Modelling runoff using optical satellite remote sensing data in a high mountainous alpine catchment of Italy

Abstract

Development of hydrological models for seasonal and real-time runoff forecast in rivers of high alpine catchments is useful for management of water resources. The conceptual models for this purpose are based on a temperature index and/or energy budget and can be either lumped or distributed over the catchment area. Remote sensing satellite data are most useful to acquire near real-time geophysical parameters in order to input to the distributed forecasting models. In the present study, integration of optical satellite remote sensing-derived information was made with ground meteorological and hydrological data, and predetermined catchment morphological parameters, to study the feasibility of application of a distributed temperature index snowmelt runoff model to one of the high mountainous catchments in the Italian Alps, known as Cordevole River Basin. Five sets of Landsat Multispectral Scanning System (MSS) and Thematic Mapper (TM) computer-compatible tapes (CCTs) were processed using digital image processing techniques in order to evaluate the snow cover variation quantitatively. Digital elevation model, slope and aspect parameters were developed and used during satellite data processing. The satellite scenes were classified as snow, snow under transition and snow free areas. A second-order polynomial fit has been attempted to approximate the snow depletion and to estimate daily snow cover areal extent for three elevation zones of the catchment separately. Model performance evaluation based on correlation coefficient, Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient and percentage volume deviation indicated very good simulation between measured and computed discharges for the entire snowmelt period. The use of average temperature values computed from the maximum and minimum temperatures into the model was studied and a suitable algorithm was proposed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.