Calibration and multiple data set-based validation of a land surface model in a mountainous Mediterranean study area

A detailed understanding of the magnitude of the different components of the hydrologic cycle in Mediterranean mountainous catchments is important for a number of different reasons, such as reservoir management and land use planning. Since it is currently impossible to fully monitor a catchment continuously in a spatially distributed manner, the only way to obtain estimates of the different water and energy balance terms is the application of hydrologic models. These models rely on a large number of parameters, of which estimates are rarely available. The objective of this paper is to assess to which degree the overall performance of a hydrologic model can be improved through the estimation of model parameters using observed soil moisture values. In situ observations of soil moisture, surface runoff, infiltration, and soil temperature in the Ribera Salada catchment in the Southeastern Pyrenees are used for this purpose. Before calibration, the model yielded poor results for all these variables. The use of soil and TOPMODEL parameters estimated using one year of soil moisture observations improved the modeled soil moisture values throughout the study period. A strong improvement in the modeled surface runoff and infiltration was also obtained. The model has been found to adequately reproduce the observed soil temperature. As a summary, the results indicate that using one year of soil moisture observations to calibrate a hydrologic model in Mediterranean mountainous catchments may be sufficient, and that this parameter estimation can lead to a strong improvement in the overall model performance.

[1]  George H. Leavesley,et al.  Evaluation of gridded snow water equivalent and satellite snow cover products for mountain basins in a hydrologic model , 2006 .

[2]  Eric F. Wood,et al.  A soil‐vegetation‐atmosphere transfer scheme for the modeling of water and energy balance processes in high latitudes: 2. Application and validation , 1999 .

[3]  Niko E. C. Verhoest,et al.  Improvement of TOPLATS‐based discharge predictions through assimilation of ERS‐based remotely sensed soil moisture values , 2002, Hydrological Processes.

[4]  Yvan Caballero,et al.  Flow modelling in a high mountain valley equipped with hydropower plants: Rio Zongo Valley, Cordillera Real, Bolivia , 2004 .

[5]  P. Llorens,et al.  Studying the role of old agricultural terraces on runoff generation in a small Mediterranean mountainous basin , 1994 .

[6]  Niko E. C. Verhoest,et al.  The importance of the spatial patterns of remotely sensed soil moisture in the improvement of discharge predictions for small-scale basins through data assimilation , 2001 .

[7]  Niko E. C. Verhoest,et al.  Assessment of model uncertainty for soil moisture through ensemble verification , 2006 .

[8]  Keith Beven,et al.  On hydrologic similarity: 2. A scaled model of storm runoff production , 1987 .

[9]  Henrik Madsen,et al.  Automatic calibration of a conceptual rainfall-runoff model using multiple objectives. , 2000 .

[10]  Eric F. Wood,et al.  A soil‐vegetation‐atmosphere transfer scheme for the modeling of water and energy balance processes in high latitudes: 1. Model improvements , 1999 .

[11]  Henrik Madsen,et al.  Parameter estimation in distributed hydrological catchment modelling using automatic calibration with multiple objectives , 2003 .

[12]  Herbert Lang,et al.  Advanced flood forecasting in Alpine watersheds by coupling meteorological observations and forecasts with a distributed hydrological model , 2002 .

[13]  Michel Vauclin,et al.  Evaluation of an antecedent precipitation index to model runoff yield in the western Sierra Madre (North-west Mexico) , 2002 .

[14]  Ian Reid,et al.  The influence of slope orientation upon the soil moisture regime, and its hydrogeomorphological significance , 1973 .

[15]  W. Crow,et al.  The assimilation of remotely sensed soil brightness temperature imagery into a land surface model using Ensemble Kalman filtering: a case study based on ESTAR measurements during SGP97 , 2003 .

[16]  J. Hicke,et al.  Global synthesis of leaf area index observations: implications for ecological and remote sensing studies , 2003 .

[17]  W. J. Shuttleworth,et al.  Parameter estimation of a land surface scheme using multicriteria methods , 1999 .

[18]  M. Zappa,et al.  ALPINE3D: a detailed model of mountain surface processes and its application to snow hydrology , 2006 .

[19]  Henrik Madsen,et al.  Comparison of different automated strategies for calibration of rainfall-runoff models , 2002 .

[20]  Efficacy of a hydrologic model in simulating discharge from a large mountainous catchment , 2006 .

[21]  Wade T. Crow,et al.  Modeling Snow-Cover Heterogeneity over Complex Arctic Terrain for Regional and Global Climate Models* , 2004 .

[22]  Jasper A Vrugt,et al.  Improved evolutionary optimization from genetically adaptive multimethod search , 2007, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[23]  Wade T. Crow,et al.  An observation system simulation experiment for the impact of land surface heterogeneity on AMSR-E soil moisture retrieval , 2001, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[24]  Keith Beven,et al.  Using internal catchment information to reduce the uncertainty of discharge and baseflow predictions , 2007 .

[25]  Keith Beven,et al.  The future of distributed models: model calibration and uncertainty prediction. , 1992 .

[26]  S. Sorooshian,et al.  A Shuffled Complex Evolution Metropolis algorithm for optimization and uncertainty assessment of hydrologic model parameters , 2002 .

[27]  P. Llorens,et al.  Internal evaluation of a physically-based distributed model using data from a Mediterranean mountain catchment , 2002 .

[28]  K. Soudani,et al.  Leaf area index and canopy stratification in Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) stands , 2002 .

[29]  David R. Maidment,et al.  Handbook of Hydrology , 1993 .

[30]  Wade T. Crow,et al.  Using a Microwave Emission Model to Estimate Soil Moisture from ESTAR Observations during SGP99 , 2004 .

[31]  V. Pauwels A multistart weight‐adaptive recursive parameter estimation method , 2008 .

[32]  I. White,et al.  Designs for disc permeameters , 1988 .

[33]  Pilar Llorens,et al.  Hydrological processes and their seasonal controls in a small Mediterranean mountain catchment in the Pyrenees , 2002 .

[34]  Dennis D. Baldocchi,et al.  Seasonal variation in carbon dioxide exchange over a Mediterranean annual grassland in California , 2004 .

[35]  Francesc Gallart,et al.  Seasonal dynamics of runoff-contributing areas in a small mediterranean research catchment (Vallcebre, Eastern Pyrenees) , 2007 .

[36]  W. Timmermans,et al.  Comparison of the estimated water and energy budgets of a large winter wheat field during AgriSAR 2006 by multiple sensors and models , 2008 .

[37]  Vincent Marc,et al.  The role of forest cover on streamflow down sub-Mediterranean mountain watersheds : a modelling approach , 2001 .

[38]  J. Arnold,et al.  Development of a snowfall-snowmelt routine for mountainous terrain for the soil water assessment tool (SWAT) , 2002 .

[39]  G. Liston,et al.  Simulations of snow distribution and hydrology in a mountain basin , 1999 .

[40]  V. Pauwels,et al.  Improvement of the PEST parameter estimation algorithm through Extended Kalman Filtering , 2007 .

[41]  Jiancheng Shi,et al.  An observing system simulation experiment for hydros radiometer-only soil moisture products , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[42]  S. Sorooshian,et al.  Effective and efficient algorithm for multiobjective optimization of hydrologic models , 2003 .

[43]  W. James Shuttleworth,et al.  Multiobjective calibration and sensitivity of a distributed land surface water and energy balance model , 2001 .

[44]  P. Llorens,et al.  Small basin response in a Mediterranean mountainous abandoned farming area: Research design and preliminary results , 1992 .

[45]  G. Fiocco,et al.  Tropospheric aerosols in the Mediterranean: 3. Measurements and modeling of actinic radiation profiles , 2003 .

[46]  F. Berninger,et al.  Impacts of climate change on the tree line. , 2002, Annals of botany.

[47]  Helge Bormann,et al.  Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Impact of Spatial Data Resolution on Simulated Catchment Water Balances and Model Performance of the Multi-scale Toplats Model , 2022 .

[48]  Serge Rambal,et al.  Simulating carbon and water flows and growth in a Mediterranean evergreen Quercus ilex coppice using the FOREST-BGC model , 2002 .

[49]  Gabrielle De Lannoy,et al.  Improvement of modeled soil wetness conditions and turbulent fluxes through the assimilation of observed discharge , 2006 .

[50]  D. L. Brakensiek,et al.  Estimation of Soil Water Properties , 1982 .

[51]  Pilar Llorens,et al.  Hydrological functioning of mediterranean mountain basins in Vallcebre, Catalonia: Some challenges for hydrological modelling , 1997 .

[52]  W. Crow,et al.  Multiobjective calibration of land surface model evapotranspiration predictions using streamflow observations and spaceborne surface radiometric temperature retrievals , 2003 .

[53]  W. J. Shuttleworth,et al.  Integration of soil moisture remote sensing and hydrologic modeling using data assimilation , 1998 .

[54]  Soroosh Sorooshian,et al.  Multi-objective global optimization for hydrologic models , 1998 .

[55]  S. Sorooshian,et al.  Calibration of a semi-distributed hydrologic model for streamflow estimation along a river system , 2004, Journal of Hydrology.

[56]  P. Llorens,et al.  Rainfall interception by a Pinus sylvestris forest patch overgrown in a Mediterranean mountainous abandoned area I. Monitoring design and results down to the event scale , 1997 .

[57]  Wade T. Crow,et al.  The Value of Coarse-Scale Soil Moisture Observations for Regional Surface Energy Balance Modeling , 2002 .

[58]  Eric F. Wood,et al.  A soil‐vegetation‐atmosphere transfer scheme for modeling spatially variable water and energy balance processes , 1997 .

[59]  P. Llorens Rainfall interception by a Pinus sylvestris forest patch overgrown in a Mediterranean mountainous abandoned area II. Assessment of the applicability of Gash's analytical model , 1997 .

[60]  Eric F. Wood,et al.  The Importance of Classification Differences and Spatial Resolution of Land Cover Data in the Uncertainty in Model Results over Boreal Ecosystems , 2000 .

[61]  J. Famiglietti,et al.  Multiscale modeling of spatially variable water and energy balance processes , 1994 .

[62]  S. Sorooshian,et al.  Effective and efficient global optimization for conceptual rainfall‐runoff models , 1992 .