Abstract
Rainfall-runoff modeling is nowadays applied for water resources management, water system design, real-time forecasting, flood design and can be carried out by using different types of hydrological models. In this study, we focused on lumped conceptual hydrological models and their performance in diverse sub-catchments of the Sava River in Slovenia, related to their size and non-homogeneity. We evaluated the difference between modeled and measured discharges of selected discharge gauging stations, using different model performance criteria that are usually applied in hydrology, connecting the results to geospatial analysis of geological and hydrogeological characteristics, land use, runoff potential, proportion of agglomeration and various meteorological variables. Better model performance was obtained for catchments with a higher runoff potential and with less variations in meteorological variables. Regarding the number of used parameters, the results indicated that the tested Genie Rural 6-parameter Journalier (GR6J) model with 6 parameters performed better than the Genie Rural 4-parameter Journalier (GR4J) model with 4 parameters, especially in the case of larger sub-catchments. These results illustrate the comprehensive nature of lumped models. Thus, they yield good performance in case of the catchments with indistinguishable characteristics.
Highlights
Reliable and robust hydrological models of different types are required for water resource engineering applications
The results showed that Genie Rural 6-parameter Journalier (GR6J) model slightly improved the performance of the Genie Rural 4-parameter Journalier (GR4J) model, but only in the validation mode
That is important from the perspective of this study, where we evaluated the performance of lumped conceptual models with different complexity for the rainfall-runoff modeling in case of the non-homogeneous catchments
Summary
Reliable and robust hydrological models of different types are required for water resource engineering applications. Hydrological modeling is needed to evaluate the impact of extreme events such as droughts and floods, on natural resources as well as risk management and planning. By transforming meteorological input variables, using mathematical relationships and parameters within the specific model one can simulate hydrological output variables to mimic the most important processes of the hydrological cycle. Throughout the years, several hydrological models have been developed for specific needs. According to Singh et al [1], at least 64 different hydrological models are available for rainfall-runoff simulations. Model selection should be tailored according to the modeling purpose and aim and selected model should be able to capture the main catchment characteristics reflecting the hydrological behavior of the catchment (e.g., [4]). For the purpose of the design hydrograph associated with a specific return period one can use the event-based models (i.e., modeling of the specific rainfall event), whereas for the evaluation of different climate scenarios one should use the continuous rainfall-runoff models (i.e., modeling of the longer rainfall-runoff time-series)
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