Distributed Hydrological Modeling and Sensitivity Analysis in Torysa Watershed, Slovakia

• Published in: Water resources management Vol. 22; no. 3; pp. 393 - 408
• Main Authors: Bahremand, A, De Smedt, F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands 01-03-2008; Springer Netherlands; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences; Calibration; Civil Engineering; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Environment; Evaporation; Evaporation rate; Evapotranspiration; Exact sciences and technology; Floods; Flow simulation; Freshwater; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; GIS-based hydrological modeling; Groundwater; Hydrogeology; Hydrologic modeling; Hydrologic models; Hydrology; Hydrology. Hydrogeology; Hydrology/Water Resources; Land use; Outlets; Parameter estimation; pests; Precipitation; Rain; River basins; Runoff; Sensitivity analysis; Simulation; Soil types; Soils; Stream flow; Studies; Topography; Water resources; Watershed management; Watersheds; WetSpa model; Central Europe; Europe; Slovakia; Flow simulation; GIS-based hydrological modeling; PEST; Sensitivity analysis; WetSpa model; rivers; sensitivity analysis; simulation; ground water; accuracy; geographic information systems; evapotranspiration; land use map; drainage basins; hydrological modeling; aquifers; corrections; discharge; water resource management; evaporation; hydrographs
• ISSN: 0920-4741; 1573-1650
• DOI: 10.1007/s11269-007-9168-x

The spatially distributed hydrologic model WetSpa is applied to the Torysa river basin (1,297 km²) located in Slovakia. Daily hydrometeorological data from 1991 to 2000 are used as input to the model. The spatial characteristic of the basin are described by three base maps, i.e. DEM, landuse and soil type, in GIS form using 100 m cell size. Results of the simulations show a good agreement between calculated and measured hydrographs at the outlet of the basin. The model predicts the daily discharge values with a good accuracy, i.e. about 73% according to the Nash-Sutcliff criterion. Sensitivity analysis of the model parameters is performed using a model-independent parameter estimator, PEST. It is found that the correction factor for calculating the actual evapotranspiration from potential evaporation has the highest relative sensitivity. Parameter K gm which controls the amount of evapotranspiration from the groundwater has the least relative sensitivity.