Abstract
Eight different patch configurations were investigated to analyze the effect of patch characterization/formation in streamflow simulation, using the Regional Hydro-Ecologic Simulation Systems (RHESSys) model. It is investigated for eight different patch configurations of a subcatchment of the Turkey Lakes Watershed, Ontario. The model’s hydrological parameters are calibrated for each of these patch configurations and the performance of the simulations is evaluated. Results indicate that both the nature of the flow simulation and the calibrated parameter values are sensitive to patch configuration. The best simulation results were obtained for the patch configuration with the highest spatial variation of climate, stream network and hillslope conditions across the subcatchment. Different patch configurations also lead to markedly different calibrations of the model’s hydrological parameters (54.26 < k < 119.13; and 1.02 < m < 2.28), which has implications for the physical interpretation and transferability of the calibrated parameter values.
Highlights
Fundamental physical processes in hydrology such as rainfall, evaporation, transpiration, infiltration, surface and ground water flow and connectivity can be precisely described by physical laws at small spatial and temporal scales [1]
For each of the patch configurations there appears to be a systematic trend in the relation between E and k, the nature of that relation varies with the different patch configurations
Eight patch configuration scenarios for subcatchment 38 of the Turkey Lake Watershed were calibrated for hydrological flow simulation with the Regional Hydro-Ecologic Simulation Systems (RHESSys) model
Summary
Fundamental physical processes in hydrology such as rainfall, evaporation, transpiration, infiltration, surface and ground water flow and connectivity can be precisely described by physical laws at small spatial and temporal scales [1]. Over the last few decades, considerable studies have been made in using large scale numerical hydrologic models developed to understand environmental processes and predict environmental changes at various spatial and temporal scales [3]-[5] Most of these studies have employed GIS-coupled physically based distributed hydrologic models. The amount of information contained in hydrologically similar units like patches is highly dependent on the various assumptions considered during their formation The way that these modeling entities have been formed or characterized may have impact on simulation results of the hydrologic regime. The simulations are performed using the Regional Hydro-Ecologic Simulation Systems (RHESSys) [22], in which “patches” represent the finest scale of the spatial hierarchy, i.e. the basic modeling entities on which energy and water components are simulated These patches are formed by the intersection of each coarser level of the hierarchy and other attributes of the watershed [22]. This study investigates the impact of patch characterization on simulated flow regime, and on the calibration of RHESSys’s main hydrological parameters: saturated hydraulic conductivity, k, and, decay of saturated hydraulic conductivity with depth, m
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