On the importance of soil moisture in calibration of rainfall–runoff models: two case studies |
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| Authors: | Mahshid Shahrban Jeffrey P Walker Q J Wang David E Robertson |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Australia;2. CSIRO Land and Water, Clayton South, Australia;3. Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia;4. CSIRO Land and Water, Clayton South, Australia |
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| Abstract: | Streamflow modelling results from the GR4H and PDM hydrological models were evaluated in two Australian sub-catchments, using (1) calibration to streamflow and (2) joint-calibration to streamflow and soil moisture. Soil moisture storage in the models was evaluated against soil moisture observations from field measurements. The PDM had the best performance in terms of both streamflow and soil moisture estimations during the calibration period, but was outperformed by GR4H during validation. It was also shown that the soil moisture estimation was improved significantly by joint-calibration for the case where streamflow and soil moisture estimations were poor. In other cases, addition of the soil moisture constraint did not degrade the results. Consequently, it is recommended that GR4H be used, in preference to the PDM, in the foothills of the Murrumbidgee catchment or other Australian catchments with semi-arid to sub-humid climate, and that soil moisture data be used in the calibration process. |
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| Keywords: | streamflow modelling hydrological models joint-calibration soil moisture observations |
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