Development and application of a storage–release based distributed hydrologic model using GIS

Abstract

► A tightly coupled grid based GIS model is developed using a simple storage release approach. ► The proposed model is tested on three watersheds in Indiana. ► The model results are compared with outputs of HEC-HMS and time variant SDDH. ► The results outperform HEC-HMS and SDDH in terms of hydrograph shape and magnitude. The objective of this paper is to present the development and application of a grid based hydrologic model using an object oriented framework within geographic information systems (GIS). The proposed model is called Storage Released based Distributed Hydrologic Model (STORE DHM). Development of STORE DHM is a part of a broader objective to develop a modular hydrologic modeling system within GIS. In this paper, the conceptual framework of STORE DHM including its application to three watersheds in Indiana is presented. The model is tested in the study watersheds by first calibrating it against observed flow hydrograph for a single event, and then verifying it for three additional storm events using both point (gauged) and continuous (radar) rainfall data. Results show that SOTRE DHM is able to predict runoff hydrographs for different types of events in terms of storm duration, peak flow magnitude and time-to-peak. The average Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient is greater than 0.8 for all runoff hydrograph during validation, and the errors in peak flow and time-to-peak predictions are within 5% and 15%, respectively. In addition, STORE DHM output is compared with outputs from two hydrologic models including Hydrologic Engineering Center’s Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) and time variant Spatially Distributed Direct Hydrograph travel time method (SDDH). Results from these comparisons show that STORE DHM outperforms both HEC-HMS and SDDH in terms of overall hydrograph shape and flow magnitude. Although the results from application of STORE DHM are encouraging, the work presented in this paper is just an initial step towards developing a comprehensive tightly coupled GIS modeling framework for hydrology.