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Automated calibration applied to watershed‐scale flow simulations
Author(s) -
Yu Zhongbo,
Schwartz Franklin W.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
hydrological processes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.222
H-Index - 161
eISSN - 1099-1085
pISSN - 0885-6087
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1085(19990215)13:2<191::aid-hyp706>3.0.co;2-n
Subject(s) - baseflow , hydrograph , hydrology (agriculture) , groundwater recharge , groundwater , watershed , groundwater flow , environmental science , groundwater model , aquifer , hydrological modelling , hydraulic conductivity , calibration , streamflow , surface runoff , geology , soil science , drainage basin , computer science , soil water , geotechnical engineering , geography , biology , statistics , cartography , mathematics , ecology , climatology , machine learning
Complexity in simulating the hydrological response in large watersheds over long times has prompted a significant need for procedures for automatic calibration. Such a procedure is implemented in the basin‐scale hydrological model (BSHM), a physically based distributed parameter watershed model. BSHM simulates the most important basin‐scale hydrological processes, such as overland flow, groundwater flow and stream–aquifer interaction in watersheds. Here, the emphasis is on estimating the groundwater parameters with water levels in wells and groundwater baseflows selected as the calibration targets. The best set of parameters is selected from within plausible ranges of parameters by adjusting the values of hydraulic conductivity, storativity, groundwater recharge and stream bed permeability. The baseflow is determined from stream flow hydrographs by using an empirical scheme validated using a chemical approach to hydrograph separation. Field studies determined that the specific conductance for components of the composite hydrograph were sufficiently unique to make the chemical approach feasible. The method was applied to the Big Darby Creek Watershed, Ohio. The parameter set selected for the groundwater system provides a good fit with the estimated baseflow and observed water well data. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.