Operational management and prediction of water quantity and quality often requires a spatially meaningful simulation of environmental flows and storages at the catchment scale. In this study, the performance of a fully distributed conceptual hydrologic model was evaluated based on the HBV (Hydrologiska Byråns Vattenbalansavdelning) and TACD (Tracer Aided Catchment model – Distributed) model concept in the meso-scale Fyrisån catchment in the Central Swedish lowlands. For a more spatially explicit representation of runoff generation processes of small landscape elements such as wetlands, a new sub-grid parameterization scheme was implemented in the model. In addition, a simple flow distribution and lake retention routine was introduced to better conceptualize the flow routing. During intensive model evaluation and comparison the model underwent conventional split-sample and proxy-basin tests. In this process, shortcomings of the model in the transferability of parameter sets and in the spatial representation of runoff generating processes were found. It was also demonstrated how a detailed comparison with a lumped benchmark model and the additional use of synoptic stream flow measurements allowed further insights into the model performance. It could be concluded that such a thorough model assessment can help to detect shortcomings in the spatial representation of the model and help facilitate model development.
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Research Article|
July 21 2012
Distributed conceptual modelling in a Swedish lowland catchment: a multi-criteria model assessment
Sebastian Wrede;
1Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Water Resources Section, Delft University of Technology, NL-2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands
2Centre de Recherche Public – Gabriel Lippmann, Department of Environment and Agro-Biotechnologies, L-4422 Belvaux, Luxembourg; and Department of Hydrology, University of Trier, D-54286 Trier, Germany
E-mail: [email protected]
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Jan Seibert;
Jan Seibert
3Department of Geography, University of Zurich, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, University of Stockholm, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden; and Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, SE-75236 Uppsala, Sweden
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Stefan Uhlenbrook
Stefan Uhlenbrook
1Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Water Resources Section, Delft University of Technology, NL-2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands
4Department of Water Sciences and Engineering, UNESCO-IHE, NL-2601 DA Delft, The Netherlands
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Hydrology Research (2013) 44 (2): 318–333.
Article history
Received:
June 28 2010
Accepted:
September 08 2011
Citation
Sebastian Wrede, Jan Seibert, Stefan Uhlenbrook; Distributed conceptual modelling in a Swedish lowland catchment: a multi-criteria model assessment. Hydrology Research 1 April 2013; 44 (2): 318–333. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/nh.2012.056
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