Analysis of the Relative Importance of Model Parameters in Watersheds with Different Hydrological Regimes

Medina, Yelena; Muñoz, Enrique

doi:10.3390/w12092376

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Within these regions, simulations tended to be more sensitive to the routing routine than the response routine if the recession slope was rather steep. The spatial distribution of the most sensitive HBV model routine across the United States confirms the findings of several HBV parameter sensitivity studies conducted at a local scale (Abebe et al, 2010;Medina & Muñoz, 2020;Pianosi & Wagener, 2016;Zelelew & Alfredsen, 2013) and reflects the large-scale variability in dominant hydrological processes. Applying the spatially distributed PRMS model in the United States, Markstrom et al (2016) used parameter sensitivity analysis to derive detailed maps of dominant hydrological processes.…”

Section: Parameter Values and Sensitivity Of The Best Donor Catchmentssupporting

confidence: 78%

Regionalization for Ungauged Catchments — Lessons Learned From a Comparative Large‐Sample Study

Pool

Vis

Seibert

2021

Water Resources Research

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Model parameter values for ungauged catchments can be regionalized from hydrologically similar gauged catchments. Achieving reliable and robust predictions in ungauged catchments by regionalization, however, is still a major challenge. Here, we conduct a comparative assessment of 19 regionalization approaches based on previously published literature to contribute new insights into their performance in different geographic regions. The approaches use geographical information, physical catchment attributes, hydrological signatures, or a combination thereof to select donor catchments and to subsequently transfer their entire parameter sets to the ungauged receiver catchment. Each regionalization approach was tested in a leave-one-out cross-validation with a bucket-type catchment model (the HBV model) using 671 gauged catchments in the United States with a diverse hydroclimatology. We then evaluated regionalization performance for several hydrograph aspects, compared it against calibration and regionalization benchmarks, and linked it to catchment descriptors. The results of this large-sample regionalization study can be summarized in three major lessons: (a) Catchments can benefit from a well-chosen regionalization approach independent of their geographic region and independent of how well they can be modeled or regionalized at best. (b) Almost perfect donors exist for most catchments and an excellent relative model performance can be reached for most catchments with current regionalization approaches. This implies that there is considerable potential for improvement in the prediction in ungauged catchments. (c) The ranking of regionalization approaches depends on how the predicted hydrographs are evaluated. These findings indicate that a multi-criteria evaluation is essential for a robust assessment of regionalization performance.Plain Language Summary Information on streamflow is crucial for good water resources management including the mitigation of water-related hazards. However, for many catchments there is a lack of streamflow information. In such situations, streamflow is often estimated using hydrological models, whereby model parameterizations are transferred (i.e., regionalized) from hydrologically similar gauged catchments. Reliable estimates in data-scarce regions are still a major challenge in hydrology despite the large number of regionalization approaches proposed in the past decades. Here, we conduct a systematic and standardized assessment of 19 existing regionalization approaches using 671 catchments in the United States. Our findings suggest that widely used regionalization approaches can result in excellent model performance for most catchments, whereby approaches considering spatial proximity and any kind of volume information are among the most promising ones. While volume information is per definition missing in ungauged catchments, it could possibly be derived from a small number of field measurements or estimated through statistical analysis. However, the most suitable approach can vary cons...

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Section: Parameter Values and Sensitivity Of The Best Donor Catchmentssupporting

confidence: 78%

Regionalization for Ungauged Catchments — Lessons Learned From a Comparative Large‐Sample Study

Pool

Vis

Seibert

2021

Water Resources Research

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“…1a ). The watershed of Río Grey at the station has an area of 918 km 2 , which includes Glaciar Grey, Glaciar Pingo, and a part of Glaciar Tyndall 46 . Daily discharge data from 1981 onward are available at the Center for Climate and Resilience Research website ( http://explorador.cr2.cl/ ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subglacial discharge controls seasonal variations in the thermal structure of a glacial lake in Patagonia

et al. 2021

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Water temperature in glacial lakes affects underwater melting and calving of glaciers terminating in lakes. Despite its importance, seasonal lake temperature variations are poorly understood because taking long-term measurements near the front of calving glaciers is challenging. To investigate the thermal structure and its seasonal variations, we performed year-around temperature and current measurement at depths of 58–392 m in Lago Grey, a 410-m-deep glacial lake in Patagonia. The measurement revealed critical impacts of subglacial discharge on the lake thermal condition. Water below a depth of ~100 m showed the coldest temperature in mid-summer, under the influence of glacial discharge, whereas temperature in the upper layer followed a seasonal variation of air temperature. The boundary of the lower and upper layers was controlled by the depth of a sill which blocks outflow of dense and cold glacial meltwater. Our data implies that subglacial discharge and bathymetry dictate mass loss and the retreat of lake-terminating glaciers. The cold lakewater hinders underwater melting and facilitates formation of a floating terminus.

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“…This kind of analysis allows one to identify which portions of the network are supplied by each source 𝑗 (𝑗 = 1, … , 𝑛 𝑆 ). From an operational standpoint, trace analysis is conducted by performing an extended-period simulation over a period allowing model warm-up [27] and by considering the resulting average water velocities in pipelines in relation to the end of the period. In greater detail, for each node 𝑘 of the WDN (𝑘 = 1, … , 𝑛 𝑁 ), trace analysis is carried out by evaluating the fractions (i.e., percent value) of water supplied to the node by each source 𝑗 by means of the EPANET 2.2 water quality simulator.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, n S ). From an operational standpoint, trace analysis is conducted by performing an extended-period simulation over a period allowing model warm-up [27] and by considering the resulting average water velocities in pipelines in relation to the end of the period. In greater detail, for each node k of the WDN (k = 1, .…”

Section: Step 1 Trace Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

A Pragmatic Approach for Chlorine Decay Modeling in Multiple-Source Water Distribution Networks Based on Trace Analysis

Zaghini,

Gagliardi,

Marsili

et al. 2024

Water

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Providing water with adequate quality to users is one of the main concerns for water utilities. In most countries, this is ensured through the introduction of disinfectants, such as chlorine, which are subjected to decay over time, with consequent loss of disinfection action and the possible formation of harmful by-products. In this context, water quality models can be a useful tool to support management and, thus, ensure sufficient standards in all network points, but most of these models require the input of reaction parameters which could be difficult to obtain based on the information available to water utilities, especially in the case of complex water distribution networks (WDNs) supplied by more than one source. This study proposes a pragmatic, interval-number-based method to model chlorine decay in complex WDNs by relying on the use of the network hydraulic model and the results of trace analysis, which are exploited to obtain overall reaction rates. The method is applied to the case of a real WDN supplied by water sources with different qualitative features. The results obtained highlight that the method can help water utilities in the identification of overall water quality parameters.

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Analysis of the Relative Importance of Model Parameters in Watersheds with Different Hydrological Regimes

Cited by 10 publications

References 30 publications

Regionalization for Ungauged Catchments — Lessons Learned From a Comparative Large‐Sample Study

Regionalization for Ungauged Catchments — Lessons Learned From a Comparative Large‐Sample Study

Subglacial discharge controls seasonal variations in the thermal structure of a glacial lake in Patagonia

A Pragmatic Approach for Chlorine Decay Modeling in Multiple-Source Water Distribution Networks Based on Trace Analysis

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