Rainfall distributional properties control hydrologic model parameter importance.
Study region: Semi-arid region of the Western United States of America in 16.6 km2 WS10 watershed using data from the highly instrumented Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed managed by the USDA-Agricultural Research Services. Study focus: Hydrologic model parameters are generally designed to represe...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581824000107 |
| _version_ | 1797342155182702592 |
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| author | Menberu B. Meles Dave C. Goodrich Carl L. Unkrich Hoshin V. Gupta I. Shea Burns Feyera A. Hirpa Saman Razavi D. Phillip Guertin |
| author_facet | Menberu B. Meles Dave C. Goodrich Carl L. Unkrich Hoshin V. Gupta I. Shea Burns Feyera A. Hirpa Saman Razavi D. Phillip Guertin |
| author_sort | Menberu B. Meles |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Study region: Semi-arid region of the Western United States of America in 16.6 km2 WS10 watershed using data from the highly instrumented Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed managed by the USDA-Agricultural Research Services. Study focus: Hydrologic model parameters are generally designed to represent watershed physiographic properties. This study investigates the possible impact of climate forcing, particularly precipitation across a watershed, on model parameter identification – a topic that has historically received minimal attention. To address this gap, we conducted time-varying and time-aggregate sensitivity analysis of a physically based distributed hydrologic model on a heavily instrumented watershed under various observed and synthetic storm events to assess how the distributional properties of rainfall in space and time influence the importance model parameters. Particularly, we focused on a semi-arid watershed with an area larger than the typical convective storms in the region. New hydrologic insight: Results show that there is a significant variation in parameter importance following rainfall spatial and temporal properties and that characterizing the relationship between parameter importance and rainfall properties is essential for identifying parameter values that adequately capture the watershed behaviors. We further showed that a power-law function linking parameter importance to precipitation properties can extrapolate results to other climate regimes. More analyses across different watersheds, climate forcing, and models are required to improve our understanding and strategies for parametrization and calibration of watershed models. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T10:29:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2de6de773ee0425bac1c89c7661895d7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2214-5818 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T10:29:14Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-2de6de773ee0425bac1c89c7661895d72024-01-27T06:55:09ZengElsevierJournal of Hydrology: Regional Studies2214-58182024-02-0151101662Rainfall distributional properties control hydrologic model parameter importance.Menberu B. Meles0Dave C. Goodrich1Carl L. Unkrich2Hoshin V. Gupta3I. Shea Burns4Feyera A. Hirpa5Saman Razavi6D. Phillip Guertin7USDA-ARS, Sustainable Agricultural Water Systems, Davis, CA, USA; Corresponding author.USDA-ARS, Southwest Watershed Research Center, Tucson, AZ, USAUSDA-ARS, Southwest Watershed Research Center, Tucson, AZ, USAUniversity of Arizona, Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, Tucson, AZ, USAUniversity of Arizona, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, Tucson, AZ USA,One concern. Inc, Oakland, CA, USAAustralian National University, Institute for Water Futures, Mathematical Sciences Institute, Canberra, Australian National Territory, Australia; University of Saskatchewan, School of Environmental and Sustainability, Global Institute for Water Security, Saskatoon, CanadaUniversity of Arizona, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, Tucson, AZ USA,Study region: Semi-arid region of the Western United States of America in 16.6 km2 WS10 watershed using data from the highly instrumented Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed managed by the USDA-Agricultural Research Services. Study focus: Hydrologic model parameters are generally designed to represent watershed physiographic properties. This study investigates the possible impact of climate forcing, particularly precipitation across a watershed, on model parameter identification – a topic that has historically received minimal attention. To address this gap, we conducted time-varying and time-aggregate sensitivity analysis of a physically based distributed hydrologic model on a heavily instrumented watershed under various observed and synthetic storm events to assess how the distributional properties of rainfall in space and time influence the importance model parameters. Particularly, we focused on a semi-arid watershed with an area larger than the typical convective storms in the region. New hydrologic insight: Results show that there is a significant variation in parameter importance following rainfall spatial and temporal properties and that characterizing the relationship between parameter importance and rainfall properties is essential for identifying parameter values that adequately capture the watershed behaviors. We further showed that a power-law function linking parameter importance to precipitation properties can extrapolate results to other climate regimes. More analyses across different watersheds, climate forcing, and models are required to improve our understanding and strategies for parametrization and calibration of watershed models.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581824000107Dynamic parameter importanceVARSKINEROS2Walnut gulchZonal calibrationWatershed modeling |
| spellingShingle | Menberu B. Meles Dave C. Goodrich Carl L. Unkrich Hoshin V. Gupta I. Shea Burns Feyera A. Hirpa Saman Razavi D. Phillip Guertin Rainfall distributional properties control hydrologic model parameter importance. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies Dynamic parameter importance VARS KINEROS2 Walnut gulch Zonal calibration Watershed modeling |
| title | Rainfall distributional properties control hydrologic model parameter importance. |
| title_full | Rainfall distributional properties control hydrologic model parameter importance. |
| title_fullStr | Rainfall distributional properties control hydrologic model parameter importance. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rainfall distributional properties control hydrologic model parameter importance. |
| title_short | Rainfall distributional properties control hydrologic model parameter importance. |
| title_sort | rainfall distributional properties control hydrologic model parameter importance |
| topic | Dynamic parameter importance VARS KINEROS2 Walnut gulch Zonal calibration Watershed modeling |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581824000107 |
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