Applicability of MIKE SHE to Simulate Hydrology in Argesel River Catchment

Abstract

Abstract A fully distributed, physically-based hydrologic modelling system, MIKE SHE, was used in this study to simulate surface flow as runoff and subsurface flow drainage routed through tile drainage infrastructure within the Argesel River watershed. MIKE SHE, Systeme Hydrologique Europeen, is a sub-model under the collection of models within the MIKE framework from the Danish Hydraulic Institute (DHI). It covers the major processes in the hydrologic cycle and includes process models for evapotranspiration, overland flow, unsaturated flow, groundwater flow, and channel flow and their interactions. The study's focus was the development of a MIKE SHE model based on available data that can be used in land use management decisions and assessment of hydrological mitigation measures. Sensitivity analyses show that a few individual parameters play an important role in the hydrologic modelling. Vegetation parameters and the root depth as well as empirical parameters influence evapotranspiration, transpiration and recharge, in the unsaturated zone, the type of the soil has an effect on the infiltration/evapotranspiration and recharge functions and at the saturated zone level, the hydraulic conductivity of the matrix represents the dominant parameters.