A Review of Baseflow Analysis Techniques of Watershed-Scale Runoff Models

Abstract

Streamflow is composed of baseflow and direct runoff. However, most of streamflow during dry seasons depends on baseflow. Thus, baseflow analysis is very important to simulate streamflow of dry seasons. Generally, baseflow analysis is conducted using watershed-scale runoff models due to diffilculty of measuring baseflow. However, it is needed to understand and review how the model simulates baseflow because each model uses inherent baseflow analysis techniques. In this study, SWAT, HSPF, PRMS-IV were reviewed focusing on baseflow and soil water. HSPF and PRMS-IV calculate baseflow using the variables which depends on user, so the baseflow analysis results of HSPF and PRMS-IV are not consistent. Moreover, soil structures which were assumed from HSPF and PRMS-IV, since these two models assume soil structure as two soil zones and three conceptual reservoirs, were not enough to describe real soil structure. On the other hand, baseflow in SWAT is calculated using baseflow recession constant which can consider the characteristics of aquifer and also, soil structure in SWAT is similar to real soil structures. Thus, baseflow analysis result from SWAT was concluded as the most suitable and reliable model because SWAT can reflect the characteristics and soil structure which is close to reality.

Analyzing Priority Management for Water Quality Improvement Strategies with Regional Characteristics

“…The SWAT has the advantage of improving water quality and reducing pollution load by applying BMP on a field basis for each Hydrologic Response Unit (HRU), considering the steep slope and slope characteristics [41,42]. On the other hand, in the case of HSPF, it is difficult to consider soil characteristics, and applying BMP on a field basis is relatively more difficult than the SWAT, so it is not efficient in rural areas [43,44]. In the case of HSPF, various management studies are being widely conducted to improve water quality management due to the increase in impervious area ratio in urban areas during rainfall [45][46][47][48].…”

Development and Verification of the Available Number of Water Intake Days in Ungauged Local Water Source Using the SWAT Model and Flow Recession Curves

“…The SWAT is a program developed by Dr. Jeff Arnold of the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA ARS) for analyzing long-term hydrologic and water quality changes in large and complex watersheds with diverse soil properties and land uses [14]. The SWAT model is a semi-distributed long-term flow model that is more efficient as a dry season model compared with the Tank model and is more reliable than other semi-distributed models, such as the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) model and the Hydrological Simulation Program-Fortran (HSPF) model [45,46]. Hence, this model was selected for this study as it has also been tested for its applicability to various areas in Korea and universal applicability to studies on surface flow, riverbed, lake, and underground water.…”