Hydrologic Simulation With a Distributed Hydrologic Model

Abstract

Hydrologic processes are sensitive to the spatial distribution of hydrologic parameters in watersheds. A distributed hydrologic model which can simulate various components of a watershed hydrologic cycle such as surface water, channel water, soil water and groundwater as well their interactions is used to simulate various hydrologic processes in the Meilin watershed in this paper. The parameters with physical meanings used in the model can be determined through field observations and the spatial variability of parameters can be conveniently displayed and analyzed on a GIS platform. Two different rainfall-runoff partitioning approaches: SCS curve number method and Green-Ampt method were used to simulate hydrologic responses in the watershed. The results show that the simulated streamflow hydrographs at the basin outlet are consistent with the observed discharges with both these methods. The Green-Ampt method obtains better results especially on the simulation of peak streamflow as compared to these with SCS curve number method.