to each simulated event, mainly based on the global areal rainfall drawn for the event (see Paquet el al., 2013 for details). Then the

Development of rainfall-runoff forecast model | Oyebode | Journal of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... and meterological variables involved in rainfall-runoff process to improve forecast accuracy of rainfallrunoff. ... The simulation was done using MATLAB® 7.0. The simulation results showed that neurofuzzy-based model has higher coefficient ...

Urban Run-off Volumes Dependency on Rainfall Measurement Method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, L.; Jensen, N. E.; Rasmussen, Michael R.

2005-01-01

Urban run-off is characterized with fast response since the large surface run-off in the catchments responds immediately to variations in the rainfall. Modeling such type of catchments is most often done with the input from very few rain gauges, but the large variation in rainfall over small areas...... resolutions and single gauge rainfall was fed to a MOUSE run-off model. The flow and total volume over the event is evaluated....

Runoff Calculation by Neural Networks Using Radar Rainfall Data

OpenAIRE

岡田, 晋作; 四俵, 正俊

1997-01-01

Neural networks, are used to calculate runoff from weather radar data and ground rain gauge data. Compared to usual runoff models, it is easier to use radar data in neural network runoff calculation. Basically you can use the radar data directly, or without transforming them into rainfall, as the input of the neural network. A situation with the difficulty of ground measurement is supposed. To cover the area lacking ground rain gauge, radar data are used. In case that the distribution of grou...

Improved rainfall-runoff approach using lumped and conceptual modelling

OpenAIRE

Durán Barroso, Pablo

2016-01-01

Rainfall-runoff quantification is one of the most important tasks in both engineering and watershed management as it allows to identify, forecast and explain watershed response. The division of the rainfall depth between infiltration and runoff has a high level of complexity due to the spatial heterogeneity in real catchments and the temporal precipitation variability, which provide scale effects on the overall runoff volumes. The Natural Resources Conservation Service Curve Number (NRCS CN) ...

Parameter estimation in stochastic rainfall-runoff models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jonsdottir, Harpa; Madsen, Henrik; Palsson, Olafur Petur

2006-01-01

A parameter estimation method for stochastic rainfall-runoff models is presented. The model considered in the paper is a conceptual stochastic model, formulated in continuous-discrete state space form. The model is small and a fully automatic optimization is, therefore, possible for estimating all...... the parameter values are optimal for simulation or prediction. The data originates from Iceland and the model is designed for Icelandic conditions, including a snow routine for mountainous areas. The model demands only two input data series, precipitation and temperature and one output data series...

Simulating runoff under changing climatic conditions: Revisiting an apparent deficiency of conceptual rainfall-runoff models

Science.gov (United States)

Fowler, Keirnan J. A.; Peel, Murray C.; Western, Andrew W.; Zhang, Lu; Peterson, Tim J.

2016-03-01

Hydrologic models have potential to be useful tools in planning for future climate variability. However, recent literature suggests that the current generation of conceptual rainfall runoff models tend to underestimate the sensitivity of runoff to a given change in rainfall, leading to poor performance when evaluated over multiyear droughts. This research revisited this conclusion, investigating whether the observed poor performance could be due to insufficient model calibration and evaluation techniques. We applied an approach based on Pareto optimality to explore trade-offs between model performance in different climatic conditions. Five conceptual rainfall runoff model structures were tested in 86 catchments in Australia, for a total of 430 Pareto analyses. The Pareto results were then compared with results from a commonly used model calibration and evaluation method, the Differential Split Sample Test. We found that the latter often missed potentially promising parameter sets within a given model structure, giving a false negative impression of the capabilities of the model. This suggests that models may be more capable under changing climatic conditions than previously thought. Of the 282[347] cases of apparent model failure under the split sample test using the lower [higher] of two model performance criteria trialed, 155[120] were false negatives. We discuss potential causes of remaining model failures, including the role of data errors. Although the Pareto approach proved useful, our aim was not to suggest an alternative calibration strategy, but to critically assess existing methods of model calibration and evaluation. We recommend caution when interpreting split sample results.

Application of a satellite based rainfall - runoff model : a case study of the Trans Boundary Cuvelai Basin in Southern Africa

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mufeti, P.; Rientjes, T.H.M.; Mabande, P.; Maathuis, B.H.P.

2013-01-01

Applications of distributed hydrological models are often constrained by poor data availability. Models rely on distributed inputs for meteorological forcing and land surface parameterization. In this pilot the rainfall runoff model LISFLOOD for large scale streamflow simulation is tested for the

Regionalising Parameters of a Conceptual Rainfall-Runoff Model for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

IHACRES, a lumped conceptual rainfall-runoff model, was calibrated to six catchments ranging in size from 49km2 to 600 km2 within the upper Tana River basin to obtain a set of model parameters that characterise the hydrological behaviour within the region. Physical catchment attributes indexing topography, soil and ...

Assessing the water balance in the Sahel : Impact of small scale rainfall variability on runoff. Part 2 : Idealized modeling of runoff sensitivity

OpenAIRE

Vischel, Théo; Lebel, Thierry

2007-01-01

As in many other semi-arid regions in the world, the Sahelian hydrological environment is characterized by a mosaic of small endoreic catchments with dry soil surface conditions producing mostly Hortonian runoff. Using an SCS-type event based rainfall-runoff model, an idealized modeling experiment of a Sahelian environment is set up to study the sensitivity of runoff to small scale rainfall variability. A set of 548 observed rain events is used to force the hydrological model to study the sen...

A mathematical model for soil solute transfer into surface runoff as influenced by rainfall detachment.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Ting; Wang, Quanjiu; Wu, Laosheng; Zhao, Guangxu; Liu, Yanli; Zhang, Pengyu

2016-07-01

Nutrients transport is a main source of water pollution. Several models describing transport of soil nutrients such as potassium, phosphate and nitrate in runoff water have been developed. The objectives of this research were to describe the nutrients transport processes by considering the effect of rainfall detachment, and to evaluate the factors that have greatest influence on nutrients transport into runoff. In this study, an existing mass-conservation equation and rainfall detachment process were combined and augmented to predict runoff of nutrients in surface water in a Loess Plateau soil in Northwestern Yangling, China. The mixing depth is a function of time as a result of rainfall impact, not a constant as described in previous models. The new model was tested using two different sub-models of complete-mixing and incomplete-mixing. The complete-mixing model is more popular to use for its simplicity. It captured the runoff trends of those high adsorption nutrients, and of nutrients transport along steep slopes. While the incomplete-mixing model predicted well for the highest observed concentrations of the test nutrients. Parameters inversely estimated by the models were applied to simulate nutrients transport, results suggested that both models can be adopted to describe nutrients transport in runoff under the impact of rainfall. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of a transient, lumped hydrologic model for geomorphologic units in a geomorphology based rainfall-runoff modelling framework

Science.gov (United States)

Vannametee, E.; Karssenberg, D.; Hendriks, M. R.; de Jong, S. M.; Bierkens, M. F. P.

2010-05-01

We propose a modelling framework for distributed hydrological modelling of 103-105 km2 catchments by discretizing the catchment in geomorphologic units. Each of these units is modelled using a lumped model representative for the processes in the unit. Here, we focus on the development and parameterization of this lumped model as a component of our framework. The development of the lumped model requires rainfall-runoff data for an extensive set of geomorphological units. Because such large observational data sets do not exist, we create artificial data. With a high-resolution, physically-based, rainfall-runoff model, we create artificial rainfall events and resulting hydrographs for an extensive set of different geomorphological units. This data set is used to identify the lumped model of geomorphologic units. The advantage of this approach is that it results in a lumped model with a physical basis, with representative parameters that can be derived from point-scale measurable physical parameters. The approach starts with the development of the high-resolution rainfall-runoff model that generates an artificial discharge dataset from rainfall inputs as a surrogate of a real-world dataset. The model is run for approximately 105 scenarios that describe different characteristics of rainfall, properties of the geomorphologic units (i.e. slope gradient, unit length and regolith properties), antecedent moisture conditions and flow patterns. For each scenario-run, the results of the high-resolution model (i.e. runoff and state variables) at selected simulation time steps are stored in a database. The second step is to develop the lumped model of a geomorphological unit. This forward model consists of a set of simple equations that calculate Hortonian runoff and state variables of the geomorphologic unit over time. The lumped model contains only three parameters: a ponding factor, a linear reservoir parameter, and a lag time. The model is capable of giving an appropriate

A geomorphology-based ANFIS model for multi-station modeling of rainfall-runoff process

Science.gov (United States)

Nourani, Vahid; Komasi, Mehdi

2013-05-01

This paper demonstrates the potential use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques for predicting daily runoff at multiple gauging stations. Uncertainty and complexity of the rainfall-runoff process due to its variability in space and time in one hand and lack of historical data on the other hand, cause difficulties in the spatiotemporal modeling of the process. In this paper, an Integrated Geomorphological Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (IGANFIS) model conjugated with C-means clustering algorithm was used for rainfall-runoff modeling at multiple stations of the Eel River watershed, California. The proposed model could be used for predicting runoff in the stations with lack of data or any sub-basin within the watershed because of employing the spatial and temporal variables of the sub-basins as the model inputs. This ability of the integrated model for spatiotemporal modeling of the process was examined through the cross validation technique for a station. In this way, different ANFIS structures were trained using Sugeno algorithm in order to estimate daily discharge values at different stations. In order to improve the model efficiency, the input data were then classified into some clusters by the means of fuzzy C-means (FCMs) method. The goodness-of-fit measures support the gainful use of the IGANFIS and FCM methods in spatiotemporal modeling of hydrological processes.

Incorporation of groundwater losses and well level data in rainfall-runoff models illustrated using the PDM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. J. Moore

2002-01-01

Full Text Available Intermittent streamflow is a common occurrence in permeable catchments, especially where there are pumped abstractions to water supply. Many rainfall-runoff models are not formulated so as to represent ephemeral streamflow behaviour or to allow for the possibility of negative recharge arising from groundwater pumping. A groundwater model component is formulated here for use in extending existing rainfall-runoff models to accommodate such ephemeral behaviour. Solutions to the Horton-Izzard equation resulting from the conceptual model of groundwater storage are adapted and the form of nonlinear storage extended to accommodate negative inputs, water storage below which outflow ceases, and losses to external springs and underflows below the gauged catchment outlet. The groundwater model component is demonstrated through using it as an extension of the PDM rainfall-runoff model. It is applied to the River Lavant, a catchment in Southern England on the English Chalk, where it successfully simulates the ephemeral streamflow behaviour and flood response together with well level variations. Keywords: groundwater, rainfall-runoff model, ephemeral stream, well level, spring, abstraction

Application of random number generators in genetic algorithms to improve rainfall-runoff modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Chlumecký, Martin; Buchtele, Josef; Richta, Karel

2017-10-01

The efficient calibration of rainfall-runoff models is a difficult issue, even for experienced hydrologists. Therefore, fast and high-quality model calibration is a valuable improvement. This paper describes a novel methodology and software for the optimisation of a rainfall-runoff modelling using a genetic algorithm (GA) with a newly prepared concept of a random number generator (HRNG), which is the core of the optimisation. The GA estimates model parameters using evolutionary principles, which requires a quality number generator. The new HRNG generates random numbers based on hydrological information and it provides better numbers compared to pure software generators. The GA enhances the model calibration very well and the goal is to optimise the calibration of the model with a minimum of user interaction. This article focuses on improving the internal structure of the GA, which is shielded from the user. The results that we obtained indicate that the HRNG provides a stable trend in the output quality of the model, despite various configurations of the GA. In contrast to previous research, the HRNG speeds up the calibration of the model and offers an improvement of rainfall-runoff modelling.

Stormwater Runoff Pollutant Loading Distributions and Their Correlation with Rainfall and Catchment Characteristics in a Rapidly Industrialized City

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Dongya; Wan, Jinquan; Ma, Yongwen; Wang, Yan; Huang, Mingzhi; Chen, Yangmei

2015-01-01

Fast urbanization and industrialization in developing countries result in significant stormwater runoff pollution, due to drastic changes in land-use, from rural to urban. A three-year study on the stormwater runoff pollutant loading distributions of industrial, parking lot and mixed commercial and residential catchments was conducted in the Tongsha reservoir watershed of Dongguan city, a typical, rapidly industrialized urban area in China. This study presents the changes in concentration during rainfall events, event mean concentrations (EMCs) and event pollution loads per unit area (EPLs). The first flush criterion, namely the mass first flush ratio (MFFn), was used to identify the first flush effects. The impacts of rainfall and catchment characterization on EMCs and pollutant loads percentage transported by the first 40% of runoff volume (FF40) were evaluated. The results indicated that the pollutant wash-off process of runoff during the rainfall events has significant temporal and spatial variations. The mean rainfall intensity (I), the impervious rate (IMR) and max 5-min intensity (Imax5) are the critical parameters of EMCs, while Imax5, antecedent dry days (ADD) and rainfall depth (RD) are the critical parameters of FF40. Intercepting the first 40% of runoff volume can remove 55% of TSS load, 53% of COD load, 58% of TN load, and 61% of TP load, respectively, according to all the storm events. These results may be helpful in mitigating stormwater runoff pollution for many other urban areas in developing countries. PMID:25774922

Stormwater runoff pollutant loading distributions and their correlation with rainfall and catchment characteristics in a rapidly industrialized city.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Dongya; Wan, Jinquan; Ma, Yongwen; Wang, Yan; Huang, Mingzhi; Chen, Yangmei

2015-01-01

Fast urbanization and industrialization in developing countries result in significant stormwater runoff pollution, due to drastic changes in land-use, from rural to urban. A three-year study on the stormwater runoff pollutant loading distributions of industrial, parking lot and mixed commercial and residential catchments was conducted in the Tongsha reservoir watershed of Dongguan city, a typical, rapidly industrialized urban area in China. This study presents the changes in concentration during rainfall events, event mean concentrations (EMCs) and event pollution loads per unit area (EPLs). The first flush criterion, namely the mass first flush ratio (MFFn), was used to identify the first flush effects. The impacts of rainfall and catchment characterization on EMCs and pollutant loads percentage transported by the first 40% of runoff volume (FF40) were evaluated. The results indicated that the pollutant wash-off process of runoff during the rainfall events has significant temporal and spatial variations. The mean rainfall intensity (I), the impervious rate (IMR) and max 5-min intensity (Imax5) are the critical parameters of EMCs, while Imax5, antecedent dry days (ADD) and rainfall depth (RD) are the critical parameters of FF40. Intercepting the first 40% of runoff volume can remove 55% of TSS load, 53% of COD load, 58% of TN load, and 61% of TP load, respectively, according to all the storm events. These results may be helpful in mitigating stormwater runoff pollution for many other urban areas in developing countries.

Beyond the SCS-CN method: A theoretical framework for spatially lumped rainfall-runoff response

Science.gov (United States)

Bartlett, M. S.; Parolari, A. J.; McDonnell, J. J.; Porporato, A.

2016-06-01

Since its introduction in 1954, the Soil Conservation Service curve number (SCS-CN) method has become the standard tool, in practice, for estimating an event-based rainfall-runoff response. However, because of its empirical origins, the SCS-CN method is restricted to certain geographic regions and land use types. Moreover, it does not describe the spatial variability of runoff. To move beyond these limitations, we present a new theoretical framework for spatially lumped, event-based rainfall-runoff modeling. In this framework, we describe the spatially lumped runoff model as a point description of runoff that is upscaled to a watershed area based on probability distributions that are representative of watershed heterogeneities. The framework accommodates different runoff concepts and distributions of heterogeneities, and in doing so, it provides an implicit spatial description of runoff variability. Heterogeneity in storage capacity and soil moisture are the basis for upscaling a point runoff response and linking ecohydrological processes to runoff modeling. For the framework, we consider two different runoff responses for fractions of the watershed area: "prethreshold" and "threshold-excess" runoff. These occur before and after infiltration exceeds a storage capacity threshold. Our application of the framework results in a new model (called SCS-CNx) that extends the SCS-CN method with the prethreshold and threshold-excess runoff mechanisms and an implicit spatial description of runoff. We show proof of concept in four forested watersheds and further that the resulting model may better represent geographic regions and site types that previously have been beyond the scope of the traditional SCS-CN method.

Sensitivity of point scale surface runoff predictions to rainfall resolution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. J. Hearman

2007-01-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the effects of using non-linear, high resolution rainfall, compared to time averaged rainfall on the triggering of hydrologic thresholds and therefore model predictions of infiltration excess and saturation excess runoff at the point scale. The bounded random cascade model, parameterized to three locations in Western Australia, was used to scale rainfall intensities at various time resolutions ranging from 1.875 min to 2 h. A one dimensional, conceptual rainfall partitioning model was used that instantaneously partitioned water into infiltration excess, infiltration, storage, deep drainage, saturation excess and surface runoff, where the fluxes into and out of the soil store were controlled by thresholds. The results of the numerical modelling were scaled by relating soil infiltration properties to soil draining properties, and in turn, relating these to average storm intensities. For all soil types, we related maximum infiltration capacities to average storm intensities (k* and were able to show where model predictions of infiltration excess were most sensitive to rainfall resolution (ln k*=0.4 and where using time averaged rainfall data can lead to an under prediction of infiltration excess and an over prediction of the amount of water entering the soil (ln k*>2 for all three rainfall locations tested. For soils susceptible to both infiltration excess and saturation excess, total runoff sensitivity was scaled by relating drainage coefficients to average storm intensities (g* and parameter ranges where predicted runoff was dominated by infiltration excess or saturation excess depending on the resolution of rainfall data were determined (ln g*<2. Infiltration excess predicted from high resolution rainfall was short and intense, whereas saturation excess produced from low resolution rainfall was more constant and less intense. This has important implications for the accuracy of current hydrological models that use time

Chance-constrained overland flow modeling for improving conceptual distributed hydrologic simulations based on scaling representation of sub-daily rainfall variability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han, Jing-Cheng; Huang, Guohe; Huang, Yuefei; Zhang, Hua; Li, Zhong; Chen, Qiuwen

2015-01-01

Lack of hydrologic process representation at the short time-scale would lead to inadequate simulations in distributed hydrological modeling. Especially for complex mountainous watersheds, surface runoff simulations are significantly affected by the overland flow generation, which is closely related to the rainfall characteristics at a sub-time step. In this paper, the sub-daily variability of rainfall intensity was considered using a probability distribution, and a chance-constrained overland flow modeling approach was proposed to capture the generation of overland flow within conceptual distributed hydrologic simulations. The integrated modeling procedures were further demonstrated through a watershed of China Three Gorges Reservoir area, leading to an improved SLURP-TGR hydrologic model based on SLURP. Combined with rainfall thresholds determined to distinguish various magnitudes of daily rainfall totals, three levels of significance were simultaneously employed to examine the hydrologic-response simulation. Results showed that SLURP-TGR could enhance the model performance, and the deviation of runoff simulations was effectively controlled. However, rainfall thresholds were so crucial for reflecting the scaling effect of rainfall intensity that optimal levels of significance and rainfall threshold were 0.05 and 10 mm, respectively. As for the Xiangxi River watershed, the main runoff contribution came from interflow of the fast store. Although slight differences of overland flow simulations between SLURP and SLURP-TGR were derived, SLURP-TGR was found to help improve the simulation of peak flows, and would improve the overall modeling efficiency through adjusting runoff component simulations. Consequently, the developed modeling approach favors efficient representation of hydrological processes and would be expected to have a potential for wide applications. - Highlights: • We develop an improved hydrologic model considering the scaling effect of rainfall. • A

Chance-constrained overland flow modeling for improving conceptual distributed hydrologic simulations based on scaling representation of sub-daily rainfall variability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Han, Jing-Cheng [State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience & Engineering, Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China); Huang, Guohe, E-mail: huang@iseis.org [Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainable Communities, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan S4S 0A2 (Canada); Huang, Yuefei [State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience & Engineering, Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China); Zhang, Hua [College of Science and Engineering, Texas A& M University — Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX 78412-5797 (United States); Li, Zhong [Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainable Communities, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan S4S 0A2 (Canada); Chen, Qiuwen [Center for Eco-Environmental Research, Nanjing Hydraulics Research Institute, Nanjing 210029 (China)

2015-08-15

Lack of hydrologic process representation at the short time-scale would lead to inadequate simulations in distributed hydrological modeling. Especially for complex mountainous watersheds, surface runoff simulations are significantly affected by the overland flow generation, which is closely related to the rainfall characteristics at a sub-time step. In this paper, the sub-daily variability of rainfall intensity was considered using a probability distribution, and a chance-constrained overland flow modeling approach was proposed to capture the generation of overland flow within conceptual distributed hydrologic simulations. The integrated modeling procedures were further demonstrated through a watershed of China Three Gorges Reservoir area, leading to an improved SLURP-TGR hydrologic model based on SLURP. Combined with rainfall thresholds determined to distinguish various magnitudes of daily rainfall totals, three levels of significance were simultaneously employed to examine the hydrologic-response simulation. Results showed that SLURP-TGR could enhance the model performance, and the deviation of runoff simulations was effectively controlled. However, rainfall thresholds were so crucial for reflecting the scaling effect of rainfall intensity that optimal levels of significance and rainfall threshold were 0.05 and 10 mm, respectively. As for the Xiangxi River watershed, the main runoff contribution came from interflow of the fast store. Although slight differences of overland flow simulations between SLURP and SLURP-TGR were derived, SLURP-TGR was found to help improve the simulation of peak flows, and would improve the overall modeling efficiency through adjusting runoff component simulations. Consequently, the developed modeling approach favors efficient representation of hydrological processes and would be expected to have a potential for wide applications. - Highlights: • We develop an improved hydrologic model considering the scaling effect of rainfall. • A

Transport and solubility of Hetero-disperse dry deposition particulate matter subject to urban source area rainfall-runoff processes

Science.gov (United States)

Ying, G.; Sansalone, J.

2010-03-01

SummaryWith respect to hydrologic processes, the impervious pavement interface significantly alters relationships between rainfall and runoff. Commensurate with alteration of hydrologic processes the pavement also facilitates transport and solubility of dry deposition particulate matter (PM) in runoff. This study examines dry depositional flux rates, granulometric modification by runoff transport, as well as generation of total dissolved solids (TDS), alkalinity and conductivity in source area runoff resulting from PM solubility. PM is collected from a paved source area transportation corridor (I-10) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana encompassing 17 dry deposition and 8 runoff events. The mass-based granulometric particle size distribution (PSD) is measured and modeled through a cumulative gamma function, while PM surface area distributions across the PSD follow a log-normal distribution. Dry deposition flux rates are modeled as separate first-order exponential functions of previous dry hours (PDH) for PM and suspended, settleable and sediment fractions. When trans-located from dry deposition into runoff, PSDs are modified, with a d50m decreasing from 331 to 14 μm after transport and 60 min of settling. Solubility experiments as a function of pH, contact time and particle size using source area rainfall generate constitutive models to reproduce pH, alkalinity, TDS and alkalinity for historical events. Equilibrium pH, alkalinity and TDS are strongly influenced by particle size and contact times. The constitutive leaching models are combined with measured PSDs from a series of rainfall-runoff events to demonstrate that the model results replicate alkalinity and TDS in runoff from the subject watershed. Results illustrate the granulometry of dry deposition PM, modification of PSDs along the drainage pathway, and the role of PM solubility for generation of TDS, alkalinity and conductivity in urban source area rainfall-runoff.

Transfer of spatio-temporal multifractal properties of rainfall to simulated surface runoff

Science.gov (United States)

Gires, Auguste; Giangola-Murzyn, Agathe; Richard, Julien; Abbes, Jean-Baptiste; Tchiguirinskaia, Ioulia; Schertzer, Daniel; Willinger, Bernard; Cardinal, Hervé; Thouvenot, Thomas

2014-05-01

In this paper we suggest to use scaling laws and more specifically Universal Multifractals (UM) to analyse in a spatio-temporal framework both the radar rainfall and the simulated surface runoff. Such tools have been extensively used to analyse and simulate geophysical fields extremely variable over wide range of spatio-temporal scales such as rainfall, but have not often if ever been applied to surface runoff. Such novel combined analysis helps to improve the understanding of the rainfall-runoff relationship. Two catchments of the chair "Hydrology for resilient cities" sponsored by Véolia, and of the European Interreg IV RainGain project are used. They are both located in the Paris area: a 144 ha flat urban area in the Seine-Saint-Denis County, and a 250 ha urban area with a significant portion of forest located on a steep hillside of the Bièvre River. A fully distributed urban hydrological model currently under development called Multi-Hydro is implemented to represent the catchments response. It consists in an interacting core between open source software packages, each of them representing a portion of the water cycle in urban environment. The fully distributed model is tested with pixels of size 5, 10 and 20 m. In a first step the model is validated for three rainfall events that occurred in 2010 and 2011, for which the Météo-France radar mosaic with a resolution of 1 km in space and 5 min in time is available. These events generated significant surface runoff and some local flooding. The sensitivity of the model to the rainfall resolution is briefly checked by stochastically generating an ensemble of realistic downscaled rainfall fields (obtained by continuing the underlying cascade process which is observed on the available range of scales) and inputting them into the model. The impact is significant on both the simulated sewer flow and surface runoff. Then rainfall fields are generated with the help of discrete multifractal cascades and inputted in the

Initial conditions of urban permeable surfaces in rainfall-runoff models using Horton’s infiltration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Davidsen, Steffen; Löwe, Roland; Høegh Ravn, Nanna

2017-01-01

Infiltration is a key process controlling runoff, but varies depending on antecedent conditions. This study provides estimates on initial conditions for urban permeable surfaces via continuous simulation of the infiltration capacity using historical rain data. An analysis of historical rainfall...... records show that accumulated rainfall prior to large rain events does not depend on the return period of the event. Using an infiltration-runoff model we found that for a typical large rain storm, antecedent conditions in general lead to reduced infiltration capacity both for sandy and clayey soils...... and that there is substantial runoff for return periods above 1–10 years....

Rainfall and runoff characteristics of Namman Basin in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Wagdany, A.S.

2008-01-01

Namman basin is an arid mountainous basin located in the western region of Saudi Arabia and has drainage area of about 650 km2. Namman unconfined groundwater aquifer is the source of water to the historic underground galleries known as Ain Zubaidah. The galleries became dry due to the fall of groundwater levels dramatically in the last few decades. The galleries can only be restored only if a proper water resources management is utilized in the basin. The aim of this research is to investigate two major hydrological components, namely rainfall and runoff, which are essential for a proper management of the water resources of the basin. Rainfall and runoff records for ten rain gauge stations and one runoff gauge station are used to investigate major characteristics of rainfall and runoff in Namman basin. Rainfall records are analyzed to derive conclusion about rainfall occurrence, depth duration, temporal distribution and extreme values. The relation between rainfall depth and elevation is also investigated. Runoff records are utilized to investigate seasonal variation of runoff. Values of runoff coefficient for all runoff events are computed and the relation between rainfall and runoff for the basin are discussed. The results show that there are more than 30 rainstorms per year and only about two runoff events are usually observed. The temporal analysis of rainfall and runoff indicates that there are two rainy seasons, one is during fall and winter season and other is during spring seasons while runoff is mainly observed in the winter season and the other is during spring seasons while runoff is mainly observed in the winter season. Values of runoff coefficient were very low with mean value of 0.013, which indicate that most rainfall infiltrate through the alluvial channels of the basin. (author)

Daily rainfall-runoff modelling by neural networks in semi-arid zone ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This research work will allow checking efficiency of formal neural networks for flows' modelling of wadi Ouahrane's basin from rainfall-runoff relation which is non-linear. Two models of neural networks were optimized through supervised learning and compared in order to achieve this goal, the first model with input rain, and ...

A protocol for conducting rainfall simulation to study soil runoff.

Science.gov (United States)

Kibet, Leonard C; Saporito, Louis S; Allen, Arthur L; May, Eric B; Kleinman, Peter J A; Hashem, Fawzy M; Bryant, Ray B

2014-04-03

Rainfall is a driving force for the transport of environmental contaminants from agricultural soils to surficial water bodies via surface runoff. The objective of this study was to characterize the effects of antecedent soil moisture content on the fate and transport of surface applied commercial urea, a common form of nitrogen (N) fertilizer, following a rainfall event that occurs within 24 hr after fertilizer application. Although urea is assumed to be readily hydrolyzed to ammonium and therefore not often available for transport, recent studies suggest that urea can be transported from agricultural soils to coastal waters where it is implicated in harmful algal blooms. A rainfall simulator was used to apply a consistent rate of uniform rainfall across packed soil boxes that had been prewetted to different soil moisture contents. By controlling rainfall and soil physical characteristics, the effects of antecedent soil moisture on urea loss were isolated. Wetter soils exhibited shorter time from rainfall initiation to runoff initiation, greater total volume of runoff, higher urea concentrations in runoff, and greater mass loadings of urea in runoff. These results also demonstrate the importance of controlling for antecedent soil moisture content in studies designed to isolate other variables, such as soil physical or chemical characteristics, slope, soil cover, management, or rainfall characteristics. Because rainfall simulators are designed to deliver raindrops of similar size and velocity as natural rainfall, studies conducted under a standardized protocol can yield valuable data that, in turn, can be used to develop models for predicting the fate and transport of pollutants in runoff.

Wildcat5 for Windows, a rainfall-runoff hydrograph model: user manual and documentation

Science.gov (United States)

R. H. Hawkins; A. Barreto-Munoz

2016-01-01

Wildcat5 for Windows (Wildcat5) is an interactive Windows Excel-based software package designed to assist watershed specialists in analyzing rainfall runoff events to predict peak flow and runoff volumes generated by single-event rainstorms for a variety of watershed soil and vegetation conditions. Model inputs are: (1) rainstorm characteristics, (2) parameters related...

Detecting surface runoff location in a small catchment using distributed and simple observation method

Science.gov (United States)

Dehotin, Judicaël; Breil, Pascal; Braud, Isabelle; de Lavenne, Alban; Lagouy, Mickaël; Sarrazin, Benoît

2015-06-01

Surface runoff is one of the hydrological processes involved in floods, pollution transfer, soil erosion and mudslide. Many models allow the simulation and the mapping of surface runoff and erosion hazards. Field observations of this hydrological process are not common although they are crucial to evaluate surface runoff models and to investigate or assess different kinds of hazards linked to this process. In this study, a simple field monitoring network is implemented to assess the relevance of a surface runoff susceptibility mapping method. The network is based on spatially distributed observations (nine different locations in the catchment) of soil water content and rainfall events. These data are analyzed to determine if surface runoff occurs. Two surface runoff mechanisms are considered: surface runoff by saturation of the soil surface horizon and surface runoff by infiltration excess (also called hortonian runoff). The monitoring strategy includes continuous records of soil surface water content and rainfall with a 5 min time step. Soil infiltration capacity time series are calculated using field soil water content and in situ measurements of soil hydraulic conductivity. Comparison of soil infiltration capacity and rainfall intensity time series allows detecting the occurrence of surface runoff by infiltration-excess. Comparison of surface soil water content with saturated water content values allows detecting the occurrence of surface runoff by saturation of the soil surface horizon. Automatic records were complemented with direct field observations of surface runoff in the experimental catchment after each significant rainfall event. The presented observation method allows the identification of fast and short-lived surface runoff processes at a small spatial and temporal resolution in natural conditions. The results also highlight the relationship between surface runoff and factors usually integrated in surface runoff mapping such as topography, rainfall

Characteristics of PAHs in farmland soil and rainfall runoff in Tianjin, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Rongguang; Xu, Mengmeng; Liu, Aifeng; Tian, Yong; Zhao, Zongshan

2017-10-14

Rainfall runoff can remove certain amounts of pollutants from contaminated farmland soil and result in a decline in water quality. However, the leaching behaviors of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with rainfall have been rarely reported due to wide variations in the soil compositions, rainfall conditions, and sources of soil PAHs in complex farmland ecosystems. In this paper, the levels, spatial distributions, and composition profiles of PAHs in 30 farmland soil samples and 49 rainfall-runoff samples from the Tianjin region in 2012 were studied to investigate their leaching behaviors caused by rainfall runoff. The contents of the Σ 16 PAHs ranged from 58.53 to 3137.90 μg/kg in the soil and 146.58 to 3636.59 μg/L in the runoff. In total, most of the soil sampling sites (23 of 30) were contaminated, and biomass and petroleum combustion were proposed as the main sources of the soil PAHs. Both the spatial distributions of the soil and the runoff PAHs show a decreasing trend moving away from the downtown, which suggested that the leaching behaviors of PAHs in a larger region during rainfall may be mainly affected by the compounds themselves. In addition, 4- and 5-ring PAHs are the dominant components in farmland soil and 3- and 4-ring PAHs dominate the runoff. Comparisons of the PAH pairs and enrichment ratios showed that acenaphthylene, acenaphthene, benzo[a]anthracene, chrysene, and fluoranthene were more easily transferred into water systems from soil than benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[ghi]perylene, and indeno[123-cd]pyrene, which indicated that PAHs with low molecular weight are preferentially dissolved due to their higher solubility compared to those with high molecular weight.

Future climate scenarios and rainfall-runoff modelling in the Upper Gallego catchment (Spain)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buerger, C.M.; Kolditz, O.; Fowler, H.J.; Blenkinsop, S.

2007-01-01

Global climate change may have large impacts on water supplies, drought or flood frequencies and magnitudes in local and regional hydrologic systems. Water authorities therefore rely on computer models for quantitative impact prediction. In this study we present kernel-based learning machine river flow models for the Upper Gallego catchment of the Ebro basin. Different learning machines were calibrated using daily gauge data. The models posed two major challenges: (1) estimation of the rainfall-runoff transfer function from the available time series is complicated by anthropogenic regulation and mountainous terrain and (2) the river flow model is weak when only climate data are used, but additional antecedent flow data seemed to lead to delayed peak flow estimation. These types of models, together with the presented downscaled climate scenarios, can be used for climate change impact assessment in the Gallego, which is important for the future management of the system. - Future climate change and data-based rainfall-runoff predictions are presented for the Upper Gallego

Modeling urban storm rainfall runoff from diverse underlying surfaces and application for control design in Beijing.

Science.gov (United States)

Ouyang, Wei; Guo, Bobo; Hao, Fanghua; Huang, Haobo; Li, Junqi; Gong, Yongwei

2012-12-30

Managing storm rainfall runoff is paramount in semi-arid regions with urban development. In Beijing, pollution prevention in urban storm runoff and storm water utilization has been identified as the primary strategy for urban water management. In this paper, we sampled runoff during storm rainfall events and analyzed the concentration of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS) and total phosphorus (TP) in the runoff. Furthermore, the first flush effect of storm rainfall from diverse underlying surfaces was also analyzed. With the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM), the different impervious rates of underlying surfaces during the storm runoff process were expressed. The removal rates of three typical pollutants and their interactions with precipitation and underlying surfaces were identified. From these rates, the scenarios regarding the urban storm runoff pollution loading from different designs of underlying previous rates were assessed with the SWMM. First flush effect analysis showed that the first 20% of the storm runoff should be discarded, which can help in utilizing the storm water resource. The results of this study suggest that the SWMM can express in detail the storm water pollution patterns from diverse underlying surfaces in Beijing, which significantly affected water quality. The scenario analysis demonstrated that impervious rate adjustment has the potential to reduce runoff peak and decrease pollution loading. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An investigation of the effect of hysteresis in a simple rainfall-runoff model

Science.gov (United States)

Flynn, D. P.; O'Kane, J. P.

2009-04-01

Multiphase porous media such as soils are known to exhibit hysteresis, e.g. in soils there is a strong hysteretic relationship between the moisture content and the matric potential and to date the Preisach model has been successful in modelling this relationship. Subsequently ODEs with Preisach hysteresis have been developed, such as a hysteretic version of Darcy's law and a hysteretic version of the linear reservoir known as the Preisach reservoir. In this paper we combine the above Hysteretic Differential Equations (HDEs) with three linear reservoirs so as to develop a simple rainfall runoff model. The model can be represented by a block diagram: Rainfall q(t) enters the soil component and either infiltrates and/or runs off when it exceeds the maximum rate of infiltration. The runoff part is fed into two linear reservoirs in series. Next, the drainage from the soil to groundwater is represented by a single linear reservoir, where the output from the soil becomes the input to the ground reservoir and vice-versa for capillary rise. Finally the groundwater and surface runoff are combined at some point and contribute to the total outflow from the catchment. Finally we investigate the effects of hysteresis in this system and compare it to the non-hysteretic case.

Bayesian analysis of data and model error in rainfall-runoff hydrological models

Science.gov (United States)

Kavetski, D.; Franks, S. W.; Kuczera, G.

2004-12-01

A major unresolved issue in the identification and use of conceptual hydrologic models is realistic description of uncertainty in the data and model structure. In particular, hydrologic parameters often cannot be measured directly and must be inferred (calibrated) from observed forcing/response data (typically, rainfall and runoff). However, rainfall varies significantly in space and time, yet is often estimated from sparse gauge networks. Recent work showed that current calibration methods (e.g., standard least squares, multi-objective calibration, generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation) ignore forcing uncertainty and assume that the rainfall is known exactly. Consequently, they can yield strongly biased and misleading parameter estimates. This deficiency confounds attempts to reliably test model hypotheses, to generalize results across catchments (the regionalization problem) and to quantify predictive uncertainty when the hydrologic model is extrapolated. This paper continues the development of a Bayesian total error analysis (BATEA) methodology for the calibration and identification of hydrologic models, which explicitly incorporates the uncertainty in both the forcing and response data, and allows systematic model comparison based on residual model errors and formal Bayesian hypothesis testing (e.g., using Bayes factors). BATEA is based on explicit stochastic models for both forcing and response uncertainty, whereas current techniques focus solely on response errors. Hence, unlike existing methods, the BATEA parameter equations directly reflect the modeler's confidence in all the data. We compare several approaches to approximating the parameter distributions: a) full Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods and b) simplified approaches based on linear approximations. Studies using synthetic and real data from the US and Australia show that BATEA systematically reduces the parameter bias, leads to more meaningful model fits and allows model comparison taking

Rainfall-runoff model for prediction of waterborne viral contamination in a small river catchment

Science.gov (United States)

Gelati, E.; Dommar, C.; Lowe, R.; Polcher, J.; Rodó, X.

2013-12-01

We present a lumped rainfall-runoff model aimed at providing useful information for the prediction of waterborne viral contamination in small rivers. Viral contamination of water bodies may occur because of the discharge of sewage effluents and of surface runoff over areas affected by animal waste loads. Surface runoff is caused by precipitation that cannot infiltrate due to its intensity and to antecedent soil water content. It may transport animal feces to adjacent water bodies and cause viral contamination. We model streamflow by separating it into two components: subsurface flow, which is produced by infiltrated precipitation; and surface runoff. The model estimates infiltrated and non-infiltrated precipitation and uses impulse-response functions to compute the corresponding fractions of streamflow. The developed methodologies are applied to the Glafkos river, whose catchment extends for 102 km2 and includes the city of Patra. Streamflow and precipitation observations are available at a daily time resolution. Waterborne virus concentration measurements were performed approximately every second week from the beginning of 2011 to mid 2012. Samples were taken at several locations: in river water upstream of Patras and in the urban area; in sea water at the river outlet and approximately 2 km south-west of Patras; in sewage effluents before and after treatment. The rainfall-runoff model was calibrated and validated using observed streamflow and precipitation data. The model contribution to waterborne viral contamination prediction was benchmarked by analyzing the virus concentration measurements together with the estimated surface runoff values. The presented methodology may be a first step towards the development of waterborne viral contamination alert systems. Predicting viral contamination of water bodies would benefit sectors such as water supply and tourism.

Application of Volumetric Weather Radar Data and the Distributed Rainfall Runoff Model REW in the Ourthe Catchment

Science.gov (United States)

Hazenberg, P.; Leijnse, H.; Torfs, P.; Uijlenhoet, R.; Weerts, A.; Reggiani, P.; Delobbe, L.

2008-12-01

In the southern Ardennes region of Belgium near the border with Luxembourg, the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (RMI) installed a C-band Doppler weather radar at an elevation of 600 m in the year 2001. This volumetric weather radar scans over multiple elevations at a temporal resolution of 5 minutes. The current study explores the possibility of using the volumetric information of the precipitation field to correct for the effects of the Vertical Profile of Reflectivity (VPR) over the period October 1, 2002 until March 31, 2003. During this winter half year storm events are mainly stratiform, giving rise to bright band effects which can decrease the performance of the radar. Previous studies have shown multiple drawbacks in applying a single estimated VPR profile to correct such reflectivity data. Therefore, the focus here is on the temporal variability of the VPR as measured by the radar and its variability over different spatial scales. This information is applied to generate a number of possible rainfall fields. These realizations are employed to try to quantify some of the discrepancies in precipitation intensities as estimated by the weather radar and those measured by a raingauge network. The final step then is to assess their potential within a distributed rainfall runoff model. The 1597 km2 Ourthe catchment lies within 60 km of the radar. Over this medium sized watershed ten raingauges measuring at an hourly interval are more or less equally distributed. Near the outlet discharge data are collected at the same time step. The distributed hydrological Representative Elementary Watershed (REW) model is applied to model the hydrological behavior of the Ourthe over the six month period. The benefits of the high spatial and temporal resolution of weather radar data compared to a conventional raingauge network plus the possibility of generating multiple realizations of the precipitation field are expected to yield more information about the hydrological

Observed magnified runoff response to rainfall intensification under global warming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, Jr-Chuan; Lee, Tsung-Yu; Lee, Jun-Yi

2014-01-01

Runoff response to rainfall intensification under global warming is crucial, but is poorly discussed due to the limited data length and human alteration. Historical rainfall and runoff records in pristine catchments in Taiwan were investigated through trend analysis and cross temperature difference analysis. Trend analysis showed that both rainfall and runoff in the 99.9-percentile have been significantly increasing in terms of frequency and intensity over the past four decades. Cross temperature difference analysis quantified that the rainfall and runoff extremes (including the 99.0–99.9-percentiles) may increase by 69.5% and 99.8%, respectively, under a future scenario of 1  ° C increase in temperature. This increase in intensity resembles the increase in intensity observed between 1971–1990 and 1991–2010. The amplified runoff response can be related to the limited catchment storage capacity being preoccupied by rainfall extremes. The quantified temperature effect on rainfall and runoff intensification can be a strong basis for designing scenarios, confirming and fusing GCMs’ results. In addition, the runoff amplification should be a warning for other regions with significant rainfall intensification. Appropriate strategies are indispensable and urgently needed to maintain and protect the development of societies. (paper)

Hydrology in a mediterranean mountain environment. The Vallcebre research catchment (north eastern Spain) II. Rainfall-runoff relationships and runoff processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Latron, J.; Solar, M.; Nord, G.; Llorens, P.; Gallart, F.

2009-01-01

Hydrological response and runoff processes have been studied in the Vallcebre research basins (North Eastern Spain) for almost 20 years. Results obtained allowed to build a more complete perceptual model of the hydrological functioning of Mediterranean mountains basins. On a seasonal and monthly scale, there was no simple relationship between rainfall and runoff depths. Monthly rainfall and runoff values revealed the existence of a threshold in the relationship between rainfall and runoff depths. At the event scale, the storm-flow coefficient had a clear seasonal pattern. The effect of the water table position on how rainfall and runoff volumes relate was observed. Examination of soil water potential and water table dynamics during representative floods helped to identify 3 types of characteristic hydrological behaviour during the year. Under dry conditions, runoff was generated essentially as infiltration excess runoff in low permeable areas, whereas saturation excess runoff dominated during wetting-up and wet conditions. During wetting-up transition, saturated areas resulted from the development of scattered perched water tables, whereas in wet conditions they were linked to the rise of the shallow water table. (Author) 8 refs.

Investigation of Rainfall-Runoff Processes and Soil Moisture Dynamics in Grassland Plots under Simulated Rainfall Conditions

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Nana Zhao

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The characteristics of rainfall-runoff are important aspects of hydrological processes. In this study, rainfall-runoff processes and soil moisture dynamics at different soil depths and slope positions of grassland with two different row spacings (5 cm and 10 cm, respectively, referred to as R5 and R10 were analyzed, by means of a solution of rainfall simulation experiments. Bare land was also considered as a comparison. The results showed that the mechanism of runoff generation was mainly excess infiltration overland flow. The surface runoff amount of R5 plot was greater than that of R10, while the interflow amount of R10 was larger than that of R5 plot, although the differences of the subsurface runoff processes between plots R5 and R10 were little. The effects of rainfall intensity on the surface runoff were significant, but not obvious on the interflow and recession curve, which can be described as a simple exponential equation, with a fitting degree of up to 0.854–0.996. The response of soil moisture to rainfall and evapotranspiration was mainly in the 0–20 cm layer, and the response at the 40 cm layer to rainfall was slower and generally occurred after the rainfall stopped. The upper slope generally responded fastest to rainfall, and the foot of the slope was the slowest. The results presented here could provide insights into understanding the surface and subsurface runoff processes and soil moisture dynamics for grasslands in semi-arid regions.

Measurement and modeling of diclosulam runoff under the influence of simulated severe rainfall.

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van Wesenbeeck, I J; Peacock, A L; Havens, P L

2001-01-01

A runoff study was conducted near Tifton, GA to measure the losses of water, sediment, and diclosulam (N-(2,6-dichlorophenyl)-5-ethoxy-7-fluoro-[1,2,4]triazolo-[1,5c]-pyrimidine- 2-sulfonamide), a new broadleaf herbicide, under a 50-mm-in-3-h simulated rainfall event on three separate 0.05-ha plots. Results of a runoff study were used to validate the Pesticide Root Zone Model (PRZM, v. 3.12) using field-measured soil, chemical, and weather inputs. The model-predicted edge-of-field diclosulam loading was within 1% of the average observed diclosulam runoff from the field study; however, partitioning between phases was not as well predicted. The model was subsequently used with worst-case agricultural practice inputs and a 41-yr weather record from Dublin, GA to simulate edge-of-field runoff losses for the two most prevalent soils (Tifton and Bibb) in the southeastern U.S. peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) market for 328 simulation years, and showed that the 90th percentile runoff amounts, expressed as percent of applied diclosulam, were 1.8, 0.6, and 5.2% for the runoff study plots and Tifton and Bibb soils, respectively. The runoff study and modeling indicated that more than 97% of the total diclosulam runoff was transported off the field by water, with < 3% associated with the sediment. Diclosulam losses due to runoff can be further reduced by lower application rates, tillage and crop residue management practices that reduce edge-of-field runoff, and conservation practices such as vegetated filter strips.

Dynamic Hydrological Modeling in Drylands with TRMM Based Rainfall

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Elena Tarnavsky

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This paper introduces and evaluates DryMOD, a dynamic water balance model of the key hydrological process in drylands that is based on free, public-domain datasets. The rainfall model of DryMOD makes optimal use of spatially disaggregated Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM datasets to simulate hourly rainfall intensities at a spatial resolution of 1-km. Regional-scale applications of the model in seasonal catchments in Tunisia and Senegal characterize runoff and soil moisture distribution and dynamics in response to varying rainfall data inputs and soil properties. The results highlight the need for hourly-based rainfall simulation and for correcting TRMM 3B42 rainfall intensities for the fractional cover of rainfall (FCR. Without FCR correction and disaggregation to 1 km, TRMM 3B42 based rainfall intensities are too low to generate surface runoff and to induce substantial changes to soil moisture storage. The outcomes from the sensitivity analysis show that topsoil porosity is the most important soil property for simulation of runoff and soil moisture. Thus, we demonstrate the benefit of hydrological investigations at a scale, for which reliable information on soil profile characteristics exists and which is sufficiently fine to account for the heterogeneities of these. Where such information is available, application of DryMOD can assist in the spatial and temporal planning of water harvesting according to runoff-generating areas and the runoff ratio, as well as in the optimization of agricultural activities based on realistic representation of soil moisture conditions.

Derived flood frequency analysis using different model calibration strategies based on various types of rainfall-runoff data - a comparison

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Haberlandt, U.; Radtke, I.

2013-08-01

Derived flood frequency analysis allows to estimate design floods with hydrological modelling for poorly observed basins considering change and taking into account flood protection measures. There are several possible choices about precipitation input, discharge output and consequently regarding the calibration of the model. The objective of this study is to compare different calibration strategies for a hydrological model considering various types of rainfall input and runoff output data sets. Event based and continuous observed hourly rainfall data as well as disaggregated daily rainfall and stochastically generated hourly rainfall data are used as input for the model. As output short hourly and longer daily continuous flow time series as well as probability distributions of annual maximum peak flow series are employed. The performance of the strategies is evaluated using the obtained different model parameter sets for continuous simulation of discharge in an independent validation period and by comparing the model derived flood frequency distributions with the observed one. The investigations are carried out for three mesoscale catchments in Northern Germany with the hydrological model HEC-HMS. The results show that: (i) the same type of precipitation input data should be used for calibration and application of the hydrological model, (ii) a model calibrated using a small sample of extreme values works quite well for the simulation of continuous time series with moderate length but not vice versa, (iii) the best performance with small uncertainty is obtained when stochastic precipitation data and the observed probability distribution of peak flows are used for model calibration. This outcome suggests to calibrate a hydrological model directly on probability distributions of observed peak flows using stochastic rainfall as input if its purpose is the application for derived flood frequency analysis.

Assessment of initial soil moisture conditions for event-based rainfall-runoff modelling

OpenAIRE

Tramblay, Yves; Bouvier, Christophe; Martin, C.; Didon-Lescot, J. F.; Todorovik, D.; Domergue, J. M.

2010-01-01

Flash floods are the most destructive natural hazards that occur in the Mediterranean region. Rainfall-runoff models can be very useful for flash flood forecasting and prediction. Event-based models are very popular for operational purposes, but there is a need to reduce the uncertainties related to the initial moisture conditions estimation prior to a flood event. This paper aims to compare several soil moisture indicators: local Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) measurements of soil moisture,...

Distribution of stable isotopes in arid storms . I. Relation between the distribution of isotopic composition in rainfall and in the consequent runoff

Science.gov (United States)

Adar, E. M.; Dody, A.; Geyh, M. A.; Yair, A.; Yakirevich, A.; Issar, A. S.

Temporal distributions of the isotopic composition in arid rain storms and in the associated runoff were investigated in a small arid rocky basin in Israel. Customized rain and runoff samplers provided sequential water samples hermetically sealed in high-density PVC bags. In several storms where the runoff was isotopically depleted, compared with the rainfall, the difference could not be explained by fractionation effects occurring during overland flow. A water-balance study relating the runoff discharge to rainfall over a rocky watershed showed that the entire discharge is produced by a very small segment (1-2mm) of the rain storm. The major objective, therefore, was to provide quantitative relations between segments of rainfall (rain showers and rain spells) and runoff. The time distribution of the composition of stable isotopes (oxygen and hydrogen) was used to quantify the correlation between the rain spell's amount and the consequent runoff. The aim of this work was to (a) utilize the dynamic variations in the isotopic composition in rainfall and runoff and model the magnitude of surface-storage capacity associated with runoff processes of overland flow, and (b) characterize the isotopic composition of the percolating water with respect to the isotopic distribution in rainfall and runoff events. The conceptual model postulates an isotopic mixing of overland flow with water within the depression storage. A transport model was then formulated in order to estimate the physical watershed parameters that control the development of overland flow from a certain rainfall period. Part I (this paper) presents the results and the assessment of the relative depression storage obtained from oxygen-18 and deuterium analyses that lead to the physical and mathematical formulation of a double-component model of kinematic-wave flow and transport, which is presented in Part II (accompanying paper). Résumé Les variations temporelles, en zone aride, de la composition isotopique

Bayesian uncertainty assessment of flood predictions in ungauged urban basins for conceptual rainfall-runoff models

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A. E. Sikorska

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Urbanization and the resulting land-use change strongly affect the water cycle and runoff-processes in watersheds. Unfortunately, small urban watersheds, which are most affected by urban sprawl, are mostly ungauged. This makes it intrinsically difficult to assess the consequences of urbanization. Most of all, it is unclear how to reliably assess the predictive uncertainty given the structural deficits of the applied models. In this study, we therefore investigate the uncertainty of flood predictions in ungauged urban basins from structurally uncertain rainfall-runoff models. To this end, we suggest a procedure to explicitly account for input uncertainty and model structure deficits using Bayesian statistics with a continuous-time autoregressive error model. In addition, we propose a concise procedure to derive prior parameter distributions from base data and successfully apply the methodology to an urban catchment in Warsaw, Poland. Based on our results, we are able to demonstrate that the autoregressive error model greatly helps to meet the statistical assumptions and to compute reliable prediction intervals. In our study, we found that predicted peak flows were up to 7 times higher than observations. This was reduced to 5 times with Bayesian updating, using only few discharge measurements. In addition, our analysis suggests that imprecise rainfall information and model structure deficits contribute mostly to the total prediction uncertainty. In the future, flood predictions in ungauged basins will become more important due to ongoing urbanization as well as anthropogenic and climatic changes. Thus, providing reliable measures of uncertainty is crucial to support decision making.

Assimilating satellite soil moisture into rainfall-runoff modelling: towards a systematic study

Science.gov (United States)

Massari, Christian; Tarpanelli, Angelica; Brocca, Luca; Moramarco, Tommaso

2015-04-01

Soil moisture is the main factor for the repartition of the mass and energy fluxes between the land surface and the atmosphere thus playing a fundamental role in the hydrological cycle. Indeed, soil moisture represents the initial condition of rainfall-runoff modelling that determines the flood response of a catchment. Different initial soil moisture conditions can discriminate between catastrophic and minor effects of a given rainfall event. Therefore, improving the estimation of initial soil moisture conditions will reduce uncertainties in early warning flood forecasting models addressing the mitigation of flood hazard. In recent years, satellite soil moisture products have become available with fine spatial-temporal resolution and a good accuracy. Therefore, a number of studies have been published in which the impact of the assimilation of satellite soil moisture data into rainfall-runoff modelling is investigated. Unfortunately, data assimilation involves a series of assumptions and choices that significantly affect the final result. Given a satellite soil moisture observation, a rainfall-runoff model and a data assimilation technique, an improvement or a deterioration of discharge predictions can be obtained depending on the choices made in the data assimilation procedure. Consequently, large discrepancies have been obtained in the studies published so far likely due to the differences in the implementation of the data assimilation technique. On this basis, a comprehensive and robust procedure for the assimilation of satellite soil moisture data into rainfall-runoff modelling is developed here and applied to six subcatchment of the Upper Tiber River Basin for which high-quality hydrometeorological hourly observations are available in the period 1989-2013. The satellite soil moisture product used in this study is obtained from the Advanced SCATterometer (ASCAT) onboard Metop-A satellite and it is available since 2007. The MISDc ("Modello Idrologico Semi

A simple rainfall-runoff model based on hydrological units applied to the Teba catchment (south-east Spain)

Science.gov (United States)

Donker, N. H. W.

2001-01-01

A hydrological model (YWB, yearly water balance) has been developed to model the daily rainfall-runoff relationship of the 202 km2 Teba river catchment, located in semi-arid south-eastern Spain. The period of available data (1976-1993) includes some very rainy years with intensive storms (responsible for flooding parts of the town of Malaga) and also some very dry years.The YWB model is in essence a simple tank model in which the catchment is subdivided into a limited number of meaningful hydrological units. Instead of generating per unit surface runoff resulting from infiltration excess, runoff has been made the result of storage excess. Actual evapotranspiration is obtained by means of curves, included in the software, representing the relationship between the ratio of actual to potential evapotranspiration as a function of soil moisture content for three soil texture classes.The total runoff generated is split between base flow and surface runoff according to a given baseflow index. The two components are routed separately and subsequently joined. A large number of sequential years can be processed, and the results of each year are summarized by a water balance table and a daily based rainfall runoff time series. An attempt has been made to restrict the amount of input data to the minimum.Interactive manual calibration is advocated in order to allow better incorporation of field evidence and the experience of the model user. Field observations allowed for an approximate calibration at the hydrological unit level.

Catchment area-based evaluation of the AMC-dependent SCS-CN-based rainfall-runoff models

Science.gov (United States)

Mishra, S. K.; Jain, M. K.; Pandey, R. P.; Singh, V. P.

2005-09-01

Using a large set of rainfall-runoff data from 234 watersheds in the USA, a catchment area-based evaluation of the modified version of the Mishra and Singh (2002a) model was performed. The model is based on the Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) methodology and incorporates the antecedent moisture in computation of direct surface runoff. Comparison with the existing SCS-CN method showed that the modified version performed better than did the existing one on the data of all seven area-based groups of watersheds ranging from 0.01 to 310.3 km2.

Evaluation of Surface Runoff Generation Processes Using a Rainfall Simulator: A Small Scale Laboratory Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Danáčová, Michaela; Valent, Peter; Výleta, Roman

2017-12-01

Nowadays, rainfall simulators are being used by many researchers in field or laboratory experiments. The main objective of most of these experiments is to better understand the underlying runoff generation processes, and to use the results in the process of calibration and validation of hydrological models. Many research groups have assembled their own rainfall simulators, which comply with their understanding of rainfall processes, and the requirements of their experiments. Most often, the existing rainfall simulators differ mainly in the size of the irrigated area, and the way they generate rain drops. They can be characterized by the accuracy, with which they produce a rainfall of a given intensity, the size of the irrigated area, and the rain drop generating mechanism. Rainfall simulation experiments can provide valuable information about the genesis of surface runoff, infiltration of water into soil and rainfall erodibility. Apart from the impact of physical properties of soil, its moisture and compaction on the generation of surface runoff and the amount of eroded particles, some studies also investigate the impact of vegetation cover of the whole area of interest. In this study, the rainfall simulator was used to simulate the impact of the slope gradient of the irrigated area on the amount of generated runoff and sediment yield. In order to eliminate the impact of external factors and to improve the reproducibility of the initial conditions, the experiments were conducted in laboratory conditions. The laboratory experiments were carried out using a commercial rainfall simulator, which was connected to an external peristaltic pump. The pump maintained a constant and adjustable inflow of water, which enabled to overcome the maximum volume of simulated precipitation of 2.3 l, given by the construction of the rainfall simulator, while maintaining constant characteristics of the simulated precipitation. In this study a 12-minute rainfall with a constant intensity

Calibration of a rainfall-runoff hydrological model and flood simulation using data assimilation

Science.gov (United States)

Piacentini, A.; Ricci, S. M.; Thual, O.; Coustau, M.; Marchandise, A.

2010-12-01

Rainfall-runoff models are crucial tools for long-term assessment of flash floods or real-time forecasting. This work focuses on the calibration of a distributed parsimonious event-based rainfall-runoff model using data assimilation. The model combines a SCS-derived runoff model and a Lag and Route routing model for each cell of a regular grid mesh. The SCS-derived runoff model is parametrized by the initial water deficit, the discharge coefficient for the soil reservoir and a lagged discharge coefficient. The Lag and Route routing model is parametrized by the velocity of travel and the lag parameter. These parameters are assumed to be constant for a given catchment except for the initial water deficit and the velocity travel that are event-dependent (landuse, soil type and moisture initial conditions). In the present work, a BLUE filtering technique was used to calibrate the initial water deficit and the velocity travel for each flood event assimilating the first available discharge measurements at the catchment outlet. The advantages of the BLUE algorithm are its low computational cost and its convenient implementation, especially in the context of the calibration of a reduced number of parameters. The assimilation algorithm was applied on two Mediterranean catchment areas of different size and dynamics: Gardon d'Anduze and Lez. The Lez catchment, of 114 km2 drainage area, is located upstream Montpellier. It is a karstic catchment mainly affected by floods in autumn during intense rainstorms with short Lag-times and high discharge peaks (up to 480 m3.s-1 in September 2005). The Gardon d'Anduze catchment, mostly granite and schistose, of 545 km2 drainage area, lies over the departements of Lozère and Gard. It is often affected by flash and devasting floods (up to 3000 m3.s-1 in September 2002). The discharge observations at the beginning of the flood event are assimilated so that the BLUE algorithm provides optimal values for the initial water deficit and the

Modeling Rainfall-Runoff Response to Land Use and Land Cover Change in Rwanda (1990–2016

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Fidele Karamage

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Stormwater runoff poses serious environmental problems and public health issues in Rwanda, a tropical country that is increasingly suffering from severe floods, landslides, soil erosion and water pollution. Using the WetSpa Extension model, this study assessed the changes in rainfall runoff depth in Rwanda from 1990 to 2016 in response to precipitation and land use changes. Our results show that Rwanda has experienced a significant conversion of natural forest and grassland to cropland and built-up areas. During the period 1990–2016, 7090.02 km2 (64.5% and 1715.26 km2 (32.1% of forest and grassland covers were lost, respectively, while the cropland and built-up areas increased by 135.3% (8503.75 km2 and 304.3% (355.02 km2, respectively. According to our estimates, the land use change effect resulted in a national mean runoff depth increase of 2.33 mm/year (0.38%. Although precipitation change affected the inter-annual fluctuation of runoff, the long-term trend of runoff was dominated by land use change. The top five districts that experienced the annual runoff depth increase (all >3.8 mm/year are Rubavu, Nyabihu, Ngororero, Gakenke, and Musanze. Their annual runoff depths increased at a rate of >3.8 mm/year during the past 27 years, due to severe deforestation (ranging from 62% to 85% and cropland expansion (ranging from 123% to 293%. These areas require high priority in runoff control using terracing in croplands and rainwater harvesting systems such as dam/reservoirs, percolation tanks, storage tanks, etc. The wet season runoff was three times higher than the dry season runoff in Rwanda; appropriate rainwater management and reservation could provide valuable irrigation water for the dry season or drought years (late rainfall onsets or early rainfall cessations. It was estimated that a reservation of 30.5% (3.99 km3 of the runoff in the wet season could meet the cropland irrigation water gap during the dry season in 2016.

How much complexity is warranted in a rainfall-runoff model? Findings obtained from symbolic regression, using Eureqa

Science.gov (United States)

Abrahart, R. J.; Beriro, D. J.

2012-04-01

The information content in a rainfall-runoff record is sufficient to support models of only very limited complexity (Jakeman and Hornberger, 1993). This begs the question of what limits should observed data place on the allowable complexity of rainfall-runoff models? Eureqa1 (Schmidt and Lipson, 2009) - pronounced "eureka" - is a software tool for finding equations and detecting mathematical relationships in a dataset. The challenge, for both software and modeller, is to identify, by means of symbolic regression, the simplest mathematical formulas which describe the underlying mechanisms that produced the data. It actually delivers, however, a series of preferred modelling solutions comprising one champion for each specific level of complexity i.e. related to solution enlargement involving the progressive incorporation of additional permitted factors (internal operators/ external drivers). The potential benefit of increased complexity can as a result be assessed in a rational manner. Eureqa is free to download and use; and, in the current study, has been employed to construct a set of rainfall-runoff transfer function models for the Annapolis River at Wilmot, in north-western Nova Scotia, Canada. The climatic conditions in this catchment present an interesting set of modelling challenges; daily variations and seasonal changes in temperature, snowfall and retention result in great difficulty for runoff prediction by means of a data-driven approach. Data from 10 years of daily observations are used in the present study (01/01/2000-31/12/2009): comprising [i] discharge, [ii] total rainfall (excluding snowfall), [iii] total snowfall, [iv] thickness of snow cover, and [v] maximum and [vi] minimum temperature. Precipitation occurs throughout the whole year being slightly lower during summer. Snowfall is common from November until April and rare hurricane weather may occur in autumn. The average maximum temperature is below 0 0C in January and February, but significant

A dimensionless approach for the runoff peak assessment: effects of the rainfall event structure

Science.gov (United States)

Gnecco, Ilaria; Palla, Anna; La Barbera, Paolo

2018-02-01

The present paper proposes a dimensionless analytical framework to investigate the impact of the rainfall event structure on the hydrograph peak. To this end a methodology to describe the rainfall event structure is proposed based on the similarity with the depth-duration-frequency (DDF) curves. The rainfall input consists of a constant hyetograph where all the possible outcomes in the sample space of the rainfall structures can be condensed. Soil abstractions are modelled using the Soil Conservation Service method and the instantaneous unit hydrograph theory is undertaken to determine the dimensionless form of the hydrograph; the two-parameter gamma distribution is selected to test the proposed methodology. The dimensionless approach is introduced in order to implement the analytical framework to any study case (i.e. natural catchment) for which the model assumptions are valid (i.e. linear causative and time-invariant system). A set of analytical expressions are derived in the case of a constant-intensity hyetograph to assess the maximum runoff peak with respect to a given rainfall event structure irrespective of the specific catchment (such as the return period associated with the reference rainfall event). Looking at the results, the curve of the maximum values of the runoff peak reveals a local minimum point corresponding to the design hyetograph derived according to the statistical DDF curve. A specific catchment application is discussed in order to point out the dimensionless procedure implications and to provide some numerical examples of the rainfall structures with respect to observed rainfall events; finally their effects on the hydrograph peak are examined.

How would peak rainfall intensity affect runoff predictions using conceptual water balance models?

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B. Yu

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Most hydrological models use continuous daily precipitation and potential evapotranspiration for streamflow estimation. With the projected increase in mean surface temperature, hydrological processes are set to intensify irrespective of the underlying changes to the mean precipitation. The effect of an increase in rainfall intensity on the long-term water balance is, however, not adequately accounted for in the commonly used hydrological models. This study follows from a previous comparative analysis of a non-stationary daily series of stream flow of a forested watershed (River Rimbaud in the French Alps (area = 1.478 km2 (1966–2006. Non-stationarity in the recorded stream flow occurred as a result of a severe wild fire in 1990. Two daily models (AWBM and SimHyd were initially calibrated for each of three distinct phases in relation to the well documented land disturbance. At the daily and monthly time scales, both models performed satisfactorily with the Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency (NSE varying from 0.77 to 0.92. When aggregated to the annual time scale, both models underestimated the flow by about 22% with a reduced NSE at about 0.71. Exploratory data analysis was undertaken to relate daily peak hourly rainfall intensity to the discrepancy between the observed and modelled daily runoff amount. Preliminary results show that the effect of peak hourly rainfall intensity on runoff prediction is insignificant, and model performance is unlikely to improve when peak daily precipitation is included. Trend analysis indicated that the large decrease of precipitation when daily precipitation amount exceeded 10–20 mm may have contributed greatly to the decrease in stream flow of this forested watershed.

Rainfall-runoff modelling of the Okavango River catchment to assess impacts of land use change on runoff and downstream ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Milzow, Christian; Bauer-Gottwein, Peter

2010-05-01

The competition between human water use and ecosystem water use is one of the major challenges for water resources management at the global scale. We analyse the situation for the Okavango River basin of southern Africa. The Okavango River is representative for many large rivers throughout the developing world in that it is ungauged and poorly studied. The Okavango basin - spanning over Angola, Namibia and Botswana - represents a multi-objective problem in an international setting. Economic benefits of agricultural development and conservation of ecosystem services call for opposed actions. A semi-distributed rainfall-runoff model of the Okavango catchment is set up using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The model is sufficiently physically based to simulate the impact on runoff of extent of agricultural use, crop types and management practices. Precipitation and temperature inputs are taken from datasets covering large parts of the globe. The methodology can thus easily be applied for other ungauged catchments. For temperature we use the ERA-Interim reanalysis product of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and for precipitation the Famine Early Warning Systems Network data (FEWS-Net). Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) data resulted in poor model performance compared to the FEWS-Net data. Presently, the upstream catchment in Angola is largely pristine and agriculture is basically restricted to dry land subsistence farming. But economic growth in Angola is likely to result in agricultural development and consequent impacts on catchment runoff. Land use scenarios that are simulated include large scale irrigated agriculture with water extractions from the river and the shallow aquifer. Climate change impacts are also studied and compared to land use change impacts. The downstream part of the basin consists of the large Okavango Wetlands, which are a biodiversity hotspot of global importance and, through tourism, an important

Rainfall Runoff Mitigation by Retrofitted Permeable Pavement in an Urban Area

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Muhammad Shafique

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Permeable pavement is an effective low impact development (LID practice that can play an important role in reducing rainfall runoff amount in urban areas. Permeable interlocking concrete pavement (PICP was retrofitted in a tremendously developed area of Seoul, Korea and the data was monitored to evaluate its effect on the hydrology and stormwater quality performance for four months. Rainfall runoff was first absorbed by different layers of the PICP system and then contributed to the sewage system. This not only helps to reduce the runoff volume, but also increase the time of concentration. In this experiment, different real rain events were observed and the field results were investigated to check the effectiveness of the PICP system for controlling the rainfall runoff in Songpa, Korea. From the analysis of data, results showed that the PCIP system was very effective in controlling rainfall runoff. Overall runoff reduction performance from the PCIP was found to be around 30–65% during various storm events. In addition, PICP significantly reduced peak flows in different storm events which is very helpful in reducing the chances of water-logging in an urbanized area. Research results also allow us to sum up that retrofitted PICP is a very effective approach for rainfall runoff management in urban areas.

Hydrological control of large hurricane-induced lahars: evidence from rainfall-runoff modeling, seismic and video monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Capra, Lucia; Coviello, Velio; Borselli, Lorenzo; Márquez-Ramírez, Víctor-Hugo; Arámbula-Mendoza, Raul

2018-03-01

The Volcán de Colima, one of the most active volcanoes in Mexico, is commonly affected by tropical rains related to hurricanes that form over the Pacific Ocean. In 2011, 2013 and 2015 hurricanes Jova, Manuel and Patricia, respectively, triggered tropical storms that deposited up to 400 mm of rain in 36 h, with maximum intensities of 50 mm h -1. The effects were devastating, with the formation of multiple lahars along La Lumbre and Montegrande ravines, which are the most active channels in sediment delivery on the south-southwest flank of the volcano. Deep erosion along the river channels and several marginal landslides were observed, and the arrival of block-rich flow fronts resulted in damages to bridges and paved roads in the distal reaches of the ravines. The temporal sequence of these flow events is reconstructed and analyzed using monitoring data (including video images, seismic records and rainfall data) with respect to the rainfall characteristics and the hydrologic response of the watersheds based on rainfall-runoff numerical simulation. For the studied events, lahars occurred 5-6 h after the onset of rainfall, lasted several hours and were characterized by several pulses with block-rich fronts and a maximum flow discharge of 900 m3 s -1. Rainfall-runoff simulations were performer using the SCS-curve number and the Green-Ampt infiltration models, providing a similar result in the detection of simulated maximum watershed peaks discharge. Results show different behavior for the arrival times of the first lahar pulses that correlate with the simulated catchment's peak discharge for La Lumbre ravine and with the peaks in rainfall intensity for Montegrande ravine. This different behavior is related to the area and shape of the two watersheds. Nevertheless, in all analyzed cases, the largest lahar pulse always corresponds with the last one and correlates with the simulated maximum peak discharge of these catchments. Data presented here show that flow pulses

Integration of Spatially Hydrological Modelling on Bentong Catchment, Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia Using Distributed GIS-based Rainfall Runoff Model

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Rosli, M.H.

2017-07-01

Full Text Available With the advance of GIS technology, hydrology model can simulated at catchment wide scale. The objective is to integrate National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS Curve Number (CN with kinematic wave and manning’s equation using GIS to develop a simple GIS-based distributed model to simulate rainfall runoff in Bentong catchment. Model was built using Spatial Distributed Direct Hydrograph (SDDH concept and applying the time area (TA approach in presenting the predicted discharge hydrograph. The effective precipitation estimation was first calculated using the NRCS CN method. Then, the core maps that consists of digital elevation model (DEM, soil and land use map in grid. DEM was used to derive slope, flow direction and flow accumulation while soil and land use map used to derive roughness coefficient and CN. The overland velocity and channel velocity estimation derived from combination of kinematic wave theory with Manning’s equation. To capture the time frame, the travel time map was divided into isochrones in order to generate the TA histogram and finally. The creation of SDDH using the TA histogram which will lead to the estimation of travel time for the catchment. Simulated hydrograph was plotted together with the observed discharge for comparison. Six storm events used for model performance evaluation using statistical measure such as Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE, percent bias (PBIAS and coefficient of determination (R2;. SDDH model performed quite well as NSE gave result ranging from 0.55 to 0.68 with mean of 0.6. PBIAS indicate that the model slightly over predicted compared to observed hydrograph with result ranges from -46.71 (the most over predicted to +4.83 (the most under predicted with average of -20.73%. R2; ranges between 0.55 to 0.82 with mean of 0.67. When comparing the time to peak, (tp, min, and peak discharge, (pd, m3/s, results gave NSEtp 0.82, PBIAStp 0.65, R2tp 0.32, NSEpd 0.95, PBIASpd 14.49 and R2pd 0

Runoff and Sediment Production under the Similar Rainfall Events in Different Aggregate Sizes of an Agricultural Soil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. F. Eslami

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Soil erosion by water is the most serious form of land degradation throughout the world, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. In these areas, soils are weakly structured and are easily disrupted by raindrop impacts. Soil erosion is strongly affected by different factors such as rainfall characteristics, slope properties, vegetation cover, conservation practices, and soil erodibility. Different physicochemical soil properties such texture, structure, infiltration rate, organic matter, lime and exchangeable sodium percentage can affect the soil erodibility as well as soil erosion. Soil structure is one of the most important properties influencing runoff and soil loss because it determines the susceptibility of the aggregates to detach by either raindrop impacts or runoff shear stress. Many soil properties such as particle size distribution, organic matter, lime, gypsum, and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP can affect the soil aggregation and the stability. Aggregates size distribution and their stability can be changed considerably because of agricultural practices. Information about variations of runoff and sediment in the rainfall events can be effective in modeling runoff as well as sediment. Thus, the study was conducted to determine runoff and sediment production of different aggregate sizes in the rainfall event scales. Materials and Methods: Toward the objective of the study, five aggregate classes consist of 0.25-2, 2-4.75, 4.75-5.6, 5.6-9.75, and 9.75-12.7 mm were collected from an agricultural sandy clay loam (0-30 cm using the related sieves in the field. Physicochemical soil analyses were performed in the aggregate samples using conventional methods in the lab. The aggregate samples were separately filed into fifteen flumes with a dimension of 50 cm × 100 cm and 15-cm in depth. The aggregate flumes were fixed on a steel plate with 9% slope and were exposed to the simulated rainfalls for investigating runoff and

[Monitoring and analysis on evolution process of rainfall runoff water quality in urban area].

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Wen; Li, Huai-En; Li, Jia-Ke

2013-02-01

In order to find the water quality evolution law and pollution characteristics of the rainfall runoff from undisturbed to the neighborhood exit, 6 times evolution process of rainfall runoff water quality were monitored and analyzed from July to October in 2011, and contrasted the clarification efficiency of the grassland to the roof runoff rudimentarily at the same time. The research showed: 1. the results of the comparison from "undisturbed, rainfall-roof, rainfall runoff-road, rainfall-runoff the neighborhood exit runoff " showed that the water quality of the undisturbed rain was better than that from the roof and the neighborhood exist, but the road rainfall runoff water quality was the worst; 2. the average concentrations of the parameters such as COD, ammonia nitrogen and total nitrogen all exceeded the Fifth Class of the Surface Water Quality Standard except for the soluble total phosphorus from undisturbed rainfall to the neighborhood exit; 3. the runoff water quality of the short early fine days was better than that of long early fine days, and the last runoff water quality was better than that of the initial runoff in the same rainfall process; 4. the concentration reduction of the grassland was notable, and the reduction rate of the grassland which is 1.0 meter wide of the roof runoff pollutants such as COD and nitrogen reached 30%.

Partial Least Squares Regression for Determining the Control Factors for Runoff and Suspended Sediment Yield during Rainfall Events

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nufang Fang

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Multivariate statistics are commonly used to identify the factors that control the dynamics of runoff or sediment yields during hydrological processes. However, one issue with the use of conventional statistical methods to address relationships between variables and runoff or sediment yield is multicollinearity. The main objectives of this study were to apply a method for effectively identifying runoff and sediment control factors during hydrological processes and apply that method to a case study. The method combines the clustering approach and partial least squares regression (PLSR models. The case study was conducted in a mountainous watershed in the Three Gorges Area. A total of 29 flood events in three hydrological years in areas with different land uses were obtained. In total, fourteen related variables were separated from hydrographs using the classical hydrograph separation method. Twenty-nine rainfall events were classified into two rainfall regimes (heavy Rainfall Regime I and moderate Rainfall Regime II based on rainfall characteristics and K-means clustering. Four separate PLSR models were constructed to identify the main variables that control runoff and sediment yield for the two rainfall regimes. For Rainfall Regime I, the dominant first-order factors affecting the changes in sediment yield in our study were all of the four rainfall-related variables, flood peak discharge, maximum flood suspended sediment concentration, runoff, and the percentages of forest and farmland. For Rainfall Regime II, antecedent condition-related variables have more effects on both runoff and sediment yield than in Rainfall Regime I. The results suggest that the different control factors of the two rainfall regimes are determined by the rainfall characteristics and thus different runoff mechanisms.

Quantifying rainfall-runoff relationships on the Mieso Hypo Calcic ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The mean annual rainfall at Mieso is 738 mm. The soil is a Hypo Calcic Vertisol with a high clay and silt content and is very susceptible to crusting. To achieve the objective of the study, rainfall-runoff measurements were made during 2003 and 2004 on 2 m x 2 m plots provided with a runoff measuring system, and replicated ...

Rainfall, runoff and sediment transport in a Mediterranean mountainous catchment.

Science.gov (United States)

Tuset, J; Vericat, D; Batalla, R J

2016-01-01

The relation between rainfall, runoff, erosion and sediment transport is highly variable in Mediterranean catchments. Their relation can be modified by land use changes and climate oscillations that, ultimately, will control water and sediment yields. This paper analyses rainfall, runoff and sediment transport relations in a meso-scale Mediterranean mountain catchment, the Ribera Salada (NE Iberian Peninsula). A total of 73 floods recorded between November 2005 and November 2008 at the Inglabaga Sediment Transport Station (114.5 km(2)) have been analysed. Suspended sediment transport and flow discharge were measured continuously. Rainfall data was obtained by means of direct rain gauges and daily rainfall reconstructions from radar information. Results indicate that the annual sediment yield (2.3 t km(-1) y(-1) on average) and the flood-based runoff coefficients (4.1% on average) are low. The Ribera Salada presents a low geomorphological and hydrological activity compared with other Mediterranean mountain catchments. Pearson correlations between rainfall, runoff and sediment transport variables were obtained. The hydrological response of the catchment is controlled by the base flows. The magnitude of suspended sediment concentrations is largely correlated with flood magnitude, while sediment load is correlated with the amount of direct runoff. Multivariate analysis shows that total suspended load can be predicted by integrating rainfall and runoff variables. The total direct runoff is the variable with more weight in the equation. Finally, three main hydro-sedimentary phases within the hydrological year are defined in this catchment: (a) Winter, where the catchment produces only water and very little sediment; (b) Spring, where the majority of water and sediment is produced; and (c) Summer-Autumn, when little runoff is produced but significant amount of sediments is exported out of the catchment. Results show as land use and climate change may have an important

Interception of rainfall and surface runoff in the Brazilian Cerrado

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Tarso Oliveira, Paulo; Wendland, Edson; Nearing, Mark; Perea Martins, João

2014-05-01

The Brazilian Cerrado plays a fundamental role in water resources dynamics because it distributes fresh water to the largest basins in Brazil and South America. In recent decades, the native Cerrado vegetation has increasingly been replaced by agricultural crops and pasture. These land cover and land use changes have altered the hydrological processes. Meanwhile, little is known about the components of the water balance in the Brazilian Cerrado, mainly because the experimental field studies in this region are scarce or nonexistent. The objective of this study was to evaluate two hydrological processes under native Cerrado vegetation, the canopy interception (CI) and the surface runoff (R). The Cerrado physiognomy was classified as "cerrado sensu stricto denso" with an absolute density of 15,278 trees ha-1, and a basal area of 11.44 m2 ha-1. We measured the gross rainfall (P) from an automated tipping bucket rain gauge (model TB4) located in a tower with 11 m of height on the Cerrado. Throughfall (TF) was obtained from 15 automated tipping bucket rain gauges (model Davis) spread below the Cerrado vegetation and randomly relocated every month during the wet season. Stemflow (SF) was measured on 12 trees using a plastic hose wrapped around the trees trunks, sealed with neutral silicone sealant, and a bucket to store the water. The canopy interception was computed by the difference between P and the sum of TF and SF. Surface runoff under undisturbed Cerrado was collected in three plots of 100 m2(5 x 20 m) in size and slope steepness of approximately 0.09 m m-1. The experimental study was conducted between January 2012 and November 2013. We found TF of 81.0% of P and SF of 1.6% of P, i.e. the canopy interception was calculated at 17.4% of P. There was a statistically significant correlation (p 0.8. Our results suggest that the rainfall intensity, the characteristics of the trees trunks (crooked and twisted) and stand structure are the main factors that have influenced

Use of Fuzzy rainfall-runoff predictions for claypan watersheds with conservation buffers in Northeast Missouri

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Anomaa Senaviratne, G. M. M. M.; Udawatta, Ranjith P.; Anderson, Stephen H.; Baffaut, Claire; Thompson, Allen

2014-09-01

Fuzzy rainfall-runoff models are often used to forecast flood or water supply in large catchments and applications at small/field scale agricultural watersheds are limited. The study objectives were to develop, calibrate, and validate a fuzzy rainfall-runoff model using long-term data of three adjacent field scale row crop watersheds (1.65-4.44 ha) with intermittent discharge in the claypan soils of Northeast Missouri. The watersheds were monitored for a six-year calibration period starting 1991 (pre-buffer period). Thereafter, two of them were treated with upland contour grass and agroforestry (tree + grass) buffers (4.5 m wide, 36.5 m apart) to study water quality benefits. The fuzzy system was based on Mamdani method using MATLAB 7.10.0. The model predicted event-based runoff with model performance coefficients of r2 and Nash-Sutcliffe Coefficient (NSC) values greater than 0.65 for calibration and validation. The pre-buffer fuzzy system predicted event-based runoff for 30-50 times larger corn/soybean watersheds with r2 values of 0.82 and 0.68 and NSC values of 0.77 and 0.53, respectively. The runoff predicted by the fuzzy system closely agreed with values predicted by physically-based Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender model (APEX) for the pre-buffer watersheds. The fuzzy rainfall-runoff model has the potential for runoff predictions at field-scale watersheds with minimum input. It also could up-scale the predictions for large-scale watersheds to evaluate the benefits of conservation practices.

Real Time Updating in Distributed Urban Rainfall Runoff Modelling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borup, Morten; Madsen, Henrik

that are being updated from system measurements was studied. The results showed that the fact alone that it takes time for rainfall data to travel the distance between gauges and catchments has such a big negative effect on the forecast skill of updated models, that it can justify the choice of even very...... as in a real data case study. The results confirmed that the method is indeed suitable for DUDMs and that it can be used to utilise upstream as well as downstream water level and flow observations to improve model estimates and forecasts. Due to upper and lower sensor limits many sensors in urban drainage...

Estimation of storm runoff loads based on rainfall-related variables ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2004-11-19

Nov 19, 2004 ... ... rainfall-related variables and power law models – Case study in Alexandra ... and appropriate technology for treating runoff and grey-water. To achieve this ... schools, and other open spaces take up 20% of the area. If the.

Linking landscape structure and rainfall runoff behaviour in a thermodynamic optimality context

Science.gov (United States)

Zehe, Erwin; Ehret, Uwe; Blume, Theresa; Kleidon, Axel; Scherer, Ulrike; Westhoff, Martijn

2015-04-01

gradients, and thus a faster relaxation back towards local thermodynamic equilibrium. Thermodynamic optimality principles allow for a priory optimization of the resistance field at a given gradient, not in the sense how they exactly look like but in the sense how they function with respect to export and dissipation of free energy associated with rainfall runoff processes. Based on this framework we explored the possibility of independent predictions of rainfall runoff, in the sense that the a-priory optimum model structures should match independent observations. We found that spatially organized patterns of soils and macropores observed in two distinctly different landscapes are in close accordance with thermodynamic optima expressed either by minimized relaxation times towards local thermodynamic equilibrium in cohesive soils or as steady state in the potential energy of soil water in non-cohesive soils. Predicted rainfall runoff based on the two optimized model structures was in both catchments in acceptable accordance with independent discharge observations. However, the nature of these optima suggests there might be two distinctly different thermodynamically optimal regimes of rainfall runoff behaviour. In the capillary- or c--regime, free energy dynamics of soil water is dominated by changes in its capillary binding energy, which is the case for cohesive soils. Soil wetting during rainfall in the c-regime implies pushing the system back towards LTE, especially after long dry spells. Dead ended macropores (roots, worm burrows which end in the soil matrix) act as dissipative wetting structures by enlarging water flows against steep gradients in soil water potential after long dry spells. This implies accelerated depletion of these gradients and faster relaxation back towards LTE during rainfall runoff. In the c-regime several optimum macropore densities with respect to maximization of net reduction of free energy exist. This is because the governing equation is a second

Mobilization and distribution of lead originating from roof dust and wet deposition in a roof runoff system.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Jianghua; Yu, Haixia; Huang, Xiaogu

2015-12-01

In this research, the mobilization and distribution of lead originating in roof dust and wet deposition were investigated within a roof dust-rooftop-runoff system. The results indicated that lead from roof dust and wet deposition showed different transport dynamics in runoff system and that this process was significantly influenced by the rainfall intensity. Lead present in the roof dust could be easily washed off into the runoff, and nearly 60 % of the total lead content was present in particulate form. Most of the lead from the roof dust was transported during the late period of rainfall; however, the lead concentration was higher for several minutes at the rainfall beginning. Even though some of the lead from wet deposition, simulated with a standard isotope substance, was adsorbed onto adhered roof dust and/or retained on rooftop in runoff system, most of it (50-82 %) remained as dissolved lead in the runoff for rainfall events of varying intensity. Regarding the distribution of lead in the runoff system, the results indicated that it could be carried in the runoff in dissolved and particulate form, be adsorbed to adhered roof dust, or remain on the rooftop because of adsorption to the roof material. Lead from the different sources showed different distribution patterns that were also related to the rainfall intensity. Higher rainfall intensity resulted in a higher proportion of lead in the runoff and a lower proportion of lead remaining on the rooftop.

Rainfall-induced runoff from exposed streambed sediments: an important source of water pollution.

Science.gov (United States)

Frey, S K; Gottschall, N; Wilkes, G; Grégoire, D S; Topp, E; Pintar, K D M; Sunohara, M; Marti, R; Lapen, D R

2015-01-01

When surface water levels decline, exposed streambed sediments can be mobilized and washed into the water course when subjected to erosive rainfall. In this study, rainfall simulations were conducted over exposed sediments along stream banks at four distinct locations in an agriculturally dominated river basin with the objective of quantifying the potential for contaminant loading from these often overlooked runoff source areas. At each location, simulations were performed at three different sites. Nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment, fecal indicator bacteria, pathogenic bacteria, and microbial source tracking (MST) markers were examined in both prerainfall sediments and rainfall-induced runoff water. Runoff generation and sediment mobilization occurred quickly (10-150 s) after rainfall initiation. Temporal trends in runoff concentrations were highly variable within and between locations. Total runoff event loads were considered large for many pollutants considered. For instance, the maximum observed total phosphorus runoff load was on the order of 1.5 kg ha. Results also demonstrate that runoff from exposed sediments can be a source of pathogenic bacteria. spp. and spp. were present in runoff from one and three locations, respectively. Ruminant MST markers were also present in runoff from two locations, one of which hosted pasturing cattle with stream access. Overall, this study demonstrated that rainfall-induced runoff from exposed streambed sediments can be an important source of surface water pollution. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Simulation of rainfall-runoff for major flash flood events in Karachi

Science.gov (United States)

Zafar, Sumaira

2016-07-01

Metropolitan city Karachi has strategic importance for Pakistan. With the each passing decade the city is facing urban sprawl and rapid population growth. These rapid changes directly affecting the natural resources of city including its drainage pattern. Karachi has three major cities Malir River with the catchment area of 2252 sqkm and Lyari River has catchment area about 470.4 sqkm. These are non-perennial rivers and active only during storms. Change of natural surfaces into hard pavement causing an increase in rainfall-runoff response. Curve Number is increased which is now causing flash floods in the urban locality of Karachi. There is only one gauge installed on the upstream of the river but there no record for the discharge. Only one gauge located at the upstream is not sufficient for discharge measurements. To simulate the maximum discharge of Malir River rainfall (1985 to 2014) data were collected from Pakistan meteorological department. Major rainfall events use to simulate the rainfall runoff. Maximum rainfall-runoff response was recorded in during 1994, 2007 and 2013. This runoff causes damages and inundation in floodplain areas of Karachi. These flash flooding events not only damage the property but also cause losses of lives

Effects of Rainfall Intensity and Slope Gradient on Runoff and Soil Moisture Content on Different Growing Stages of Spring Maize

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenbin Mu

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The rainfall-runoff process (RRP is an important part of hydrologic process. There is an effective measure to study RRP through artificial rainfall simulation. This paper describes a study on three growing stages (jointing stage, tasseling stage, and mature stage of spring maize in which simulated rainfall events were used to study the effects of various factors (rainfall intensity and slope gradient on the RRP. The RRP was tested with three different rainfall intensities (0.67, 1.00, and 1.67 mm/min and subjected to three different slopes (5°, 15°, and 20° so as to study RRP characteristics in semiarid regions. Regression analysis was used to study the results of this test. The following key results were obtained: (1 With the increase in rainfall intensity and slope, the increasing relationship with rainfall duration, overland flow, and cumulative runoff, respectively, complied with logarithmic and quadratic functions before reaching stable runoff in each growing stage of spring maize; (2 The runoff coefficient increased with the increase in rainfall intensity and slope in each growing stages of spring maize. The relationship between runoff coefficient, slope, rainfall intensity, rainfall duration, antecedent soil moisture, and vegetation coverage was multivariate and nonlinear; (3 The runoff lag time decreased with the increase in rainfall intensity and slope within the same growing stage. In addition, the relationship between runoff lag time, slope, rainfall intensity, antecedent soil moisture, and vegetation coverage could also be expressed by a multivariate nonlinear equation; (4 The descent rate of soil infiltration rate curve increased with the increased rainfall intensity and slope in the same growing stage. Furthermore, by comparing the Kostiakov, Horton, and Philip models, it was found that the Horton infiltration model was the best for estimating soil infiltration rate and cumulative infiltration under the condition of test.

Estimating Runoff From Roadcuts With a Distributed Hydrologic Model

Science.gov (United States)

Cuhaciyan, C.; Luce, C.; Voisin, N.; Lettenmaier, D.; Black, T.

2008-12-01

Roads can have a substantial effect on hydrologic patterns of forested watersheds; the most noteworthy being the resurfacing of shallow groundwater at roadcuts. The influence of roads on hydrology has compelled hydrologists to include water routing and storage routines in rainfall-runoff models, such as those in the Distributed Hydrologic Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM). We tested the ability of DHSVM to match observed runoff in roadcuts of a watershed in the Coast Range of Oregon. Eight roadcuts were instrumented using large tipping bucket gauges designed to capture only the water entering the roadside ditch from an 80-m long roadcut. The roadcuts were categorized by the topography of the upstream hillside as either swale, planar, or ridge. The simulation was run from December 2002 to December 2003 at a relatively fine spatial resolution (10-m). Average observed soil depths are 1.8-m across the watershed, below which there lies deep and highly weathered sandstone. DHSVM was designed for relatively impermeable bedrock and shallow soils; therefore it does not provide a mechanism for deep groundwater movement and storage. In the geologic setting of the study basin, however, water is routed through the sandstone allowing water to pass under roads through the parent material. For this reason a uniformly deep soil of 6.5-m with a decreased decay in conductivity with depth was used in the model to allow water to be routed beneath roadcuts that are up to 5.5-m in height. Up to three, typically shallow, soil layers can be modeled in DHSVM. We used the lowest of the three soil layers to mimic the hydraulically-well-connected sandstone exposed at deeper roadcuts. The model was calibrated against observed discharge at the outlet of the watershed. While model results closely matched the observed hydrograph at the watershed outlet, simulated runoff at an upstream gauge and the roadside ditches were varied and often higher than those observed in the field. The timing of the field

Export Mechanisms of Persistent Toxic Substances (PTSs) in Urban Land Uses during Rainfall-Runoff Events: Experimental and Modeling Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Y.; Luo, X.; Lin, Z.

2016-12-01

The urban environment has a variety of Persistent Toxic Substances (PTS), such as Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and mercury. Soil in pervious lands and dust deposited on impervious surfaces are two major sinks of PTSs in urbanized areas, which could contribute significant nonpoint source loadings of PTSs to adjacent waterbodies during rainfall-runoff events and therefore jeopardize aquatic ecosystems. However, PTSs have been much less understood regarding their export mechanisms in urban land uses, and efforts to model nonpoint source pollution processes of PTSs have been rare. We designed and performed in-lab rainfall-runoff simulation experiments to investigate transport of PAHs and mercury by runoff from urban soils. Organic petrology analysis (OPA) techniques were introduced to analyze the soil and sediment compositions. Our study revealed the limitation of the classic enrichment theory which attributes enrichment of pollutants in eroded sediment solely to the sediment's particle size distribution and adopts simple relationships between enrichment ratio and sediment flux. We found that carbonaceous materials (CMs) in soil are the direct and major sorbents for PAHs and mercury, and highly different in content, mobility and adsorption capacity for the PTSs. Anthropogenic CMs like black carbon components largely control the transport of soil PAHs, while humic substances have a dominant influence on the transport of soil mercury. A model was further developed to estimate the enrichment ratio of PAHs, which innovatively applies the fugacity concept.We also conducted field studies on export of PAHs by runoff from urban roads. A variable time-step model was developed to simulate the continuous cycles of PAH buildup and washoff on urban roads. The dependence of the pollution level on antecedent weather conditions was investigated and embodied in the model. The applicability of this approach and its value to environmental management was demonstrated by a case

The value of oxygen-isotope data and multiple discharge records in calibrating a fully-distributed, physically-based rainfall-runoff model (CRUM3) to improve predictive capability

Science.gov (United States)

Neill, Aaron; Reaney, Sim

2015-04-01

Fully-distributed, physically-based rainfall-runoff models attempt to capture some of the complexity of the runoff processes that operate within a catchment, and have been used to address a variety of issues including water quality and the effect of climate change on flood frequency. Two key issues are prevalent, however, which call into question the predictive capability of such models. The first is the issue of parameter equifinality which can be responsible for large amounts of uncertainty. The second is whether such models make the right predictions for the right reasons - are the processes operating within a catchment correctly represented, or do the predictive abilities of these models result only from the calibration process? The use of additional data sources, such as environmental tracers, has been shown to help address both of these issues, by allowing for multi-criteria model calibration to be undertaken, and by permitting a greater understanding of the processes operating in a catchment and hence a more thorough evaluation of how well catchment processes are represented in a model. Using discharge and oxygen-18 data sets, the ability of the fully-distributed, physically-based CRUM3 model to represent the runoff processes in three sub-catchments in Cumbria, NW England has been evaluated. These catchments (Morland, Dacre and Pow) are part of the of the River Eden demonstration test catchment project. The oxygen-18 data set was firstly used to derive transit-time distributions and mean residence times of water for each of the catchments to gain an integrated overview of the types of processes that were operating. A generalised likelihood uncertainty estimation procedure was then used to calibrate the CRUM3 model for each catchment based on a single discharge data set from each catchment. Transit-time distributions and mean residence times of water obtained from the model using the top 100 behavioural parameter sets for each catchment were then compared to

Responses of hydrochemical inorganic ions in the rainfall-runoff processes of the experimental catchments and its significance for tracing

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, W.-Z.; Lu, J.-J.; Zhao, X.; Peters, N.E.

2007-01-01

Aimed at the rainfall-runoff tracing using inorganic ions, the experimental study is conducted in the Chuzhou Hydrology Laboratory with special designed experimental catchments, lysimeters, etc. The various runoff components including the surface runoff, interflow from the unsaturated zone and the groundwater flow from saturated zone were monitored hydrometrically. Hydrochemical inorganic ions including Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl-, SO42-, HCO3- + CO32-, NO3-, F-, NH4-, PO42-, SiO2 and, pH, EC, 18O were measured within a one month period for all processes of rainfall, various runoff components and groundwater within the catchment from 17 boreholes distributed in the Hydrohill Catchment, few soil water samples were also included. The results show that: (a) all the runoff components are distinctly identifiable from both the relationships of Ca2+ versus Cl-/SO42-, EC versus Na+/(Na+ + Ca2+) and, from most inorganic ions individually; (b) the variation of inorganic ions in surface runoff is the biggest than that in other flow components; (c) most ions has its lowermost concentration in rainfall process but it increases as the generation depths of runoff components increased; (d) quantitatively, ion processes of rainfall and groundwater flow display as two end members of that of other runoff components; and (e) the 18O processes of rainfall and runoff components show some correlation with that of inorganic ions. The results also show that the rainfall input is not always the main source of inorganic ions of various runoff outputs due to the process of infiltration and dissolution resulted from the pre-event processes. The amount and sources of Cl- of runoff components with various generation mechanisms challenge the current method of groundwater recharge estimation using Cl-.

Runoff generation in a Mediterranean semi-arid landscape: Thresholds, scale, rainfall and catchment characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Ries, Fabian; Schmidt, Sebastian; Sauter, Martin; Lange, Jens

2016-04-01

Surface runoff acts as an integrated response of catchment characteristics and hydrological processes. In the Eastern Mediterranean region, a lack of runoff data has hindered a better understanding of runoff generation processes on the catchment scale, despite the importance of surface runoff as a water resource or flood hazard. Our main aim was to identify and explain differences in catchment runoff reactions across a variety of scales. Over a period of five years, we observed runoff in ephemeral streams of seven watersheds with sizes between 3 and 129 km2. Landuse and surface cover types (share of vegetation, bare soil and rock outcrops) were derived from aerial images by objective classification techniques. Using data from a dense rainfall network we analysed the effects of scale, catchment properties and aridity on runoff generation. Thereby we extracted rainfall and corresponding runoff events from our time-series to calculate event based rainfall characteristics and catchment runoff coefficients. Soil moisture observations provided additional information on antecedent moisture conditions, infiltration characteristics and the evolution of saturated areas. In contrast to the prevailing opinion that the proportion of Hortonian overland flow increases with aridity, we found that in our area the largest share (> 95 %) of runoff is generated by saturation excess overland flow in response to long lasting, rainfall events of high amount. This was supported by a strong correlation between event runoff and precipitation totals. Similar rainfall thresholds (50 mm) for runoff generation were observed in all investigated catchments. No scale effects on runoff coefficients were found; instead we identified up to three-fold runoff coefficients in catchments with larger extension of arid areas, higher percentage of rock outcrops and urbanization. Comparing two headwater catchments with noticeable differences in extent of olive orchards, no difference in runoff generation was

Which resilience of the continental rainfall-runoff chain?

Science.gov (United States)

Fraedrich, Klaus

2015-04-01

Processes along the continental rainfall-runoff chain are extremely variable over a wide range of time and space scales. A key societal question is the multiscale resilience of this chain. We argue that the adequate framework to tackle this question can be obtained by combining observations (ranging from minutes to decades) and minimalist concepts: (i) Rainfall exhibits 1/f-spectra if presented as binary events (tropics) and extrema world wide increase with duration according to Jennings' scaling law as simulated by a censored first-order autoregressive process representing vertical moisture fluxes. (ii) Runoff volatility (Yangtze) shows data collapse which, linked to an intra-annual 1/f-spectrum, is represented by a single function (Gumbel) not unlike physical systems at criticality, while short and long return times of extremes are Weibull-distributed. (iii) Soil moisture, interpreted by a biased coinflip Ansatz for rainfall events, provides an equation of state to the surface energy and water flux balances comprising Budyko's framework for quasi-stationary watershed analysis. (iv) Vegetation-greenness (NDVI), included as an active tracer extends Budyko's eco-hydrologic state space analysis, supplements the common geographical presentations, and it may be linked to a minimalist biodiversity concept. (v) Finally, attributions of change to external (or climate) and internal (or anthropogenic) causes are determined by eco-hydrologic state space trajectories using surface flux ratios of energy excess (loss by sensible heat over supply by net radiation) versus water excess (loss by discharge over gain by precipitation). Risk-estimates (by GCM-emulators) and possible policy advice mechanisms enter the outlook.

Sensitivity analysis of Takagi-Sugeno-Kang rainfall-runoff fuzzy models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. P. Jacquin

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This paper is concerned with the sensitivity analysis of the model parameters of the Takagi-Sugeno-Kang fuzzy rainfall-runoff models previously developed by the authors. These models are classified in two types of fuzzy models, where the first type is intended to account for the effect of changes in catchment wetness and the second type incorporates seasonality as a source of non-linearity. The sensitivity analysis is performed using two global sensitivity analysis methods, namely Regional Sensitivity Analysis and Sobol's variance decomposition. The data of six catchments from different geographical locations and sizes are used in the sensitivity analysis. The sensitivity of the model parameters is analysed in terms of several measures of goodness of fit, assessing the model performance from different points of view. These measures include the Nash-Sutcliffe criteria, volumetric errors and peak errors. The results show that the sensitivity of the model parameters depends on both the catchment type and the measure used to assess the model performance.

How spatial and temporal rainfall variability affect runoff across basin scales: insights from field observations in the (semi-)urbanised Charlotte watershed

Science.gov (United States)

Ten Veldhuis, M. C.; Smith, J. A.; Zhou, Z.

2017-12-01

Impacts of rainfall variability on runoff response are highly scale-dependent. Sensitivity analyses based on hydrological model simulations have shown that impacts are likely to depend on combinations of storm type, basin versus storm scale, temporal versus spatial rainfall variability. So far, few of these conclusions have been confirmed on observational grounds, since high quality datasets of spatially variable rainfall and runoff over prolonged periods are rare. Here we investigate relationships between rainfall variability and runoff response based on 30 years of radar-rainfall datasets and flow measurements for 16 hydrological basins ranging from 7 to 111 km2. Basins vary not only in scale, but also in their degree of urbanisation. We investigated temporal and spatial variability characteristics of rainfall fields across a range of spatial and temporal scales to identify main drivers for variability in runoff response. We identified 3 ranges of basin size with different temporal versus spatial rainfall variability characteristics. Total rainfall volume proved to be the dominant agent determining runoff response at all basin scales, independent of their degree of urbanisation. Peak rainfall intensity and storm core volume are of secondary importance. This applies to all runoff parameters, including runoff volume, runoff peak, volume-to-peak and lag time. Position and movement of the storm with respect to the basin have a negligible influence on runoff response, with the exception of lag times in some of the larger basins. This highlights the importance of accuracy in rainfall estimation: getting the position right but the volume wrong will inevitably lead to large errors in runoff prediction. Our study helps to identify conditions where rainfall variability matters for correct estimation of the rainfall volume as well as the associated runoff response.

Reclaimed mineland curve number response to temporal distribution of rainfall

Science.gov (United States)

Warner, R.C.; Agouridis, C.T.; Vingralek, P.T.; Fogle, A.W.

2010-01-01

The curve number (CN) method is a common technique to estimate runoff volume, and it is widely used in coal mining operations such as those in the Appalachian region of Kentucky. However, very little CN data are available for watersheds disturbed by surface mining and then reclaimed using traditional techniques. Furthermore, as the CN method does not readily account for variations in infiltration rates due to varying rainfall distributions, the selection of a single CN value to encompass all temporal rainfall distributions could lead engineers to substantially under- or over-size water detention structures used in mining operations or other land uses such as development. Using rainfall and runoff data from a surface coal mine located in the Cumberland Plateau of eastern Kentucky, CNs were computed for conventionally reclaimed lands. The effects of temporal rainfall distributions on CNs was also examined by classifying storms as intense, steady, multi-interval intense, or multi-interval steady. Results indicate that CNs for such reclaimed lands ranged from 62 to 94 with a mean value of 85. Temporal rainfall distributions were also shown to significantly affect CN values with intense storms having significantly higher CNs than multi-interval storms. These results indicate that a period of recovery is present between rainfall bursts of a multi-interval storm that allows depressional storage and infiltration rates to rebound. ?? 2010 American Water Resources Association.

Rainfall timing and runoff: The influence of the criterion for rain event separation

OpenAIRE

Molina-Sanchis, Isabel; Lázaro, Roberto; Arnau-Rosalén, Eva; Calvo-Cases, Adolfo

2016-01-01

Rain is not uniform in time and space in semiarid areas and its distribution is very important for the runoff process. Hydrological studies usually divide rainfall into events. However, defining rain events is complicated, and rain characteristics vary depending on how the events are delimited. Choosing a minimum inter-event time (MIT) is a commonly used criterion. Our hypothesis is that there will be an optimal MIT that explains the maximum part of the variance of the runoff, with time to ru...

Hydrological model calibration for derived flood frequency analysis using stochastic rainfall and probability distributions of peak flows

Science.gov (United States)

Haberlandt, U.; Radtke, I.

2014-01-01

Derived flood frequency analysis allows the estimation of design floods with hydrological modeling for poorly observed basins considering change and taking into account flood protection measures. There are several possible choices regarding precipitation input, discharge output and consequently the calibration of the model. The objective of this study is to compare different calibration strategies for a hydrological model considering various types of rainfall input and runoff output data sets and to propose the most suitable approach. Event based and continuous, observed hourly rainfall data as well as disaggregated daily rainfall and stochastically generated hourly rainfall data are used as input for the model. As output, short hourly and longer daily continuous flow time series as well as probability distributions of annual maximum peak flow series are employed. The performance of the strategies is evaluated using the obtained different model parameter sets for continuous simulation of discharge in an independent validation period and by comparing the model derived flood frequency distributions with the observed one. The investigations are carried out for three mesoscale catchments in northern Germany with the hydrological model HEC-HMS (Hydrologic Engineering Center's Hydrologic Modeling System). The results show that (I) the same type of precipitation input data should be used for calibration and application of the hydrological model, (II) a model calibrated using a small sample of extreme values works quite well for the simulation of continuous time series with moderate length but not vice versa, and (III) the best performance with small uncertainty is obtained when stochastic precipitation data and the observed probability distribution of peak flows are used for model calibration. This outcome suggests to calibrate a hydrological model directly on probability distributions of observed peak flows using stochastic rainfall as input if its purpose is the

An urban runoff model designed to inform stormwater management decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Beck, Nicole G; Conley, Gary; Kanner, Lisa; Mathias, Margaret

2017-05-15

We present an urban runoff model designed for stormwater managers to quantify runoff reduction benefits of mitigation actions that has lower input data and user expertise requirements than most commonly used models. The stormwater tool to estimate load reductions (TELR) employs a semi-distributed approach, where landscape characteristics and process representation are spatially-lumped within urban catchments on the order of 100 acres (40 ha). Hydrologic computations use a set of metrics that describe a 30-year rainfall distribution, combined with well-tested algorithms for rainfall-runoff transformation and routing to generate average annual runoff estimates for each catchment. User inputs include the locations and specifications for a range of structural best management practice (BMP) types. The model was tested in a set of urban catchments within the Lake Tahoe Basin of California, USA, where modeled annual flows matched that of the observed flows within 18% relative error for 5 of the 6 catchments and had good regional performance for a suite of performance metrics. Comparisons with continuous simulation models showed an average of 3% difference from TELR predicted runoff for a range of hypothetical urban catchments. The model usually identified the dominant BMP outflow components within 5% relative error of event-based measured flow data and simulated the correct proportionality between outflow components. TELR has been implemented as a web-based platform for use by municipal stormwater managers to inform prioritization, report program benefits and meet regulatory reporting requirements (www.swtelr.com). Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Hydrological model parameterization using NDVI values to account for the effects of land-cover change on the rainfall-runoff response

Science.gov (United States)

Classic rainfall-runoff models usually use historical data to estimate model parameters and mean values of parameters are considered for predictions. However, due to climate changes and human effects, the parameters of model change temporally. To overcome this problem, Normalized Difference Vegetati...

Distributed modelling of shallow landslides triggered by intense rainfall

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. B. Crosta

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Hazard assessment of shallow landslides represents an important aspect of land management in mountainous areas. Among all the methods proposed in the literature, physically based methods are the only ones that explicitly includes the dynamic factors that control landslide triggering (rainfall pattern, land-use. For this reason, they allow forecasting both the temporal and the spatial distribution of shallow landslides. Physically based methods for shallow landslides are based on the coupling of the infinite slope stability analysis with hydrological models. Three different grid-based distributed hydrological models are presented in this paper: a steady state model, a transient "piston-flow" wetting front model, and a transient diffusive model. A comparative test of these models was performed to simulate landslide occurred during a rainfall event (27–28 June 1997 that triggered hundreds of shallow landslides within Lecco province (central Southern Alps, Italy. In order to test the potential for a completely distributed model for rainfall-triggered landslides, radar detected rainfall intensity has been used. A new procedure for quantitative evaluation of distributed model performance is presented and used in this paper. The diffusive model results in the best model for the simulation of shallow landslide triggering after a rainfall event like the one that we have analysed. Finally, radar data available for the June 1997 event permitted greatly improving the simulation. In particular, radar data allowed to explain the non-uniform distribution of landslides within the study area.

Impacts of Spatial Distribution of Impervious Areas on Runoff Response of Hillslope Catchments: Simulation Study

Science.gov (United States)

This study analyzes variations in the model-projected changes in catchment runoff response after urbanization that stem from variations in the spatial distribution of impervious areas, interevent differences in temporal rainfall structure, and antecedent soil moisture (ASM). In t...

SCS-CN parameter determination using rainfall-runoff data in heterogeneous watersheds. The two-CN system approach

Science.gov (United States)

Soulis, K. X.; Valiantzas, J. D.

2011-10-01

The Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) approach is widely used as a simple method for predicting direct runoff volume for a given rainfall event. The CN values can be estimated by being selected from tables. However, it is more accurate to estimate the CN value from measured rainfall-runoff data (assumed available) in a watershed. Previous researchers indicated that the CN values calculated from measured rainfall-runoff data vary systematically with the rainfall depth. They suggested the determination of a single asymptotic CN value observed for very high rainfall depths to characterize the watersheds' runoff response. In this paper, the novel hypothesis that the observed correlation between the calculated CN value and the rainfall depth in a watershed reflects the effect of the inevitable presence of soil-cover complex spatial variability along watersheds is being tested. Based on this hypothesis, the simplified concept of a two-CN heterogeneous system is introduced to model the observed CN-rainfall variation by reducing the CN spatial variability into two classes. The behavior of the CN-rainfall function produced by the proposed two-CN system concept is approached theoretically, it is analyzed systematically, and it is found to be similar to the variation observed in natural watersheds. Synthetic data tests, natural watersheds examples, and detailed study of two natural experimental watersheds with known spatial heterogeneity characteristics were used to evaluate the method. The results indicate that the determination of CN values from rainfall runoff data using the proposed two-CN system approach provides reasonable accuracy and it over performs the previous original method based on the determination of a single asymptotic CN value. Although the suggested method increases the number of unknown parameters to three (instead of one), a clear physical reasoning for them is presented.

SCS-CN parameter determination using rainfall-runoff data in heterogeneous watersheds - the two-CN system approach

Science.gov (United States)

Soulis, K. X.; Valiantzas, J. D.

2012-03-01

The Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) approach is widely used as a simple method for predicting direct runoff volume for a given rainfall event. The CN parameter values corresponding to various soil, land cover, and land management conditions can be selected from tables, but it is preferable to estimate the CN value from measured rainfall-runoff data if available. However, previous researchers indicated that the CN values calculated from measured rainfall-runoff data vary systematically with the rainfall depth. Hence, they suggested the determination of a single asymptotic CN value observed for very high rainfall depths to characterize the watersheds' runoff response. In this paper, the hypothesis that the observed correlation between the calculated CN value and the rainfall depth in a watershed reflects the effect of soils and land cover spatial variability on its hydrologic response is being tested. Based on this hypothesis, the simplified concept of a two-CN heterogeneous system is introduced to model the observed CN-rainfall variation by reducing the CN spatial variability into two classes. The behaviour of the CN-rainfall function produced by the simplified two-CN system is approached theoretically, it is analysed systematically, and it is found to be similar to the variation observed in natural watersheds. Synthetic data tests, natural watersheds examples, and detailed study of two natural experimental watersheds with known spatial heterogeneity characteristics were used to evaluate the method. The results indicate that the determination of CN values from rainfall runoff data using the proposed two-CN system approach provides reasonable accuracy and it over performs the previous methods based on the determination of a single asymptotic CN value. Although the suggested method increases the number of unknown parameters to three (instead of one), a clear physical reasoning for them is presented.

Estimation of groundwater recharge via percolation outputs from a rainfall/runoff model for the Verlorenvlei estuarine system, west coast, South Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Andrew; Miller, Jodie; Fleischer, Melanie; de Clercq, Willem

2018-03-01

Wetlands are conservation priorities worldwide, due to their high biodiversity and productivity, but are under threat from agricultural and climate change stresses. To improve the water management practices and resource allocation in these complex systems, a modelling approach has been developed to estimate potential recharge for data poor catchments using rainfall data and basic assumptions regarding soil and aquifer properties. The Verlorenvlei estuarine lake (RAMSAR #525) on the west coast of South Africa is a data poor catchment where rainfall records have been supplemented with farmer's rainfall records. The catchment has multiple competing users. To determine the ecological reserve for the wetlands, the spatial and temporal distribution of recharge had to be well constrained using the J2000 rainfall/runoff model. The majority of rainfall occurs in the mountains (±650 mm/yr) and considerably less in the valley (±280 mm/yr). Percolation was modelled as ∼3.6% of rainfall in the driest parts of the catchment, ∼10% of rainfall in the moderately wet parts of the catchment and ∼8.4% but up to 28.9% of rainfall in the wettest parts of the catchment. The model results are representative of rainfall and water level measurements in the catchment, and compare well with water table fluctuation technique, although estimates are dissimilar to previous estimates within the catchment. This is most likely due to the daily timestep nature of the model, in comparison to other yearly average methods. These results go some way in understanding the fact that although most semi-arid catchments have very low yearly recharge estimates, they are still capable of sustaining high biodiversity levels. This demonstrates the importance of incorporating shorter term recharge event modeling for improving recharge estimates.

Long term high resolution rainfall runoff observations for improved water balance uncertainty and database QA-QC in the Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed.

Science.gov (United States)

Bitew, M. M.; Goodrich, D. C.; Demaria, E.; Heilman, P.; Kautz, M. A.

2017-12-01

Walnut Gulch is a semi-arid environment experimental watershed and Long Term Agro-ecosystem Research (LTAR) site managed by USDA-ARS Southwest Watershed Research Center for which high-resolution long-term hydro-climatic data are available across its 150 km2 drainage area. In this study, we present the analysis of 50 years of continuous hourly rainfall data to evaluate runoff control and generation processes for improving the QA-QC plans of Walnut Gulch to create high-quality data set that is critical for reducing water balance uncertainties. Multiple linear regression models were developed to relate rainfall properties, runoff characteristics and watershed properties. The rainfall properties were summarized to event based total depth, maximum intensity, duration, the location of the storm center with respect to the outlet, and storm size normalized to watershed area. We evaluated the interaction between the runoff and rainfall and runoff as antecedent moisture condition (AMC), antecedent runoff condition (ARC) and, runoff depth and duration for each rainfall events. We summarized each of the watershed properties such as contributing area, slope, shape, channel length, stream density, channel flow area, and percent of the area of retention stock ponds for each of the nested catchments in Walnut Gulch. The evaluation of the model using basic and categorical statistics showed good predictive skill throughout the watersheds. The model produced correlation coefficients ranging from 0.4-0.94, Nash efficiency coefficients up to 0.77, and Kling-Gupta coefficients ranging from 0.4 to 0.98. The model predicted 92% of all runoff generations and 98% of no-runoff across all sub-watersheds in Walnut Gulch. The regression model also indicated good potential to complement the QA-QC procedures in place for Walnut Gulch dataset publications developed over the years since the 1960s through identification of inconsistencies in rainfall and runoff relations.

Application of random number generators in genetic algorithms to improve rainfall-runoff modelling

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Chlumecký, M.; Buchtele, Josef; Richta, K.

2017-01-01

Roč. 553, October (2017), s. 350-355 ISSN 0022-1694 Institutional support: RVO:67985874 Keywords : genetic algorithm * optimisation * rainfall-runoff modeling * random generator Subject RIV: DA - Hydrology ; Limnology OBOR OECD: Hydrology Impact factor: 3.483, year: 2016 https://ac.els-cdn.com/S0022169417305516/1-s2.0-S0022169417305516-main.pdf?_tid=fa1bad8a-bd6a-11e7-8567-00000aab0f27&acdnat=1509365462_a1335d3d997e9eab19e23b1eee977705

[Runoff and sediment yielding processes on red soil engineering accumulation containing gravels by a simulated rainfall experiment].

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Qian-hua; Wang, Wen-long; Guo, Ming-ming; Bai, Yun; Deng, Li-qiang; Li, Jian-ming; Li, Yao-lin

2015-09-01

Engineering accumulation formed in production and construction projects is characterized by unique structure and complex material composition. Characteristics of soil erosion on the engineering accumulation significantly differ from those on farmland. An artificially simulated rainfall experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of rainfall intensity on the processes of runoff and sediment yielding on the engineering accumulation of different gravel contents (0%, 10%, 20% and 30%) in red soil regions. Results showed that the initial time of runoff generation decreased with increases in rainfall intensity and gravel content, the decreased amplitudes being about 48.5%-77.9% and 4.2%-34.2%, respectively. The initial time was found to be a power function of rainfall intensity. Both runoff velocity and runoff rate manifested a trend of first rising and then in a steady state with runoff duration. Rainfall intensity was found to be the main factor influencing runoff velocity and runoff rate, whereas the influence of gravel content was not significant. About 10% of gravel content was determined to be a critical value in the influence of gravel content on runoff volume. For the underlying surface of 10% gravel content, the runoff volume was least at rainfall intensity of 1.0 mm · min(-1) and maximum at rainfall intensity of greater than 1.0 mm · min(-1). The runoff volume in- creased 10%-60% with increase in rainfall intensity. Sediment concentration showed a sharp decline in first 6 min and then in a stable state in rest of time. Influence of rainfall intensity on sediment concentration decreased as gravel content increased. Gravels could reduce sediment yield significantly at rainfall intensity of greater than 1.0 mm · min(-1). Sediment yield was found to be a linear function of rainfall intensity and gravel content.

Short-Term Forecasting of Urban Storm Water Runoff in Real-Time using Extrapolated Radar Rainfall Data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorndahl, Søren Liedtke; Rasmussen, Michael R.

2013-01-01

Model based short-term forecasting of urban storm water runoff can be applied in realtime control of drainage systems in order to optimize system capacity during rain and minimize combined sewer overflows, improve wastewater treatment or activate alarms if local flooding is impending. A novel onl....... The radar rainfall extrapolation (nowcast) limits the lead time of the system to two hours. In this paper, the model set-up is tested on a small urban catchment for a period of 1.5 years. The 50 largest events are presented....... online system, which forecasts flows and water levels in real-time with inputs from extrapolated radar rainfall data, has been developed. The fully distributed urban drainage model includes auto-calibration using online in-sewer measurements which is seen to improve forecast skills significantly...

HYDROSCAPE: A SCAlable and ParallelizablE Rainfall Runoff Model for Hydrological Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Piccolroaz, S.; Di Lazzaro, M.; Zarlenga, A.; Majone, B.; Bellin, A.; Fiori, A.

2015-12-01

In this work we present HYDROSCAPE, an innovative streamflow routing method based on the travel time approach, and modeled through a fine-scale geomorphological description of hydrological flow paths. The model is designed aimed at being easily coupled with weather forecast or climate models providing the hydrological forcing, and at the same time preserving the geomorphological dispersion of the river network, which is kept unchanged independently on the grid size of rainfall input. This makes HYDROSCAPE particularly suitable for multi-scale applications, ranging from medium size catchments up to the continental scale, and to investigate the effects of extreme rainfall events that require an accurate description of basin response timing. Key feature of the model is its computational efficiency, which allows performing a large number of simulations for sensitivity/uncertainty analyses in a Monte Carlo framework. Further, the model is highly parsimonious, involving the calibration of only three parameters: one defining the residence time of hillslope response, one for channel velocity, and a multiplicative factor accounting for uncertainties in the identification of the potential maximum soil moisture retention in the SCS-CN method. HYDROSCAPE is designed with a simple and flexible modular structure, which makes it particularly prone to massive parallelization, customization according to the specific user needs and preferences (e.g., rainfall-runoff model), and continuous development and improvement. Finally, the possibility to specify the desired computational time step and evaluate streamflow at any location in the domain, makes HYDROSCAPE an attractive tool for many hydrological applications, and a valuable alternative to more complex and highly parametrized large scale hydrological models. Together with model development and features, we present an application to the Upper Tiber River basin (Italy), providing a practical example of model performance and

Estimation of reservoir inflow in data scarce region by using Sacramento rainfall runoff model - A case study for Sittaung River Basin, Myanmar

Science.gov (United States)

Myo Lin, Nay; Rutten, Martine

2017-04-01

The Sittaung River is one of four major rivers in Myanmar. This river basin is developing fast and facing problems with flood, sedimentation, river bank erosion and salt intrusion. At present, more than 20 numbers of reservoirs have already been constructed for multiple purposes such as irrigation, domestic water supply, hydro-power generation, and flood control. The rainfall runoff models are required for the operational management of this reservoir system. In this study, the river basin is divided into (64) sub-catchments and the Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting (SAC-SMA) models are developed by using satellite rainfall and Geographic Information System (GIS) data. The SAC-SMA model has sixteen calibration parameters, and also uses a unit hydrograph for surface flow routing. The Sobek software package is used for SAC-SMA modelling and simulation of river system. The models are calibrated and tested by using observed discharge and water level data. The statistical results show that the model is applicable to use for data scarce region. Keywords: Sacramento, Sobek, rainfall runoff, reservoir

Curve Number Estimation for a Small Urban Catchment from Recorded Rainfall-Runoff Events

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Banasik Kazimierz

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Runoff estimation is a key component in various hydrological considerations. Estimation of storm runoff is especially important for the effective design of hydraulic and road structures, for the flood flow management, as well as for the analysis of land use changes, i.e. urbanization or low impact development of urban areas. The curve number (CN method, developed by Soil Conservation Service (SCS of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for predicting the flood runoff depth from ungauged catchments, has been in continuous use for ca. 60 years. This method has not been extensively tested in Poland, especially in small urban catchments, because of lack of data. In this study, 39 rainfall-runoff events, collected during four years (2009–2012 in a small (A=28.7 km2, urban catchment of Służew Creek in southwest part of Warsaw were used, with the aim of determining the CNs and to check its applicability to ungauged urban areas. The parameters CN, estimated empirically, vary from 65.1 to 95.0, decreasing with rainfall size and, when sorted rainfall and runoff separately, reaching the value from 67 to 74 for large rainfall events.

Infiltration and Runoff Measurements on Steep Burned Hillslopes Using a Rainfall Simulator with Variable Rain Intensities

Science.gov (United States)

Kinner, David A.; Moody, John A.

2008-01-01

Multiple rainfall intensities were used in rainfall-simulation experiments designed to investigate the infiltration and runoff from 1-square-meter plots on burned hillslopes covered by an ash layer of varying thickness. The 1-square-meter plots were on north- and south-facing hillslopes in an area burned by the Overland fire northwest of Boulder near Jamestown on the Front Range of Colorado. A single-nozzle, wide-angle, multi-intensity rain simulator was developed to investigate the infiltration and runoff on steep (30- to 40-percent gradient) burned hillslopes covered with ash. The simulated rainfall was evaluated for spatial variability, drop size, and kinetic energy. Fourteen rainfall simulations, at three intensities (about 20 millimeters per hour [mm/h], 35 mm/h, and 50 mm/h), were conducted on four plots. Measurements during and after the simulations included runoff, rainfall, suspended-sediment concentrations, surface ash layer thickness, soil moisture, soil grain size, soil lost on ignition, and plot topography. Runoff discharge reached a steady state within 7 to 26 minutes. Steady infiltration rates with the 50-mm/h application rainfall intensity approached 20?35 mm/h. If these rates are projected to rainfall application intensities used in many studies of burned area runoff production (about 80 mm/h), the steady discharge rates are on the lower end of measurements from other studies. Experiments using multiple rainfall intensities (three) suggest that runoff begins at rainfall intensities around 20 mm/h at the 1-square-meter scale, an observation consistent with a 10-mm/h rainfall intensity threshold needed for runoff initiation that has been reported in the literature.

SCS-CN parameter determination using rainfall-runoff data in heterogeneous watersheds – the two-CN system approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. D. Valiantzas

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN approach is widely used as a simple method for predicting direct runoff volume for a given rainfall event. The CN parameter values corresponding to various soil, land cover, and land management conditions can be selected from tables, but it is preferable to estimate the CN value from measured rainfall-runoff data if available. However, previous researchers indicated that the CN values calculated from measured rainfall-runoff data vary systematically with the rainfall depth. Hence, they suggested the determination of a single asymptotic CN value observed for very high rainfall depths to characterize the watersheds' runoff response. In this paper, the hypothesis that the observed correlation between the calculated CN value and the rainfall depth in a watershed reflects the effect of soils and land cover spatial variability on its hydrologic response is being tested. Based on this hypothesis, the simplified concept of a two-CN heterogeneous system is introduced to model the observed CN-rainfall variation by reducing the CN spatial variability into two classes. The behaviour of the CN-rainfall function produced by the simplified two-CN system is approached theoretically, it is analysed systematically, and it is found to be similar to the variation observed in natural watersheds. Synthetic data tests, natural watersheds examples, and detailed study of two natural experimental watersheds with known spatial heterogeneity characteristics were used to evaluate the method. The results indicate that the determination of CN values from rainfall runoff data using the proposed two-CN system approach provides reasonable accuracy and it over performs the previous methods based on the determination of a single asymptotic CN value. Although the suggested method increases the number of unknown parameters to three (instead of one, a clear physical reasoning for them is presented.

SCS-CN parameter determination using rainfall-runoff data in heterogeneous watersheds. The two-CN system approach

OpenAIRE

K. X. Soulis; J. D. Valiantzas

2011-01-01

The Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) approach is widely used as a simple method for predicting direct runoff volume for a given rainfall event. The CN values can be estimated by being selected from tables. However, it is more accurate to estimate the CN value from measured rainfall-runoff data (assumed available) in a watershed. Previous researchers indicated that the CN values calculated from measured rainfall-runoff data vary systematically with the rainfall depth. The...

Innovative use of soft data for the validation of a rainfall-runoff model forced by remote sensing data

Science.gov (United States)

van Emmerik, Tim; Eilander, Dirk; Piet, Marijn; Mulder, Gert

2013-04-01

The Chamcar Bei catchment in southern Cambodia is a typical ungauged basin. Neither meteorological data or discharge measurements are available. In this catchment, local farmers are highly dependent on the irrigation system. However, due to the unreliability of the water supply, it was required to make a hydrological model, with which further improvements of the irrigation system could be planned. First, we used knowledge generated in the IAHS decade on Predictions in Ungauged Basins (PUB) to estimate the annual water balance of the Chamcar Bei catchment. Next, using remotely sensed precipitation, vegetation, elevation and transpiration data, a monthly rainfall-runoff model has been developed. The rainfall-runoff model was linked to the irrigation system reservoir, which allowed to validate the model based on soft data such as historical knowledge of the reservoir water level and groundwater levels visible in wells. This study shows that combining existing remote sensing data and soft ground data can lead to useful modeling results. The approach presented in this study can be applied in other ungauged basins, which can be extremely helpful in managing water resources in developing countries.

Estimation of Surface Runoff in the Jucar River Basin from Rainfall Data and SMOS Soil Moisture

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia Leal, Julio A.; Estrela, Teodoro; Fidalgo, Arancha; Gabaldo, Onofre; Gonzalez Robles, Maura; Herrera Daza, Eddy; Khodayar, Samiro; Lopez-Baeza, Ernesto

2013-04-01

Surface runoff is the water that flows after soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess water from rain, meltwater, or other sources flows over the land. When the soil is saturated and the depression storage filled, and rain continues to fall, the rainfall will immediately produce surface runoff. The Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) method is widely used for determining the approximate direct runoff volume for a given rainfall event in a particular area. The advantage of the method is its simplicity and widespread inclusion in existing computer models. It was originally developed by the US Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, and documented in detail in the National Engineering Handbook, Sect. 4: Hydrology (NEH-4) (USDA-SCS, 1985). Although the SCS-CN method was originally developed in the United States and mainly for the evaluation of storm runoff in small agricultural watersheds, it soon evolved well beyond its original objective and was adopted for various land uses and became an integral part of more complex, long-term, simulation models. The basic assumption of the SCS-CN method is that, for a single storm, the ratio of actual soil retention after runoff begins to potential maximum retention is equal to the ratio of direct runoff to available rainfall. This relationship, after algebraic manipulation and inclusion of simplifying assumptions, results in the following equation given in USDA-SCS (1985): (P--0,2S)2 Q = (P + 0,8S) where Q is the average runoff (mm), P the effective precipitation (mm) and S is potential maximum retention (mm) after the rainfall event. The study has been applied to the Jucar River Basin area, East of Spain. A selection of recent significant rainfall events has been made corresponding to the periods around 22nd November, 2011 and 28-29 September and 10 October, 2012, from Jucar River Basin Authority rain gauge data. Potential maximum retention values for each point have been assumed as the first

Application and comparison of the SCS-CN-based rainfall-runoff model in meso-scale watershed and field scale

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, L.; Wang, Z.

2010-12-01

Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) based hydrologic model, has widely been used for agricultural watersheds in recent years. However, there will be relative error when applying it due to differentiation of geographical and climatological conditions. This paper introduces a more adaptable and propagable model based on the modified SCS-CN method, which specializes into two different scale cases of research regions. Combining the typical conditions of the Zhanghe irrigation district in southern part of China, such as hydrometeorologic conditions and surface conditions, SCS-CN based models were established. The Xinbu-Qiao River basin (area =1207 km2) and the Tuanlin runoff test area (area =2.87 km2)were taken as the study areas of basin scale and field scale in Zhanghe irrigation district. Applications were extended from ordinary meso-scale watershed to field scale in Zhanghe paddy field-dominated irrigated . Based on actual measurement data of land use, soil classification, hydrology and meteorology, quantitative evaluation and modifications for two coefficients, i.e. preceding loss and runoff curve, were proposed with corresponding models, table of CN values for different landuse and AMC(antecedent moisture condition) grading standard fitting for research cases were proposed. The simulation precision was increased by putting forward a 12h unit hydrograph of the field area, and 12h unit hydrograph were simplified. Comparison between different scales show that it’s more effectively to use SCS-CN model on field scale after parameters calibrated in basin scale These results can help discovering the rainfall-runoff rule in the district. Differences of established SCS-CN model's parameters between the two study regions are also considered. Varied forms of landuse and impacts of human activities were the important factors which can impact the rainfall-runoff relations in Zhanghe irrigation district.

Characteristics of the event mean concentration (EMC) from rainfall runoff on an urban highway

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Ju Young; Kim, Hyoungjun; Kim, Youngjin; Han, Moo Young

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the characterization of the event mean concentration (EMC) of runoff during heavy precipitation events on highways. Highway runoff quality data were collected from the 7th highway, in South Korea during 2007-2009. The samples were analyzed for runoff quantity and quality parameters such as COD cr , TSS, TPHs, TKN, NO 3 , TP, PO 4 and six heavy metals, e.g., As, Cu, Cd, Ni, Pb and Zn. Analysis of resulting hydrographs and pollutant graphs indicates that the peak of the pollutant concentrations in runoff occurs 20 min after the first rainfall runoff occurrence. The first flush effect depends on the preceding dry period and the rainfall intensity. The results of this study can be used as a reference for water quality management of urban highways. - Research highlights: → Field test on urban highway were performed to 50 of 100 storm events for 3 years. → The peak pollutant concentrations occurs 20 min after the first runoff. → The first flush effect depends on the preceding dry period and rainfall intensity. → Relationship between runoff and event mean concentration for SS and COD. → A crest of the EMC by 70-80 m 3 /event and decreasing EMC after 70-80 m 3 /event. - This study investigate the characterization of the EMC of runoff during rainfall event on highway.

A simple topography-driven, calibration-free runoff generation model

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Gao, H.; Birkel, C.; Hrachowitz, M.; Tetzlaff, D.; Soulsby, C.; Savenije, H. H. G.

2017-12-01

Determining the amount of runoff generation from rainfall occupies a central place in rainfall-runoff modelling. Moreover, reading landscapes and developing calibration-free runoff generation models that adequately reflect land surface heterogeneities remains the focus of much hydrological research. In this study, we created a new method to estimate runoff generation - HAND-based Storage Capacity curve (HSC) which uses a topographic index (HAND, Height Above the Nearest Drainage) to identify hydrological similarity and partially the saturated areas of catchments. We then coupled the HSC model with the Mass Curve Technique (MCT) method to estimate root zone storage capacity (SuMax), and obtained the calibration-free runoff generation model HSC-MCT. Both the two models (HSC and HSC-MCT) allow us to estimate runoff generation and simultaneously visualize the spatial dynamic of saturated area. We tested the two models in the data-rich Bruntland Burn (BB) experimental catchment in Scotland with an unusual time series of the field-mapped saturation area extent. The models were subsequently tested in 323 MOPEX (Model Parameter Estimation Experiment) catchments in the United States. HBV and TOPMODEL were used as benchmarks. We found that the HSC performed better in reproducing the spatio-temporal pattern of the observed saturated areas in the BB catchment compared with TOPMODEL which is based on the topographic wetness index (TWI). The HSC also outperformed HBV and TOPMODEL in the MOPEX catchments for both calibration and validation. Despite having no calibrated parameters, the HSC-MCT model also performed comparably well with the calibrated HBV and TOPMODEL, highlighting the robustness of the HSC model to both describe the spatial distribution of the root zone storage capacity and the efficiency of the MCT method to estimate the SuMax. Moreover, the HSC-MCT model facilitated effective visualization of the saturated area, which has the potential to be used for broader

Along the Rainfall-Runoff Chain: From Scaling of Greatest Point Rainfall to Global Change Attribution

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Fraedrich, K.

2014-12-01

Processes along the continental rainfall-runoff chain cover a wide range of time and space scales which are presented here combining observations (ranging from minutes to decades) and minimalist concepts. (i) Rainfall, which can be simulated by a censored first-order autoregressive process (vertical moisture fluxes), exhibits 1/f-spectra if presented as binary events (tropics), while extrema world wide increase with duration according to Jennings' scaling law. (ii) Runoff volatility (Yangtze) shows data collapse which, linked to an intra-annual 1/f-spectrum, is represented by a single function not unlike physical systems at criticality and the short and long return times of extremes are Weibull-distributed. Atmospheric and soil moisture variabilities are also discussed. (iii) Soil moisture (in a bucket), whose variability is interpreted by a biased coinflip Ansatz for rainfall events, adds an equation of state to energy and water flux balances comprising Budyko's frame work for quasi-stationary watershed analysis. Eco-hydrologic state space presentations in terms of surface flux ratios of energy excess (loss by sensible heat over supply by net radiation) versus water excess (loss by discharge over gain by precipitation) allow attributions of state change to external (or climate) and internal (or anthropogenic) causes. Including the vegetation-greenness index (NDVI) as an active tracer extends the eco-hydrologic state space analysis to supplement the common geographical presentations. Two examples demonstrate the approach combining ERA and MODIS data sets: (a) global geobotanic classification by combining first and second moments of the dryness ratio (net radiation over precipitation) and (b) regional attributions (Tibetan Plateau) of vegetation changes.

Statistical determination of rainfall-runoff erosivity indices for single storms in the Chinese Loess Plateau.

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Mingguo Zheng

Full Text Available Correlation analysis is popular in erosion- or earth-related studies, however, few studies compare correlations on a basis of statistical testing, which should be conducted to determine the statistical significance of the observed sample difference. This study aims to statistically determine the erosivity index of single storms, which requires comparison of a large number of dependent correlations between rainfall-runoff factors and soil loss, in the Chinese Loess Plateau. Data observed at four gauging stations and five runoff experimental plots were presented. Based on the Meng's tests, which is widely used for comparing correlations between a dependent variable and a set of independent variables, two methods were proposed. The first method removes factors that are poorly correlated with soil loss from consideration in a stepwise way, while the second method performs pairwise comparisons that are adjusted using the Bonferroni correction. Among 12 rainfall factors, I30 (the maximum 30-minute rainfall intensity has been suggested for use as the rainfall erosivity index, although I30 is equally correlated with soil loss as factors of I20, EI10 (the product of the rainfall kinetic energy, E, and I10, EI20 and EI30 are. Runoff depth (total runoff volume normalized to drainage area is more correlated with soil loss than all other examined rainfall-runoff factors, including I30, peak discharge and many combined factors. Moreover, sediment concentrations of major sediment-producing events are independent of all examined rainfall-runoff factors. As a result, introducing additional factors adds little to the prediction accuracy of the single factor of runoff depth. Hence, runoff depth should be the best erosivity index at scales from plots to watersheds. Our findings can facilitate predictions of soil erosion in the Loess Plateau. Our methods provide a valuable tool while determining the predictor among a number of variables in terms of correlations.

Statistical Determination of Rainfall-Runoff Erosivity Indices for Single Storms in the Chinese Loess Plateau

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Zheng, Mingguo; Chen, Xiaoan

2015-01-01

Correlation analysis is popular in erosion- or earth-related studies, however, few studies compare correlations on a basis of statistical testing, which should be conducted to determine the statistical significance of the observed sample difference. This study aims to statistically determine the erosivity index of single storms, which requires comparison of a large number of dependent correlations between rainfall-runoff factors and soil loss, in the Chinese Loess Plateau. Data observed at four gauging stations and five runoff experimental plots were presented. Based on the Meng’s tests, which is widely used for comparing correlations between a dependent variable and a set of independent variables, two methods were proposed. The first method removes factors that are poorly correlated with soil loss from consideration in a stepwise way, while the second method performs pairwise comparisons that are adjusted using the Bonferroni correction. Among 12 rainfall factors, I 30 (the maximum 30-minute rainfall intensity) has been suggested for use as the rainfall erosivity index, although I 30 is equally correlated with soil loss as factors of I 20, EI 10 (the product of the rainfall kinetic energy, E, and I 10), EI 20 and EI 30 are. Runoff depth (total runoff volume normalized to drainage area) is more correlated with soil loss than all other examined rainfall-runoff factors, including I 30, peak discharge and many combined factors. Moreover, sediment concentrations of major sediment-producing events are independent of all examined rainfall-runoff factors. As a result, introducing additional factors adds little to the prediction accuracy of the single factor of runoff depth. Hence, runoff depth should be the best erosivity index at scales from plots to watersheds. Our findings can facilitate predictions of soil erosion in the Loess Plateau. Our methods provide a valuable tool while determining the predictor among a number of variables in terms of correlations. PMID

High Severity Wildfire Effect On Rainfall Infiltration And Runoff: A Cellular Automata Based Simulation

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Vergara-Blanco, J. E.; Leboeuf-Pasquier, J.; Benavides-Solorio, J. D. D.

2017-12-01

A simulation software that reproduces rainfall infiltration and runoff for a storm event in a particular forest area is presented. A cellular automaton is utilized to represent space and time. On the time scale, the simulation is composed by a sequence of discrete time steps. On the space scale, the simulation is composed of forest surface cells. The software takes into consideration rain intensity and length, individual forest cell soil absorption capacity evolution, and surface angle of inclination. The software is developed with the C++ programming language. The simulation is executed on a 100 ha area within La Primavera Forest in Jalisco, Mexico. Real soil texture for unburned terrain and high severity wildfire affected terrain is employed to recreate the specific infiltration profile. Historical rainfall data of a 92 minute event is used. The Horton infiltration equation is utilized for infiltration capacity calculation. A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is employed to reproduce the surface topography. The DEM is displayed with a 3D mesh graph where individual surface cells can be observed. The plot colouring renders water content development at the cell level throughout the storm event. The simulation shows that the cumulative infiltration and runoff which take place at the surface cell level depend on the specific storm intensity, fluctuation and length, overall terrain topography, cell slope, and soil texture. Rainfall cumulative infiltration for unburned and high severity wildfire terrain are compared: unburned terrain exhibits a significantly higher amount of rainfall infiltration.It is concluded that a cellular automaton can be utilized with a C++ program to reproduce rainfall infiltration and runoff under diverse soil texture, topographic and rainfall conditions in a forest setting. This simulation is geared for an optimization program to pinpoint the locations of a series of forest land remediation efforts to support reforestation or to minimize runoff.

Enrichment behavior and transport mechanism of soil-bound PAHs during rainfall-runoff events

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zheng Yi; Luo Xiaolin; Zhang Wei; Wu Bin; Han Feng; Lin Zhongrong; Wang Xuejun

2012-01-01

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) transported by surface runoff result in nonpoint source pollution and jeopardize aquatic ecosystems. The transport mechanism of PAHs during rainfall-runoff events has been rarely studied regarding pervious areas. An experimental system was setup to simulate the runoff pollution process on PAHs-contaminated soil. The enrichment behavior of soil-bound PAHs was investigated. The results show that soil organic matters (SOM), rather than clay particles, seem to be the main carrier of PAHs. The enrichment is highly conditioned on runoff and erosion processes, and its magnitude varies among PAH compounds. It is not feasible to build a simple and universal relationship between enrichment ratio and sediment discharge following the traditional enrichment theory. To estimate the flux of PAHs from pervious areas, soil erosion process has to be clearly understood, and both organic carbon content and composition of SOM should be factored into the calculation. - Highlights: ► Significant enrichment of particle-bound PAHs during rainfall-runoff events. ► Organic matters as the direct carrier of PAHs in runoff from contaminated soil. ► The traditional enrichment theory is not fully valid for PAHs. - The traditional enrichment theory is not fully valid for PAHs, and soil organic matters have a significant impact on the transport of PAHs during rainfall-runoff events.

Comparison between snowmelt-runoff and rainfall-runoff nonpoint source pollution in a typical urban catchment in Beijing, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Lei; Zhi, Xiaosha; Shen, Zhenyao; Dai, Ying; Aini, Guzhanuer

2018-01-01

As a climate-driven event, nonpoint source (NPS) pollution is caused by rainfall- or snowmelt-runoff processes; however, few studies have compared the characteristics and mechanisms of these two kinds of NPS processes. In this study, three factors relating to urban NPS, including surface dust, snowmelt, and rainfall-runoff processes, were analyzed comprehensively by both field sampling and laboratory experiments. The seasonal variation and leaching characteristics of pollutants in surface dust were explored, and the runoff quality of snowmelt NPS and rainfall NPS were compared. The results indicated that dusts are the main sources of urban NPS and more pollutants are deposited in dust samples during winter and spring. However, pollutants in surface dust showed a low leaching ratio, which indicated most NPS pollutants would be carried as particulate forms. Compared to surface layer, underlying snow contained higher chemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids (TSS), Cu, Fe, Mn, and Pb concentrations, while the event mean concentration of most pollutants in snowmelt tended to be higher in roads. Moreover, the TSS and heavy metal content of snowmelt NPS was always higher than those of rainfall NPS, which indicated the importance of controlling snowmelt pollution for effective water quality management.

impacts of rainfall and forest cover change on runoff in small ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

the relationship between rainfall and runoff in the two catchments has changed. Furthermore .... The monthly rainfall data for Namadzi catchment that was used in this .... land cover change with a big jump of forest planted after the 1990s. Fig.

Climate downscaling over South America for 1971-2000: application in SMAP rainfall-runoff model for Grande River Basin

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da Silva, Felipe das Neves Roque; Alves, José Luis Drummond; Cataldi, Marcio

2018-03-01

This paper aims to validate inflow simulations concerning the present-day climate at Água Vermelha Hydroelectric Plant (AVHP—located on the Grande River Basin) based on the Soil Moisture Accounting Procedure (SMAP) hydrological model. In order to provide rainfall data to the SMAP model, the RegCM regional climate model was also used working with boundary conditions from the MIROC model. Initially, present-day climate simulation performed by RegCM model was analyzed. It was found that, in terms of rainfall, the model was able to simulate the main patterns observed over South America. A bias correction technique was also used and it was essential to reduce mistakes related to rainfall simulation. Comparison between rainfall simulations from RegCM and MIROC showed improvements when the dynamical downscaling was performed. Then, SMAP, a rainfall-runoff hydrological model, was used to simulate inflows at Água Vermelha Hydroelectric Plant. After calibration with observed rainfall, SMAP simulations were evaluated in two different periods from the one used in calibration. During calibration, SMAP captures the inflow variability observed at AVHP. During validation periods, the hydrological model obtained better results and statistics with observed rainfall. However, in spite of some discrepancies, the use of simulated rainfall without bias correction captured the interannual flow variability. However, the use of bias removal in the simulated rainfall performed by RegCM brought significant improvements to the simulation of natural inflows performed by SMAP. Not only the curve of simulated inflow became more similar to the observed inflow, but also the statistics improved their values. Improvements were also noticed in the inflow simulation when the rainfall was provided by the regional climate model compared to the global model. In general, results obtained so far prove that there was an added value in rainfall when regional climate model was compared to global climate

Ensemble flood simulation for a small dam catchment in Japan using 10 and 2 km resolution nonhydrostatic model rainfalls

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Kobayashi, Kenichiro; Otsuka, Shigenori; Apip; Saito, Kazuo

2016-08-01

This paper presents a study on short-term ensemble flood forecasting specifically for small dam catchments in Japan. Numerical ensemble simulations of rainfall from the Japan Meteorological Agency nonhydrostatic model (JMA-NHM) are used as the input data to a rainfall-runoff model for predicting river discharge into a dam. The ensemble weather simulations use a conventional 10 km and a high-resolution 2 km spatial resolutions. A distributed rainfall-runoff model is constructed for the Kasahori dam catchment (approx. 70 km2) and applied with the ensemble rainfalls. The results show that the hourly maximum and cumulative catchment-average rainfalls of the 2 km resolution JMA-NHM ensemble simulation are more appropriate than the 10 km resolution rainfalls. All the simulated inflows based on the 2 and 10 km rainfalls become larger than the flood discharge of 140 m3 s-1, a threshold value for flood control. The inflows with the 10 km resolution ensemble rainfall are all considerably smaller than the observations, while at least one simulated discharge out of 11 ensemble members with the 2 km resolution rainfalls reproduces the first peak of the inflow at the Kasahori dam with similar amplitude to observations, although there are spatiotemporal lags between simulation and observation. To take positional lags into account of the ensemble discharge simulation, the rainfall distribution in each ensemble member is shifted so that the catchment-averaged cumulative rainfall of the Kasahori dam maximizes. The runoff simulation with the position-shifted rainfalls shows much better results than the original ensemble discharge simulations.

Effect of Bias Correction of Satellite-Rainfall Estimates on Runoff Simulations at the Source of the Upper Blue Nile

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Emad Habib

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Results of numerous evaluation studies indicated that satellite-rainfall products are contaminated with significant systematic and random errors. Therefore, such products may require refinement and correction before being used for hydrologic applications. In the present study, we explore a rainfall-runoff modeling application using the Climate Prediction Center-MORPHing (CMORPH satellite rainfall product. The study area is the Gilgel Abbay catchment situated at the source basin of the Upper Blue Nile basin in Ethiopia, Eastern Africa. Rain gauge networks in such area are typically sparse. We examine different bias correction schemes applied locally to the CMORPH product. These schemes vary in the degree to which spatial and temporal variability in the CMORPH bias fields are accounted for. Three schemes are tested: space and time-invariant, time-variant and spatially invariant, and space and time variant. Bias-corrected CMORPH products were used to calibrate and drive the Hydrologiska Byråns Vattenbalansavdelning (HBV rainfall-runoff model. Applying the space and time-fixed bias correction scheme resulted in slight improvement of the CMORPH-driven runoff simulations, but in some instances caused deterioration. Accounting for temporal variation in the bias reduced the rainfall bias by up to 50%. Additional improvements were observed when both the spatial and temporal variability in the bias was accounted for. The rainfall bias was found to have a pronounced effect on model calibration. The calibrated model parameters changed significantly when using rainfall input from gauges alone, uncorrected, and bias-corrected CMORPH estimates. Changes of up to 81% were obtained for model parameters controlling the stream flow volume.

Modelling rainfall erosion resulting from climate change

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Kinnell, Peter

2016-04-01

It is well known that soil erosion leads to agricultural productivity decline and contributes to water quality decline. The current widely used models for determining soil erosion for management purposes in agriculture focus on long term (~20 years) average annual soil loss and are not well suited to determining variations that occur over short timespans and as a result of climate change. Soil loss resulting from rainfall erosion is directly dependent on the product of runoff and sediment concentration both of which are likely to be influenced by climate change. This presentation demonstrates the capacity of models like the USLE, USLE-M and WEPP to predict variations in runoff and erosion associated with rainfall events eroding bare fallow plots in the USA with a view to modelling rainfall erosion in areas subject to climate change.

Numerical simulation of runoff from extreme rainfall events in a mountain water catchment

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J. Burguete

2002-01-01

Full Text Available A numerical model for unsteady shallow water flow over initially dry areas is applied to a case study in a small drainage area at the Spanish Ebro River basin. Several flood mitigation measures (reforestation, construction of a small reservoir and channelization are simulated in the model in order to compare different extreme rainfall-runoff scenarios.

Integration and calibration of a conceptual rainfall-runoff model in the framework of a decision support system for river basin management

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J. Götzinger

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Water balance models provide significant input to integrated models that are used to simulate river basin processes. However, one of the primary problems involves the coupling and simultaneous calibration of rainfall-runoff and groundwater models. This problem manifests itself through circular arguments - the hydrologic model is modified to calculate highly discretized groundwater recharge rates as input to the groundwater model which provides modeled base flow for the flood-routing module of the rainfall-runoff model. A possibility to overcome this problem using a modified version of the HBV Model is presented in this paper. Regionalisation and optimization methods lead to objective and efficient calibration despite large numbers of parameters. The representation of model parameters by transfer functions of catchment characteristics enables consistent parameter estimation. By establishing such relationships, models are calibrated for the parameters of the transfer functions instead of the model parameters themselves. Simulated annealing, using weighted Nash-Sutcliffe-coefficients of variable temporal aggregation, assists in efficient parameterisations. The simulations are compared to observed discharge and groundwater recharge modeled by the State Institute for Environmental Protection Baden-Württemberg using the model TRAIN-GWN.

Development of a portable field rainfall simulator for use in hillside vineyard runoff and erosion studies

Science.gov (United States)

Battany, M. C.; Grismer, M. E.

2000-04-01

An inexpensive, mobile field rainfall simulator and runoff plot frame were developed for use on hillside vineyards. The simulator framework and components were lightweight, readily available and easily manageable such that they can be handled by one person during transport, set-up and operation. The vineyard rainfall simulator was simpler than many of the machines in recent use for similar studies, yet offered equal or improved performance for small-plot studies. The system developed consistent sized 2·58 mm raindrops at intensities ranging from 20 to 90 mm/h. The average distribution uniformity coefficient at an intensity of 60 mm/h was 91·7%, with a deviation of only 2·2%. This coefficient was similar to the range reported for a more complex rotating disk simulator, and was notably greater than that obtained for other similar devices. The system water capacity of 40 l allowed for 1-h storm durations at 60 mm/h, usually sufficient time for commencement of erosion and runoff. The runoff plot frame was designed to be quickly installed, and to discourage sediment deposition in the routing of runoff to collect containers.

HYSOGs250m, global gridded hydrologic soil groups for curve-number-based runoff modeling.

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Ross, C Wade; Prihodko, Lara; Anchang, Julius; Kumar, Sanath; Ji, Wenjie; Hanan, Niall P

2018-05-15

Hydrologic soil groups (HSGs) are a fundamental component of the USDA curve-number (CN) method for estimation of rainfall runoff; yet these data are not readily available in a format or spatial-resolution suitable for regional- and global-scale modeling applications. We developed a globally consistent, gridded dataset defining HSGs from soil texture, bedrock depth, and groundwater. The resulting data product-HYSOGs250m-represents runoff potential at 250 m spatial resolution. Our analysis indicates that the global distribution of soil is dominated by moderately high runoff potential, followed by moderately low, high, and low runoff potential. Low runoff potential, sandy soils are found primarily in parts of the Sahara and Arabian Deserts. High runoff potential soils occur predominantly within tropical and sub-tropical regions. No clear pattern could be discerned for moderately low runoff potential soils, as they occur in arid and humid environments and at both high and low elevations. Potential applications of this data include CN-based runoff modeling, flood risk assessment, and as a covariate for biogeographical analysis of vegetation distributions.

Effects of urban grass coverage on rainfall-induced runoff in Xi'an loess region in China

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Jing Li

2017-10-01

Full Text Available In this study, laboratory rainfall simulation experiments were conducted to investigate the regulatory effects of grass coverage on rainfall-runoff processes. A total of 80 grass blocks planted with well-grown manilagrass, together with their root systems, were sampled from an eastern suburban area of Xi'an City in the northwest arid area of China and sent to a laboratory for rainfall simulation experiments. The runoff and infiltration processes of a slope with different grass coverage ratios and vegetation patterns were analyzed. The results show that the runoff coefficient decreases with the increase of the grass coverage ratio, and the influence of grass coverage on the reduction of runoff shows a high degree of spatial variation. At a constant grass coverage ratio, as the area of grass coverage moves downward, the runoff coefficient, total runoff, and flood peak discharge gradually decrease, and the flood peak occurs later. With the increase of the grass coverage ratio, the flood peak discharge gradually decreases, and the flood peak occurs later as well. In conclusion, a high grass coverage ratio with the area of grass coverage located at the lower part of the slope will lead to satisfactory regulatory effects on rainfall-induced runoff.

Continuous state-space representation of a bucket-type rainfall-runoff model: a case study with the GR4 model using state-space GR4 (version 1.0)

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Santos, Léonard; Thirel, Guillaume; Perrin, Charles

2018-04-01

In many conceptual rainfall-runoff models, the water balance differential equations are not explicitly formulated. These differential equations are solved sequentially by splitting the equations into terms that can be solved analytically with a technique called operator splitting. As a result, only the solutions of the split equations are used to present the different models. This article provides a methodology to make the governing water balance equations of a bucket-type rainfall-runoff model explicit and to solve them continuously. This is done by setting up a comprehensive state-space representation of the model. By representing it in this way, the operator splitting, which makes the structural analysis of the model more complex, could be removed. In this state-space representation, the lag functions (unit hydrographs), which are frequent in rainfall-runoff models and make the resolution of the representation difficult, are first replaced by a so-called Nash cascade and then solved with a robust numerical integration technique. To illustrate this methodology, the GR4J model is taken as an example. The substitution of the unit hydrographs with a Nash cascade, even if it modifies the model behaviour when solved using operator splitting, does not modify it when the state-space representation is solved using an implicit integration technique. Indeed, the flow time series simulated by the new representation of the model are very similar to those simulated by the classic model. The use of a robust numerical technique that approximates a continuous-time model also improves the lag parameter consistency across time steps and provides a more time-consistent model with time-independent parameters.

Selection of an appropriately simple storm runoff model

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A. I. J. M. van Dijk

2010-03-01

Full Text Available An appropriately simple event runoff model for catchment hydrological studies was derived. The model was selected from several variants as having the optimum balance between simplicity and the ability to explain daily observations of streamflow from 260 Australian catchments (23–1902 km². Event rainfall and runoff were estimated from the observations through a combination of baseflow separation and storm flow recession analysis, producing a storm flow recession coefficient (k_QF. Various model structures with up to six free parameters were investigated, covering most of the equations applied in existing lumped catchment models. The performance of alternative structures and free parameters were expressed in Aikake's Final Prediction Error Criterion (FPEC and corresponding Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiencies (NSME for event runoff totals. For each model variant, the number of free parameters was reduced in steps based on calculated parameter sensitivity. The resulting optimal model structure had two or three free parameters; the first describing the non-linear relationship between event rainfall and runoff (S_max, the second relating runoff to antecedent groundwater storage (C_Sg, and a third that described initial rainfall losses (L_i, but which could be set at 8 mm without affecting model performance too much. The best three parameter model produced a median NSME of 0.64 and outperformed, for example, the Soil Conservation Service Curve Number technique (median NSME 0.30–0.41. Parameter estimation in ungauged catchments is likely to be challenging: 64% of the variance in k_QF among stations could be explained by catchment climate indicators and spatial correlation, but corresponding numbers were a modest 45% for C_Sg, 21% for S_max and none for L_i, respectively. In gauged catchments, better

Hydrological changes impacts on annual runoff distribution in seasonally dry basins

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Viola, F.; Caracciolo, D.; Feng, X.

2017-12-01

Runoff is expected to be modified in the next future by climate change as well as by land use change. Given its importance for water supply and ecosystem functioning, it is therefore imperative to develop adaptation strategies and new policies for regional water resources management and planning. To do so, the identification and attribution of natural flow regime shifts as a result of climate and land use changes are of crucial importance. In this context, the Budyko's curve has begun to be widely adopted to separate the contributions of climate and land use changes to the variation of runoff over long-term periods by using the multi-year averages of hydrological variables. In this study, a framework based on Fu's equation is proposed and applied to separate the impacts of climate and land use changes on the future annual runoff distribution in seasonally dry basins, such as those in Mediterranean climates. In particular, this framework improves a recently developed method to obtain annual runoff probability density function (pdf) in seasonally dry basins from annual rainfall and potential evapotranspiration statistics, and from knowledge of the Fu's equation parameter ω. The effect of climate change has been taken into account through the variation of the first order statistics of annual rainfall and potential evapotranspiration, consistent with general circulation models' outputs, while the Fu's equation parameter ω has been changed to represent land use change. The effects of the two factors of change (i.e., climate and land use) on the annual runoff pdf have been first independently and then jointly analyzed, by reconstructing the annual runoff pdfs for the current period and, based on likely scenarios, within the next 100 years. The results show that, for large basins, climate change is the dominant driver of the decline in annual runoff, while land use change is a secondary but important factor.

Effects of rainfall intensity and slope gradient on runoff and sediment yield characteristics of bare loess soil.

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Wu, Lei; Peng, Mengling; Qiao, Shanshan; Ma, Xiao-Yi

2018-02-01

Soil erosion is a universal phenomenon on the Loess Plateau but it exhibits complex and typical mechanism which makes it difficult to understand soil loss laws on slopes. We design artificial simulated rainfall experiments including six rainfall intensities (45, 60, 75, 90, 105, 120 mm/h) and five slopes (5°, 10°, 15°, 20°, 25°) to reveal the fundamental changing trends of runoff and sediment yield on bare loess soil. Here, we show that the runoff yield within the initial 15 min increased rapidly and its trend gradually became stable. Trends of sediment yield under different rainfall intensities are various. The linear correlation between runoff and rainfall intensity is obvious for different slopes, but the correlations between sediment yield and rainfall intensity are weak. Runoff and sediment yield on the slope surface both presents an increasing trend when the rainfall intensity increases from 45 mm/h to 120 mm/h, but the increasing trend of runoff yield is higher than that of sediment yield. The sediment yield also has an overall increasing trend when the slope changes from 5° to 25°, but the trend of runoff yield is not obvious. Our results may provide data support and underlying insights needed to guide the management of soil conservation planning on the Loess Plateau.

Analysis of one dimension migration law from rainfall runoff on urban roof

Science.gov (United States)

Weiwei, Chen

2017-08-01

Research was taken on the hydrology and water quality process in the natural rain condition and water samples were collected and analyzed. The pollutant were included SS, COD and TN. Based on the mass balance principle, one dimension migration model was built for the rainfall runoff pollution in surface. The difference equation was developed according to the finite difference method, by applying the Newton iteration method for solving it. The simulated pollutant concentration process was in consistent with the measured value on model, and Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient was higher than 0.80. The model had better practicability, which provided evidence for effectively utilizing urban rainfall resource, non-point source pollution of making management technologies and measures, sponge city construction, and so on.

Partitioning the impacts of spatial and climatological rainfall variability in urban drainage modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Peleg, Nadav; Blumensaat, Frank; Molnar, Peter; Fatichi, Simone; Burlando, Paolo

2017-03-01

The performance of urban drainage systems is typically examined using hydrological and hydrodynamic models where rainfall input is uniformly distributed, i.e., derived from a single or very few rain gauges. When models are fed with a single uniformly distributed rainfall realization, the response of the urban drainage system to the rainfall variability remains unexplored. The goal of this study was to understand how climate variability and spatial rainfall variability, jointly or individually considered, affect the response of a calibrated hydrodynamic urban drainage model. A stochastic spatially distributed rainfall generator (STREAP - Space-Time Realizations of Areal Precipitation) was used to simulate many realizations of rainfall for a 30-year period, accounting for both climate variability and spatial rainfall variability. The generated rainfall ensemble was used as input into a calibrated hydrodynamic model (EPA SWMM - the US EPA's Storm Water Management Model) to simulate surface runoff and channel flow in a small urban catchment in the city of Lucerne, Switzerland. The variability of peak flows in response to rainfall of different return periods was evaluated at three different locations in the urban drainage network and partitioned among its sources. The main contribution to the total flow variability was found to originate from the natural climate variability (on average over 74 %). In addition, the relative contribution of the spatial rainfall variability to the total flow variability was found to increase with longer return periods. This suggests that while the use of spatially distributed rainfall data can supply valuable information for sewer network design (typically based on rainfall with return periods from 5 to 15 years), there is a more pronounced relevance when conducting flood risk assessments for larger return periods. The results show the importance of using multiple distributed rainfall realizations in urban hydrology studies to capture the

Applying volumetric weather radar data for rainfall runoff modeling: The importance of error correction.

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Hazenberg, P.; Leijnse, H.; Uijlenhoet, R.; Delobbe, L.; Weerts, A.; Reggiani, P.

2009-04-01

In the current study half a year of volumetric radar data for the period October 1, 2002 until March 31, 2003 is being analyzed which was sampled at 5 minutes intervals by C-band Doppler radar situated at an elevation of 600 m in the southern Ardennes region, Belgium. During this winter half year most of the rainfall has a stratiform character. Though radar and raingauge will never sample the same amount of rainfall due to differences in sampling strategies, for these stratiform situations differences between both measuring devices become even larger due to the occurrence of a bright band (the point where ice particles start to melt intensifying the radar reflectivity measurement). For these circumstances the radar overestimates the amount of precipitation and because in the Ardennes bright bands occur within 1000 meter from the surface, it's detrimental effects on the performance of the radar can already be observed at relatively close range (e.g. within 50 km). Although the radar is situated at one of the highest points in the region, very close to the radar clutter is a serious problem. As a result both nearby and farther away, using uncorrected radar results in serious errors when estimating the amount of precipitation. This study shows the effect of carefully correcting for these radar errors using volumetric radar data, taking into account the vertical reflectivity profile of the atmosphere, the effects of attenuation and trying to limit the amount of clutter. After applying these correction algorithms, the overall differences between radar and raingauge are much smaller which emphasizes the importance of carefully correcting radar rainfall measurements. The next step is to assess the effect of using uncorrected and corrected radar measurements on rainfall-runoff modeling. The 1597 km2 Ourthe catchment lies within 60 km of the radar. Using a lumped hydrological model serious improvement in simulating observed discharges is found when using corrected radar

Applicability of Doppler weather radar based rainfall data for runoff ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Radar-based hydrological studies in various countries have proven that ... in view of topographical and terrain constraints, cost restrictions and maintenance- .... SCS Unit Hydrograph (SCS UH) method converts surplus rainfall into runoff at the.

Combined effects of rainfall regime and plot length on runoff and soil loss in the Loess Plateau of China

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Liu, J.; Gao, G.; Wang, S.; Fu, B.

2017-12-01

The purpose of this paper was to study the interaction effects of rainfall regime and slope length on runoff and soil loss under different land uses. Event runoff and soil loss of forest, shrub and grass were measured in plots with length of 5, 9, or 13 m in the Loess Plateau from 2008 to 2016. Fifty-nine erosive rainfall events were recorded and classified into three rainfall regimes. The results firstly showed that the runoff coefficient was grass > shrub > forest, and soil loss was grass > forest > shrub, but the differences between forest and shrub in runoff and between grass and forest in soil loss didn't reach significant level. Secondly, rainfall regimes had important effect on runoff and soil loss of different land uses. The lowest runoff coefficients and the highest soil loss in regime 2 were found in shrub and forest land, respectively, which differed from that of regime 1. In total, rainfall regime 1 had the highest runoff coefficient of 0.84-2.06%, followed by regime 3 with 0.33-0.88%, and regime 2 with 0.04-0.06%. Soil loss in forest and grass land had a different order of regime 3 > regime 1 > regime 2. Thirdly, both the runoff coefficient and soil loss decreased with increasing plot length, while the effect of slope length on runoff/soil loss were influenced by land use type and rainfall regimes.

MODELING OF STORM WATER RUNOFF FROM GREEN ROOFS

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Ewa Burszta-Adamiak

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Apart from direct measurements, modelling of runoff from green roofs is valuable source of information about effectiveness of this type of structure from hydrological point of view. Among different type of models, the most frequently used are numerical models. They allow to assess the impact of green roofs on decrease and attenuation of runoff, reduction of peak runoff and value of water retention. This paper presents preliminary results of research on computing the rate of runoff from green roofs using GARDENIA model. The analysis has been carried out for selected rainfall events registered during measuring campaign on pilot-scale green roofs. Obtained results are promising and show good fit between observed and simulated runoff.

Runoff and leaching of metolachlor from Mississippi River alluvial soil during seasons of average and below-average rainfall.

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Southwick, Lloyd M; Appelboom, Timothy W; Fouss, James L

2009-02-25

The movement of the herbicide metolachlor [2-chloro-N-(2-ethyl-6-methylphenyl)-N-(2-methoxy-1-methylethyl)acetamide] via runoff and leaching from 0.21 ha plots planted to corn on Mississippi River alluvial soil (Commerce silt loam) was measured for a 6-year period, 1995-2000. The first three years received normal rainfall (30 year average); the second three years experienced reduced rainfall. The 4-month periods prior to application plus the following 4 months after application were characterized by 1039 +/- 148 mm of rainfall for 1995-1997 and by 674 +/- 108 mm for 1998-2000. During the normal rainfall years 216 +/- 150 mm of runoff occurred during the study seasons (4 months following herbicide application), accompanied by 76.9 +/- 38.9 mm of leachate. For the low-rainfall years these amounts were 16.2 +/- 18.2 mm of runoff (92% less than the normal years) and 45.1 +/- 25.5 mm of leachate (41% less than the normal seasons). Runoff of metolachlor during the normal-rainfall seasons was 4.5-6.1% of application, whereas leaching was 0.10-0.18%. For the below-normal periods, these losses were 0.07-0.37% of application in runoff and 0.22-0.27% in leachate. When averages over the three normal and the three less-than-normal seasons were taken, a 35% reduction in rainfall was characterized by a 97% reduction in runoff loss and a 71% increase in leachate loss of metolachlor on a percent of application basis. The data indicate an increase in preferential flow in the leaching movement of metolachlor from the surface soil layer during the reduced rainfall periods. Even with increased preferential flow through the soil during the below-average rainfall seasons, leachate loss (percent of application) of the herbicide remained below 0.3%. Compared to the average rainfall seasons of 1995-1997, the below-normal seasons of 1998-2000 were characterized by a 79% reduction in total runoff and leachate flow and by a 93% reduction in corresponding metolachlor movement via these routes

Application of a modified conceptual rainfall-runoff model to simulation of groundwater level in an undefined watershed.

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Hong, Nian; Hama, Takehide; Suenaga, Yuichi; Aqili, Sayed Waliullah; Huang, Xiaowu; Wei, Qiaoyan; Kawagoshi, Yasunori

2016-01-15

Groundwater level simulation models can help ensure the proper management and use of urban and rural water supply. In this paper, we propose a groundwater level tank model (GLTM) based on a conceptual rainfall-runoff model (tank model) to simulate fluctuations in groundwater level. The variables used in the simulations consist of daily rainfall and daily groundwater level, which were recorded between April 2011 and March 2015 at two representative observation wells in Kumamoto City, Japan. We determined the best-fit model parameters by root-mean-square error through use of the Shuffled Complex Evolution-University of Arizona algorithm on a simulated data set. Calibration and validation results were evaluated by their coefficients of determination, Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficients, and root-mean-square error values. The GLTM provided accurate results in both the calibration and validation of fluctuations in groundwater level. The split sample test results indicate a good reliability. These results indicate that this model can provide a simple approach to the accurate simulation of groundwater levels. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Assessment of snow-glacier melt and rainfall contribution to stream runoff in Baspa Basin, Indian Himalaya.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaddam, Vinay Kumar; Kulkarni, Anil V; Gupta, Anil Kumar

2018-02-20

Hydrological regimes of most of the Himalayan river catchments are poorly studied due to sparse hydro-meteorological data. Hence, stream runoff assessment becomes difficult for various socio-industrial activities in the Himalaya. Therefore, an attempt is made in this study to assess the stream runoff of Baspa River in Himachal Pradesh, India, by evaluating the contribution from snow-ice melt and rainfall runoff. The total volume of flow was computed for a period of 15 years, from 2000 to 2014, and validated with the long-term field discharge measurements, obtained from Jaipee Hydropower station (31° 32' 35.53″ N, 78° 00' 54.80″ E), at Kuppa barrage in the basin. The observations suggest (1) a good correlation (r 2  > 0.80) between the modeled runoff and field discharge measurements, and (2) out of the total runoff, 81.2% are produced by snowmelt, 11.4% by rainfall, and 7.4% from ice melt. The catchment receives ~75% of its total runoff in the ablation period (i.e., from May to September). In addition, an early snowmelt is observed in accumulation season during study period, indicating the significant influence of natural and anthropogenic factors on high-altitude areas.

Modelling surface run-off and trends analysis over India

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

exponential model was developed between the rainfall and the run-off that predicted the run-off with an R2 of ... precipitation and other climate parameters is well documented ...... Sen P K 1968 Estimates of the regression coefficient based.

Speciation distribution and mass balance of copper and zinc in urban rain, sediments, and road runoff.

Science.gov (United States)

Zuo, Xiaojun; Fu, Dafang; Li, He

2012-11-01

Heavy metal pollution in road runoff had caused widespread concern since the last century. However, there are little references on metal speciation in multiple environmental media (e.g., rain, road sediments, and road runoff). Our research targeted the investigation of metal speciation in rain, road sediments, and runoff; the analysis of speciation variation and mass balance of metals among rain, road sediments, and runoff; the selection of main factors by principal component analysis (PCA); and the establishment of equation to evaluate the impact of rain and road sediments to metals in road runoff. Sequential extraction procedure contains five steps for the chemical fractionation of metals. Flame atomic absorption spectrometry (Shimadzu, AA-6800) was used to determine metal speciation concentration, as well as the total and dissolved fractions. The dissolved fractions for both Cu and Zn were dominant in rain. The speciation distribution of Zn was different from that of Cu in road sediments, while speciation distribution of Zn is similar to that of Cu in runoff. The bound to carbonates for both Cu and Zn in road sediments were prone to be dissolved by rain. The levels of Cu and Zn in runoff were not obviously influenced by rain, but significantly influenced by road sediments. The masses for both Cu and Zn among rain, road sediments, and road runoff approximately meet the mass balance equation for all rainfall patterns. Five principal factors were selected for metal regression equation based on PCA, including rainfall, average rainfall intensity, antecedent dry periods, total suspended particles, and temperature. The established regression equations could be used to predict the effect of road runoff on receiving environments.

Distributed modelling of hydrologic regime at three subcatchments of Kopaninský tok catchment

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Žlábek, Pavel; Tachecí, Pavel; Kaplická, Markéta; Bystřický, Václav

2010-05-01

Kopaninský tok catchment is situated in crystalline area of Bohemo-Moravian highland hilly region, with cambisol cover and prevailing agricultural land use. It is a subject of long term (since 1980's) observation. Time series (discharge, precipitation, climatic parameters...) are nowadays available in 10 min. time step, water quality average daily composit samples plus samples during events are available. Soil survey resulting in reference soil hydraulic properties for horizons and vegetation cover survey incl. LAI measurement has been done. All parameters were analysed and used for establishing of distributed mathematical models of P6, P52 and P53 subcatchments, using MIKE SHE 2009 WM deterministic hydrologic modelling system. The aim is to simulate long-term hydrologic regime as well as rainfall-runoff events, serving the base for modelling of nitrate regime and agricultural management influence in the next step. Mentioned subcatchments differs in ratio of artificial drainage area, soil types, land use and slope angle. The models are set-up in a regular computational grid of 2 m size. Basic time step was set to 2 hrs, total simulated period covers 3 years. Runoff response and moisture regime is compared using spatially distributed simulation results. Sensitivity analysis revealed most important parameters influencing model response. Importance of spatial distribution of initial conditions was underlined. Further on, different runoff components in terms of their origin, flow paths and travel time were separated using a combination of two runoff separation techniques (a digital filter and a simple conceptual model GROUND) in 12 subcatchments of Kopaninský tok catchment. These two methods were chosen based on a number of methods testing. Ordinations diagrams performed with Canoco software were used to evaluate influence of different catchment parameters on different runoff components. A canonical ordination method analyses (RDA) was used to explain one data set

Potential of commercial microwave link network derived rainfall for river runoff simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Smiatek, Gerhard; Keis, Felix; Chwala, Christian; Fersch, Benjamin; Kunstmann, Harald

2017-03-01

Commercial microwave link networks allow for the quantification of path integrated precipitation because the attenuation by hydrometeors correlates with rainfall between transmitter and receiver stations. The networks, operated and maintained by cellphone companies, thereby provide completely new and country wide precipitation measurements. As the density of traditional precipitation station networks worldwide is significantly decreasing, microwave link derived precipitation estimates receive increasing attention not only by hydrologists but also by meteorological and hydrological services. We investigate the potential of microwave derived precipitation estimates for streamflow prediction and water balance analyses, exemplarily shown for an orographically complex region in the German Alps (River Ammer). We investigate the additional value of link derived rainfall estimations combined with station observations compared to station and weather radar derived values. Our river runoff simulation system employs a distributed hydrological model at 100 × 100 m grid resolution. We analyze the potential of microwave link derived precipitation estimates for two episodes of 30 days with typically moderate river flow and an episode of extreme flooding. The simulation results indicate the potential of this novel precipitation monitoring method: a significant improvement in hydrograph reproduction has been achieved in the extreme flooding period that was characterized by a large number of local strong precipitation events. The present rainfall monitoring gauges alone were not able to correctly capture these events.

The Impact of the Variability of Precipitation and Temperatures on the Efficiency of a Conceptual Rainfall-Runoff Model

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Sleziak P.

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The main objective of the paper is to understand how the model’s efficiency and the selected climatic indicators are related. The hydrological model applied in this study is a conceptual rainfall-runoff model (the TUW model, which was developed at the Vienna University of Technology. This model was calibrated over three different periods between 1981-2010 in three groups of Austrian catchments (snow, runoff, and soil catchments, which represent a wide range of the hydroclimatic conditions of Austria. The model’s calibration was performed using a differential evolution algorithm (Deoptim. As an objective function, we used a combination of the Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient (NSE and the logarithmic Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient (logNSE. The model’s efficiency was evaluated by Volume error (VE. Subsequently, we evaluated the relationship between the model’s efficiency (VE and changes in the climatic indicators (precipitation ΔP, air temperature ΔT. The implications of findings are discussed in the conclusion.

[Output characteristics of rainfall runoff phosphorus pollution from a typical small watershed in Yimeng mountainous area].

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Xing-xiu; Li, Zhen-wei; Liu, Qian-jin; Jing, Guang-hua

2012-08-01

Relationships between phosphorus pollutant concentrations and precipitation-runoff were analyzed by monitoring pollutant losses at outlets of the Menglianggu watershed in 2010. A typical small watershed was selected to examine the runoff and quality parameters such as total phosphorus (TP), particle phosphorus (PP), dissolve phosphorus (DP) and dissolve inorganic phosphorus (DIP) in rainfall-runoff of 10 rainfall events. Precipitation was above 2 mm for all the 10 rainfall events. The results showed that the peak of phosphorus concentrations occurred before the peak of water flows, whereas change processes of the phosphorus fluxes were consistent with that of the water flows and the phosphorus flux also have a strong linear relationship with the water flows. The minimums of the phosphorus concentrations in every 10 natural rainfall events have small differences with each other, but the maximum and EMCs of the phosphorus concentrations have significant differences with each rainfall event. This was mainly influenced by the precipitation, maximum rainfall intensity and mean rainfall intensity (EMCs) and was less influenced by rainfall duration. DP and TP were mainly composed of DIP and PP, respectively. There were no significant correlations between DIP/DP dynamic changes and rainfall characteristics, whereas significant correlations between PP/TP dynamic changes and maximum rainfall intensity were detected. The production of DIP, DP, AND TP were mainly influenced by the direct runoff (DR) and base flow (BF). The EMCs of DIP, DP, TP and the variations of DIP/DP were all found to have significant polynomial relationships with DR/TR., but the dynamic changes of PP/ TP and the EMCS of PP were less influenced by the DR/TR.

Predicting Surface Runoff from Catchment to Large Region

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Hongxia Li

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Predicting surface runoff from catchment to large region is a fundamental and challenging task in hydrology. This paper presents a comprehensive review for various studies conducted for improving runoff predictions from catchment to large region in the last several decades. This review summarizes the well-established methods and discusses some promising approaches from the following four research fields: (1 modeling catchment, regional and global runoff using lumped conceptual rainfall-runoff models, distributed hydrological models, and land surface models, (2 parameterizing hydrological models in ungauged catchments, (3 improving hydrological model structure, and (4 using new remote sensing precipitation data.

A Poisson Cluster Stochastic Rainfall Generator That Accounts for the Interannual Variability of Rainfall Statistics: Validation at Various Geographic Locations across the United States

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Dongkyun Kim

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A novel approach for a Poisson cluster stochastic rainfall generator was validated in its ability to reproduce important rainfall and watershed response characteristics at 104 locations in the United States. The suggested novel approach, The Hybrid Model (THM, as compared to the traditional Poisson cluster rainfall modeling approaches, has an additional capability to account for the interannual variability of rainfall statistics. THM and a traditional approach of Poisson cluster rainfall model (modified Bartlett-Lewis rectangular pulse model were compared in their ability to reproduce the characteristics of extreme rainfall and watershed response variables such as runoff and peak flow. The results of the comparison indicate that THM generally outperforms the traditional approach in reproducing the distributions of peak rainfall, peak flow, and runoff volume. In addition, THM significantly outperformed the traditional approach in reproducing extreme rainfall by 2.3% to 66% and extreme flow values by 32% to 71%.

Using natural Chinese zeolite to remove ammonium from rainfall runoff following urea fertilization of a paddy rice field.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiao-Ling; Qiao, Bin; Li, Song-Min; Li, Jian-Sheng

2016-03-01

The potential of natural Chinese zeolite to remove ammonium from rainfall runoff following urea applications to a paddy rice field is assessed in this study. Laboratory batch kinetic and isotherm experiments were carried out first to investigate the ammonium adsorption capacity of the natural zeolite. Field experiments using zeolite adsorption barriers installed at drain outlets in a paddy rice field were also carried out during natural rainfall events to evaluate the barrier's dynamic removal capacity of ammonium. The results demonstrate that the adsorption kinetics are accurately described by the Elovich model, with a coefficient of determination (R (2)) ranging from 0.9705 to 0.9709, whereas the adsorption isotherm results indicate that the Langmuir-Freundlich model provides the best fit (R (2) = 0.992) for the equilibrium data. The field experiments show that both the flow rate and the barrier volume are important controls on ammonium removal from rainfall runoff. A low flow rate leads to a higher ammonium removal efficiency at the beginning of the tests, while a high flow rate leads to a higher quantity of ammonium adsorbed over the entire runoff process.

Madagascar corals reveal a multidecadal signature of rainfall and river runoff since 1708

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C. A. Grove

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures (SST influence rainfall variability on multidecadal and interdecadal timescales in concert with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO and Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO. Rainfall variations in locations such as Australia and North America are therefore linked to phase changes in the PDO. Furthermore, studies have suggested teleconnections exist between the western Indian Ocean and Pacific Decadal Variability (PDV, similar to those observed on interannual timescales related to the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO. However, as instrumental records of rainfall are too short and sparse to confidently assess multidecadal climatic teleconnections, here we present four coral climate archives from Madagascar spanning up to the past 300 yr (1708–2008 to assess such decadal variability. Using spectral luminescence scanning to reconstruct past changes in river runoff, we identify significant multidecadal and interdecadal frequencies in the coral records, which before 1900 are coherent with Asian-based PDO reconstructions. This multidecadal relationship with the Asian-based PDO reconstructions points to an unidentified teleconnection mechanism that affects Madagascar rainfall/runoff, most likely triggered by multidecadal changes in North Pacific SST, influencing the Asian Monsoon circulation. In the 20th century we decouple human deforestation effects from rainfall-induced soil erosion by pairing luminescence with coral geochemistry. Positive PDO phases are associated with increased Indian Ocean temperatures and runoff/rainfall in eastern Madagascar, while precipitation in southern Africa and eastern Australia declines. Consequently, the negative PDO phase that started in 1998 may contribute to reduced rainfall over eastern Madagascar and increased precipitation in southern Africa and eastern Australia. We conclude that multidecadal rainfall variability in Madagascar and the western Indian Ocean needs to be

[Rainfall intensity effects on nutrients transport in surface runoff from farmlands in gentle slope hilly area of Taihu Lake Basin].

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Rui-ling; Zhang, Yong-chun; Liu, Zhuang; Zeng, Yuan; Li, Wei-xin; Zhang, Hong-ling

2010-05-01

To investigate the effect of rainfall on agricultural nonpoint source pollution, watershed scale experiments were conducted to study the characteristics of nutrients in surface runoff under different rainfall intensities from farmlands in gentle slope hilly areas around Taihu Lake. Rainfall intensity significantly affected N and P concentrations in runoff. Rainfall intensity was positively related to TP, PO4(3-) -P and NH4+ -N event mean concentrations(EMC). However, this study have found the EMC of TN and NO3- -N to be positively related to rainfall intensity under light rain and negatively related to rainfall intensity under heavy rain. TN and TP site mean amounts (SMA) in runoff were positively related to rainfall intensity and were 1.91, 311.83, 127.65, 731.69 g/hm2 and 0.04, 7.77, 2.99, 32.02 g/hm2 with rainfall applied under light rain, moderate rain, heavy rain and rainstorm respectively. N in runoff was mainly NO3- -N and NH4+ -N and was primarily in dissolved form from Meilin soils. Dissolved P (DP) was the dominant form of TP under light rain, but particulate P (PP) mass loss increased with the increase of rainfall intensity and to be the dominant form when the rainfall intensity reaches rainstorm. Single relationships were used to describe the dependence of TN and TP mass losses in runoff on rainfall, maximum rainfall intensity, average rainfall intensity and rainfall duration respectively. The results showed a significant positive correlation between TN mass loss and rainfall, maximum rainfall intensity respectively (p < 0.01) and also TP mass loss and rainfall, maximum rainfall intensity respectively (p < 0.01).

Investigating the Influence of Various Stormwater Runoff Control Facilities on Runoff Control Efficiency in a Small Catchment Area

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Rei Itsukushima

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Urbanization causes an increase in the flood discharge because of the infiltration capacity. Furthermore, extreme precipitation events have been an increasing concern for many regions worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the influence of different outflow control facilities on runoff reduction in a small watershed. We focused on the soil-improvement technology and rainwater tanks as outflow control facilities and conducted a runoff calculation using a rainfall event of a magnitude that is likely to occur once in a hundred years. The calculation showed that the soil-improvement technology reduced runoff during long-term continuous rainfall, whereas in a concentrated short-term rainfall event, a significant difference in the runoff reduction effect between rainfall tanks of various volumes was observed. Since effective countermeasures for runoff reduction differ depending on the rainfall distribution pattern, we suggested both facilities for storing initial rainfall and initiating countermeasures for penetration improvement over the long term.

INTEGRATION OF SATELLITE RAINFALL DATA AND CURVE NUMBER METHOD FOR RUNOFF ESTIMATION UNDER SEMI-ARID WADI SYSTEM

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E. O. Adam

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The arid and semi-arid catchments in dry lands in general require a special effective management as the scarcity of resources and information which is needed to leverage studies and investigations is the common characteristic. Hydrology is one of the most important elements in the management of resources. Deep understanding of hydrological responses is the key towards better planning and land management. Surface runoff quantification of such ungauged semi-arid catchments considered among the important challenges. A 7586 km2 catchment under investigation is located in semi-arid region in central Sudan where mean annual rainfall is around 250 mm and represent the ultimate source for water supply. The objective is to parameterize hydrological characteristics of the catchment and estimate surface runoff using suitable methods and hydrological models that suit the nature of such ungauged catchments with scarce geospatial information. In order to produce spatial runoff estimations, satellite rainfall was used. Remote sensing and GIS were incorporated in the investigations and the generation of landcover and soil information. Five days rainfall event (50.2 mm was used for the SCS CN model which is considered the suitable for this catchment, as SCS curve number (CN method is widely used for estimating infiltration characteristics depending on the landcover and soil property. Runoff depths of 3.6, 15.7 and 29.7 mm were estimated for the three different Antecedent Moisture Conditions (AMC-I, AMC-II and AMC-III. The estimated runoff depths of AMCII and AMCIII indicate the possibility of having small artificial surface reservoirs that could provide water for domestic and small household agricultural use.

Towards large scale stochastic rainfall models for flood risk assessment in trans-national basins

Science.gov (United States)

Serinaldi, F.; Kilsby, C. G.

2012-04-01

and Shape (GAMLSS). This approach allows exploiting climate variables to improve the simulation of the spatio-temporal rainfall structure through dynamically varying marginal and joint distributions. The preliminary results of the spatio-temporal analysis and modelling of a large data set of daily rainfall time series from 15 countries in the Central Eastern Europe are shown. Finally, indications are given of how the model outputs will be used with rainfall runoff models for estimating collective flood risk across the Danube basin.

Impact of the calibration period on the conceptual rainfall-runoff model parameter estimates

Science.gov (United States)

Todorovic, Andrijana; Plavsic, Jasna

2015-04-01

A conceptual rainfall-runoff model is defined by its structure and parameters, which are commonly inferred through model calibration. Parameter estimates depend on objective function(s), optimisation method, and calibration period. Model calibration over different periods may result in dissimilar parameter estimates, while model efficiency decreases outside calibration period. Problem of model (parameter) transferability, which conditions reliability of hydrologic simulations, has been investigated for decades. In this paper, dependence of the parameter estimates and model performance on calibration period is analysed. The main question that is addressed is: are there any changes in optimised parameters and model efficiency that can be linked to the changes in hydrologic or meteorological variables (flow, precipitation and temperature)? Conceptual, semi-distributed HBV-light model is calibrated over five-year periods shifted by a year (sliding time windows). Length of the calibration periods is selected to enable identification of all parameters. One water year of model warm-up precedes every simulation, which starts with the beginning of a water year. The model is calibrated using the built-in GAP optimisation algorithm. The objective function used for calibration is composed of Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient for flows and logarithms of flows, and volumetric error, all of which participate in the composite objective function with approximately equal weights. Same prior parameter ranges are used in all simulations. The model is calibrated against flows observed at the Slovac stream gauge on the Kolubara River in Serbia (records from 1954 to 2013). There are no trends in precipitation nor in flows, however, there is a statistically significant increasing trend in temperatures at this catchment. Parameter variability across the calibration periods is quantified in terms of standard deviations of normalised parameters, enabling detection of the most variable parameters

Soil water storage, rainfall and runoff relationships in a tropical dry forest catchment

Science.gov (United States)

Farrick, Kegan K.; Branfireun, Brian A.

2014-12-01

In forested catchments, the exceedance of rainfall and antecedent water storage thresholds is often required for runoff generation, yet to our knowledge these threshold relationships remain undescribed in tropical dry forest catchments. We, therefore, identified the controls of streamflow activation and the timing and magnitude of runoff in a tropical dry forest catchment near the Pacific coast of central Mexico. During a 52 day transition phase from the dry to wet season, soil water movement was dominated by vertical flow which continued until a threshold soil moisture content of 26% was reached at 100 cm below the surface. This satisfied a 162 mm storage deficit and activated streamflow, likely through lateral subsurface flow pathways. High antecedent soil water conditions were maintained during the wet phase but had a weak influence on stormflow. We identified a threshold value of 289 mm of summed rainfall and antecedent soil water needed to generate >4 mm of stormflow per event. Above this threshold, stormflow response and magnitude was almost entirely governed by rainfall event characteristics and not antecedent soil moisture conditions. Our results show that over the course of the wet season in tropical dry forests the dominant controls on runoff generation changed from antecedent soil water and storage to the depth of rainfall.

Modelling monthly runoff generation processes following land use changes: groundwater-surface runoff interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Bari, M.; Smettem, K. R. J.

A conceptual water balance model is presented to represent changes in monthly water balance following land use changes. Monthly rainfall-runoff, groundwater and soil moisture data from four experimental catchments in Western Australia have been analysed. Two of these catchments, "Ernies" (control, fully forested) and "Lemon" (54% cleared) are in a zone of mean annual rainfall of 725 mm, while "Salmon" (control, fully forested) and "Wights" (100% cleared) are in a zone with mean annual rainfall of 1125 mm. At the Salmon forested control catchment, streamflow comprises surface runoff, base flow and interflow components. In the Wights catchment, cleared of native forest for pasture development, all three components increased, groundwater levels rose significantly and stream zone saturated area increased from 1% to 15% of the catchment area. It took seven years after clearing for the rainfall-runoff generation process to stabilise in 1984. At the Ernies forested control catchment, the permanent groundwater system is 20 m below the stream bed and so does not contribute to streamflow. Following partial clearing of forest in the Lemon catchment, groundwater rose steadily and reached the stream bed by 1987. The streamflow increased in two phases: (i) immediately after clearing due to reduced evapotranspiration, and (ii) through an increase in the groundwater-induced stream zone saturated area after 1987. After analysing all the data available, a conceptual monthly model was created, comprising four inter-connecting stores: (i) an upper zone unsaturated store, (ii) a transient stream zone store, (ii) a lower zone unsaturated store and (iv) a saturated groundwater store. Data such as rooting depth, Leaf Area Index, soil porosity, profile thickness, depth to groundwater, stream length and surface slope were incorporated into the model as a priori defined attributes. The catchment average values for different stores were determined through matching observed and predicted

Untreated runoff quality from roof and road surfaces in a low intensity rainfall climate.

Science.gov (United States)

Charters, Frances J; Cochrane, Thomas A; O'Sullivan, Aisling D

2016-04-15

Sediment and heavy metals in stormwater runoff are key pollutants of urban waterways, and their presence in stormwater is driven by climatic factors such as rainfall intensity. This study describes the total suspended solids (TSS) and heavy metal concentrations found in runoff from four different urban surfaces within a residential/institutional catchment, in a climate where rainfall is typically of low intensity (runoff quality from a compilation of international studies. The road runoff had the highest TSS concentrations, while copper and galvanized roof runoff had the highest copper and zinc concentrations, respectively. Pollutant concentrations were found to be significantly different between surfaces; quantification and prediction of pollutant contributions from urban surfaces should thus take account of the different surface materials, instead of being aggregated into more generalized categories such as land use. The TSS and heavy metal concentrations were found to be at the low to medium end of ranges observed internationally, except for total copper and zinc concentrations generated by dissolution of copper and galvanized roofing material respectively; these concentrations were at least as high as those reported internationally. TSS wash-off from the roofs was seen to be a source-limited process, where all available TSS is washed off during the rain event despite the low intensity rainfall, whereas both road TSS and heavy metals wash-off from roof and road surfaces appeared to all be transport-limited and therefore some carryover of pollutants occurs between rain events. A first flush effect was seen from most surfaces for TSS, but not for heavy metals. This study demonstrates that in low intensity rainfall climates, quantification of untreated runoff quality from key individual surface types in a catchment are needed to enable development of targeted and appropriately sized stormwater treatment systems. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mixing the Green-Ampt model and Curve Number method as an empirical tool for rainfall excess estimation in small ungauged catchments.

Science.gov (United States)

Grimaldi, S.; Petroselli, A.; Romano, N.

2012-04-01

The Soil Conservation Service - Curve Number (SCS-CN) method is a popular rainfall-runoff model that is widely used to estimate direct runoff from small and ungauged basins. The SCS-CN is a simple and valuable approach to estimate the total stream-flow volume generated by a storm rainfall, but it was developed to be used with daily rainfall data. To overcome this drawback, we propose to include the Green-Ampt (GA) infiltration model into a mixed procedure, which is referred to as CN4GA (Curve Number for Green-Ampt), aiming to distribute in time the information provided by the SCS-CN method so as to provide estimation of sub-daily incremental rainfall excess. For a given storm, the computed SCS-CN total net rainfall amount is used to calibrate the soil hydraulic conductivity parameter of the Green-Ampt model. The proposed procedure was evaluated by analyzing 100 rainfall-runoff events observed in four small catchments of varying size. CN4GA appears an encouraging tool for predicting the net rainfall peak and duration values and has shown, at least for the test cases considered in this study, a better agreement with observed hydrographs than that of the classic SCS-CN method.

FLASH-FLOOD MODELLING WITH ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS USING RADAR RAINFALL ESTIMATES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dinu Cristian

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The use of artificial neural networks (ANNs in modelling the hydrological processes has become a common approach in the last two decades, among side the traditional methods. In regard to the rainfall-runoff modelling, in both traditional and ANN models the use of ground rainfall measurements is prevalent, which can be challenging in areas with low rain gauging station density, especially in catchments where strong focused rainfall can generate flash-floods. The weather radar technology can prove to be a solution for such areas by providing rain estimates with good time and space resolution. This paper presents a comparison between different ANN setups using as input both ground and radar observations for modelling the rainfall-runoff process for Bahluet catchment, with focus on a flash-flood observed in the catchment.

Rainfall and runoff Intensity-Duration-Frequency Curves for Washington State considering the change and uncertainty of observed and anticipated extreme rainfall and snow events

Science.gov (United States)

Demissie, Y. K.; Mortuza, M. R.; Li, H. Y.

2015-12-01

The observed and anticipated increasing trends in extreme storm magnitude and frequency, as well as the associated flooding risk in the Pacific Northwest highlighted the need for revising and updating the local intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curves, which are commonly used for designing critical water infrastructure. In Washington State, much of the drainage system installed in the last several decades uses IDF curves that are outdated by as much as half a century, making the system inadequate and vulnerable for flooding as seen more frequently in recent years. In this study, we have developed new and forward looking rainfall and runoff IDF curves for each county in Washington State using recently observed and projected precipitation data. Regional frequency analysis coupled with Bayesian uncertainty quantification and model averaging methods were used to developed and update the rainfall IDF curves, which were then used in watershed and snow models to develop the runoff IDF curves that explicitly account for effects of snow and drainage characteristic into the IDF curves and related designs. The resulted rainfall and runoff IDF curves provide more reliable, forward looking, and spatially resolved characteristics of storm events that can assist local decision makers and engineers to thoroughly review and/or update the current design standards for urban and rural storm water management infrastructure in order to reduce the potential ramifications of increasing severe storms and resulting floods on existing and planned storm drainage and flood management systems in the state.

Hydraulic Geometry, GIS and Remote Sensing, Techniques against Rainfall-Runoff Models for Estimating Flood Magnitude in Ephemeral Fluvial Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafael Garcia-Lorenzo

2010-11-01

Full Text Available This paper shows the combined use of remotely sensed data and hydraulic geometry methods as an alternative to rainfall-runoff models. Hydraulic geometric data and boolean images of water sheets obtained from satellite images after storm events were integrated in a Geographical Information System. Channel cross-sections were extracted from a high resolution Digital Terrain Model (DTM and superimposed on the image cover to estimate the peak flow using HEC-RAS. The proposed methodology has been tested in ephemeral channels (ramblas on the coastal zone in south-eastern Spain. These fluvial systems constitute an important natural hazard due to their high discharges and sediment loads. In particular, different areas affected by floods during the period 1997 to 2009 were delimited through HEC-GeoRAs from hydraulic geometry data and Landsat images of these floods (Landsat‑TM5 and Landsat-ETM+7. Such an approach has been validated against rainfall-surface runoff models (SCS Dimensionless Unit Hydrograph, SCSD, Témez gamma HU Tγ and the Modified Rational method, MRM comparing their results with flood hydrographs of the Automatic Hydrologic Information System (AHIS in several ephemeral channels in the Murcia Region. The results obtained from the method providing a better fit were used to calculate different hydraulic geometry parameters, especially in residual flood areas.

Hydrology in a mediterranean mountain environment. The Vallcebre research catchment (north eastern Spain) II. Rainfall-runoff relationships and runoff processes; Hidrologia de un ambiente Mediterraneo de montana. Las cuencas de Vallcebre (Pirineo Oriental) II. Relaciones precipitacion-escorrentia y procesos hidrologicos

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Latron, J.; Solar, M.; Nord, G.; Llorens, P.; Gallart, F.

2009-07-01

Hydrological response and runoff processes have been studied in the Vallcebre research basins (North Eastern Spain) for almost 20 years. Results obtained allowed to build a more complete perceptual model of the hydrological functioning of Mediterranean mountains basins. On a seasonal and monthly scale, there was no simple relationship between rainfall and runoff depths. Monthly rainfall and runoff values revealed the existence of a threshold in the relationship between rainfall and runoff depths. At the event scale, the storm-flow coefficient had a clear seasonal pattern. The effect of the water table position on how rainfall and runoff volumes relate was observed. Examination of soil water potential and water table dynamics during representative floods helped to identify 3 types of characteristic hydrological behaviour during the year. Under dry conditions, runoff was generated essentially as infiltration excess runoff in low permeable areas, whereas saturation excess runoff dominated during wetting-up and wet conditions. During wetting-up transition, saturated areas resulted from the development of scattered perched water tables, whereas in wet conditions they were linked to the rise of the shallow water table. (Author) 8 refs.

Modeling the probability distribution of peak discharge for infiltrating hillslopes

Science.gov (United States)

Baiamonte, Giorgio; Singh, Vijay P.

2017-07-01

Hillslope response plays a fundamental role in the prediction of peak discharge at the basin outlet. The peak discharge for the critical duration of rainfall and its probability distribution are needed for designing urban infrastructure facilities. This study derives the probability distribution, denoted as GABS model, by coupling three models: (1) the Green-Ampt model for computing infiltration, (2) the kinematic wave model for computing discharge hydrograph from the hillslope, and (3) the intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) model for computing design rainfall intensity. The Hortonian mechanism for runoff generation is employed for computing the surface runoff hydrograph. Since the antecedent soil moisture condition (ASMC) significantly affects the rate of infiltration, its effect on the probability distribution of peak discharge is investigated. Application to a watershed in Sicily, Italy, shows that with the increase of probability, the expected effect of ASMC to increase the maximum discharge diminishes. Only for low values of probability, the critical duration of rainfall is influenced by ASMC, whereas its effect on the peak discharge seems to be less for any probability. For a set of parameters, the derived probability distribution of peak discharge seems to be fitted by the gamma distribution well. Finally, an application to a small watershed, with the aim to test the possibility to arrange in advance the rational runoff coefficient tables to be used for the rational method, and a comparison between peak discharges obtained by the GABS model with those measured in an experimental flume for a loamy-sand soil were carried out.

Runoff and soil loss from bench terraces. 1. An event-based model of rainfall infiltration and surface runoff.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Dijk, A.I.J.M.; Bruijnzeel, L.A.

2004-01-01

Overland flow resulting from an excess of rain over infiltration is an essential component of many models of runoff and erosion from fields or catchments. The spatially variable infiltration (SVI) model and a set of associated equations relating depth of runoff and maximum rate of 'effective' runoff

Erosivity, surface runoff, and soil erosion estimation using GIS-coupled runoff-erosion model in the Mamuaba catchment, Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Marques da Silva, Richarde; Guimarães Santos, Celso Augusto; Carneiro de Lima Silva, Valeriano; Pereira e Silva, Leonardo

2013-11-01

This study evaluates erosivity, surface runoff generation, and soil erosion rates for Mamuaba catchment, sub-catchment of Gramame River basin (Brazil) by using the ArcView Soil and Water Assessment Tool (AvSWAT) model. Calibration and validation of the model was performed on monthly basis, and it could simulate surface runoff and soil erosion to a good level of accuracy. Daily rainfall data between 1969 and 1989 from six rain gauges were used, and the monthly rainfall erosivity of each station was computed for all the studied years. In order to evaluate the calibration and validation of the model, monthly runoff data between January 1978 and April 1982 from one runoff gauge were used as well. The estimated soil loss rates were also realistic when compared to what can be observed in the field and to results from previous studies around of catchment. The long-term average soil loss was estimated at 9.4 t ha(-1) year(-1); most of the area of the catchment (60%) was predicted to suffer from a low- to moderate-erosion risk (soil erosion was estimated to exceed > 12 t ha(-1) year(-1). Expectedly, estimated soil loss was significantly correlated with measured rainfall and simulated surface runoff. Based on the estimated soil loss rates, the catchment was divided into four priority categories (low, moderate, high and very high) for conservation intervention. The study demonstrates that the AvSWAT model provides a useful tool for soil erosion assessment from catchments and facilitates the planning for a sustainable land management in northeastern Brazil.

Hydrological Modelling Using a Rainfall Simulator over an Experimental Hillslope Plot

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Arpit Chouksey

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Hydrological processes are complex to compute in hilly areas when compared to plain areas. The governing processes behind runoff generation on hillslopes are subsurface storm flow, saturation excess flow, overland flow, return flow and pipe storage. The simulations of the above processes in the soil matrix require detailed hillslope hydrological modelling. In the present study, a hillslope experimental plot has been designed to study the runoff generation processes on the plot scale. The setup is designed keeping in view the natural hillslope conditions prevailing in the Northwestern Himalayas, India where high intensity rainfall events occur frequently. A rainfall simulator was installed over the experimental hillslope plot to generate rainfall with an intensity of 100 mm/h, which represents the dominating rainfall intensity range in the region. Soil moisture sensors were also installed at variable depths from 100 to 1000 mm at different locations of the plot to observe the soil moisture regime. From the experimental observations it was found that once the soil is saturated, it remains at field capacity for the next 24–36 h. Such antecedent moisture conditions are most favorable for the generation of rapid stormflow from hillslopes. A dye infiltration test was performed on the undisturbed soil column to observe the macropore fraction variability over the vegetated hillslopes. The estimated macropore fractions are used as essential input for the hillslope hydrological model. The main objective of the present study was to develop and test a method for estimating runoff responses from natural rainfall over hillslopes of the Northwestern Himalayas using a portable rainfall simulator. Using the experimental data and the developed conceptual model, the overland flow and the subsurface flow through a macropore-dominated area have been estimated/analyzed. The surface and subsurface runoff estimated using the developed hillslope hydrological model

Climatic impacts on the runoff generation processes in British Columbia, Canada

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A. Loukas

2002-01-01

Full Text Available The potential impact of future climate change on runoff generation processes in two southern British Columbia catchments was explored using the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling Analysis General Circulation Model (CGCMa1 to estimate future changes in precipitation, temperature and cloud cover while the U.B.C. Watershed Model was used to simulate discharges and quantify the separate runoff components, i.e. rainfall, snowmelt, glacier melt and groundwater. Changes, not only in precipitation and temperature but also in the spatial distribution of precipitation with elevation, cloud cover, glacier extension, altitude distribution of vegetation, vegetation biomass production and plant physiology were considered. The future climate of the catchments would be wetter and warmer than the present. In the maritime rain-fed catchment of the Upper Campbell, runoff from rainfall is the most significant source of flow for present and future climatic conditions in the autumn and winter whereas runoff from groundwater generates the flow in spring and summer, especially for the future climate scenario. The total runoff, under the future climatic conditions, would increase in the autumn and winter and decrease in spring and summer. In contrast, in the interior snow-covered Illecillewaet catchment, groundwater is the most significant runoff generation mechanism in the autumn and winter although, at present, significant flow is generated from snowmelt in spring and from glacier runoff in summer. In the future scenario, the contribution to flow from snowmelt would increase in winter and diminish in spring while the runoff from the glacier would remain unchanged; groundwater would then become the most significant source of runoff, which would peak earlier in the season. Keywords: climatic change, hydrological simulation, rainfall, snowmelt, runoff processes

Fitting monthly Peninsula Malaysian rainfall using Tweedie distribution

Science.gov (United States)

Yunus, R. M.; Hasan, M. M.; Zubairi, Y. Z.

2017-09-01

In this study, the Tweedie distribution was used to fit the monthly rainfall data from 24 monitoring stations of Peninsula Malaysia for the period from January, 2008 to April, 2015. The aim of the study is to determine whether the distributions within the Tweedie family fit well the monthly Malaysian rainfall data. Within the Tweedie family, the gamma distribution is generally used for fitting the rainfall totals, however the Poisson-gamma distribution is more useful to describe two important features of rainfall pattern, which are the occurrences (dry months) and the amount (wet months). First, the appropriate distribution of the monthly rainfall was identified within the Tweedie family for each station. Then, the Tweedie Generalised Linear Model (GLM) with no explanatory variable was used to model the monthly rainfall data. Graphical representation was used to assess model appropriateness. The QQ plots of quantile residuals show that the Tweedie models fit the monthly rainfall data better for majority of the stations in the west coast and mid land than those in the east coast of Peninsula. This significant finding suggests that the best fitted distribution depends on the geographical location of the monitoring station. In this paper, a simple model is developed for generating synthetic rainfall data for use in various areas, including agriculture and irrigation. We have showed that the data that were simulated using the Tweedie distribution have fairly similar frequency histogram to that of the actual data. Both the mean number of rainfall events and mean amount of rain for a month were estimated simultaneously for the case that the Poisson gamma distribution fits the data reasonably well. Thus, this work complements previous studies that fit the rainfall amount and the occurrence of rainfall events separately, each to a different distribution.

The Effect of Rainfall Intensity on Soil Erosion and Runoff for Latosol Soil in Indonesia

OpenAIRE

Sukartaatmadja, Sukandi; Sato, Yohei; Yamaji, Eiji; Ishikawa, Masaya

2003-01-01

Soil erosion is the most serious problem of land degradation in Indonesia. However, limited report has been documented. The erosion problem in Indonesia, particularly in Java, has been at an alarming rate. The fundamental 1 case of soil erosion is the rain effect upon the soil. Rainfall intensity and soil characteristics are related to soil erosion and runoff The objective of this research was to study the relationship of rainfall intensity, soil erosion and runoff in latosol s...

Rainfall runoff and erosion in Napa Valley vineyards: effects of slope, cover and surface roughness

Science.gov (United States)

Battany, M. C.; Grismer, M. E.

2000-05-01

The effects of slope, cover and surface roughness on rainfall runoff, infiltration and erosion were determined at two sites on a hillside vineyard in Napa County, California, using a portable rainfall simulator. Rainfall simulation experiments were carried out at two sites, with five replications of three slope treatments (5%, 10% and 15%) in a randomized block design at each site (0%bsol;64 m2 plots). Prior to initiation of the rainfall simulations, detailed assessments, not considered in previous vineyard studies, of soil slope, cover and surface roughness were conducted. Significant correlations (at the 95% confidence level) between the physical characteristics of slope, cover and surface roughness, with total infiltration, runoff, sediment discharge and average sediment concentration were obtained. The extent of soil cracking, a physical characteristic not directly measured, also affected analysis of the rainfall-runoff-erosion process. Average cumulative runoff and cumulative sediment discharge from site A was 87% and 242% greater, respectively, than at site B. This difference was linked to the greater cover, extent of soil cracking and bulk density at site B than at site A. The extent of soil cover was the dominant factor limiting soil loss when soil cracking was not present. Field slopes within the range of 4-16%, although a statistically significant factor affecting soil losses, had only a minor impact on the amount of soil loss. The Horton infiltration equation fit field data better than the modified Philip's equation. Owing to the variability in the treatment parameters affecting the rainfall-runoff-erosion process, use of ANOVA methods were found to be inappropriate; multiple-factor regression analysis was more useful for identifying significant parameters. Overall, we obtained similar values for soil erosion parameters as those obtained from vineyard erosion studies in Europe. In addition, it appears that results from the small plot studies may be

Efficiency assessment of runoff harvesting techniques using a 3D coupled surface-subsurface hydrological model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verbist, K.; Cronelis, W. M.; McLaren, R.; Gabriels, D.; Soto, G.

2009-01-01

In arid and semi-arid zones runoff harvesting techniques are often applied to increase the water retention and infiltration on steep slopes. Additionally, they act as an erosion control measure to reduce land degradation hazards. Both in literature and in the field, a large variety of runoff collecting systems are found, as well as large variations in design and dimensions. Therefore, detailed measurements were performed on a semi-arid slope in central Chile to allow identification of the effect of a simple water harvesting technique on soil water availability. For this purpose, twenty two TDR-probes were installed and were monitored continuously during and after a simulated rainfall event. These data were used to calibrate the 3D distributed flow model HydroGeoSphere, to assess the runoff components and soil water retention as influenced by the water harvesting technique, both under simulated and natural rainfall conditions. (Author) 6 refs.

[Simulation of rainfall and snowmelt runoff reduction in a northern city based on combination of green ecological strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Jin Feng; Liu, Shuo; Dai, Jun; Qiu, Hao

2018-02-01

With the aim to control and reduce rainfall and snowmelt runoff in northern cities in China, the summer runoff and spring snowmelt runoff in the studied area were simulated with the establishment of storm water management model (SWMM). According to the climate characteristics and the situation of the studied area, the low impact development (LID) green ecological strategies suitable for the studied area were established. There were three kinds of management strategies being used, including extended green roof, snow and rainwater harvesting devices, and grass-swales or trenches. We examined the impacts of those integrated green ecological measures on the summer rainfall and spring snowmelt runoff and their mitigation effects on the drainage network pressure. The results showed that the maximum flow rates of the measured rainfall in May 24th, June 10th and July 18th 2016 were 2.7, 6.2 and 7.4 m 3 ·s -1 respectively. The peak flow rates at different return periods of 1, 2, 5, 10 years were 2.39, 3.91, 6.24 and 7.85 m 3 ·s -1 , respectively. In the snowmelt period, the peak flow appeared at the beginning of March. The LID measures had positive effect on peak flow reduction, and thus delayed peak time and relieved drainage pressure. The flow reduction rate was as high as 70%. Moreover, the snow harvesting devices played a positive role in controlling snowmelt runoff in spring.

Modelling rainfall runoff relations using HEC-HMS in a semi-arid region: Case study in Ain Sefra watershed, Ksour Mountains (SW Algeria

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Derdour Abdessamed

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Ain Sefra is one of the Algerian cities that had been experienced several devastating floods during the past 100 years. The purpose of this study is to simulate runoff in the semi-arid region of Ain Sefra watershed through the employing of the Hydrologic Engineering Center – Hydrologic Modelling System (HEC-HMS. In this paper, the frequency storm is used for the meteorological model, the Soil Conservation Service – curve number (SCS-CN is selected to calculate the loss rate and Soil Conservation Service unit hydrograph method have been applied to simulate the runoff rate. After calibration and validation, the simulated peak discharges were very close with observed values. The Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient was 0.95, indicates that the hydrological modeling results are satisfactory and accepted for simulation of rainfall-runoff. The peak discharges obtained for the 10, 50, 100 and 1000 year storms are respectively 425.8, 750.5, 904.3 and 1328.3 m3∙s−1.

Application of The Rainfall-runoff Model Topkapi For The Entire Basin of The Po River As Part of The European Project Effs

Science.gov (United States)

Todini, E.; Bartholmes, J.

The project EFFS (European Flood Forecasting System) aims at developing a flood forecasting system for the major river basins all over Europe. To extend the forecast- ing and thus the warning time in a significant way (up to 10 days) meteorological forecasting data from the ECMWF will be used as input to hydrological models. For this purpose it is fundamental to have a reliable rainfall-runoff model. For the river Po basin we chose the TOPKAPI model (Ciarapica, Todini 1998). TOPKAPI is a physi- cally based rainfall-runoff model that maintains its physical significance passing from hillslope to large basin scale. The aim of the distributed version is to reproduce the spatial variability and to lead to a better understanding of scaling effects on meteo- rological data used as well as of physical phenomena and parameters. By now the TOPKAPI model has been applied successfully to basins of smaller and medium size (up to 8000 km2). The present work also proves that TOPKAPI is a valuable flood forecasting tool for larger basins such as the Po river. An advantage of the TOPKAPI model is its physical basis. It doesn't need a "real" calibration in the common sense of the expression. The calibration work that has to be done is due to the unavoidable averaging and approximation in the input data representing various phenomena. This reduces the calibration work as well as the length of data required. The model was implemented on the Po river at spatial steps of 1km and time steps of 1 hour using available data during the year 1994. After the calibration phase, mesoscale forecasts (from ECMWF) as well as forecasts of LAM models (DWD,DMI) will be used as input to the Po river models and their behaviour will be studied as a function of the prediction quality and of the coarseness of the spatial discretisation.

Response of runoff and soil loss to reforestation and rainfall type in red soil region of southern China.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Zhigang; Ouyang, Zhiyun; Li, Fengrui; Zheng, Hua; Wang, Xiaoke

2010-01-01

To evaluate the long-term effects of reforestation types on soil erosion on degraded land, vegetation and soil properties under conventional sloping farmland (CSF) and three different reforestation types including a Pinus massoniana secondary forest (PSF), an Eucommia ulmoides artificial economic forest (EEF) and a natural succession type forest (NST), were investigated at runoff plot scale over a six-year period in a red soil region of southern China. One hundred and thirty erosive rainfall events generating runoff in plots were grouped into four rainfall types by means of K-mean clustering method. Erosive rainfall type I is the dominant rainfall type. The amount of runoff and the soil loss under erosive rainfall type III were the most, followed by rain-fall type II, IV and I. Compared with CSF treatment, reforestation treatments decreased the average annual runoff depth and the soil loss by 25.5%-61.8% and 93.9%-96.2% during the study period respectively. Meanwhile, runoff depth at PSF and EEF treatments was significantly lower than that in NST treatment, but no significant difference existed in soil erosion modulus among the three reforestation treatments. This is mainly due to the improved vegetation properties (i.e., vegetation coverage, biomass of above- and below-ground and litter-fall mass) and soil properties (i.e., bulk density, total porosity, infiltration rate and organic carbon content) in the three reforestation treatments compared to CSF treatment. The PSF and EEF are recommended as the preferred reforestation types to control runoff and soil erosion in the red soil region of southern China, with the NST potentially being used as an important supplement.

Increasing trends in rainfall-runoff erosivity in the Source Region of the Three Rivers, 1961-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yousheng; Cheng, Congcong; Xie, Yun; Liu, Baoyuan; Yin, Shuiqing; Liu, Yingna; Hao, Yanfang

2017-08-15

As the head source of the two longest rivers in China and the longest river in Southeast Asia, the East Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) is experiencing increasing thaw snowmelt and more heavy precipitation events under global warming, which might lead to soil erosion risk. To understand the potential driving force of soil erosion and its relationship with precipitation in the context of climate change, this study analyzed long-term variations in annual rainfall-runoff erosivity, a climatic index of soil erosion, by using the Mann-Kendall statistical test and Theil and Sen's approach in the Source Region of the Three Rivers during 1961-2012. The results showed the followings: (i) increasing annual rainfall-runoff erosivity was observed over the past 52years, with a mean relative trend index (RT 1 ) value of 12.1%. The increasing trend was more obvious for the latest two decades: RT 1 was nearly three times larger than that over the entire period; (ii) more precipitation events and a higher precipitation amount were the major forces for the increasing rainfall-runoff erosivity; (iii) similar rising trends in sediment yields, which corresponded to rainfall-runoff erosivity under slightly increasing vegetation coverage in the study area, implied a large contribution of rainfall-runoff erosivity to the increasing sediment yields; and (iv) high warming rates increased the risk of soil destruction, soil erosion and sediment yields. Conservation measures, such as enclosing grassland, returning grazing land to grassland and rotation grazing since the 1980s, have maintained vegetation coverage and should be continued and strengthened. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluating the Capability of Grass Swale for the Rainfall Runoff Reduction from an Urban Parking Lot, Seoul, Korea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Shafique

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This field study elaborates the role of grass swale in the management of stormwater in an urban parking lot. Grass swale was constructed by using different vegetations and local soil media in the parking lot of Mapu-gu Seoul, Korea. In this study, rainfall runoff was first retained in soil and the vegetation layers of the grass swale, and then infiltrated rainwater was collected with the help of underground perforated pipe, and passed to an underground storage trench. In this way, grass swale detained a large amount of rainwater for a longer period of time and delayed peak discharge. In this field study, various real storm events were monitored and the research results were analyzed to evaluate the performance of grass swale for managing rainfall runoff in an urban area. From the analysis of field experiments, grass swale showed the significant rainfall runoff retention in different rain events. Grass swale markedly reduced total rainfall runoff volume and peak flow during the small storm events of intensity about 30 mm/h. From the analysis, on average rainfall runoff retention from the grass swale was found around 40 to 75% during the various small rain events. From the results, we can say that grass swale is a stormwater mitigation practice which can help avoid flash flooding problems in urban areas.

Evaluating the Capability of Grass Swale for the Rainfall Runoff Reduction from an Urban Parking Lot, Seoul, Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Shafique, Muhammad; Kim, Reeho; Kyung-Ho, Kwon

2018-03-16

This field study elaborates the role of grass swale in the management of stormwater in an urban parking lot. Grass swale was constructed by using different vegetations and local soil media in the parking lot of Mapu-gu Seoul, Korea. In this study, rainfall runoff was first retained in soil and the vegetation layers of the grass swale, and then infiltrated rainwater was collected with the help of underground perforated pipe, and passed to an underground storage trench. In this way, grass swale detained a large amount of rainwater for a longer period of time and delayed peak discharge. In this field study, various real storm events were monitored and the research results were analyzed to evaluate the performance of grass swale for managing rainfall runoff in an urban area. From the analysis of field experiments, grass swale showed the significant rainfall runoff retention in different rain events. Grass swale markedly reduced total rainfall runoff volume and peak flow during the small storm events of intensity about 30 mm/h. From the analysis, on average rainfall runoff retention from the grass swale was found around 40 to 75% during the various small rain events. From the results, we can say that grass swale is a stormwater mitigation practice which can help avoid flash flooding problems in urban areas.

Evaluating the Capability of Grass Swale for the Rainfall Runoff Reduction from an Urban Parking Lot, Seoul, Korea

Science.gov (United States)

Shafique, Muhammad; Kim, Reeho; Kyung-Ho, Kwon

2018-01-01

This field study elaborates the role of grass swale in the management of stormwater in an urban parking lot. Grass swale was constructed by using different vegetations and local soil media in the parking lot of Mapu-gu Seoul, Korea. In this study, rainfall runoff was first retained in soil and the vegetation layers of the grass swale, and then infiltrated rainwater was collected with the help of underground perforated pipe, and passed to an underground storage trench. In this way, grass swale detained a large amount of rainwater for a longer period of time and delayed peak discharge. In this field study, various real storm events were monitored and the research results were analyzed to evaluate the performance of grass swale for managing rainfall runoff in an urban area. From the analysis of field experiments, grass swale showed the significant rainfall runoff retention in different rain events. Grass swale markedly reduced total rainfall runoff volume and peak flow during the small storm events of intensity about 30 mm/h. From the analysis, on average rainfall runoff retention from the grass swale was found around 40 to 75% during the various small rain events. From the results, we can say that grass swale is a stormwater mitigation practice which can help avoid flash flooding problems in urban areas. PMID:29547567

[Characteristics of nutrient loss by runoff in sloping arable land of yellow-brown under different rainfall intensities].

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Chen, Ling; Liu, De-Fu; Song, Lin-Xu; Cui, Yu-Jie; Zhang, Gei

2013-06-01

In order to investigate the loss characteristics of N and P through surface flow and interflow under different rainfall intensities, a field experiment was conducted on the sloping arable land covered by typical yellow-brown soils inXiangxi River watershed by artificial rainfall. The results showed that the discharge of surface flow, total runoff and sediment increased with the increase of rain intensity, while the interflow was negatively correlated with rain intensity under the same total rainfall. TN, DN and DP were all flushed at the very beginning in surface flow underdifferent rainfall intensities; TP fluctuated and kept consistent in surface flow without obvious downtrend. While TN, DN and DP in interflow kept relatively stable in the whole runoff process, TP was high at the early stage, then rapidly decreased with time and kept steady finally. P was directly influenced by rainfall intensity, its concentration in the runoff increased with the increase of the rainfall intensity, the average concentration of N and P both exceeded the threshold of eutrophication of freshwater. The higher the amount of P loss was, the higher the rain intensity. The change of N loss was the opposite. The contribution rate of TN loss carried by surface flow increased from 36.5% to 57.6% with the increase of rainfall intensity, but surface flow was the primary form of P loss which contributed above 90.0%. Thus, it is crucial to control interflow in order to reduce N loss. In addition, measures should be taken to effectively manage soil erosion to mitigate P loss. The proportion of dissolved nitrogen in surface flow elevated with the decrease of rainfall intensity, but in interflow, dissolved form was predominant. P was exported mainly in the form of particulate under different rainfall intensities and runoff conditions.

WEPP and ANN models for simulating soil loss and runoff in a semi-arid Mediterranean region.

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Albaradeyia, Issa; Hani, Azzedine; Shahrour, Isam

2011-09-01

This paper presents the use of both the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) and the artificial neural network (ANN) for the prediction of runoff and soil loss in the central highland mountainous of the Palestinian territories. Analyses show that the soil erosion is highly dependent on both the rainfall depth and the rainfall event duration rather than on the rainfall intensity as mostly mentioned in the literature. The results obtained from the WEPP model for the soil loss and runoff disagree with the field data. The WEPP underestimates both the runoff and soil loss. Analyses conducted with the ANN agree well with the observation. In addition, the global network models developed using the data of all the land use type show a relatively unbiased estimation for both runoff and soil loss. The study showed that the ANN model could be used as a management tool for predicting runoff and soil loss.

Reply to comment by Fred L. Ogden et al. on "Beyond the SCS-CN method: A theoretical framework for spatially lumped rainfall-runoff response"

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Bartlett, M. S.; Parolari, A. J.; McDonnell, J. J.; Porporato, A.

2017-07-01

Though Ogden et al. list several shortcomings of the original SCS-CN method, fit for purpose is a key consideration in hydrological modelling, as shown by the adoption of SCS-CN method in many design standards. The theoretical framework of Bartlett et al. [2016a] reveals a family of semidistributed models, of which the SCS-CN method is just one member. Other members include event-based versions of the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model and TOPMODEL. This general model allows us to move beyond the limitations of the original SCS-CN method under different rainfall-runoff mechanisms and distributions for soil and rainfall variability. Future research should link this general model approach to different hydrogeographic settings, in line with the call for action proposed by Ogden et al.

A rainfall simulator for characterising dominant runoff processes on the scale of hillside segments

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Hümann, Marco; Schobel, Steffen; Müller, Christoph; Schneider, Raimund

2010-05-01

At present time it is common to use different kinds of hydrologic models or GIS applications to simulate runoff generation. Otherwise, especially the spatial variability of soil conditions and a lack of essential soil data makes it difficult to identify the specific mechanism of discharge generation at the plot scale or even at catchment scale. For this reason, sprinkling experiments combined with multi-attribute soil analysis are still a basic prerequisite for a realistic and knowledge-based assessment, which offers also the possibility of validating models in a second step. In several studies we performed sprinkling experiments for different land use types and a number of different substrates using the portable rainfall simulator according to Karl & Toldrian. The configuration consists of a U-shaped pipe system: Two parallel, 10 m long iron pipes are oriented along the slope line, and at their rear end, connected by an additional, 5 m long pipe (50 sqm). Six standpipes (70 cm height) with low-pressure-nozzles irrigate the area homogeneously. The open side of the U was located in downhill direction with a soil pit at the bottom. To measure the discharge of several runoff processes (overland flow, subsurface flow), a large soil pit of 3 m width was prepared with angled sheet metals in different depths. The effective experimental area is about 30 sqm as a consequence of two adjacent one meter wide also irrigated border lines which act similar to a double ring of an infiltrometer setup. The used irrigation schedule is adapted to the flood events in winter time of 1993 and 1995 with a sum of 120 mm precipitation in three days. Four 15-minute intervals of 10 mm precipitation were applied each day. Nevertheless, only sprinkling experiments are not suitable for identifying the key-parameters dominating the respective runoff processes. For this purpose, auxiliary field experiments and soil analysis are necessary. The conventional setup include tracer irrigation

Runoff of pyrethroid insecticides from concrete surfaces following simulated and natural rainfalls.

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Jiang, Weiying; Haver, Darren; Rust, Michael; Gan, Jay

2012-03-01

Intensive residential use of insecticides has resulted in their ubiquitous presence as contaminants in urban surface streams. For pest eradication, urban hard surfaces such as concrete are often directly treated with pesticides, and wind/water can also carry pesticides onto hard surfaces from surrounding areas. This study expanded on previous bench-scale studies by considering pesticide runoff caused by irrigation under dry weather conditions and rain during the wet season, and evaluated the effects of pesticide residence time on concrete, single versus recurring precipitations, precipitation intensity, and concrete surface conditions, on pesticide transferability to runoff water. Runoff from concrete 1 d after pesticide treatment contained high levels of bifenthrin (82 μg/L) and permethrin (5143 μg/L for cis and 5518 μg/L for trans), indicating the importance of preventing water contact on concrete after pesticide treatments. Although the runoff transferability quickly decreased as the pesticide residence time on concrete increased, detectable residues were still found in runoff water after 3 months (89 d) exposure to hot and dry summer conditions. ANOVA analysis showed that precipitation intensities and concrete surface conditions (i.e., acid wash, silicone seal, stamping, and addition of microsilica) did not significantly affect the pesticide transferability to runoff. For concrete slabs subjected to natural rainfalls during the winter wet season, pesticide levels in the runoff decreased as the time interval between pesticide application and the rain event increased. However, bifenthrin and permethrin were still detected at 0.15-0.17 and 0.75-1.15 μg/L in the rain runoff after 7 months (221 d) from the initial treatment. In addition, pesticide concentrations showed no decrease between the two rainfall events, suggesting that concrete surfaces contaminated by pesticides may act as a reservoir for pesticide residues, leading to sustained urban runoff

Seasonal rainfall-runoff relationships in a lowland forested watershed in the southeastern USA

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Ileana La Torre Torres; Devendra Amatya; Ge Sun; Timothy Callahan

2011-01-01

Hydrological processes of lowland watersheds of the southern USA are not well understood compared to a hilly landscape due to their unique topography, soil compositions, and climate. This study describes the seasonal relationships between rainfall patterns and runoff (sum of storm flow and base flow) using 13 years (1964–1976) of rainfall and stream flow data for a low...

A novel approach for runoff modelling in ungauged catchments by Catchment Morphing

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Zhang, J.; Han, D.

2017-12-01

Runoff prediction in ungauged catchments has been one of the major challenges in the past decades. However, due to the tremendous heterogeneity of hydrological catchments, obstacles exist in deducing model parameters for ungauged catchments from gauged ones. We propose a novel approach to predict ungauged runoff with Catchment Morphing (CM) using a fully distributed model. CM is defined as by changing the catchment characteristics (area and slope here) from the baseline model built with a gauged catchment to model the ungauged ones. The advantages of CM are: (a) less demand of the similarity between the baseline catchment and the ungauged catchment, (b) less demand of available data, and (c) potentially applicable in varied catchments. A case study on seven catchments in the UK has been used to demonstrate the proposed scheme. To comprehensively examine the CM approach, distributed rainfall inputs are utilised in the model, and fractal landscapes are used to morph the land surface from the baseline model to the target model. The preliminary results demonstrate the feasibility of the approach, which is promising in runoff simulation for ungauged catchments. Clearly, more work beyond this pilot study is needed to explore and develop this new approach further to maturity by the hydrological community.

[Hydrology and water quality of rainfall-runoff in combined sewerage system along Suzhou Creek in central Shanghai].

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Jiang; Yang, Kai; Huang, Xiao-Fang; Lü, Yong-Peng

2009-07-15

In order to obtain the processes of hydrology and water quality of urban combined sewerage system (CSS) in highly urbanized region, the precipitation, discharge and pollutant concentration of four different intensity rainfall (light rain, moderate rain, heavy rain and storm) were measured from Jul. to Sep. 2007 in the Chendulu CSS along Suzhou Creek in Shanghai. The results show that the shapes of runoff graph are similar to rainfall graph, with a weaker fluctuation range and a 15-25 min delay between rainfall and runoff graph. Runoff coefficients of the four different rainfall are 0.33, 0.62, 0.67 and 0.73, respectively. The 30/30 first flush phenomenon is found in Chendulu CSS. The peak of pollutant concentration graph lags rainfall peak about 30-40 min. The pH and event mean concentration (EMC) of Cu, Zn, Cr, Cd, Pb and Ni totally measure up to environmental quality standards V for surface water of China besides COD, BOD5, NH4(+) -N and TP, and the EMC of COD, BOD5, NH4(+) -N and TP are 225.0-544.1, 31.5-98.9, 8.9-44.2 and 1.98-3.52 mg x L(-1), respectively. The rainfall-runoff pollutant concentration in Chendulu CSS is close to those of other foreign cites. At the confidence level of p < 0.01, good relationships exist between SS and COD, BOD5, NH4(+) -N and TP, respectively, and the average proportion of particulate organic pollutant and nutrient is 70.21%.

Modelling of extreme minimum rainfall using generalised extreme value distribution for Zimbabwe

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Delson Chikobvu

2015-09-01

Full Text Available We modelled the mean annual rainfall for data recorded in Zimbabwe from 1901 to 2009. Extreme value theory was used to estimate the probabilities of meteorological droughts. Droughts can be viewed as extreme events which go beyond and/or below normal rainfall occurrences, such as exceptionally low mean annual rainfall. The duality between the distribution of the minima and maxima was exploited and used to fit the generalised extreme value distribution (GEVD to the data and hence find probabilities of extreme low levels of mean annual rainfall. The augmented Dickey Fuller test confirmed that rainfall data were stationary, while the normal quantile-quantile plot indicated that rainfall data deviated from the normality assumption at both ends of the tails of the distribution. The maximum likelihood estimation method and the Bayesian approach were used to find the parameters of the GEVD. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Anderson-Darling goodnessof- fit tests showed that the Weibull class of distributions was a good fit to the minima mean annual rainfall using the maximum likelihood estimation method. The mean return period estimate of a meteorological drought using the threshold value of mean annual rainfall of 473 mm was 8 years. This implies that if in the year there is a meteorological drought then another drought of the same intensity or greater is expected after 8 years. It is expected that the use of Bayesian inference may better quantify the level of uncertainty associated with the GEVD parameter estimates than with the maximum likelihood estimation method. The Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm for the GEVD was applied to construct the model parameter estimates using the Bayesian approach. These findings are significant because results based on non-informative priors (Bayesian method and the maximum likelihood method approach are expected to be similar.

Simulation of filter strips influence on runoff and soil and nutrient losses under different rainfall patterns in a small vineyard catchment

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Ramos, Maria C.; Benito, Carolina

2014-05-01

This work presents the analysis of the influence of filter strips on soil and water losses in a small catchment, whose main land use is grape vines. The watershed was located in the municipality of Piera (Barcelona, Spain). Other crops like olive trees, winter barley and alfalfa were also found, as well as some residential areas. Soil and water losses were simulated using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The model was calibrated and validated using soil water and runoff data collected in the field during the period May 2010- May 2012. Then, the model was run for the period 2000-2011, which included years with different rainfall amounts and characteristics. Soil losses with and without that soil conservation measure was compared. The annual rainfall recorded during the analysed years ranged from 329.8 to 785 mm with different rainfall distributions within the year. Runoff rates ranged from 17 to 141 mm, which represented respectively 4.7 and 21% of total precipitation. Both extreme situations were recorded in the driest years of the series, with precipitation below the average. Soil losses ranged between 0.31 Mg/ha in the driest year and 13.9 Mg/ha, in the wettest. The simulation of soil losses with the introduction of filter strips 3m width in the vineyards resulted in a reduction of soil losses up to 68% in relation to the situation without that soil conservation measure. This soil loss decrease represented an additional nutrient loss reduction (up to 66% for N_organic, up to 64% of P_organic and between 6.5 and 40% of N_nitrate, depending on rainfall characteristics).

Modeling Spatial Dependence of Rainfall Extremes Across Multiple Durations

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Le, Phuong Dong; Leonard, Michael; Westra, Seth

2018-03-01

Determining the probability of a flood event in a catchment given that another flood has occurred in a nearby catchment is useful in the design of infrastructure such as road networks that have multiple river crossings. These conditional flood probabilities can be estimated by calculating conditional probabilities of extreme rainfall and then transforming rainfall to runoff through a hydrologic model. Each catchment's hydrological response times are unlikely to be the same, so in order to estimate these conditional probabilities one must consider the dependence of extreme rainfall both across space and across critical storm durations. To represent these types of dependence, this study proposes a new approach for combining extreme rainfall across different durations within a spatial extreme value model using max-stable process theory. This is achieved in a stepwise manner. The first step defines a set of common parameters for the marginal distributions across multiple durations. The parameters are then spatially interpolated to develop a spatial field. Storm-level dependence is represented through the max-stable process for rainfall extremes across different durations. The dependence model shows a reasonable fit between the observed pairwise extremal coefficients and the theoretical pairwise extremal coefficient function across all durations. The study demonstrates how the approach can be applied to develop conditional maps of the return period and return level across different durations.

Consequences of changes to the NRCS rainfall-runoff relations on hydrologic design

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A proposed quantification of the fundamental concepts in the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) rainfall-runoff relation is examined to determine changes relevant to peak discharge estimation and drainage design. Changes to the NRCS curve number, storage, and initial abstraction relations...

Impact of carbonaceous materials in soil on the transport of soil-bound PAHs during rainfall-runoff events

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luo, Xiaolin; Zheng, Yi; Wu, Bin; Lin, Zhongrong; Han, Feng; Zhang, Wei; Wang, Xuejun

2013-01-01

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) transported from contaminated soils by surface runoff pose significant risk for aquatic ecosystems. Based on a rainfall-runoff simulation experiment, this study investigated the impact of carbonaceous materials (CMs) in soil, identified by organic petrology analysis, on the transport of soil-bound PAHs under rainfall conditions. The hypothesis that composition of soil organic matter significantly impacts the enrichment and transport of PAHs was proved. CMs in soil, varying significantly in content, mobility and adsorption capacity, act differently on the transport of PAHs. Anthropogenic CMs like black carbon (BC) largely control the transport, as PAHs may be preferentially attached to them. Eventually, this study led to a rethink of the traditional enrichment theory. An important implication is that CMs in soil have to be explicitly considered to appropriately model the nonpoint source pollution of PAHs (possibly other hydrophobic chemicals as well) and assess its environmental risk. -- Highlights: •Composition of SOM significantly impacts the enrichment and transport of PAHs. •Anthropogenic carbonaceous materials in soil largely control the transport of PAHs. •The classic enrichment theory is invalid if anthropogenic CMs are abundant in the soil. •Organic petrology analysis introduced to study the fate and transport of PAHs. -- Anthropogenic carbonaceous materials in soil, especially black carbon, largely control the transport of soil-bound PAHs during rainfall-runoff events

Assessing groundwater recharge in an Andean closed basin using isotopic characterization and a rainfall-runoff model: Salar del Huasco basin, Chile

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Uribe, Javier; Muñoz, José F.; Gironás, Jorge; Oyarzún, Ricardo; Aguirre, Evelyn; Aravena, Ramón

2015-11-01

Closed basins are catchments whose drainage networks converge to lakes, salt flats or alluvial plains. Salt flats in the closed basins in arid northern Chile are extremely important ecological niches. The Salar del Huasco, one of these salt flats located in the high plateau (Altiplano), is a Ramsar site located in a national park and is composed of a wetland ecosystem rich in biodiversity. The proper management of the groundwater, which is essential for the wetland function, requires accurate estimates of recharge in the Salar del Huasco basin. This study quantifies the spatio-temporal distribution of the recharge, through combined use of isotopic characterization of the different components of the water cycle and a rainfall-runoff model. The use of both methodologies aids the understanding of hydrological behavior of the basin and enabled estimation of a long-term average recharge of 22 mm/yr (i.e., 15 % of the annual rainfall). Recharge has a high spatial variability, controlled by the geological and hydrometeorological characteristics of the basin, and a high interannual variability, with values ranging from 18 to 26 mm/yr. The isotopic approach allowed not only the definition of the conceptual model used in the hydrological model, but also eliminated the possibility of a hydrogeological connection between the aquifer of the Salar del Huasco basin and the aquifer that feeds the springs of the nearby town of Pica. This potential connection has been an issue of great interest to agriculture and tourism activities in the region.

Applying Spatially Distributed Rainfall to a Hydrological Model in a Tropical Watershed, Manoa Watershed, in Hawaii

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Huang, Y. F.; Tsang, Y. P.

2017-12-01

Rainfall in Hawaii is characterized with high spatial and temporal variability. In the south side of Oahu, the Manoa watershed, with an area of 11 km2, has the annual maximum rainfall of 3900mm and the minimum rainfall of 1000 mm. Despite this high spatial heterogeneity, the rain gage network seems insufficiently capture this pattern. When simulating stream flow and predicting floods with hydrological models in Hawaii, the model performance is often unsatisfactory because of inadequate representation of rainfall data. Longman et al. (in prep.) have developed the spatially distributed daily rainfall across the Hawaiian Islands by applying ordinary kriging, yet these data have not been applied to hydrological models. In this study, we used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to assess the streamflow simulation by applying spatially-distributed rainfall in the Manoa watershed. We first used point daily-rainfall at Lyon Arboretum from National Center of Environmental Information (NCEI) as the uniform rainfall input. Secondly, we summarized sub-watershed mean rainfall from the daily spatial-statistical rainfall. Both rainfall data are available from 1999 to 2014. The SWAT was set up for five-year warm-up, nine-year calibration, and two-year validation. The model parameters were calibrated and validated with four U.S. Geological Survey stream gages. We compared the calibrated watershed parameters, characteristics, and assess the streamflow hydrographs from these two rainfall inputs. The differences and improvement of using spatially distributed rainfall input in SWAT were discussed. In addition to improving the model by the representation of rainfall, this study helped us having a better understanding of the watershed hydrological response in Hawaii.

Introducing a rainfall compound distribution model based on weather patterns sub-sampling

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F. Garavaglia

2010-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a probabilistic model for daily rainfall, using sub-sampling based on meteorological circulation. We classified eight typical but contrasted synoptic situations (weather patterns for France and surrounding areas, using a "bottom-up" approach, i.e. from the shape of the rain field to the synoptic situations described by geopotential fields. These weather patterns (WP provide a discriminating variable that is consistent with French climatology, and allows seasonal rainfall records to be split into more homogeneous sub-samples, in term of meteorological genesis.

First results show how the combination of seasonal and WP sub-sampling strongly influences the identification of the asymptotic behaviour of rainfall probabilistic models. Furthermore, with this level of stratification, an asymptotic exponential behaviour of each sub-sample appears as a reasonable hypothesis. This first part is illustrated with two daily rainfall records from SE of France.

The distribution of the multi-exponential weather patterns (MEWP is then defined as the composition, for a given season, of all WP sub-sample marginal distributions, weighted by the relative frequency of occurrence of each WP. This model is finally compared to Exponential and Generalized Pareto distributions, showing good features in terms of robustness and accuracy. These final statistical results are computed from a wide dataset of 478 rainfall chronicles spread on the southern half of France. All these data cover the 1953–2005 period.

Modelling monthly runoff generation processes following land use changes: groundwater–surface runoff interactions

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M. Bari

2004-01-01

Full Text Available A conceptual water balance model is presented to represent changes in monthly water balance following land use changes. Monthly rainfall–runoff, groundwater and soil moisture data from four experimental catchments in Western Australia have been analysed. Two of these catchments, 'Ernies' (control, fully forested and 'Lemon' (54% cleared are in a zone of mean annual rainfall of 725 mm, while 'Salmon' (control, fully forested and 'Wights' (100% cleared are in a zone with mean annual rainfall of 1125 mm. At the Salmon forested control catchment, streamflow comprises surface runoff, base flow and interflow components. In the Wights catchment, cleared of native forest for pasture development, all three components increased, groundwater levels rose significantly and stream zone saturated area increased from 1% to 15% of the catchment area. It took seven years after clearing for the rainfall–runoff generation process to stabilise in 1984. At the Ernies forested control catchment, the permanent groundwater system is 20 m below the stream bed and so does not contribute to streamflow. Following partial clearing of forest in the Lemon catchment, groundwater rose steadily and reached the stream bed by 1987. The streamflow increased in two phases: (i immediately after clearing due to reduced evapotranspiration, and (ii through an increase in the groundwater-induced stream zone saturated area after 1987. After analysing all the data available, a conceptual monthly model was created, comprising four inter-connecting stores: (i an upper zone unsaturated store, (ii a transient stream zone store, (ii a lower zone unsaturated store and (iv a saturated groundwater store. Data such as rooting depth, Leaf Area Index, soil porosity, profile thickness, depth to groundwater, stream length and surface slope were incorporated into the model as a priori defined attributes. The catchment average values for different stores were determined through matching observed and

Anomaly in the rainfall-runoff behaviour of the Meuse catchment. Climate, land-use, or land-use management?

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F. Fenicia

2009-09-01

Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to investigate the time variability of catchment characteristics in the Meuse basin through its effect on catchment response. The approach uses a conceptual model to represent rainfall-runoff behaviour of this catchment, and evaluates possible time-dependence of model parameters. The main hypothesis is that conceptual model parameters, although not measurable quantities, are representative of specific catchment attributes (e.g. geology, land-use, land management, topography. Hence, we assume that eventual trends in model parameters are representative of catchment attributes that may have changed over time. The available hydrological record involves ninety years of data, starting in 1911. During this period the Meuse catchment has undergone significant modifications. The catchment structural modifications, although documented, are not available as "hard-data". Hence, our results should be considered as "plausible hypotheses". The main motivation of this work is the "anomaly" found in the rainfall runoff behaviour of the Meuse basin, where ninety years of rainfall-runoff simulations show a consistent overestimation of the runoff in the period between 1930 and 1965. Different authors have debated possible causes for the "anomaly", including climatic variability, land-use change and data errors. None of the authors considered the way in which the land is used by for instance agricultural and forestry practises. This aspect influenced the model design, which has been configured to account for different evaporation demand of growing forest. As a result of our analysis, we conclude that the lag time of the catchment has decreased significantly over time, which we attribute to more intensive drainage and river training works. Furthermore, we hypothesise that forest rotation has had a significant impact on the evaporation of the catchment. These results contrast with previous studies, where the effect of land-use change on

Radar rainfall estimation in a hilly environment and implications for runoff modeling

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Hazenberg, Pieter; Leijnse, Hidde; Uijlenhoet, Remko

2010-05-01

Radars are known for their ability to obtain a wealth of information about the spatial stormfield characteristics. Unfortunately, rainfall estimates obtained by this instrument are known to be affected by multiple sources of error. Especially for stratiform precipitation systems, the quality of radar rainfall estimates starts to decrease at relatively close ranges. In the current study the hydrological potential of weather radar is analyzed during a winter half-year for the hilly region of the Belgian Ardennes. A correction algorithm is proposed taking into account attenuation, ground clutter, anomalous propagation, the vertical profile of reflectivity (VPR) and advection. No final bias correction with respect to rain gauge data were implemented, because that does not add to a better understanding of the quality of the radar. Largest quality improvements in the radar data are obtained by ground clutter removal. The influence of VPR correction and advection depends on the precipitation system observed. Overall, the radar shows an underestimation as compared to the rain gauges, which becomes smaller after averaging at the scale of the medium-sized Ourthe catchment. Remaining differences between both devices can mainly be attributed to an improper choice of the Z-R relationship. Conceptual rainfall-runoff simulations show similar results using either catchment average radar or rain gauge data, although the largest discharge peak observed, is seriously underestimated when applying radar data. Overall, for hydrological applications corrected weather radar information in a hilly environment can be used up to 70 km during a winter half-year.

Distributed Modelling of Stormflow Generation: Assessing the Effect of Ground Cover

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Jarihani, B.; Sidle, R. C.; Roth, C. H.; Bartley, R.; Wilkinson, S. N.

2017-12-01

Understanding the effects of grazing management and land cover changes on surface hydrology is important for water resources and land management. A distributed hydrological modelling platform, wflow, (that was developed as part of Deltares's OpenStreams project) is used to assess the effect of land management practices on runoff generation processes. The model was applied to Weany Creek, a small catchment (13.6 km2) of the Burdekin Basin, North Australia, which is being studied to understand sources of sediment and nutrients to the Great Barrier Reef. Satellite and drone-based ground cover data, high resolution topography from LiDAR, soil properties, and distributed rainfall data were used to parameterise the model. Wflow was used to predict total runoff, peak runoff, time of rise, and lag time for several events of varying magnitudes and antecedent moisture conditions. A nested approach was employed to calibrate the model by using recorded flow hydrographs at three scales: (1) a hillslope sub-catchment: (2) a gullied sub-catchment; and the 13.6 km2 catchment outlet. Model performance was evaluated by comparing observed and predicted stormflow hydrograph attributes using the Nash Sutcliffe efficiency metric. By using a nested approach, spatiotemporal patterns of overland flow occurrence across the catchment can also be evaluated. The results show that a process-based distributed model can be calibrated to simulate spatial and temporal patterns of runoff generation processes, to help identify dominant processes which may be addressed by land management to improve rainfall retention. The model will be used to assess the effects of ground cover changes due to management practices in grazed lands on storm runoff.

EVALUATION OF RAINFALL-RUNOFF EROSIVITY FACTOR FOR CAMERON HIGHLAND, PAHANG, MALAYSIA

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Abdulkadir Taofeeq Sholagberu

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Rainfall-runoff is the active agent of soil erosion which often resulted in land degradation and water quality deterioration. Its aggressiveness to induce erosion is usually termed as rainfall erosivity index or factor (R. R-factor is one of the factors to be parameterized in the evaluation of soil loss using the Universal Soil Loss Equation and its reversed versions (USLE/RUSLE. The computation of accurate R-factor for a particular watershed requires high temporal resolution rainfall (pluviograph data with less than 30-minutes intensities for at least 20 yrs, which is available only in a few regions of the world. As a result, various simplified models have been proposed by researchers to evaluate R-factor using readily available daily, monthly or annual precipitation data. This study is thus aimed at estimating R-factor and to establish an approximate relationship between R-factor and rainfall for subsequent usage in the estimation of soil loss in Cameron highlands watershed. The results of the analysis showed that the least and peak (critical R-factors occurred in the months of January and April with 660.82 and 2399.18 MJ mm ha-1 h-1year-1 respectively. Also, it was observed that erosivity power starts to increase from the month of January through April before started falling in the month of July. The monthly and annual peaks (critical periods may be attributed to increased rainfall amount due to climate change which in turn resulted to increased aggressiveness of rains to cause erosion in the study area. The correlation coefficient of 0.985 showed that there was a strong relationship rainfall and R-factor.

Evaluation of Maximum a Posteriori Estimation as Data Assimilation Method for Forecasting Infiltration-Inflow Affected Urban Runoff with Radar Rainfall Input

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Jonas W. Pedersen

2016-09-01

Full Text Available High quality on-line flow forecasts are useful for real-time operation of urban drainage systems and wastewater treatment plants. This requires computationally efficient models, which are continuously updated with observed data to provide good initial conditions for the forecasts. This paper presents a way of updating conceptual rainfall-runoff models using Maximum a Posteriori estimation to determine the most likely parameter constellation at the current point in time. This is done by combining information from prior parameter distributions and the model goodness of fit over a predefined period of time that precedes the forecast. The method is illustrated for an urban catchment, where flow forecasts of 0–4 h are generated by applying a lumped linear reservoir model with three cascading reservoirs. Radar rainfall observations are used as input to the model. The effects of different prior standard deviations and lengths of the auto-calibration period on the resulting flow forecast performance are evaluated. We were able to demonstrate that, if properly tuned, the method leads to a significant increase in forecasting performance compared to a model without continuous auto-calibration. Delayed responses and erratic behaviour in the parameter variations are, however, observed and the choice of prior distributions and length of auto-calibration period is not straightforward.

Evaluation of statistical and rainfall-runoff models for predicting historical daily streamflow time series in the Des Moines and Iowa River watersheds

Science.gov (United States)

Farmer, William H.; Knight, Rodney R.; Eash, David A.; Kasey J. Hutchinson,; Linhart, S. Mike; Christiansen, Daniel E.; Archfield, Stacey A.; Over, Thomas M.; Kiang, Julie E.

2015-08-24

Daily records of streamflow are essential to understanding hydrologic systems and managing the interactions between human and natural systems. Many watersheds and locations lack streamgages to provide accurate and reliable records of daily streamflow. In such ungaged watersheds, statistical tools and rainfall-runoff models are used to estimate daily streamflow. Previous work compared 19 different techniques for predicting daily streamflow records in the southeastern United States. Here, five of the better-performing methods are compared in a different hydroclimatic region of the United States, in Iowa. The methods fall into three classes: (1) drainage-area ratio methods, (2) nonlinear spatial interpolations using flow duration curves, and (3) mechanistic rainfall-runoff models. The first two classes are each applied with nearest-neighbor and map-correlated index streamgages. Using a threefold validation and robust rank-based evaluation, the methods are assessed for overall goodness of fit of the hydrograph of daily streamflow, the ability to reproduce a daily, no-fail storage-yield curve, and the ability to reproduce key streamflow statistics. As in the Southeast study, a nonlinear spatial interpolation of daily streamflow using flow duration curves is found to be a method with the best predictive accuracy. Comparisons with previous work in Iowa show that the accuracy of mechanistic models with at-site calibration is substantially degraded in the ungaged framework.

COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF RUNOFF AND ITS COMPONENTS IN TWO CATCHMENTS OF UPPER INDUS BASIN BY USING A SEMI DISTRIBUTED GLACIO-HYDROLOGICAL MODEL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. H. Ali

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The hydrology of Upper Indus basin is not recognized well due to the intricacies in the climate and geography, and the scarcity of data above 5000 m a.s.l where most of the precipitation falls in the form of snow. The main objective of this study is to measure the contributions of different components of runoff in Upper Indus basin. To achieve this goal, the Modified positive degree day model (MPDDM was used to simulate the runoff and investigate its components in two catchments of Upper Indus basin, Hunza and Gilgit River basins. These two catchments were selected because of their different glacier coverage, contrasting area distribution at high altitudes and significant impact on the Upper Indus River flow. The components of runoff like snow-ice melt and rainfall-base flow were identified by the model. The simulation results show that the MPDDM shows a good agreement between observed and modeled runoff of these two catchments and the effects of snow and ice are mainly reliant on the catchment characteristics and the glaciated area. For Gilgit River basin, the largest contributor to runoff is rain-base flow, whereas large contribution of snow-ice melt observed in Hunza River basin due to its large fraction of glaciated area. This research will not only contribute to the better understanding of the impacts of climate change on the hydrological response in the Upper Indus, but will also provide guidance for the development of hydropower potential and water resources assessment in these catchments.

Runoff from armored slopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Codell, R.B.

1986-01-01

Models exist for calculating overland flow on hillsides but no models have been found which explicitly deal with runoff from armored slopes. Flow on armored slopes differs from overland flow, because substantial flow occurs beneath the surface of the rock layer at low runnoff, and both above and below the surface for high runoff. In addition to the lack of a suitable model, no estimates of the PMP exist for such small areas and for very short durations. This paper develops a model for calculating runoff from armored embankments. The model considers the effect of slope, drainage area and ''flow concentration'' caused by irregular grading or slumping. A rainfall-duration curve based on the PMP is presented which is suitable for very small drainage areas. The development of the runoff model and rainfall-duration curve is presented below, along with a demonstration of the model on the design of a hypothetical tailings embankment

Estimating Runoff Coefficients Using Weather Radars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ahm, Malte; Thorndahl, Søren Liedtke; Rasmussen, Michael R.

2012-01-01

This paper presents a method for estimating runoff coefficients of urban drainage catchments based on a combination of high resolution weather radar data and insewer flow measurements. By utilising the spatial variability of the precipitation it is possible to estimate the runoff coefficients...... of separate subcatchments. The method is demonstrated through a case study of an urban drainage catchment (678ha) located in the municipality of Aarhus, Denmark. The study has proven it is possible to use corresponding measurements of the relative rainfall distribution over the catchment and runoff...... measurements to identify the runoff coefficients at subcatchment level. The number of potential subcatchments is limited by the number of available rainfall events with a sufficient spatial variability....

Downscaling of a global climate model for estimation of runoff, sediment yield and dam storage: A case study of Pirapama basin, Brazil

Science.gov (United States)

Braga, Ana Cláudia F. Medeiros; Silva, Richarde Marques da; Santos, Celso Augusto Guimarães; Galvão, Carlos de Oliveira; Nobre, Paulo

2013-08-01

The coastal zone of northeastern Brazil is characterized by intense human activities and by large settlements and also experiences high soil losses that can contribute to environmental damage. Therefore, it is necessary to build an integrated modeling-forecasting system for rainfall-runoff erosion that assesses plans for water availability and sediment yield that can be conceived and implemented. In this work, we present an evaluation of an integrated modeling system for a basin located in this region with a relatively low predictability of seasonal rainfall and a small area (600 km2). The National Center for Environmental Predictions - NCEP’s Regional Spectral Model (RSM) nested within the Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies - CPTEC’s Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM) were investigated in this study, and both are addressed in the simulation work. The rainfall analysis shows that: (1) the dynamic downscaling carried out by the regional RSM model approximates the frequency distribution of the daily observed data set although errors were detected in the magnitude and timing (anticipation of peaks, for example) at the daily scale, (2) an unbiased precipitation forecast seemed to be essential for use of the results in hydrological models, and (3) the information directly extracted from the global model may also be useful. The simulated runoff and reservoir-stored volumes are strongly linked to rainfall, and their estimation accuracy was significantly improved at the monthly scale, thus rendering the results useful for management purposes. The runoff-erosion forecasting displayed a large sediment yield that was consistent with the predicted rainfall.

Transport mechanisms of soil-bound mercury in the erosion process during rainfall-runoff events.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Yi; Luo, Xiaolin; Zhang, Wei; Wu, Xin; Zhang, Juan; Han, Feng

2016-08-01

Soil contamination by mercury (Hg) is a global environmental issue. In watersheds with a significant soil Hg storage, soil erosion during rainfall-runoff events can result in nonpoint source (NPS) Hg pollution and therefore, can extend its environmental risk from soils to aquatic ecosystems. Nonetheless, transport mechanisms of soil-bound Hg in the erosion process have not been explored directly, and how different fractions of soil organic matter (SOM) impact transport is not fully understood. This study investigated transport mechanisms based on rainfall-runoff simulation experiments. The experiments simulated high-intensity and long-duration rainfall conditions, which can produce significant soil erosion and NPS pollution. The enrichment ratio (ER) of total mercury (THg) was the key variable in exploring the mechanisms. The main study findings include the following: First, the ER-sediment flux relationship for Hg depends on soil composition, and no uniform ER-sediment flux function exists for different soils. Second, depending on soil composition, significantly more Hg could be released from a less polluted soil in the early stage of large rainfall events. Third, the heavy fraction of SOM (i.e., the remnant organic matter coating on mineral particles) has a dominant influence on the enrichment behavior and transport mechanisms of Hg, while clay mineral content exhibits a significant, but indirect, influence. The study results imply that it is critical to quantify the SOM composition in addition to total organic carbon (TOC) for different soils in the watershed to adequately model the NPS pollution of Hg and spatially prioritize management actions in a heterogeneous watershed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impact of carbonaceous materials in soil on the transport of soil-bound PAHs during rainfall-runoff events.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Xiaolin; Zheng, Yi; Wu, Bin; Lin, Zhongrong; Han, Feng; Zhang, Wei; Wang, Xuejun

2013-11-01

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) transported from contaminated soils by surface runoff pose significant risk for aquatic ecosystems. Based on a rainfall-runoff simulation experiment, this study investigated the impact of carbonaceous materials (CMs) in soil, identified by organic petrology analysis, on the transport of soil-bound PAHs under rainfall conditions. The hypothesis that composition of soil organic matter significantly impacts the enrichment and transport of PAHs was proved. CMs in soil, varying significantly in content, mobility and adsorption capacity, act differently on the transport of PAHs. Anthropogenic CMs like black carbon (BC) largely control the transport, as PAHs may be preferentially attached to them. Eventually, this study led to a rethink of the traditional enrichment theory. An important implication is that CMs in soil have to be explicitly considered to appropriately model the nonpoint source pollution of PAHs (possibly other hydrophobic chemicals as well) and assess its environmental risk. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Qualitative comparison of soil erosion, runoff and infiltration coefficients using small portable rainfall simulators in Germany, Spain and France

Science.gov (United States)

Rodrigo Comino, Jesús; Iserloh, Thomas; Morvan, Xavier; Malam Issa, Oumarou; Naisse, Christophe; Keesstra, Saskia; Cerdà, Artemi; Prosdocimi, Massimo; Arnáez, José; Lasanta, Teodoro; Concepción Ramos, María; José Marqués, María; Ruiz Colmenero, Marta; Bienes, Ramón; Damián Ruiz Sinoga, José; Seeger, Manuel; Ries, Johannes B.

2016-04-01

Small portable rainfall simulators are considered as a useful tool to analyze soil erosion processes in cultivated lands. European research groups of Spain (Valencia, Málaga, Lleida, Madrid and La Rioja), France (Reims) or Germany (Trier) have used different rainfall simulators (varying in drop size distribution and fall velocities, kinetic energy, plot forms and sizes, and field of application)to study soil loss, surface flow, runoff and infiltration coefficients in different experimental plots (Valencia, Montes de Málaga, Penedès, Campo Real and La Rioja in Spain, Champagne in France and Mosel-Ruwer valley in Germany). The measurements and experiments developed by these research teams give an overview of the variety in the methodologies with rainfall simulations in studying the problem of soil erosion and describing the erosion features in different climatic environments, management practices and soil types. The aim of this study is: i) to investigate where, how and why researchers from different wine-growing regions applied rainfall simulations with successful results as a tool to measure soil erosion processes; ii) to make a qualitative comparison about the general soil erosion processes in European terroirs; iii) to demonstrate the importance of the development a standard method for soil erosion processes in vineyards, using rainfall simulators; iv) and to analyze the key factors that should be taken into account to carry out rainfall simulations. The rainfall simulations in all cases allowed knowing the infiltration capacity and the susceptibility of the soil to be detached and to generate sediment loads to runoff. Despite using small plots, the experiments were useful to analyze the influence of soil cover to reduce soil erosion and to make comparison between different locations or the influence of different soil characteristics.

Rainfall-runoff of anthropogenic waste indicators from agricultural fields applied with municipal biosolids.

Science.gov (United States)

Gray, James L; Borch, Thomas; Furlong, Edward T; Davis, Jessica G; Yager, Tracy J; Yang, Yun-Ya; Kolpin, Dana W

2017-02-15

The presence of anthropogenic contaminants such as antimicrobials, flame-retardants, and plasticizers in runoff from agricultural fields applied with municipal biosolids may pose a potential threat to the environment. This study assesses the potential for rainfall-induced runoff of 69 anthropogenic waste indicators (AWIs), widely found in household and industrial products, from biosolids amended field plots. The agricultural field containing the test plots was treated with biosolids for the first time immediately prior to this study. AWIs present in soil and biosolids were isolated by continuous liquid-liquid extraction and analyzed by full-scan gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Results for 18 AWIs were not evaluated due to their presence in field blank QC samples, and another 34 did not have sufficient detection frequency in samples to analyze trends in data. A total of 17 AWIs, including 4-nonylphenol, triclosan, and tris(2-butoxyethyl)phosphate, were present in runoff with acceptable data quality and frequency for subsequent interpretation. Runoff samples were collected 5days prior to and 1, 9, and 35days after biosolids application. Of the 17 AWIs considered, 14 were not detected in pre-application samples, or their concentrations were much smaller than in the sample collected one day after application. A range of trends was observed for individual AWI concentrations (typically from 0.1 to 10μg/L) over the course of the study, depending on the combination of partitioning and degradation mechanisms affecting each compound most strongly. Overall, these results indicate that rainfall can mobilize anthropogenic contaminants from biosolids-amended agricultural fields, directly to surface waters and redistribute them to terrestrial sites away from the point of application via runoff. For 14 of 17 compounds examined, the potential for runoff remobilization during rainstorms persists even after three 100-year rainstorm-equivalent simulations and the passage of a

Rainfall-runoff of anthropogenic waste indicators from agricultural fields applied with municipal biosolids

Science.gov (United States)

Gray, James L.; Borch, Thomas; Furlong, Edward T.; Davis, Jessica; Yager, Tracy; Yang, Yun-Ya; Kolpin, Dana W.

2017-01-01

The presence of anthropogenic contaminants such as antimicrobials, flame-retardants, and plasticizers in runoff from agricultural fields applied with municipal biosolids may pose a potential threat to the environment. This study assesses the potential for rainfall-induced runoff of 69 anthropogenic waste indicators (AWIs), widely found in household and industrial products, from biosolids amended field plots. The agricultural field containing the test plots was treated with biosolids for the first time immediately prior to this study. AWIs present in soil and biosolids were isolated by continuous liquid-liquid extraction and analyzed by full-scan gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Results for 18 AWIs were not evaluated due to their presence in field blank QC samples, and another 34 did not have sufficient detection frequency in samples to analyze trends in data. A total of 17 AWIs, including 4-nonylphenol, triclosan, and tris(2-butoxyethyl)phosphate, were present in runoff with acceptable data quality and frequency for subsequent interpretation. Runoff samples were collected 5 days prior to and 1, 9, and 35 days after biosolids application. Of the 17 AWIs considered, 14 were not detected in pre-application samples, or their concentrations were much smaller than in the sample collected one day after application. A range of trends was observed for individual AWI concentrations (typically from 0.1 to 10 μg/L) over the course of the study, depending on the combination of partitioning and degradation mechanisms affecting each compound most strongly. Overall, these results indicate that rainfall can mobilize anthropogenic contaminants from biosolids-amended agricultural fields, directly to surface waters and redistribute them to terrestrial sites away from the point of application via runoff. For 14 of 17 compounds examined, the potential for runoff remobilization during rainstorms persists even after three 100-year rainstorm-equivalent simulations and the

APPLICATION OF GIS IN MODELING ZILBERCHAI BASIN RUNOFF

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Malekani

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Runoff is one of most important hydrological variables that are used in many civil works, planning for optimal use of reservoirs, organizing rivers and warning flood. The runoff curve number (CN is a key factor in determining runoff in the SCS (Soil Conservation Service based hydrologic modeling method. The traditional SCS-CN method for calculating the composite curve number consumes a major portion of the hydrologic modeling time. Therefore, geographic information systems (GIS are now being used in combination with the SCS-CN method. This work uses a methodology of determining surface runoff by Geographic Information System model and applying SCS-CN method that needs the necessary parameters such as land use map, hydrologic soil groups, rainfall data, DEM, physiographic characteristic of the basin. The model is built by implementing some well known hydrologic methods in GIS like as ArcHydro, ArcCN-Runoff for modeling of Zilberchai basin runoff. The results show that the high average weighted of curve number indicate that permeability of the basin is low and therefore likelihood of flooding is high. So the fundamental works is essential in order to increase water infiltration in Zilberchai basin and to avoid wasting surface water resources. Also comparing the results of the computed and observed runoff value show that use of GIS tools in addition to accelerate the calculation of the runoff also increase the accuracy of the results. This paper clearly demonstrates that the integration of GIS with the SCS-CN method provides a powerful tool for estimating runoff volumes in large basins.

Application of GIS in Modeling Zilberchai Basin Runoff

Science.gov (United States)

Malekani, L.; Khaleghi, S.; Mahmoodi, M.

2014-10-01

Runoff is one of most important hydrological variables that are used in many civil works, planning for optimal use of reservoirs, organizing rivers and warning flood. The runoff curve number (CN) is a key factor in determining runoff in the SCS (Soil Conservation Service) based hydrologic modeling method. The traditional SCS-CN method for calculating the composite curve number consumes a major portion of the hydrologic modeling time. Therefore, geographic information systems (GIS) are now being used in combination with the SCS-CN method. This work uses a methodology of determining surface runoff by Geographic Information System model and applying SCS-CN method that needs the necessary parameters such as land use map, hydrologic soil groups, rainfall data, DEM, physiographic characteristic of the basin. The model is built by implementing some well known hydrologic methods in GIS like as ArcHydro, ArcCN-Runoff for modeling of Zilberchai basin runoff. The results show that the high average weighted of curve number indicate that permeability of the basin is low and therefore likelihood of flooding is high. So the fundamental works is essential in order to increase water infiltration in Zilberchai basin and to avoid wasting surface water resources. Also comparing the results of the computed and observed runoff value show that use of GIS tools in addition to accelerate the calculation of the runoff also increase the accuracy of the results. This paper clearly demonstrates that the integration of GIS with the SCS-CN method provides a powerful tool for estimating runoff volumes in large basins.

Estimating Subcatchment Runoff Coefficients using Weather Radar and a Downstream Runoff Sensor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ahm, Malte; Thorndahl, Søren Liedtke; Rasmussen, Michael R.

2013-01-01

This paper presents a method for estimating runoff coefficients of urban drainage subcatchments based on a combination of high resolution weather radar data and flow measurements from a downstream runoff sensor. By utilising the spatial variability of the precipitation it is possible to estimate...... the runoff coefficients of the separate subcatchments. The method is demonstrated through a case study of an urban drainage catchment (678 ha) located in the city of Aarhus, Denmark. The study has proven that it is possible to use corresponding measurements of the relative rainfall distribution over...... the catchment and downstream runoff measurements to identify the runoff coefficients at subcatchment level....

Estimating subcatchment runoff coefficients using weather radar and a downstream runoff sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahm, Malte; Thorndahl, Søren; Rasmussen, Michael R; Bassø, Lene

2013-01-01

This paper presents a method for estimating runoff coefficients of urban drainage subcatchments based on a combination of high resolution weather radar data and flow measurements from a downstream runoff sensor. By utilising the spatial variability of the precipitation it is possible to estimate the runoff coefficients of the separate subcatchments. The method is demonstrated through a case study of an urban drainage catchment (678 ha) located in the city of Aarhus, Denmark. The study has proven that it is possible to use corresponding measurements of the relative rainfall distribution over the catchment and downstream runoff measurements to identify the runoff coefficients at subcatchment level.

Mid- and long-term runoff predictions by an improved phase-space reconstruction model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong, Mei; Wang, Dong; Wang, Yuankun; Zeng, Xiankui; Ge, Shanshan; Yan, Hengqian; Singh, Vijay P.

2016-01-01

In recent years, the phase-space reconstruction method has usually been used for mid- and long-term runoff predictions. However, the traditional phase-space reconstruction method is still needs to be improved. Using the genetic algorithm to improve the phase-space reconstruction method, a new nonlinear model of monthly runoff is constructed. The new model does not rely heavily on embedding dimensions. Recognizing that the rainfall–runoff process is complex, affected by a number of factors, more variables (e.g. temperature and rainfall) are incorporated in the model. In order to detect the possible presence of chaos in the runoff dynamics, chaotic characteristics of the model are also analyzed, which shows the model can represent the nonlinear and chaotic characteristics of the runoff. The model is tested for its forecasting performance in four types of experiments using data from six hydrological stations on the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Results show that the medium-and long-term runoff is satisfactorily forecasted at the hydrological stations. Not only is the forecasting trend accurate, but also the mean absolute percentage error is no more than 15%. Moreover, the forecast results of wet years and dry years are both good, which means that the improved model can overcome the traditional ‘‘wet years and dry years predictability barrier,’’ to some extent. The model forecasts for different regions are all good, showing the universality of the approach. Compared with selected conceptual and empirical methods, the model exhibits greater reliability and stability in the long-term runoff prediction. Our study provides a new thinking for research on the association between the monthly runoff and other hydrological factors, and also provides a new method for the prediction of the monthly runoff. - Highlights: • The improved phase-space reconstruction model of monthly runoff is established. • Two variables (temperature and rainfall) are incorporated

Mid- and long-term runoff predictions by an improved phase-space reconstruction model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hong, Mei [Research Center of Ocean Environment Numerical Simulation, Institute of Meteorology and oceanography, PLA University of Science and Technology, Nanjing (China); Wang, Dong, E-mail: wangdong@nju.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Surficial Geochemistry, Ministry of Education, Department of Hydrosciences, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center of South China Sea Studies, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China); Wang, Yuankun; Zeng, Xiankui [Key Laboratory of Surficial Geochemistry, Ministry of Education, Department of Hydrosciences, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center of South China Sea Studies, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China); Ge, Shanshan; Yan, Hengqian [Research Center of Ocean Environment Numerical Simulation, Institute of Meteorology and oceanography, PLA University of Science and Technology, Nanjing (China); Singh, Vijay P. [Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX 77843 (United States)

2016-07-15

In recent years, the phase-space reconstruction method has usually been used for mid- and long-term runoff predictions. However, the traditional phase-space reconstruction method is still needs to be improved. Using the genetic algorithm to improve the phase-space reconstruction method, a new nonlinear model of monthly runoff is constructed. The new model does not rely heavily on embedding dimensions. Recognizing that the rainfall–runoff process is complex, affected by a number of factors, more variables (e.g. temperature and rainfall) are incorporated in the model. In order to detect the possible presence of chaos in the runoff dynamics, chaotic characteristics of the model are also analyzed, which shows the model can represent the nonlinear and chaotic characteristics of the runoff. The model is tested for its forecasting performance in four types of experiments using data from six hydrological stations on the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Results show that the medium-and long-term runoff is satisfactorily forecasted at the hydrological stations. Not only is the forecasting trend accurate, but also the mean absolute percentage error is no more than 15%. Moreover, the forecast results of wet years and dry years are both good, which means that the improved model can overcome the traditional ‘‘wet years and dry years predictability barrier,’’ to some extent. The model forecasts for different regions are all good, showing the universality of the approach. Compared with selected conceptual and empirical methods, the model exhibits greater reliability and stability in the long-term runoff prediction. Our study provides a new thinking for research on the association between the monthly runoff and other hydrological factors, and also provides a new method for the prediction of the monthly runoff. - Highlights: • The improved phase-space reconstruction model of monthly runoff is established. • Two variables (temperature and rainfall) are incorporated

Effect of vegetal cover on runoff and soil erosion under light intensity events. Rainfall simulation over USLE plots.

Science.gov (United States)

Marques, María José; Bienes, Ramón; Jiménez, Luis; Pérez-Rodríguez, Raquel

2007-05-25

The erosive power of frequent light rainfalls is studied in this paper. Field experiments of simulated rainfall (Intensity, 21 mm h(-1) and kinetic energy, 13.5 J m(-2) mm(-1)) were conducted over 8 bounded USLE plots (80 m(2) each) with a slope of 10%. In 4 plots the soil was almost bare (<4% vegetation cover); the other 4 plots had almost full cover with natural vegetation in one year. Runoff and sediment yield was recorded. The results revealed the efficiency of vegetation cover reducing runoff and sediments. Runoff and sediments were negligible in covered plots. Therefore, in bare plots, although sediment yield was generally low, averaging 74+/-43 kg ha(-1), the mean of runoff achieved a coefficient of 35%, this magnitude has to be taken into consideration in this region verging on aridity. Rains around 13.5 J m(-2) mm(-1) of kinetic energy are quite frequent in the study area (34% of recorded rains en 12 years). If we would consider the usual lower limits from the literature, we would be ignoring an important percent of natural rainfall episodes.

A systematic assessment of watershed-scale nonpoint source pollution during rainfall-runoff events in the Miyun Reservoir watershed.

Science.gov (United States)

Qiu, Jiali; Shen, Zhenyao; Wei, Guoyuan; Wang, Guobo; Xie, Hui; Lv, Guanping

2018-03-01

The assessment of peak flow rate, total runoff volume, and pollutant loads during rainfall process are very important for the watershed management and the ecological restoration of aquatic environment. Real-time measurements of rainfall-runoff and pollutant loads are always the most reliable approach but are difficult to carry out at all desired location in the watersheds considering the large consumption of material and financial resources. An integrated environmental modeling approach for the estimation of flash streamflow that combines the various hydrological and quality processes during rainstorms within the agricultural watersheds is essential to develop targeted management strategies for the endangered drinking water. This study applied the Hydrological Simulation Program-Fortran (HSPF) to simulate the spatial and temporal variation in hydrological processes and pollutant transport processes during rainstorm events in the Miyun Reservoir watershed, a drinking water resource area in Beijing. The model performance indicators ensured the acceptable applicability of the HSPF model to simulate flow and pollutant loads in the studied watershed and to establish a relationship between land use and the parameter values. The proportion of soil and land use was then identified as the influencing factors of the pollution intensities. The results indicated that the flush concentrations were much higher than those observed during normal flow periods and considerably exceeded the limits of Class III Environmental Quality Standards for Surface Water (GB3838-2002) for the secondary protection zones of the drinking water resource in China. Agricultural land and leached cinnamon soils were identified as the key sources of sediment, nutrients, and fecal coliforms. Precipitation volume was identified as a driving factor that determined the amount of runoff and pollutant loads during rainfall processes. These results are useful to improve the streamflow predictions, provide

Simulation of Runoff Changes Caused by Cropland to Forest Conversion in the Upper Yangtze River Region, SW China

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Pengtao; Wang, Yanhui; Coles, Neil; Xiong, Wei; Xu, Lihong

2015-01-01

The "Grain for Green Project" is a country-wide ecological program to converse marginal cropland to forest, which has been implemented in China since 2002. To quantify influence of this significant vegetation change, Guansihe Hydrological (GSH) Model, a validated physically-based distributed hydrological model, was applied to simulate runoff responses to land use change in the Guansihe watershed that is located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River basin in Southwestern China with an area of only 21.1 km2. Runoff responses to two single rainfall events, 90 mm and 206 mm respectively, were simulated for 16 scenarios of cropland to forest conversion. The model simulations indicated that the total runoff generated after conversion to forest was strongly dependent on whether the land was initially used for dry croplands without standing water in fields or constructed (or walled) paddy fields. The simulated total runoff generated from the two rainfall events displayed limited variation for the conversion of dry croplands to forest, while it strongly decreased after paddy fields were converted to forest. The effect of paddy terraces on runoff generation was dependent on the rainfall characteristics and antecedent moisture (or saturation) conditions in the fields. The reduction in simulated runoff generated from intense rainfall events suggested that afforestation and terracing might be effective in managing runoff and had the potential to mitigate flooding in southwestern China. PMID:26192181

A space-time hybrid hourly rainfall model for derived flood frequency analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

U. Haberlandt

2008-12-01

Full Text Available For derived flood frequency analysis based on hydrological modelling long continuous precipitation time series with high temporal resolution are needed. Often, the observation network with recording rainfall gauges is poor, especially regarding the limited length of the available rainfall time series. Stochastic precipitation synthesis is a good alternative either to extend or to regionalise rainfall series to provide adequate input for long-term rainfall-runoff modelling with subsequent estimation of design floods. Here, a new two step procedure for stochastic synthesis of continuous hourly space-time rainfall is proposed and tested for the extension of short observed precipitation time series.

First, a single-site alternating renewal model is presented to simulate independent hourly precipitation time series for several locations. The alternating renewal model describes wet spell durations, dry spell durations and wet spell intensities using univariate frequency distributions separately for two seasons. The dependence between wet spell intensity and duration is accounted for by 2-copulas. For disaggregation of the wet spells into hourly intensities a predefined profile is used. In the second step a multi-site resampling procedure is applied on the synthetic point rainfall event series to reproduce the spatial dependence structure of rainfall. Resampling is carried out successively on all synthetic event series using simulated annealing with an objective function considering three bivariate spatial rainfall characteristics. In a case study synthetic precipitation is generated for some locations with short observation records in two mesoscale catchments of the Bode river basin located in northern Germany. The synthetic rainfall data are then applied for derived flood frequency analysis using the hydrological model HEC-HMS. The results show good performance in reproducing average and extreme rainfall characteristics as well as in

Rainfall influence on plot-scale runoff and soil loss from repeated burning in a Mediterranean-shrub ecosystem, Valencia, Spain

Science.gov (United States)

González-Pelayo, O.; Andreu, V.; Gimeno-García, E.; Campo, J.; Rubio, J. L.

2010-06-01

The effect of a repeated burning on soil hydrology and erosive parameters was studied on a Mediterranean forest soil (Rendzic leptosol) with the aim of identifying the effects of the fire and climatic parameters related to the post-fire runoff and soil loss. The study was carried out in an Experimental Permanent Field Station (La Concordia), close to Valencia (Spain). This field station is located on a calcareous hillside facing SSE, and is composed of nine erosion plots (20 × 4 m). Firstly, experimental fires were performed in June 1995 with two fire treatments (T1 or high severity fire and T2 or moderate severity fire) and a control one (unburnt, T3). The repeated fire (low severity) was carried out in July 2003. The studied period was focused from 18 months before the repeated fire (July 2003) until 18 months after it. Rainfall characteristics of each single event were recorded, which allowed us to statistically distinguish four time periods according to the rainfall intensity and duration: periods I (March 2002 to May 2003) and III (December 2003 to early May 2004) with low intensity and long duration rainfalls, and periods II (June 2003 to November 2003) and IV (late May 2004 to December 2004) with high intensity and short duration rainfalls. Before the 2003 fire, the partial recovery of soil and vegetation from the previous burning in 1995 led to a diminution in the runoff rates (6.5 L m - 2 in burned plots and 1.8 L m - 2 in unburnt ones). Six months later (period II), runoff increased in one order of magnitude (23.9 L m - 2 in burnt plots and 1.1 L m - 2 in the unburnt ones) due, in part, to the short time elapsed from fire until high intensity rainfalls. These differences in runoff production were maintained during the whole post-fire period. Fire effects were reflected in the erosion rates. Soil losses prior to the 2003 fire, in both fire treatments and in the control one, were scant relative to post-fire levels. However, six months after the repeated

Characterization of Urban Runoff Pollution between Dissolved and Particulate Phases

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Zhang; Simin, Li; Fengbing, Tang

2013-01-01

To develop urban stormwater management effectively, characterization of urban runoff pollution between dissolved and particulate phases was studied by 12 rainfall events monitored for five typical urban catchments. The average event mean concentration (AEMC) of runoff pollutants in different phases was evaluated. The AEMC values of runoff pollutants in different phases from urban roads were higher than the ones from urban roofs. The proportions of total dissolved solids, total dissolved nitrogen, and total dissolved phosphorus in total ones for all the catchments were 26.19%–30.91%, 83.29%–90.51%, and 61.54–68.09%, respectively. During rainfall events, the pollutant concentration at the initial stage of rainfall was high and then sharply decreased to a low value. Affected by catchments characterization and rainfall distribution, the highest concentration of road pollutants might appear in the later period of rainfall. Strong correlations were also found among runoffs pollutants in different phases. Total suspended solid could be considered as a surrogate for particulate matters in both road and roof runoff, while dissolved chemical oxygen demand could be regarded as a surrogate for dissolved matters in roof runoff. PMID:23935444

Characterization of urban runoff pollution between dissolved and particulate phases.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Zhang; Simin, Li; Fengbing, Tang

2013-01-01

To develop urban stormwater management effectively, characterization of urban runoff pollution between dissolved and particulate phases was studied by 12 rainfall events monitored for five typical urban catchments. The average event mean concentration (AEMC) of runoff pollutants in different phases was evaluated. The AEMC values of runoff pollutants in different phases from urban roads were higher than the ones from urban roofs. The proportions of total dissolved solids, total dissolved nitrogen, and total dissolved phosphorus in total ones for all the catchments were 26.19%-30.91%, 83.29%-90.51%, and 61.54-68.09%, respectively. During rainfall events, the pollutant concentration at the initial stage of rainfall was high and then sharply decreased to a low value. Affected by catchments characterization and rainfall distribution, the highest concentration of road pollutants might appear in the later period of rainfall. Strong correlations were also found among runoffs pollutants in different phases. Total suspended solid could be considered as a surrogate for particulate matters in both road and roof runoff, while dissolved chemical oxygen demand could be regarded as a surrogate for dissolved matters in roof runoff.

Continuous Sub-daily Rainfall Simulation for Regional Flood Risk Assessment - Modelling of Spatio-temporal Correlation Structure of Extreme Precipitation in the Austrian Alps

Science.gov (United States)

Salinas, J. L.; Nester, T.; Komma, J.; Bloeschl, G.

2017-12-01

Generation of realistic synthetic spatial rainfall is of pivotal importance for assessing regional hydroclimatic hazard as the input for long term rainfall-runoff simulations. The correct reproduction of observed rainfall characteristics, such as regional intensity-duration-frequency curves, and spatial and temporal correlations is necessary to adequately model the magnitude and frequency of the flood peaks, by reproducing antecedent soil moisture conditions before extreme rainfall events, and joint probability of flood waves at confluences. In this work, a modification of the model presented by Bardossy and Platte (1992), where precipitation is first modeled on a station basis as a multivariate autoregressive model (mAr) in a Normal space. The spatial and temporal correlation structures are imposed in the Normal space, allowing for a different temporal autocorrelation parameter for each station, and simultaneously ensuring the positive-definiteness of the correlation matrix of the mAr errors. The Normal rainfall is then transformed to a Gamma-distributed space, with parameters varying monthly according to a sinusoidal function, in order to adapt to the observed rainfall seasonality. One of the main differences with the original model is the simulation time-step, reduced from 24h to 6h. Due to a larger availability of daily rainfall data, as opposite to sub-daily (e.g. hourly), the parameters of the Gamma distributions are calibrated to reproduce simultaneously a series of daily rainfall characteristics (mean daily rainfall, standard deviations of daily rainfall, and 24h intensity-duration-frequency [IDF] curves), as well as other aggregated rainfall measures (mean annual rainfall, and monthly rainfall). The calibration of the spatial and temporal correlation parameters is performed in a way that the catchment-averaged IDF curves aggregated at different temporal scales fit the measured ones. The rainfall model is used to generate 10.000 years of synthetic

Surface runoff and soil erosion by difference of surface cover characteristics using by an oscillating rainfall simulator

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, J. K.; Kim, M. S.; Yang, D. Y.

2017-12-01

Sediment transfer within hill slope can be changed by the hydrologic characteristics of surface material on hill slope. To better understand sediment transfer of the past and future related to climate changes, studies for the changes of soil erosion due to hydrological characteristics changes by surface materials on hill slope are needed. To do so, on-situ rainfall simulating test was conducted on three different surface conditions, i.e. well covered with litter layer condition (a), undisturbed bare condition (b), and disturbed bare condition (c) and these results from rainfall simulating test were compared with that estimated using the Limburg Soil Erosion Model (LISEM). The result from the rainfall simulating tests showed differences in the infiltration rate (a > b > c) and the highest soil erosion rate was occurred on c condition. The result from model also was similar to those from rainfall simulating tests, however, the difference from the value of soil erosion rate between two results was quite large on b and c conditions. These results implied that the difference of surface conditions could change the surface runoff and soil erosion and the result from the erosion model might significantly underestimate on bare surface conditions rather than that from rainfall simulating test.

Enhancing a rainfall-runoff model to assess the impacts of BMPs and LID practices on storm runoff.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yaoze; Ahiablame, Laurent M; Bralts, Vincent F; Engel, Bernard A

2015-01-01

Best management practices (BMPs) and low impact development (LID) practices are increasingly being used as stormwater management techniques to reduce the impacts of urban development on hydrology and water quality. To assist planners and decision-makers at various stages of development projects (planning, implementation, and evaluation), user-friendly tools are needed to assess the effectiveness of BMPs and LID practices. This study describes a simple tool, the Long-Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment-LID (L-THIA-LID), which is enhanced with additional BMPs and LID practices, improved approaches to estimate hydrology and water quality, and representation of practices in series (meaning combined implementation). The tool was used to evaluate the performance of BMPs and LID practices individually and in series with 30 years of daily rainfall data in four types of idealized land use units and watersheds (low density residential, high density residential, industrial, and commercial). Simulation results were compared with the results of other published studies. The simulated results showed that reductions in runoff volume and pollutant loads after implementing BMPs and LID practices, both individually and in series, were comparable with the observed impacts of these practices. The L-THIA-LID 2.0 model is capable of assisting decision makers in evaluating environmental impacts of BMPs and LID practices, thereby improving the effectiveness of stormwater management decisions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modelling runoff on ceramic tile roofs using the kinematic wave equations

Science.gov (United States)

Silveira, Alexandre; Abrantes, João; de Lima, João; Lira, Lincoln

2016-04-01

Rainwater harvesting is a water saving alternative strategy that presents many advantages and can provide solutions to address major water resources problems, such as fresh water scarcity, urban stream degradation and flooding. In recent years, these problems have become global challenges, due to climatic change, population growth and increasing urbanisation. Generally, roofs are the first to come into contact with rainwater; thus, they are the best candidates for rainwater harvesting. In this context, the correct evaluation of roof runoff quantity and quality is essential to effectively design rainwater harvesting systems. Despite this, many studies usually focus on the qualitative aspects in detriment of the quantitative aspects. Laboratory studies using rainfall simulators have been widely used to investigate rainfall-runoff processes. These studies enabled a detailed exploration and systematic replication of a large range of hydrologic conditions, such as rainfall spatial and temporal characteristics, providing for a fast way to obtain precise and consistent data that can be used to calibrate and validate numerical models. This study aims to evaluate the performance of a kinematic wave based numerical model in simulating runoff on sloping roofs, by comparing the numerical results with the ones obtained from laboratory rainfall simulations on a real-scale ceramic tile roof (Lusa tiles). For all studied slopes, simulated discharge hydrographs had a good adjust to observed ones. Coefficient of determination and Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency values were close to 1.0. Particularly, peak discharges, times to peak and peak durations were very well simulated.

The time variability of evapotranspiration and soil water storage in long series of rainfall-runoff process

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Buchtele, Josef; Tesař, Miroslav

2009-01-01

Roč. 64, č. 3 (2009), s. 575-579 ISSN 0006-3088 R&D Projects: GA MŽP(CZ) SP/1A6/151/07 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z20600510 Keywords : evapotranspiration components * evapotranspiration demand * land use * natural affection of runoff * rainfall- runoff simulation * vegetation change Subject RIV: DA - Hydrology ; Limnology Impact factor: 0.617, year: 2009

Do we really use rainfall observations consistent with reality in hydrological modelling?

Science.gov (United States)

Ciampalini, Rossano; Follain, Stéphane; Raclot, Damien; Crabit, Armand; Pastor, Amandine; Moussa, Roger; Le Bissonnais, Yves

2017-04-01

Spatial and temporal patterns in rainfall control how water reaches soil surface and interacts with soil properties (i.e., soil wetting, infiltration, saturation). Once a hydrological event is defined by a rainfall with its spatiotemporal variability and by some environmental parameters such as soil properties (including land use, topographic and anthropic features), the evidence shows that each parameter variation produces different, specific outputs (e.g., runoff, flooding etc.). In this study, we focus on the effect of rainfall patterns because, due to the difficulty to dispose of detailed data, their influence in modelling is frequently underestimated or neglected. A rainfall event affects a catchment non uniformly, it is spatially localized and its pattern moves in space and time. The way and the time how the water reaches the soil and saturates it respect to the geometry of the catchment deeply influences soil saturation, runoff, and then sediment delivery. This research, approaching a hypothetical, simple case, aims to stimulate the debate on the reliability of the rainfall quality used in hydrological / soil erosion modelling. We test on a small catchment of the south of France (Roujan, Languedoc Roussillon) the influence of rainfall variability with the use of a HD hybrid hydrological - soil erosion model, combining a cinematic wave with the St. Venant equation and a simplified "bucket" conceptual model for ground water, able to quantify the effect of different spatiotemporal patterns of a very-high-definition synthetic rainfall. Results indicate that rainfall spatiotemporal patterns are crucial simulating an erosive event: differences between spatially uniform rainfalls, as frequently adopted in simulations, and some hypothetical rainfall patterns here applied, reveal that the outcome of a simulated event can be highly underestimated.

Effect of soil surface roughness on infiltration water, ponding and runoff on tilled soils under rainfall simulation experiments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zhao, Longshan; Hou, Rui; Wu, Faqi; Keesstra, Saskia

2018-01-01

Agriculture has a large effect on the properties of the soil and with that on soil hydrology. The partitioning of rainfall into infiltration and runoff is relevant to understand runoff generation, infiltration and soil erosion. Tillage manages soil surface properties and generates soil surface

Robust Initial Wetness Condition Framework of an Event-Based Rainfall–Runoff Model Using Remotely Sensed Soil Moisture

OpenAIRE

Wooyeon Sunwoo; Minha Choi

2017-01-01

Runoff prediction in limited-data areas is vital for hydrological applications, such as the design of infrastructure and flood defenses, runoff forecasting, and water management. Rainfall–runoff models may be useful for simulation of runoff generation, particularly event-based models, which offer a practical modeling scheme because of their simplicity. However, there is a need to reduce the uncertainties related to the estimation of the initial wetness condition (IWC) prior to a rainfall even...

Real Rainfall Time Series for Storm Sewer Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Torben

The paper describes a simulation method for the design of retention storages, overflows etc. in storm sewer systems. The method is based on computer simulation with real rainfall time series as input ans with the aply of a simple transfer model of the ARMA-type (autoregressiv moving average model......) as the model of the storm sewer system. The output of the simulation is the frequency distribution of the peak flow, overflow volume etc. from the overflow or retention storage. The parameters in the transfer model is found either from rainfall/runoff measurements in the catchment or from one or a few...

Nonmonotonic and spatial-temporal dynamic slope effects on soil erosion during rainfall-runoff processes

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Songbai; Yu, Minghui; Chen, Li

2017-02-01

The slope effect on flow erosivity and soil erosion still remains a controversial issue. This theoretical framework explained and quantified the direct slope effect by coupling the modified Green-Ampt equation accounting for slope effect on infiltration, 1-D kinematic wave overland flow routing model, and WEPP soil erosion model. The flow velocity, runoff rate, shear stress, interrill, and rill erosion were calculated on 0°-60° isotropic slopes with equal horizontal projective length. The results show that, for short-duration rainfall events, the flow erosivity and erosion amounts exhibit a bell-shaped trend which first increase with slope gradient, and then decrease after a critical slope angle. The critical slope angles increase significantly or even vanish with increasing rainfall duration but are nearly independent of the slope projective length. The soil critical shear stress, rainfall intensity, and temporal patterns have great influences on the slope effect trend, while the other soil erosion parameters, soil type, hydraulic conductivity, and antecedent soil moisture have minor impacts. Neglecting the slope effect on infiltration would generate smaller erosion and reduce critical slope angles. The relative slope effect on soil erosion in physically based model WEPP was compared to those in the empirical models USLE and RUSLE. The trends of relative slope effect were found quite different, but the difference may diminish with increasing rainfall duration. Finally, relatively smaller critical slope angles could be obtained with the equal slope length and the range of variation provides a possible explanation for the different critical slope angles reported in previous studies.

A glacier runoff extension to the Precipitation Runoff Modeling System

Science.gov (United States)

A. E. Van Beusekom; R. J. Viger

2016-01-01

A module to simulate glacier runoff, PRMSglacier, was added to PRMS (Precipitation Runoff Modeling System), a distributed-parameter, physical-process hydrological simulation code. The extension does not require extensive on-glacier measurements or computational expense but still relies on physical principles over empirical relations as much as is feasible while...

Sensitivity-Based Modeling of Evaluating Surface Runoff and Sediment Load using Digital and Analog Mechanisms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olotu Yahaya

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Analyses of runoff- sediment measurement and evaluation using automated and convectional runoff-meters was carried out at Meteorological and Hydrological Station of Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi using two runoff plots (ABCDa and EFGHm of area 2m 2 each, depth 0.26 m and driven into the soil to the depth of 0.13m. Runoff depths and intensities were measured from each of the positioned runoff plot. Automated runoff-meter has a measuring accuracy of ±0.001l/±0.025 mm and rainfall depth-intensity was measured using tipping-bucket rainguage during the period of 14-month of experimentation. Minimum and maximum rainfall depths of 1.2 and 190.3 mm correspond to measured runoff depths (MRo of 0.0 mm for both measurement approaches and 60.4 mm and 48.9 mm respectively. Automated runoffmeter provides precise, accurate and instantaneous result over the convectional measurement of surface runoff. Runoff measuring accuracy for automated runoff-meter from the plot (ABCDa produces R 2 = 0.99; while R 2 = 0.96 for manual evaluation in plot (EFGHm. WEPP and SWAT models were used to simulate the obtained hydrological variables from the applied measurement mechanisms. The outputs of sensitivity simulation analysis indicate that data from automated measuring systems gives a better modelling index and such could be used for running robust runoff-sediment predictive modelling technique under different reservoir sedimentation and water management scenarios.

Flash flood modeling with the MARINE hydrological distributed model

Science.gov (United States)

Estupina-Borrell, V.; Dartus, D.; Ababou, R.

2006-11-01

Flash floods are characterized by their violence and the rapidity of their occurrence. Because these events are rare and unpredictable, but also fast and intense, their anticipation with sufficient lead time for warning and broadcasting is a primary subject of research. Because of the heterogeneities of the rain and of the behavior of the surface, spatially distributed hydrological models can lead to a better understanding of the processes and so on they can contribute to a better forecasting of flash flood. Our main goal here is to develop an operational and robust methodology for flash flood forecasting. This methodology should provide relevant data (information) about flood evolution on short time scales, and should be applicable even in locations where direct observations are sparse (e.g. absence of historical and modern rainfalls and streamflows in small mountainous watersheds). The flash flood forecast is obtained by the physically based, space-time distributed hydrological model "MARINE'' (Model of Anticipation of Runoff and INondations for Extreme events). This model is presented and tested in this paper for a real flash flood event. The model consists in two steps, or two components: the first component is a "basin'' flood module which generates flood runoff in the upstream part of the watershed, and the second component is the "stream network'' module, which propagates the flood in the main river and its subsidiaries. The basin flash flood generation model is a rainfall-runoff model that can integrate remotely sensed data. Surface hydraulics equations are solved with enough simplifying hypotheses to allow real time exploitation. The minimum data required by the model are: (i) the Digital Elevation Model, used to calculate slopes that generate runoff, it can be issued from satellite imagery (SPOT) or from French Geographical Institute (IGN); (ii) the rainfall data from meteorological radar, observed or anticipated by the French Meteorological Service (M�

SSEM: A model for simulating runoff and erosion of saline-sodic soil slopes under coastal reclamation

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Dongdong; She, Dongli

2018-06-01

Current physically based erosion models do not carefully consider the dynamic variations of soil properties during rainfall and are unable to simulate saline-sodic soil slope erosion processes. The aim of this work was to build upon a complete model framework, SSEM, to simulate runoff and erosion processes for saline-sodic soils by coupling dynamic saturated hydraulic conductivity Ks and soil erodibility Kτ. Sixty rainfall simulation rainfall experiments (2 soil textures × 5 sodicity levels × 2 slope gradients × 3 duplicates) provided data for model calibration and validation. SSEM worked very well for simulating the runoff and erosion processes of saline-sodic silty clay. The runoff and erosion processes of saline-sodic silt loam were more complex than those of non-saline soils or soils with higher clay contents; thus, SSEM did not perform very well for some validation events. We further examined the model performances of four concepts: Dynamic Ks and Kτ (Case 1, SSEM), Dynamic Ks and Constant Kτ (Case 2), Constant Ks and Dynamic Kτ (Case 3) and Constant Ks and Constant Kτ (Case 4). The results demonstrated that the model, which considers dynamic variations in soil saturated hydraulic conductivity and soil erodibility, can provide more reasonable runoff and erosion prediction results for saline-sodic soils.

Evaluation of the Application of Artificial Neural Networks and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference Systems for Rainfall-Runoff Modelling in Zayandeh_rood Dam Basin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Taghi Dastorani

2012-01-01

Full Text Available During recent few decades, due to the importance of the availability of water, and therefore the necesity of predicting run off resulted from rain fall there has been an increase in developing and implementation of new suitable method for prediction of run off using precipitation data. One of these approaches that have been developed in several areas of sciences including water related fields, is soft computing techniques such as artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic systems. This research was designed to evaluate the applicability of artificial neural network and adaptive neuro –fuzzy inference system to model rainfall-runoff process in Zayandeh_rood dam basin. It must be mentioned that, data have been analysed using Wingamma software, to select appropriate type and number of training input data before they can be used in the models. Then, it has been tried to evaluated applicability of artificial neural networks and neuro-fuzzy techniques to predict runoff generated from daily rainfall. Finally, the accuracy of the results produced by these methods has been compared using statistical criterion. Results taken from this research show that artificial neural networks and neuro-fuzzy technique presented different outputs in different conditions in terms of type and number of inputs variables, but both method have been able to produce acceptable results when suitable input variables and network structures are used.

Real Rainfall Time Series for Storm Sewer Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Torben

1981-01-01

to a storm sewer system. The output of the simulation is the frequency distribution of the peak flow, overflow volume etc. from the overflow or the retention storage. The parameters in the transfer model are found either from rainfall/runoff measurements in the catchment or from one or more simulations...

Simulation of infiltration and redistribution of intense rainfall using Land Surface Models

Science.gov (United States)

Mueller, Anna; Verhoef, Anne; Cloke, Hannah

2016-04-01

Flooding from intense rainfall (FFIR) can cause widespread damage and disruption. Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models provide distributed information about atmospheric conditions, such as precipitation, that can lead to a flooding event. Short duration, high intensity rainfall events are generally poorly predicted by NWP models, because of the high spatiotemporal resolution required and because of the way the convective rainfall is described in the model. The resolution of NWP models is ever increasing. Better understanding of complex hydrological processes and the effect of scale is important in order to improve the prediction of magnitude and duration of such events, in the context of disaster management. Working as part of the NERC SINATRA project, we evaluated how the Land Surface Model (LSM) components of NWP models cope with high intensity rainfall input and subsequent infiltration problems. Both in terms of the amount of water infiltrated in the soil store, as well as the timing and the amount of surface and subsurface runoff generated. The models investigated are SWAP (Soil Water Air Plant, Alterra, the Netherlands, van Dam 1997), JULES (Joint UK Land Environment Simulator a component of Unified Model in UK Met Office, Best et al. 2011) and CHTESSEL (Carbon and Hydrology- Tiled ECMWF Scheme for Surface Exchanges over Land, Balsamo et al. 2009) We analysed the numerical aspects arising from discontinuities (or sharp gradients) in forcing and/or the model solution. These types of infiltration configurations were tested in the laboratory (Vachaud 1971), for some there are semi-analytical solutions (Philip 1957, Parlange 1972, Vanderborght 2005) or reference numerical solutions (Haverkamp 1977, van Dam 2000, Vanderborght 2005). The maximum infiltration by the surface, Imax, is in general dependent on atmospheric conditions, surface type, soil type, soil moisture content θ, and surface orographic factor σ. The models used differ in their approach to

[Regulation effect of forest vegetation on watershed runoff in the Loess Plateau].

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Mingbin; Liu, Xianzhao

2002-09-01

The runoff and rainfall data of typical forested and non-forested watersheds in Ziwuling region, which is located in the hinterland of the Loess Plateau, were used to analyze their annual runoff variation comparatively. The result showed that the annual distribution of runoff in forested watersheds was uniform, compared with that in non-forested watersheds. The total runoff in flood season decreased by 8.88 mm and 7.1 mm. Regression analyses between runoff in dried-up season and rainfall in flood season or in dried-up season showed that the rainfall in flood season in forested watersheds could be changed into underground runoff by forest vegetation, and increased the runoff in dried-up season. The annual variation of runoff also indicated that the total effect of forest vegetation on dried-up runoff complement from October to December was 1.69 mm and 0.5 mm, and that from January to May was not significant.

Analysis of the sensitivity to rainfall spatio-temporal variability of an operational urban rainfall-runoff model in a multifractal framework

Science.gov (United States)

Gires, A.; Tchiguirinskaia, I.; Schertzer, D. J.; Lovejoy, S.

2011-12-01

In large urban areas, storm water management is a challenge with enlarging impervious areas. Many cities have implemented real time control (RTC) of their urban drainage system to either reduce overflow or limit urban contamination. A basic component of RTC is hydraulic/hydrologic model. In this paper we use the multifractal framework to suggest an innovative way to test the sensitivity of such a model to the spatio-temporal variability of its rainfall input. Indeed the rainfall variability is often neglected in urban context, being considered as a non-relevant issue at the scales involve. Our results show that on the contrary the rainfall variability should be taken into account. Universal multifractals (UM) rely on the concept of multiplicative cascade and are a standard tool to analyze and simulate with a reduced number of parameters geophysical processes that are extremely variable over a wide range of scales. This study is conducted on a 3 400 ha urban area located in Seine-Saint-Denis, in the North of Paris (France). We use the operational semi-distributed model that was calibrated by the local authority (Direction Eau et Assainnissement du 93) that is in charge of urban drainage. The rainfall data comes from the C-Band radar of Trappes operated by Météo-France. The rainfall event of February 9th, 2009 was used. A stochastic ensemble approach was implemented to quantify the uncertainty on discharge associated to the rainfall variability occurring at scales smaller than 1 km x 1 km x 5 min that is usually available with C-band radar networks. An analysis of the quantiles of the simulated peak flow showed that the uncertainty exceeds 20 % for upstream links. To evaluate a potential gain from a direct use of the rainfall data available at the resolution of X-band radar, we performed similar analysis of the rainfall fields of the degraded resolution of 9 km x 9 km x 20 min. The results show a clear decrease in uncertainty when the original resolution of C

Using artificial neural network approach for modelling rainfall–runoff ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Department of Civil Engineering, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Neipu Hsiang,. Pingtung ... study, a model for estimating runoff by using rainfall data from a river basin is developed and a neural ... For example, 2009 typhoon Morakot in Pingtung ... Tokar and Markus (2000) applied ANN to predict.

Modeling runoff and erosion risk in a~small steep cultivated watershed using different data sources: from on-site measurements to farmers' perceptions

Science.gov (United States)

Auvet, B.; Lidon, B.; Kartiwa, B.; Le Bissonnais, Y.; Poussin, J.-C.

2015-09-01

This paper presents an approach to model runoff and erosion risk in a context of data scarcity, whereas the majority of available models require large quantities of physical data that are frequently not accessible. To overcome this problem, our approach uses different sources of data, particularly on agricultural practices (tillage and land cover) and farmers' perceptions of runoff and erosion. The model was developed on a small (5 ha) cultivated watershed characterized by extreme conditions (slopes of up to 55 %, extreme rainfall events) on the Merapi volcano in Indonesia. Runoff was modelled using two versions of STREAM. First, a lumped version was used to determine the global parameters of the watershed. Second, a distributed version used three parameters for the production of runoff (slope, land cover and roughness), a precise DEM, and the position of waterways for runoff distribution. This information was derived from field observations and interviews with farmers. Both surface runoff models accurately reproduced runoff at the outlet. However, the distributed model (Nash-Sutcliffe = 0.94) was more accurate than the adjusted lumped model (N-S = 0.85), especially for the smallest and biggest runoff events, and produced accurate spatial distribution of runoff production and concentration. Different types of erosion processes (landslides, linear inter-ridge erosion, linear erosion in main waterways) were modelled as a combination of a hazard map (the spatial distribution of runoff/infiltration volume provided by the distributed model), and a susceptibility map combining slope, land cover and tillage, derived from in situ observations and interviews with farmers. Each erosion risk map gives a spatial representation of the different erosion processes including risk intensities and frequencies that were validated by the farmers and by in situ observations. Maps of erosion risk confirmed the impact of the concentration of runoff, the high susceptibility of long steep

Enrichment behavior and transport mechanism of soil-bound PAHs during rainfall-runoff events.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Yi; Luo, Xiaolin; Zhang, Wei; Wu, Bin; Han, Feng; Lin, Zhongrong; Wang, Xuejun

2012-12-01

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) transported by surface runoff result in nonpoint source pollution and jeopardize aquatic ecosystems. The transport mechanism of PAHs during rainfall-runoff events has been rarely studied regarding pervious areas. An experimental system was setup to simulate the runoff pollution process on PAHs-contaminated soil. The enrichment behavior of soil-bound PAHs was investigated. The results show that soil organic matters (SOM), rather than clay particles, seem to be the main carrier of PAHs. The enrichment is highly conditioned on runoff and erosion processes, and its magnitude varies among PAH compounds. It is not feasible to build a simple and universal relationship between enrichment ratio and sediment discharge following the traditional enrichment theory. To estimate the flux of PAHs from pervious areas, soil erosion process has to be clearly understood, and both organic carbon content and composition of SOM should be factored into the calculation. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Applying Multimodel Ensemble from Regional Climate Models for Improving Runoff Projections on Semiarid Regions of Spain

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia Galiano, S. G.; Olmos, P.; Giraldo Osorio, J. D.

2015-12-01

In the Mediterranean area, significant changes on temperature and precipitation are expected throughout the century. These trends could exacerbate the existing conditions in regions already vulnerable to climatic variability, reducing the water availability. Improving knowledge about plausible impacts of climate change on water cycle processes at basin scale, is an important step for building adaptive capacity to the impacts in this region, where severe water shortages are expected for the next decades. RCMs ensemble in combination with distributed hydrological models with few parameters, constitutes a valid and robust methodology to increase the reliability of climate and hydrological projections. For reaching this objective, a novel methodology for building Regional Climate Models (RCMs) ensembles of meteorological variables (rainfall an temperatures), was applied. RCMs ensembles are justified for increasing the reliability of climate and hydrological projections. The evaluation of RCMs goodness-of-fit to build the ensemble is based on empirical probability density functions (PDF) extracted from both RCMs dataset and a highly resolution gridded observational dataset, for the time period 1961-1990. The applied method is considering the seasonal and annual variability of the rainfall and temperatures. The RCMs ensembles constitute the input to a distributed hydrological model at basin scale, for assessing the runoff projections. The selected hydrological model is presenting few parameters in order to reduce the uncertainties involved. The study basin corresponds to a head basin of Segura River Basin, located in the South East of Spain. The impacts on runoff and its trend from observational dataset and climate projections, were assessed. Considering the control period 1961-1990, plausible significant decreases in runoff for the time period 2021-2050, were identified.

Impacts of rainfall variability and expected rainfall changes on cost-effective adaptation of water systems to climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Pol, T D; van Ierland, E C; Gabbert, S; Weikard, H-P; Hendrix, E M T

2015-05-01

Stormwater drainage and other water systems are vulnerable to changes in rainfall and runoff and need to be adapted to climate change. This paper studies impacts of rainfall variability and changing return periods of rainfall extremes on cost-effective adaptation of water systems to climate change given a predefined system performance target, for example a flood risk standard. Rainfall variability causes system performance estimates to be volatile. These estimates may be used to recurrently evaluate system performance. This paper presents a model for this setting, and develops a solution method to identify cost-effective investments in stormwater drainage adaptations. Runoff and water levels are simulated with rainfall from stationary rainfall distributions, and time series of annual rainfall maxima are simulated for a climate scenario. Cost-effective investment strategies are determined by dynamic programming. The method is applied to study the choice of volume for a storage basin in a Dutch polder. We find that 'white noise', i.e. trend-free variability of rainfall, might cause earlier re-investment than expected under projected changes in rainfall. The risk of early re-investment may be reduced by increasing initial investment. This can be cost-effective if the investment involves fixed costs. Increasing initial investments, therefore, not only increases water system robustness to structural changes in rainfall, but could also offer insurance against additional costs that would occur if system performance is underestimated and re-investment becomes inevitable. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Grey Forecast Rainfall with Flow Updating Algorithm for Real-Time Flood Forecasting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jui-Yi Ho

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The dynamic relationship between watershed characteristics and rainfall-runoff has been widely studied in recent decades. Since watershed rainfall-runoff is a non-stationary process, most deterministic flood forecasting approaches are ineffective without the assistance of adaptive algorithms. The purpose of this paper is to propose an effective flow forecasting system that integrates a rainfall forecasting model, watershed runoff model, and real-time updating algorithm. This study adopted a grey rainfall forecasting technique, based on existing hourly rainfall data. A geomorphology-based runoff model can be used for simulating impacts of the changing geo-climatic conditions on the hydrologic response of unsteady and non-linear watershed system, and flow updating algorithm were combined to estimate watershed runoff according to measured flow data. The proposed flood forecasting system was applied to three watersheds; one in the United States and two in Northern Taiwan. Four sets of rainfall-runoff simulations were performed to test the accuracy of the proposed flow forecasting technique. The results indicated that the forecast and observed hydrographs are in good agreement for all three watersheds. The proposed flow forecasting system could assist authorities in minimizing loss of life and property during flood events.

Comparison of two stochastic techniques for reliable urban runoff prediction by modeling systematic errors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Del Giudice, Dario; Löwe, Roland; Madsen, Henrik

2015-01-01

from different fields and have not yet been compared in environmental modeling. To compare the two approaches, we develop a unifying terminology, evaluate them theoretically, and apply them to conceptual rainfall-runoff modeling in the same drainage system. Our results show that both approaches can......In urban rainfall-runoff, commonly applied statistical techniques for uncertainty quantification mostly ignore systematic output errors originating from simplified models and erroneous inputs. Consequently, the resulting predictive uncertainty is often unreliable. Our objective is to present two...... approaches which use stochastic processes to describe systematic deviations and to discuss their advantages and drawbacks for urban drainage modeling. The two methodologies are an external bias description (EBD) and an internal noise description (IND, also known as stochastic gray-box modeling). They emerge...

Sensitivity of Distributed Hydrologic Simulations to Ground and Satellite Based Rainfall Products

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Singaiah Chintalapudi

2014-05-01

Full Text Available In this study, seven precipitation products (rain gauges, NEXRAD MPE, PERSIANN 0.25 degree, PERSIANN CCS-3hr, PERSIANN CCS-1hr, TRMM 3B42V7, and CMORPH were used to force a physically-based distributed hydrologic model. The model was driven by these products to simulate the hydrologic response of a 1232 km2 watershed in the Guadalupe River basin, Texas. Storm events in 2007 were used to analyze the precipitation products. Comparison with rain gauge observations reveals that there were significant biases in the satellite rainfall products and large variations in the estimated amounts. The radar basin average precipitation compared very well with the rain gauge product while the gauge-adjusted TRMM 3B42V7 precipitation compared best with observed rainfall among all satellite precipitation products. The NEXRAD MPE simulated streamflows matched the observed ones the best yielding the highest Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency correlation coefficient values for both the July and August 2007 events. Simulations driven by TRMM 3B42V7 matched the observed streamflow better than other satellite products for both events. The PERSIANN coarse resolution product yielded better runoff results than the higher resolution product. The study reveals that satellite rainfall products are viable alternatives when rain gauge or ground radar observations are sparse or non-existent.

Climate change and runoff in south-western Australia

Science.gov (United States)

Silberstein, R. P.; Aryal, S. K.; Durrant, J.; Pearcey, M.; Braccia, M.; Charles, S. P.; Boniecka, L.; Hodgson, G. A.; Bari, M. A.; Viney, N. R.; McFarlane, D. J.

2012-12-01

SummaryThis paper presents the results of computer simulations of runoff from 13 major fresh and brackish river basins in south-western Australia (SWA) under climate projections obtained from 15 GCMs with three future global warming scenarios equivalent to global temperature rises of 0.7 °C, 1.0 °C and 1.3 °C by 2030. The objective was to apply an efficient methodology, consistent across a large region, to examine the implications of the best available projections in climate trends for future surface water resources. An ensemble of rainfall-runoff models was calibrated on stream flow data from 1975 to 2007 from 106 gauged catchments distributed throughout the basins of the study area. The sensitivity of runoff to projected changes in mean annual rainfall is examined using the climate 'elasticity' concept. Averaged across the study area, all 15 GCMs project declines in rainfall under all global warming scenarios with a median decline of 8% resulting in a median decline in runoff of 25%. Such uniformity in projections from GCMs is unusual. Over SWA the average annual runoff under the 5th wettest and 5th driest of the 45 projections of the 2030 climate declines by 10 and 42%, respectively. Under the 5th driest projection the runoff decline ranges from 53% in the northern region to 40% in the southern region. Strong regional variations in climate sensitivity are found with the proportional decline in runoff greatest in the northern region and the greatest volumetric declines in the wetter basins in the south. Since the mid 1970s stream flows into the major water supply reservoirs in SWA have declined by more than 50% following a 16% rainfall reduction. This has already had major implications for water resources planning and for the preservation of aquatic and riparian ecosystems in the region. Our results indicate that this reduction in runoff is likely to continue if future climate projections eventuate.

Rainfall-interception-evaporation-runoff relationships in a semi-arid catchment, northern Limpopo basin, Zimbabwe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Love, D.; Uhlenbrook, S.; Corzo Perez, G.; Twomlow, S.; Zaag, van der P.

2010-01-01

Characterizing the response of a catchment to rainfall, in terms of the production of runoff vs the interception, transpiration and evaporation of water, is the first important step in understanding water resource availability in a catchment. This is particularly important in small semi-arid

Volumetric runoff coefficients for experimental rural catchments in the Iberian Peninsula

Science.gov (United States)

Taguas, Encarnación V.; Molina, Cecilio; Nadal-Romero, Estela; Ayuso, José L.; Casalí, Javier; Cid, Patricio; Dafonte, Jorge; Duarte, Antonio C.; Farguell, Joaquim; Giménez, Rafael; Giráldez, Juan V.; Gómez, Helena; Gómez, Jose A.; González-Hidalgo, J. Carlos; Keizer, J. Jacob; Lucía, Ana; Mateos, Luciano; Rodríguez-Blanco, M. Luz; Schnabel, Sussane; Serrano-Muela, M. Pilar

2015-04-01

Analysis of runoff and peaks therein is essential for designing hydraulic infrastructures and for assessing the hydrological implications of likely scenarios of climate and/or land-use change. Different methods are available to calculate runoff coefficients. For instance, the runoff coefficient of a catchment can be described either as the ratio of total depth of runoff to total depth of rainfall or as the ratio of peak flow to rainfall intensity for the time of concentration (Dhakal et al. 2012). If the first definition is considered, runoff coefficients represent the global effect of different features and states of catchments and its determination requires a suitable analysis according to the objectives pursued (Chow et al., 1988). In this work, rainfall-runoff data and physical attributes from small rural catchments located in the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain) were examined in order to compare the representative values of runoff coefficients using three different approaches: i) statistical analysis of rainfall-runoff data and their quantiles (Dhakal et al., 2012); ii) probabilistic runoff coefficients from the rank-ordered pairs of observed rainfall-runoff data and their relationships with rainfall depths (Schaake et al., 1967); iii) finally, a multiple linear model based on geomorphological attributes. These catchments exhibit great variety with respect to their natural settings, such as climate, topography and lithology. We present a preliminary analysis of the rainfall-runoff relationships as well as their variability in a complex context such as the Iberian Peninsula where contrasted environmental systems coexist. We also discuss reference parameters representing runoff coefficients commonly included into hydrological models. This study is conceived as the first step to explore further working protocols and modeling gaps in a very susceptible area to the climate change such as the Iberian Peninsula's, where the analysis of runoff coefficients is

Hydrologic conditions controlling runoff generation immediately after wildfire

Science.gov (United States)

Ebel, Brian A.; Moody, John A.; Martin, Deborah A.

2012-01-01

We investigated the control of postwildfire runoff by physical and hydraulic properties of soil, hydrologic states, and an ash layer immediately following wildfire. The field site is within the area burned by the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire in Colorado, USA. Physical and hydraulic property characterization included ash thickness, particle size distribution, hydraulic conductivity, and soil water retention curves. Soil water content and matric potential were measured indirectly at several depths below the soil surface to document hydrologic states underneath the ash layer in the unsaturated zone, whereas precipitation and surface runoff were measured directly. Measurements of soil water content showed that almost no water infiltrated below the ash layer into the near-surface soil in the burned site at the storm time scale (i.e., minutes to hours). Runoff generation processes were controlled by and highly sensitive to ash thickness and ash hydraulic properties. The ash layer stored from 97% to 99% of rainfall, which was critical for reducing runoff amounts. The hydrologic response to two rain storms with different rainfall amounts, rainfall intensity, and durations, only ten days apart, indicated that runoff generation was predominantly by the saturation-excess mechanism perched at the ash-soil interface during the first storm and predominantly by the infiltration-excess mechanism at the ash surface during the second storm. Contributing area was not static for the two storms and was 4% (saturation excess) to 68% (infiltration excess) of the catchment area. Our results showed the importance of including hydrologic conditions and hydraulic properties of the ash layer in postwildfire runoff generation models.

A CN-Based Ensembled Hydrological Model for Enhanced Watershed Runoff Prediction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Ajmal

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A major structural inconsistency of the traditional curve number (CN model is its dependence on an unstable fixed initial abstraction, which normally results in sudden jumps in runoff estimation. Likewise, the lack of pre-storm soil moisture accounting (PSMA procedure is another inherent limitation of the model. To circumvent those problems, we used a variable initial abstraction after ensembling the traditional CN model and a French four-parameter (GR4J model to better quantify direct runoff from ungauged watersheds. To mimic the natural rainfall-runoff transformation at the watershed scale, our new parameterization designates intrinsic parameters and uses a simple structure. It exhibited more accurate and consistent results than earlier methods in evaluating data from 39 forest-dominated watersheds, both for small and large watersheds. In addition, based on different performance evaluation indicators, the runoff reproduction results show that the proposed model produced more consistent results for dry, normal, and wet watershed conditions than the other models used in this study.

Hydrologic conditions and quality of rainfall and storm runoff for two agricultural areas of the Oso Creek Watershed, Nueces County, Texas, 2005-07

Science.gov (United States)

Ockerman, Darwin J.

2008-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program, and Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Corpus Christi, studied hydrologic conditions and quality of rainfall and storm runoff of two (primarily) agricultural areas (subwatersheds) of the Oso Creek watershed in Nueces County, Texas. One area, the upper West Oso Creek subwatershed, is 5,145 acres. The other area, a subwatershed drained by an unnamed Oso Creek tributary (hereinafter, Oso Creek tributary), is 5,287 acres. Rainfall and runoff (streamflow) were continuously monitored at the outlets of the two subwatersheds during October 2005-September 2007. Fourteen rainfall samples were collected and analyzed for nutrients and major inorganic ions. Nineteen composite runoff samples (10 West Oso Creek, nine Oso Creek tributary) were collected and analyzed for nutrients, major inorganic ions, and pesticides. Twenty-two discrete suspended-sediment samples (10 West Oso Creek, 12 Oso Creek tributary) and 13 bacteria samples (eight West Oso Creek, five Oso Creek tributary) were collected and analyzed. These data were used to estimate, for selected constituents, rainfall deposition to and runoff loads and yields from the study subwatersheds. Quantities of fertilizers and pesticides applied in the subwatersheds were compared with quantities of nutrients and pesticides in rainfall and runoff. For the study period, total rainfall was greater than average. Most of the runoff at both subwatershed outlet sites occurred in response to a few specific storm periods. The West Oso Creek subwatershed produced more runoff during the study period than the Oso Creek tributary subwatershed, 10.83 inches compared with 7.28 inches. Runoff response was quicker and peak flows were higher in the West Oso Creek subwatershed than in the Oso Creek tributary subwatershed. Total nitrogen runoff yield for the 2-year study period averaged 2.61 pounds

Probabilistic online runoff forecasting for urban catchments using inputs from rain gauges as well as statically and dynamically adjusted weather radar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Löwe, Roland; Thorndahl, Søren; Mikkelsen, Peter Steen

2014-01-01

We investigate the application of rainfall observations and forecasts from rain gauges and weather radar as input to operational urban runoff forecasting models. We apply lumped rainfall runoff models implemented in a stochastic grey-box modelling framework. Different model structures are conside......We investigate the application of rainfall observations and forecasts from rain gauges and weather radar as input to operational urban runoff forecasting models. We apply lumped rainfall runoff models implemented in a stochastic grey-box modelling framework. Different model structures...

Effect of radar rainfall time resolution on the predictive capability of a distributed hydrologic model

Science.gov (United States)

Atencia, A.; Llasat, M. C.; Garrote, L.; Mediero, L.

2010-10-01

The performance of distributed hydrological models depends on the resolution, both spatial and temporal, of the rainfall surface data introduced. The estimation of quantitative precipitation from meteorological radar or satellite can improve hydrological model results, thanks to an indirect estimation at higher spatial and temporal resolution. In this work, composed radar data from a network of three C-band radars, with 6-minutal temporal and 2 × 2 km2 spatial resolution, provided by the Catalan Meteorological Service, is used to feed the RIBS distributed hydrological model. A Window Probability Matching Method (gage-adjustment method) is applied to four cases of heavy rainfall to improve the observed rainfall sub-estimation in both convective and stratiform Z/R relations used over Catalonia. Once the rainfall field has been adequately obtained, an advection correction, based on cross-correlation between two consecutive images, was introduced to get several time resolutions from 1 min to 30 min. Each different resolution is treated as an independent event, resulting in a probable range of input rainfall data. This ensemble of rainfall data is used, together with other sources of uncertainty, such as the initial basin state or the accuracy of discharge measurements, to calibrate the RIBS model using probabilistic methodology. A sensitivity analysis of time resolutions was implemented by comparing the various results with real values from stream-flow measurement stations.

Distributed hydrological modelling of total dissolved phosphorus transport in an agricultural landscape, part I: distributed runoff generation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Gérard-Marchant

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Successful implementation of best management practices for reducing non-point source (NPS pollution requires knowledge of the location of saturated areas that produce runoff. A physically-based, fully-distributed, GIS-integrated model, the Soil Moisture Distribution and Routing (SMDR model was developed to simulate the hydrologic behavior of small rural upland watersheds with shallow soils and steep to moderate slopes. The model assumes that gravity is the only driving force of water and that most overland flow occurs as saturation excess. The model uses available soil and climatic data, and requires little calibration. The SMDR model was used to simulate runoff production on a 164-ha farm watershed in Delaware County, New York, in the headwaters of New York City water supply. Apart from land use, distributed input parameters were derived from readily available data. Simulated hydrographs compared reasonably with observed flows at the watershed outlet over a eight year simulation period, and peak timing and intensities were well reproduced. Using off-site weather input data produced occasional missed event peaks. Simulated soil moisture distribution agreed well with observed hydrological features and followed the same spatial trend as observed soil moisture contents sampled on four transects. Model accuracy improved when input variables were calibrated within the range of SSURGO-available parameters. The model will be a useful planning tool for reducing NPS pollution from farms in landscapes similar to the Northeastern US.

Rainfall and runoff water quality of the Pang and Lambourn, tributaries of the River Thames, south-eastern England

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Neal

2004-01-01

Full Text Available The water quality of rainfall and runoff is described for two catchments of two tributaries of the River Thames, the Pang and Lambourn. Rainfall chemistry is variable and concentrations of most determinands decrease with increasing volume of catch probably due to 'wash out' processes. Two rainfall sites have been monitored, one for each catchment. The rainfall site on the Lambourn shows higher chemical concentrations than the one for the Pang which probably reflects higher amounts of local inputs from agricultural activity. Rainfall quality data at a long-term rainfall site on the Pang (UK National Air Quality Archive shows chemistries similar to that for the Lambourn site, but with some clear differences. Rainfall chemistries show considerable variation on an event-to-event basis. Average water quality concentrations and flow-weighted concentrations as well as fluxes vary across the sites, typically by about 30%. Stream chemistry is much less variable due to the main source of water coming from aquifer sources of high storage. The relationship between rainfall and runoff chemistry at the catchment outlet is described in terms of the relative proportions of atmospheric and within-catchment sources. Remarkably, in view of the quantity of agricultural and sewage inputs to the streams, the catchments appear to be retaining both P and N. Keywords: water quality, nitrate, ammonium, phosphorus, ammonia, nitrogen dioxide, pH, alkalinity, nutrients, trace metals, rainfall, river, Pang, Lambourn, LOCAR

Rainfall, soil moisture, and runoff dynamics in New Mexico pinon-juniper woodland watersheds

Science.gov (United States)

Carlos Ochoa; Alexander Fernald; Vincent Tidwell

2008-01-01

Clearing trees in pinon-juniper woodlands may increase grass cover and infiltration, leading to reduced surface runoff and erosion. This study was conducted to evaluate pinon-juniper hydrology conditions during baseline data collection in a paired watershed study. We instrumented six 1.0 to 1.3 ha experimental watersheds near Santa Fe, NM to collect rainfall, soil...

Ice volume distribution and implications on runoff projections in a glacierized catchment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Gabbi

2012-12-01

Full Text Available A dense network of helicopter-based ground-penetrating radar (GPR measurements was used to determine the ice-thickness distribution in the Mauvoisin region. The comprehensive set of ice-thickness measurements was combined with an ice-thickness estimation approach for an accurate determination of the bedrock. A total ice volume of 3.69 ± 0.31 km³ and a maximum ice thickness of 290 m were found. The ice-thickness values were then employed as input for a combined glacio-hydrological model forced by most recent regional climate scenarios. This model provided glacier evolution and runoff projections for the period 2010–2100. Runoff projections of the measured initial ice volume distribution show an increase in annual runoff of 4% in the next two decades, followed by a persistent runoff decrease until 2100. Finally, we checked the influence of the ice-thickness distribution on runoff projections. Our analyses revealed that reliable estimates of the ice volume are essential for modelling future glacier and runoff evolution. Wrong estimations of the total ice volume might even lead to deviations of the predicted general runoff trend.

A "total parameter estimation" method in the varification of distributed hydrological models

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, M.; Qin, D.; Wang, H.

2011-12-01

Conventionally hydrological models are used for runoff or flood forecasting, hence the determination of model parameters are common estimated based on discharge measurements at the catchment outlets. With the advancement in hydrological sciences and computer technology, distributed hydrological models based on the physical mechanism such as SWAT, MIKESHE, and WEP, have gradually become the mainstream models in hydrology sciences. However, the assessments of distributed hydrological models and model parameter determination still rely on runoff and occasionally, groundwater level measurements. It is essential in many countries, including China, to understand the local and regional water cycle: not only do we need to simulate the runoff generation process and for flood forecasting in wet areas, we also need to grasp the water cycle pathways and consumption process of transformation in arid and semi-arid regions for the conservation and integrated water resources management. As distributed hydrological model can simulate physical processes within a catchment, we can get a more realistic representation of the actual water cycle within the simulation model. Runoff is the combined result of various hydrological processes, using runoff for parameter estimation alone is inherits problematic and difficult to assess the accuracy. In particular, in the arid areas, such as the Haihe River Basin in China, runoff accounted for only 17% of the rainfall, and very concentrated during the rainy season from June to August each year. During other months, many of the perennial rivers within the river basin dry up. Thus using single runoff simulation does not fully utilize the distributed hydrological model in arid and semi-arid regions. This paper proposed a "total parameter estimation" method to verify the distributed hydrological models within various water cycle processes, including runoff, evapotranspiration, groundwater, and soil water; and apply it to the Haihe river basin in

Adequacy of TRMM satellite rainfall data in driving the SWAT modeling of Tiaoxi catchment (Taihu lake basin, China)

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Dan; Christakos, George; Ding, Xinxin; Wu, Jiaping

2018-01-01

Spatial rainfall data is an essential input to Distributed Hydrological Models (DHM), and a significant contributor to hydrological model uncertainty. Model uncertainty is higher when rain gauges are sparse, as is often the case in practice. Currently, satellite-based precipitation products increasingly provide an alternative means to ground-based rainfall estimates, in which case a rigorous product assessment is required before implementation. Accordingly, the twofold objective of this work paper was the real-world assessment of both (a) the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) rainfall product using gauge data, and (b) the TRMM product's role in forcing data for hydrologic simulations in the area of the Tiaoxi catchment (Taihu lake basin, China). The TRMM rainfall products used in this study are the Version-7 real-time 3B42RT and the post-real-time 3B42. It was found that the TRMM rainfall data showed a superior performance at the monthly and annual scales, fitting well with surface observation-based frequency rainfall distributions. The Nash-Sutcliffe Coefficient of Efficiency (NSCE) and the relative bias ratio (BIAS) were used to evaluate hydrologic model performance. The satisfactory performance of the monthly runoff simulations in the Tiaoxi study supports the view that the implementation of real-time 3B42RT allows considerable room for improvement. At the same time, post-real-time 3B42 can be a valuable tool of hydrologic modeling, water balance analysis, and basin water resource management, especially in developing countries or at remote locations in which rainfall gauges are scarce.

Transport of three veterinary antimicrobials from feedlot pens via simulated rainfall runoff.

Science.gov (United States)

Sura, Srinivas; Degenhardt, Dani; Cessna, Allan J; Larney, Francis J; Olson, Andrew F; McAllister, Tim A

2015-07-15

Veterinary antimicrobials are introduced to wider environments by manure application to agricultural fields or through leaching or runoff from manure storage areas (feedlots, stockpiles, windrows, lagoons). Detected in manure, manure-treated soils, and surface and ground water near intensive cattle feeding operations, there is a concern that environmental contamination by these chemicals may promote the development of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria. Surface runoff and leaching appear to be major transport pathways by which veterinary antimicrobials eventually contaminate surface and ground water, respectively. A study was conducted to investigate the transport of three veterinary antimicrobials (chlortetracycline, sulfamethazine, tylosin), commonly used in beef cattle production, in simulated rainfall runoff from feedlot pens. Mean concentrations of veterinary antimicrobials were 1.4 to 3.5 times higher in surface material from bedding vs. non-bedding pen areas. Runoff rates and volumetric runoff coefficients were similar across all treatments but both were significantly higher from non-bedding (0.53Lmin(-1); 0.27) than bedding areas (0.40Lmin(-1); 0.19). In keeping with concentrations in pen surface material, mean concentrations of veterinary antimicrobials were 1.4 to 2.5 times higher in runoff generated from bedding vs. non-bedding pen areas. Water solubility and sorption coefficient of antimicrobials played a role in their transport in runoff. Estimated amounts of chlortetracycline, sulfamethazine, and tylosin that could potentially be transported to the feedlot catch basin during a one in 100-year precipitation event were 1.3 to 3.6ghead(-1), 1.9ghead(-1), and 0.2ghead(-1), respectively. This study demonstrates the magnitude of veterinary antimicrobial transport in feedlot pen runoff and supports the necessity of catch basins for runoff containment within feedlots. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Limited Dissolved Phosphorus Runoff Losses from Layered Double Hydroxide and Struvite Fertilizers in a Rainfall Simulation Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Everaert, Maarten; da Silva, Rodrigo C; Degryse, Fien; McLaughlin, Mike J; Smolders, Erik

2018-03-01

The enrichment of P in surface waters has been linked to P runoff from agricultural fields amended with fertilizers. Novel slow-release mineral fertilizers, such as struvite and P-exchanged layered double hydroxides (LDHs), have received increasing attention for P recycling from waste streams, and these fertilizers may potentially reduce the risk of runoff losses. Here, a rainfall simulation experiment was performed to evaluate P runoff associated with the application of recycled slow-release fertilizers relative to that of a soluble fertilizer. Monoammonium phosphate (MAP), struvite, and LDH granular fertilizers were broadcasted at equal total P doses on soil packed in trays (5% slope) and covered with perennial ryegrass ( L.). Four rainfall simulation events of 30 min were performed at 1, 5, 15, and 30 d after the fertilizer application. Runoff water from the trays was collected, filtered, and analyzed for dissolved P. For the MAP treatment, P runoff losses were high in the first two rain events and leveled off in later rain events. In total, 42% of the applied P in the MAP treatment was lost due to runoff. In the slow-release fertilizer treatments, P runoff losses were limited to 1.9 (struvite) and 2.4% (LDH) of the applied doses and were more similar over the different rain events. The use of these novel P fertilizer forms could be beneficial in areas with a high risk of surface water eutrophication and a history of intensive fertilization. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Rainfall intensity characteristics at coastal and high altitude stations ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

a given amount of rain occurs is important because heavier rainfall leads to greater runoff, greater soil erosion and less infiltration into the water table. A knowledge of rainfall intensity therefore becomes. Keywords. Rainfall intensity; Kerala; cumulative distribution. J. Earth Syst. Sci. 116, No. 5, October 2007, pp. 451–463.

Improving rainfall representation for large-scale hydrological modelling of tropical mountain basins

Science.gov (United States)

Zulkafli, Zed; Buytaert, Wouter; Onof, Christian; Lavado, Waldo; Guyot, Jean-Loup

2013-04-01

Errors in the forcing data are sometimes overlooked in hydrological studies even when they could be the most important source of uncertainty. The latter particularly holds true in tropical countries with short historical records of rainfall monitoring and remote areas with sparse rain gauge network. In such instances, alternative data such as the remotely sensed precipitation from the TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) satellite have been used. These provide a good spatial representation of rainfall processes but have been established in the literature to contain volumetric biases that may impair the results of hydrological modelling or worse, are compensated during model calibration. In this study, we analysed precipitation time series from the TMPA (TRMM Multiple Precipitation Algorithm, version 6) against measurements from over 300 gauges in the Andes and Amazon regions of Peru and Ecuador. We found moderately good monthly correlation between the pixel and gauge pairs but a severe underestimation of rainfall amounts and wet days. The discrepancy between the time series pairs is particularly visible over the east side of the Andes and may be attributed to localized and orographic-driven high intensity rainfall, which the satellite product may have limited skills at capturing due to technical and scale issues. This consequently results in a low bias in the simulated streamflow volumes further downstream. In comparison, with the recently released TMPA, version 7, the biases reduce. This work further explores several approaches to merge the two sources of rainfall measurements, each of a different spatial and temporal support, with the objective of improving the representation of rainfall in hydrological simulations. The methods used are (1) mean bias correction (2) data assimilation using Kalman filter Bayesian updating. The results are evaluated by means of (1) a comparison of runoff ratios (the ratio of the total runoff and the total precipitation over an

The last developments of the airGR R-package, an open source software for rainfall-runoff modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Thirel, Guillaume; Delaigue, Olivier; Coron, Laurent; Perrin, Charles; Andréassian, Vazken

2017-04-01

Lumped hydrological models are useful and convenient tools for research, engineering and educational purposes. They propose catchment-scale representations of the precipitation-discharge relationship. Thanks to their limited data requirements, they can be easily implemented and run. With such models, it is possible to simulate a number of hydrological key processes over the catchment with limited structural and parametric complexity, typically evapotranspiration, runoff, underground losses, etc. The Hydrology Group at Irstea (Antony) has been developing a suite of rainfall-runoff models over the past 30 years with the main objectives of designing models as efficient as possible in terms of streamflow simulation, applicable to a wide range of catchments and having low data requirements. This resulted in a suite of models running at different time steps (from hourly to annual) applicable for various issues including water balance estimation, forecasting, simulation of impacts and scenario testing. Recently, Irstea has developed an easy-to-use R-package (R Core Team, 2016), called airGR (Coron et al., 2016, 2017), to make these models widely available. It includes: - the water balance annual GR1A model, - the monthly GR2M model, - three versions of the daily model, namely GR4J, GR5J and GR6J, - the hourly GR4H model, - a degree-day snow model CemaNeige. The airGR package has been designed to facilitate the use by non-expert users and allow the addition of evaluation criteria, models or calibration algorithm selected by the end-user. Each model core is coded in FORTRAN to ensure low computational time. The other package functions (i.e. mainly the calibration algorithm and the efficiency criteria) are coded in R. The package is also used for educational purposes. It allows for convenient implementation of model inter-comparisons and large sample hydrology experiments. The airGR package undergoes continuous developments for improving the efficiency, computational time

A two-stage storage routing model for green roof runoff detention.

Science.gov (United States)

Vesuviano, Gianni; Sonnenwald, Fred; Stovin, Virginia

2014-01-01

Green roofs have been adopted in urban drainage systems to control the total quantity and volumetric flow rate of runoff. Modern green roof designs are multi-layered, their main components being vegetation, substrate and, in almost all cases, a separate drainage layer. Most current hydrological models of green roofs combine the modelling of the separate layers into a single process; these models have limited predictive capability for roofs not sharing the same design. An adaptable, generic, two-stage model for a system consisting of a granular substrate over a hard plastic 'egg box'-style drainage layer and fibrous protection mat is presented. The substrate and drainage layer/protection mat are modelled separately by previously verified sub-models. Controlled storm events are applied to a green roof system in a rainfall simulator. The time-series modelled runoff is compared to the monitored runoff for each storm event. The modelled runoff profiles are accurate (mean Rt(2) = 0.971), but further characterization of the substrate component is required for the model to be generically applicable to other roof configurations with different substrate.

Hydrological scenarios of future seasonal runoff distribution in Central Slovakia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hlavcova, K; Szolgay, J; Kohnova, S; Balint, G

2008-01-01

The hydrological scenarios of future seasonal distributions of runoff in the upper Hron River basin, which was chosen as a representative mountainous region in Central Slovakia, were evaluated. Changes in the future climate were expressed by three different climate change scenarios developed within the framework of the Central and Eastern Europe Climate Change Impact and Vulnerability Assessment Project (CECILIA). The climate change scenarios were constructed using the pattern scaling method from the outputs of transient simulations made by 3 GCMs - ECHAM4/OPYC3, HadCM2 and NCAR DOE-PCM. A conceptual hydrological balance model calibrated with data from the period 1971-2000 was used for modelling changes in runoff with monthly time steps. The runoff change scenarios for the selected basin in the future time horizons of 2025, 2050 and 2100 show changes in the seasonal runoff distribution.

Hydrologic conditions and water quality of rainfall and storm runoff for two agricultural areas of the Oso Creek watershed, Nueces County, Texas, 2005-08

Science.gov (United States)

Ockerman, Darwin J.; Fernandez, Carlos J.

2010-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program, and Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Corpus Christi, studied hydrologic conditions and water quality of rainfall and storm runoff of two primarily agricultural subwatersheds of the Oso Creek watershed in Nueces County, Texas. One area, the upper West Oso Creek subwatershed, is about 5,145 acres. The other area, a subwatershed drained by an unnamed tributary to Oso Creek (hereinafter, Oso Creek tributary), is about 5,287 acres. Rainfall and runoff (streamflow) were continuously monitored at the outlets of the two subwatersheds during the study period October 2005-September 2008. Seventeen rainfall samples were collected and analyzed for nutrients and major inorganic ions. Twenty-four composite runoff water-quality samples (12 at West Oso Creek, 12 at Oso Creek tributary) were collected and analyzed for nutrients, major inorganic ions, and pesticides. Twenty-six discrete suspended-sediment samples (12 West Oso Creek, 14 Oso Creek tributary) and 17 bacteria samples (10 West Oso Creek, 7 Oso Creek tributary) were collected and analyzed. These data were used to estimate, for selected constituents, rainfall deposition to and runoff loads and yields from the two subwatersheds. Quantities of fertilizers and pesticides applied in the two subwatersheds were compared with quantities of nutrients and pesticides in rainfall and runoff. For the study period, total rainfall was greater than average. Most of the runoff from the two subwatersheds occurred in response to a few specific storm periods. The West Oso Creek subwatershed produced more runoff during the study period than the Oso Creek tributary subwatershed, 13.95 inches compared with 9.45 inches. Runoff response was quicker and peak flows were higher in the West Oso Creek subwatershed than in the Oso Creek tributary subwatershed. Total nitrogen runoff yield for the 3

Modeling relationship between runoff and soil properties in dry-farming lands, NW Iran

OpenAIRE

Vaezi, A. R.; Bahrami, H. A.; Sadeghi, S. H. R.; Mahdian, M. H.

2010-01-01

The process of transformation of rainfall into runoff over a catchment is very complex and exhibits both temporal and spatial variability. However, in a semi-arid area this variability is mainly controlled by the physical and chemical properties of the soil surface. Developing an accurate and easily-used model that can appropriately determine the runoff generation value is of strong demand. In this study a simple, an empirically based model developed to explore effect of soil properties on ru...

Scale effect challenges in urban hydrology highlighted with a Fully Distributed Model and High-resolution rainfall data

Science.gov (United States)

Ichiba, Abdellah; Gires, Auguste; Tchiguirinskaia, Ioulia; Schertzer, Daniel; Bompard, Philippe; Ten Veldhuis, Marie-Claire

2017-04-01

Nowadays, there is a growing interest on small-scale rainfall information, provided by weather radars, to be used in urban water management and decision-making. Therefore, an increasing interest is in parallel devoted to the development of fully distributed and grid-based models following the increase of computation capabilities, the availability of high-resolution GIS information needed for such models implementation. However, the choice of an appropriate implementation scale to integrate the catchment heterogeneity and the whole measured rainfall variability provided by High-resolution radar technologies still issues. This work proposes a two steps investigation of scale effects in urban hydrology and its effects on modeling works. In the first step fractal tools are used to highlight the scale dependency observed within distributed data used to describe the catchment heterogeneity, both the structure of the sewer network and the distribution of impervious areas are analyzed. Then an intensive multi-scale modeling work is carried out to understand scaling effects on hydrological model performance. Investigations were conducted using a fully distributed and physically based model, Multi-Hydro, developed at Ecole des Ponts ParisTech. The model was implemented at 17 spatial resolutions ranging from 100 m to 5 m and modeling investigations were performed using both rain gauge rainfall information as well as high resolution X band radar data in order to assess the sensitivity of the model to small scale rainfall variability. Results coming out from this work demonstrate scale effect challenges in urban hydrology modeling. In fact, fractal concept highlights the scale dependency observed within distributed data used to implement hydrological models. Patterns of geophysical data change when we change the observation pixel size. The multi-scale modeling investigation performed with Multi-Hydro model at 17 spatial resolutions confirms scaling effect on hydrological model

Green roof rainfall-runoff modelling: is the comparison between conceptual and physically based approaches relevant?

Science.gov (United States)

Versini, Pierre-Antoine; Tchiguirinskaia, Ioulia; Schertzer, Daniel

2017-04-01

Green roofs are commonly considered as efficient tools to mitigate urban runoff as they can store precipitation, and consequently provide retention and detention performances. Designed as a compromise between water holding capacity, weight and hydraulic conductivity, their substrate is usually an artificial media differentiating significantly from a traditional soil. In order to assess green roofs hydrological performances, many models have been developed. Classified into two categories (conceptual and physically based), they are usually applied to reproduce the discharge of a particular monitored green roof considered as homogeneous. Although the resulted simulations could be satisfactory, the question of robustness and consistency of the calibrated parameters is often not addressed. Here, a modeling framework has been developed to assess the efficiency and the robustness of both modelling approaches (conceptual and physically based) in reproducing green roof hydrological behaviour. SWMM and VS2DT models have been used for this purpose. This work also benefits from an experimental setup where several green roofs differentiated by their substrate thickness and vegetation cover are monitored. Based on the data collected for several rainfall events, it has been studied how the calibrated parameters are effectively linked to their physical properties and how they can vary from one green roof configuration to another. Although both models reproduce correctly the observed discharges in most of the cases, their calibrated parameters exhibit a high inconsistency. For a same green roof configuration, these parameters can vary significantly from one rainfall event to another, even if they are supposed to be linked to the green roof characteristics (roughness, residual moisture content for instance). They can also be different from one green roof configuration to another although the implemented substrate is the same. Finally, it appears very difficult to find any

A simple rainfall-runoff model for the single and long term hydrological performance of green roofs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Locatelli, Luca; Mark, Ole; Mikkelsen, Peter Steen

Green roofs are being widely implemented for storm water control and runoff reduction. There is need for incorporating green roofs into urban drainage models in order to evaluate their impact. These models must have low computational costs and fine time resolution. This paper aims to develop...... a model of green roof hydrological performance. A simple conceptual model for the long term and single event hydrological performance of green roofs, shows to be capable of reproducing observed runoff measurements. The model has surface and subsurface storage components representing the overall retention...... capacity of the green roof. The runoff from the system is described by the non-linear reservoir method and the storage capacity of the green roof is continuously re-established by evapotranspiration. Runoff data from a green roof in Denmark are collected and used for parameter calibration....

Rainfall Stochastic models

Science.gov (United States)

Campo, M. A.; Lopez, J. J.; Rebole, J. P.

2012-04-01

This work was carried out in north of Spain. San Sebastian A meteorological station, where there are available precipitation records every ten minutes was selected. Precipitation data covers from October of 1927 to September of 1997. Pulse models describe the temporal process of rainfall as a succession of rainy cells, main storm, whose origins are distributed in time according to a Poisson process and a secondary process that generates a random number of cells of rain within each storm. Among different pulse models, the Bartlett-Lewis was used. On the other hand, alternative renewal processes and Markov chains describe the way in which the process will evolve in the future depending only on the current state. Therefore they are nor dependant on past events. Two basic processes are considered when describing the occurrence of rain: the alternation of wet and dry periods and temporal distribution of rainfall in each rain event, which determines the rainwater collected in each of the intervals that make up the rain. This allows the introduction of alternative renewal processes and Markov chains of three states, where interstorm time is given by either of the two dry states, short or long. Thus, the stochastic model of Markov chains tries to reproduce the basis of pulse models: the succession of storms, each one composed for a series of rain, separated by a short interval of time without theoretical complexity of these. In a first step, we analyzed all variables involved in the sequential process of the rain: rain event duration, event duration of non-rain, average rainfall intensity in rain events, and finally, temporal distribution of rainfall within the rain event. Additionally, for pulse Bartlett-Lewis model calibration, main descriptive statistics were calculated for each month, considering the process of seasonal rainfall in each month. In a second step, both models were calibrated. Finally, synthetic series were simulated with calibration parameters; series

Modelling rainfall amounts using mixed-gamma model for Kuantan district

Science.gov (United States)

Zakaria, Roslinazairimah; Moslim, Nor Hafizah

2017-05-01

An efficient design of flood mitigation and construction of crop growth models depend upon good understanding of the rainfall process and characteristics. Gamma distribution is usually used to model nonzero rainfall amounts. In this study, the mixed-gamma model is applied to accommodate both zero and nonzero rainfall amounts. The mixed-gamma model presented is for the independent case. The formulae of mean and variance are derived for the sum of two and three independent mixed-gamma variables, respectively. Firstly, the gamma distribution is used to model the nonzero rainfall amounts and the parameters of the distribution (shape and scale) are estimated using the maximum likelihood estimation method. Then, the mixed-gamma model is defined for both zero and nonzero rainfall amounts simultaneously. The formulae of mean and variance for the sum of two and three independent mixed-gamma variables derived are tested using the monthly rainfall amounts from rainfall stations within Kuantan district in Pahang Malaysia. Based on the Kolmogorov-Smirnov goodness of fit test, the results demonstrate that the descriptive statistics of the observed sum of rainfall amounts is not significantly different at 5% significance level from the generated sum of independent mixed-gamma variables. The methodology and formulae demonstrated can be applied to find the sum of more than three independent mixed-gamma variables.

Fitting the Statistical Distribution for Daily Rainfall in Ibadan, Based ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

PROF. O. E. OSUAGWU

2013-06-01

Jun 1, 2013 ... Abstract. This paper presents several types of statistical distributions to describe rainfall distribution in Ibadan metropolis over a period of 30 years. The exponential, gamma, normal and poison distributions are compared to identify the optimal model for daily rainfall amount based on data recorded at rain ...

Rainfall variation and child health: effect of rainfall on diarrhea among under 5 children in Rwanda, 2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Mukabutera, Assumpta; Thomson, Dana; Murray, Megan; Basinga, Paulin; Nyirazinyoye, Laetitia; Atwood, Sidney; Savage, Kevin P; Ngirimana, Aimable; Hedt-Gauthier, Bethany L

2016-08-05

Diarrhea among children under 5 years of age has long been a major public health concern. Previous studies have suggested an association between rainfall and diarrhea. Here, we examined the association between Rwandan rainfall patterns and childhood diarrhea and the impact of household sanitation variables on this relationship. We derived a series of rain-related variables in Rwanda based on daily rainfall measurements and hydrological models built from daily precipitation measurements collected between 2009 and 2011. Using these data and the 2010 Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey database, we measured the association between total monthly rainfall, monthly rainfall intensity, runoff water and anomalous rainfall and the occurrence of diarrhea in children under 5 years of age. Among the 8601 children under 5 years of age included in the survey, 13.2 % reported having diarrhea within the 2 weeks prior to the survey. We found that higher levels of runoff were protective against diarrhea compared to low levels among children who lived in households with unimproved toilet facilities (OR = 0.54, 95 % CI: [0.34, 0.87] for moderate runoff and OR = 0.50, 95 % CI: [0.29, 0.86] for high runoff) but had no impact among children in household with improved toilets. Our finding that children in households with unimproved toilets were less likely to report diarrhea during periods of high runoff highlights the vulnerabilities of those living without adequate sanitation to the negative health impacts of environmental events.

A note on estimating urban roof runoff with a forest evaporation model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gash, J.H.C.; Rosier, P.T.W.; Ragab, R.

2008-01-01

A model developed for estimating the evaporation of rainfall intercepted by forest canopies is applied to estimate measurements of the average runoff from the roofs of six houses made in a previous study of hydrological processes in an urban environment. The model is applied using values of the mean

Beyond the SCS curve number: A new stochastic spatial runoff approach

Science.gov (United States)

Bartlett, M. S., Jr.; Parolari, A.; McDonnell, J.; Porporato, A. M.

2015-12-01

The Soil Conservation Service curve number (SCS-CN) method is the standard approach in practice for predicting a storm event runoff response. It is popular because its low parametric complexity and ease of use. However, the SCS-CN method does not describe the spatial variability of runoff and is restricted to certain geographic regions and land use types. Here we present a general theory for extending the SCS-CN method. Our new theory accommodates different event based models derived from alternative rainfall-runoff mechanisms or distributions of watershed variables, which are the basis of different semi-distributed models such as VIC, PDM, and TOPMODEL. We introduce a parsimonious but flexible description where runoff is initiated by a pure threshold, i.e., saturation excess, that is complemented by fill and spill runoff behavior from areas of partial saturation. To facilitate event based runoff prediction, we derive simple equations for the fraction of the runoff source areas, the probability density function (PDF) describing runoff variability, and the corresponding average runoff value (a runoff curve analogous to the SCS-CN). The benefit of the theory is that it unites the SCS-CN method, VIC, PDM, and TOPMODEL as the same model type but with different assumptions for the spatial distribution of variables and the runoff mechanism. The new multiple runoff mechanism description for the SCS-CN enables runoff prediction in geographic regions and site runoff types previously misrepresented by the traditional SCS-CN method. In addition, we show that the VIC, PDM, and TOPMODEL runoff curves may be more suitable than the SCS-CN for different conditions. Lastly, we explore predictions of sediment and nutrient transport by applying the PDF describing runoff variability within our new framework.

The use of simulated rainfall to study the discharge process and the influence factors of urban surface runoff pollution loads.

Science.gov (United States)

Qinqin, Li; Qiao, Chen; Jiancai, Deng; Weiping, Hu

2015-01-01

An understanding of the characteristics of pollutants on impervious surfaces is essential to estimate pollution loads and to design methods to minimize the impacts of pollutants on the environment. In this study, simulated rainfall equipment was constructed to investigate the pollutant discharge process and the influence factors of urban surface runoff (USR). The results indicated that concentrations of total suspended solids (TSS), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) appeared to be higher in the early period and then decreased gradually with rainfall duration until finally stabilized. The capacity and particle size of surface dust, rainfall intensity and urban surface slopes affected runoff pollution loads to a variable extent. The loads of TP, TN and COD showed a positive relationship with the surface dust capacity, whereas the maximum TSS load appeared when the surface dust was 0.0317 g·cm⁻². Smaller particle sizes (pollution carrying capacity of runoff, leading to higher pollution loads. Knowledge of the influence factors could assist in the management of USR pollution loads.

Statistical analysis and modelling of surface runoff from arable fields in central Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Fiener

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Surface runoff generation on arable fields is an important driver of flooding, on-site and off-site damages by erosion, and of nutrient and agrochemical transport. In general, three different processes generate surface runoff (Hortonian runoff, saturation excess runoff, and return of subsurface flow. Despite the developments in our understanding of these processes it remains difficult to predict which processes govern runoff generation during the course of an event or throughout the year, when soil and vegetation on arable land are passing many states. We analysed the results from 317 rainfall simulations on 209 soils from different landscapes with a resolution of 14 286 runoff measurements to determine temporal and spatial differences in variables governing surface runoff, and to derive and test a statistical model of surface runoff generation independent from an a priori selection of modelled process types. Measured runoff was related to 20 time-invariant soil properties, three variable soil properties, four rain properties, three land use properties and many derived variables describing interactions and curvilinear behaviour. In an iterative multiple regression procedure, six of these properties/variables best described initial abstraction and the hydrograph. To estimate initial abstraction, the percentages of stone cover above 10% and of sand content in the bulk soil were needed, while the hydrograph could be predicted best from rain depth exceeding initial abstraction, rainfall intensity, soil organic carbon content, and time since last tillage. Combining the multiple regressions to estimate initial abstraction and surface runoff allowed modelling of event-specific hydrographs without an a priori assumption of the underlying process. The statistical model described the measured data well and performed equally well during validation. In both cases, the model explained 71 and 58% of variability in accumulated runoff volume and instantaneous

A comparative study of mixed exponential and Weibull distributions in a stochastic model replicating a tropical rainfall process

Science.gov (United States)

Abas, Norzaida; Daud, Zalina M.; Yusof, Fadhilah

2014-11-01

A stochastic rainfall model is presented for the generation of hourly rainfall data in an urban area in Malaysia. In view of the high temporal and spatial variability of rainfall within the tropical rain belt, the Spatial-Temporal Neyman-Scott Rectangular Pulse model was used. The model, which is governed by the Neyman-Scott process, employs a reasonable number of parameters to represent the physical attributes of rainfall. A common approach is to attach each attribute to a mathematical distribution. With respect to rain cell intensity, this study proposes the use of a mixed exponential distribution. The performance of the proposed model was compared to a model that employs the Weibull distribution. Hourly and daily rainfall data from four stations in the Damansara River basin in Malaysia were used as input to the models, and simulations of hourly series were performed for an independent site within the basin. The performance of the models was assessed based on how closely the statistical characteristics of the simulated series resembled the statistics of the observed series. The findings obtained based on graphical representation revealed that the statistical characteristics of the simulated series for both models compared reasonably well with the observed series. However, a further assessment using the AIC, BIC and RMSE showed that the proposed model yields better results. The results of this study indicate that for tropical climates, the proposed model, using a mixed exponential distribution, is the best choice for generation of synthetic data for ungauged sites or for sites with insufficient data within the limit of the fitted region.

[Characteristics of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Losses in Longhong Ravine Basin of Westlake in Rainstorm Runoff].

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Fan; Jiang, Yi-feng; Wang, Cui-cui; Huang, Xiao-nan; Wu, Zhi-ying; Chen, Lin

2016-01-15

In order to understand the non-point source pollution status in Longhong ravine basin of Westlake, the characteristics of nutrient losses in runoff was investigated during three rainstorms in one year. The results showed that long duration rainstorm event generally formed several runoff peaks, and the time of its lag behind the peaks of rain intensity was dependent on the distribution of heavy rainfall. The first flush was related to the antecedent rainfall, and the less rainfall in the earlier period, the more total phosphorus (TP) and ammonia (NH4+ -N) in runoff was washed off. During the recession of runoff, more subsurface runoff would result in a concentration peak of total nitrogen (TN) and nitrogen (NO3- -N) . The event mean concentration (EMC) of runoff nitrogen had a negative correlation with rainfall, rainfall duration, maximum rain intensity and average rain intensity except for antecedent rainfall, whereas the change in TP EMC showed the opposite trend. The transport fluxes of nutrients increased with an elevation in runoffs, and Pearson analysis showed that the transport fluxes of TN and NO3- -N had good correlations with runoff depth. The average transport fluxes of TP, TN, NH4+ -N and NO3- -N were 34.10, 1195.55, 1006.62 and 52.38 g x hm(-2), respectively, and NO3- -N was the main nitrogen form and accounted for 84% of TN.

Framework for event-based semidistributed modeling that unifies the SCS-CN method, VIC, PDM, and TOPMODEL

Science.gov (United States)

Bartlett, M. S.; Parolari, A. J.; McDonnell, J. J.; Porporato, A.

2016-09-01

Hydrologists and engineers may choose from a range of semidistributed rainfall-runoff models such as VIC, PDM, and TOPMODEL, all of which predict runoff from a distribution of watershed properties. However, these models are not easily compared to event-based data and are missing ready-to-use analytical expressions that are analogous to the SCS-CN method. The SCS-CN method is an event-based model that describes the runoff response with a rainfall-runoff curve that is a function of the cumulative storm rainfall and antecedent wetness condition. Here we develop an event-based probabilistic storage framework and distill semidistributed models into analytical, event-based expressions for describing the rainfall-runoff response. The event-based versions called VICx, PDMx, and TOPMODELx also are extended with a spatial description of the runoff concept of "prethreshold" and "threshold-excess" runoff, which occur, respectively, before and after infiltration exceeds a storage capacity threshold. For total storm rainfall and antecedent wetness conditions, the resulting ready-to-use analytical expressions define the source areas (fraction of the watershed) that produce runoff by each mechanism. They also define the probability density function (PDF) representing the spatial variability of runoff depths that are cumulative values for the storm duration, and the average unit area runoff, which describes the so-called runoff curve. These new event-based semidistributed models and the traditional SCS-CN method are unified by the same general expression for the runoff curve. Since the general runoff curve may incorporate different model distributions, it may ease the way for relating such distributions to land use, climate, topography, ecology, geology, and other characteristics.

Infiltration and runoff generation processes in fire-affected soils

Science.gov (United States)

Moody, John A.; Ebel, Brian A.

2014-01-01

Post-wildfire runoff was investigated by combining field measurements and modelling of infiltration into fire-affected soils to predict time-to-start of runoff and peak runoff rate at the plot scale (1 m2). Time series of soil-water content, rainfall and runoff were measured on a hillslope burned by the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire west of Boulder, Colorado during cyclonic and convective rainstorms in the spring and summer of 2011. Some of the field measurements and measured soil physical properties were used to calibrate a one-dimensional post-wildfire numerical model, which was then used as a ‘virtual instrument’ to provide estimates of the saturated hydraulic conductivity and high-resolution (1 mm) estimates of the soil-water profile and water fluxes within the unsaturated zone.Field and model estimates of the wetting-front depth indicated that post-wildfire infiltration was on average confined to shallow depths less than 30 mm. Model estimates of the effective saturated hydraulic conductivity, Ks, near the soil surface ranged from 0.1 to 5.2 mm h−1. Because of the relatively small values of Ks, the time-to-start of runoff (measured from the start of rainfall),  tp, was found to depend only on the initial soil-water saturation deficit (predicted by the model) and a measured characteristic of the rainfall profile (referred to as the average rainfall acceleration, equal to the initial rate of change in rainfall intensity). An analytical model was developed from the combined results and explained 92–97% of the variance of  tp, and the numerical infiltration model explained 74–91% of the variance of the peak runoff rates. These results are from one burned site, but they strongly suggest that  tp in fire-affected soils (which often have low values of Ks) is probably controlled more by the storm profile and the initial soil-water saturation deficit than by soil hydraulic properties.

Rainfall variation and child health: effect of rainfall on diarrhea among under 5 children in Rwanda, 2010

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Assumpta Mukabutera

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Diarrhea among children under 5 years of age has long been a major public health concern. Previous studies have suggested an association between rainfall and diarrhea. Here, we examined the association between Rwandan rainfall patterns and childhood diarrhea and the impact of household sanitation variables on this relationship. Methods We derived a series of rain-related variables in Rwanda based on daily rainfall measurements and hydrological models built from daily precipitation measurements collected between 2009 and 2011. Using these data and the 2010 Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey database, we measured the association between total monthly rainfall, monthly rainfall intensity, runoff water and anomalous rainfall and the occurrence of diarrhea in children under 5 years of age. Results Among the 8601 children under 5 years of age included in the survey, 13.2 % reported having diarrhea within the 2 weeks prior to the survey. We found that higher levels of runoff were protective against diarrhea compared to low levels among children who lived in households with unimproved toilet facilities (OR = 0.54, 95 % CI: [0.34, 0.87] for moderate runoff and OR = 0.50, 95 % CI: [0.29, 0.86] for high runoff but had no impact among children in household with improved toilets. Conclusion Our finding that children in households with unimproved toilets were less likely to report diarrhea during periods of high runoff highlights the vulnerabilities of those living without adequate sanitation to the negative health impacts of environmental events.

How runoff begins (and ends): characterizing hydrologic response at the catchment scale

Science.gov (United States)

Mirus, Benjamin B.; Loague, Keith

2013-01-01

Improved understanding of the complex dynamics associated with spatially and temporally variable runoff response is needed to better understand the hydrology component of interdisciplinary problems. The objective of this study was to quantitatively characterize the environmental controls on runoff generation for the range of different streamflow-generation mechanisms illustrated in the classic Dunne diagram. The comprehensive physics-based model of coupled surface-subsurface flow, InHM, is employed in a heuristic mode. InHM has been employed previously to successfully simulate the observed hydrologic response at four diverse, well-characterized catchments, which provides the foundation for this study. The C3 and CB catchments are located within steep, forested terrain; the TW and R5 catchments are located in gently sloping rangeland. The InHM boundary-value problems for these four catchments provide the corner-stones for alternative simulation scenarios designed to address the question of how runoff begins (and ends). Simulated rainfall-runoff events are used to systematically explore the impact of soil-hydraulic properties and rainfall characteristics. This approach facilitates quantitative analysis of both integrated and distributed hydrologic responses at high-spatial and temporal resolution over the wide range of environmental conditions represented by the four catchments. The results from 140 unique simulation scenarios illustrate how rainfall intensity/depth, subsurface permeability contrasts, characteristic curve shapes, and topography provide important controls on the hydrologic-response dynamics. The processes by which runoff begins (and ends) are shown, in large part, to be defined by the relative rates of rainfall, infiltration, lateral flow convergence, and storage dynamics within the variably saturated soil layers.

Temporal rainfall estimation using input data reduction and model inversion

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, A. J.; Vrugt, J. A.; Walker, J. P.; Pauwels, V. R. N.

2016-12-01

Floods are devastating natural hazards. To provide accurate, precise and timely flood forecasts there is a need to understand the uncertainties associated with temporal rainfall and model parameters. The estimation of temporal rainfall and model parameter distributions from streamflow observations in complex dynamic catchments adds skill to current areal rainfall estimation methods, allows for the uncertainty of rainfall input to be considered when estimating model parameters and provides the ability to estimate rainfall from poorly gauged catchments. Current methods to estimate temporal rainfall distributions from streamflow are unable to adequately explain and invert complex non-linear hydrologic systems. This study uses the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) to reduce rainfall dimensionality for the catchment of Warwick, Queensland, Australia. The reduction of rainfall to DWT coefficients allows the input rainfall time series to be simultaneously estimated along with model parameters. The estimation process is conducted using multi-chain Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation with the DREAMZS algorithm. The use of a likelihood function that considers both rainfall and streamflow error allows for model parameter and temporal rainfall distributions to be estimated. Estimation of the wavelet approximation coefficients of lower order decomposition structures was able to estimate the most realistic temporal rainfall distributions. These rainfall estimates were all able to simulate streamflow that was superior to the results of a traditional calibration approach. It is shown that the choice of wavelet has a considerable impact on the robustness of the inversion. The results demonstrate that streamflow data contains sufficient information to estimate temporal rainfall and model parameter distributions. The extent and variance of rainfall time series that are able to simulate streamflow that is superior to that simulated by a traditional calibration approach is a

Runoff of small rocky headwater catchments: Field observations and hydrological modeling

Science.gov (United States)