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The Effects of Changing Land Cover on Streamflow Simulation in Puerto Rico
Author(s) -
Van Beusekom Ashley E.,
Hay Lauren E.,
Viger Roland J.,
Gould William A.,
Collazo Jaime A.,
Henareh Khalyani Azad
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/jawr.12227
Subject(s) - streamflow , land cover , environmental science , surface runoff , precipitation , hydrology (agriculture) , cover (algebra) , land use , scale (ratio) , climatology , drainage basin , meteorology , geology , geography , ecology , cartography , mechanical engineering , geotechnical engineering , engineering , biology
This study quantitatively explores whether land cover changes have a substantive impact on simulated streamflow within the tropical island setting of P uerto R ico. The Precipitation Runoff Modeling System ( PRMS ) was used to compare streamflow simulations based on five static parameterizations of land cover with those based on dynamically varying parameters derived from four land cover scenes for the period 1953‐2012. The PRMS simulations based on static land cover illustrated consistent differences in simulated streamflow across the island. It was determined that the scale of the analysis makes a difference: large regions with localized areas that have undergone dramatic land cover change may show negligible difference in total streamflow, but streamflow simulations using dynamic land cover parameters for a highly altered subwatershed clearly demonstrate the effects of changing land cover on simulated streamflow. Incorporating dynamic parameterization in these highly altered watersheds can reduce the predictive uncertainty in simulations of streamflow using PRMS . Hydrologic models that do not consider the projected changes in land cover may be inadequate for water resource management planning for future conditions.