An advanced soil moisture accounting procedure for SCS curve number method

Sahu, Ram Kumar; Mishra, Sumeet; Eldho, T. I.; Jain, Manoj

doi:10.1002/hyp.6503

Cited by 91 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Its objective is to estimate direct runoff volume from storm rainfall depth, based on a curve number CN". Despite widespread use of SCS-CN methodology, realistic estimation of the CN parameter has been widely discussed among hydrologists and water resources community [18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. The SCS-CN is a very simple approach developed for predicting surface runoff from hortonian overland flow dominated watersheds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of CN Parameter for Small Agricultural Watersheds Using Asymptotic Functions

Kowalik

Wałęga

2015

Water

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This paper investigates a possibility of using asymptotic functions to determine the value of curve number (CN) parameter as a function of rainfall in small agricultural watersheds. It also compares the actually calculated CN with its values provided in the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) National Engineering Handbook Section 4: Hydrology (NEH-4) and Technical Release 20 . The analysis showed that empirical CN values presented in the National Engineering Handbook tables differed from the actually observed values. Calculations revealed a strong correlation between the observed CN and precipitation (P). In three of the analyzed watersheds, a typical pattern of the observed CN stabilization during abundant precipitation was perceived. It was found that Model 2, based on a kinetics equation, most effectively described the P-CN relationship. In most cases, the observed CN in the investigated watersheds was similar to the empirical CN, corresponding to average moisture conditions set out by NEH-4. Model 2 also provided the greatest stability of CN at 90% sampled event rainfall.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of CN Parameter for Small Agricultural Watersheds Using Asymptotic Functions

Kowalik

Wałęga

2015

Water

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“…Therefore, many studies aimed at improving the method and finding a better way to incorporate the Antecedent Moisture Conditions (AMC) (e.g. Simanton et al, 1996;Mishra et al, 2005b;Jain et al, 2006;Sahu et al, 2007;Brocca et al, 2008;Kannan et al, 2008;Mishra et al, 2008). Hawkins (1973Hawkins ( , 1979 for a certain number of watersheds in the US indicated the presence of a correlation between the CN values and the rainfall depth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of the direct runoff generation mechanism for the analysis of the SCS-CN method applicability to a partial area experimental watershed

Soulis

Valiantzas

Dercas

et al. 2009

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

126

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Abstract. The Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) method is widely used for predicting direct runoff volume for a given rainfall event. The applicability of the SCS-CN method and the direct runoff generation mechanism were thoroughly analysed in a Mediterranean experimental watershed in Greece. The region is characterized by a Mediterranean semi-arid climate. A detailed land cover and soil survey using remote sensing and GIS techniques, showed that the watershed is dominated by coarse soils with high hydraulic conductivities, whereas a smaller part is covered with medium textured soils and impervious surfaces. The analysis indicated that the SCS-CN method fails to predict runoff for the storm events studied, and that there is a strong correlation between the CN values obtained from measured runoff and the rainfall depth. The hypothesis that this correlation could be attributed to the existence of an impermeable part in a very permeable watershed was examined in depth, by developing a numerical simulation water flow model for predicting surface runoff generated from each of the three soil types of the watershed. Numerical runs were performed using the HYDRUS-1D code. The results support the validity of this hypothesis for most of the events examined where the linear runoff formula provides better results than the SCS-CN method. The runoff coefficient of this formula can be taken equal to the percentage of the impervious area. However, the linear formula should be applied with caution in case of extreme events with very high rainfall intensities. In this case, Correspondence to: K. X. Soulis (soco@aua.gr) the medium textured soils may significantly contribute to the total runoff and the linear formula may significantly underestimate the runoff produced.

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“…Several researchers have revealed the limitations of the SCS-CN method with respect to soil processes and proposed further parameterization to better represent the initial soil moisture conditions (e.g. Ponce and Hawkins, 1996;Michel et al, 2005;Sahu et al, 2007) as well as the infiltration (e.g. Gabellani et al, 2008;Grimaldi et al, 2013) and baseflow (e.g.…”

Section: Flood Flows: Hortonian or Something More?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Flood design recipes vs. reality: can predictions for ungauged basins be trusted?

Efstratiadis

Koussis

Koutsoyiannis

et al. 2014

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Despite the great scientific and technological advances in flood hydrology, everyday engineering practices still follow simplistic approaches that are easy to formally implement in ungauged areas. In general, these "recipes" have been developed many decades ago, based on field data from typically few experimental catchments. However, many of them have been neither updated nor validated across all hydroclimatic and geomorphological conditions. This has an obvious impact on the quality and reliability of hydrological studies, and, consequently, on the safety and cost of the related flood protection works. Preliminary results, based on historical flood data from Cyprus and Greece, indicate that a substantial revision of many aspects of flood engineering procedures is required, including the regionalization formulas as well as the modelling concepts themselves. In order to provide a consistent design framework and to ensure realistic predictions of the flood risk (a key issue of the 2007/60/EU Directive) in ungauged basins, it is necessary to rethink the current engineering practices. In this vein, the collection of reliable hydrological data would be essential for re-evaluating the existing "recipes", taking into account local peculiarities, and for updating the modelling methodologies as needed.

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An advanced soil moisture accounting procedure for SCS curve number method

Cited by 91 publications

References 25 publications

Estimation of CN Parameter for Small Agricultural Watersheds Using Asymptotic Functions

Estimation of CN Parameter for Small Agricultural Watersheds Using Asymptotic Functions

Investigation of the direct runoff generation mechanism for the analysis of the SCS-CN method applicability to a partial area experimental watershed

Flood design recipes vs. reality: can predictions for ungauged basins be trusted?

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