Application of a regionalized Clark IUH model with limited hydrologic data availability

Abstract

AbstractTo aid prediction of the flow hydrograph in a basin with limited data, a practical approach to determining a regionalized Clark instantaneous unit hydrograph (IUH) model is presented. The proposed model is described in terms of the synthetic time–area concentration curve, the concentration time, and a special regional similarity value that is valid in the whole basin. The latter was estimated from a Monte Carlo testing procedure based on the normal probability distribution of transformed regional similarity values composed of the time of concentration and the storage coefficient in gauged basins. The time–area concentration curve and the concentration time were calculated from a rational equation as in conventional methods. The method of transformation adopted was the Box–Cox power transformation, which is known to make non‐normal values resemble normal data. By introducing the regional similarity value into a Clark IUH, a statistically best estimate of IUH for given data conditions and its quantified degree of uncertainty were realized. The Wi River basin in Korea was used to test the applicability of the regionalized Clark IUH. The performance of the suggested methodology was evaluated by assuming an ungauged sub‐basin at the site. The results showed that the IUH model developed in this work was an effective tool, predicting a reliable hydrograph within the study area even though only limited data were available. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.