Testing the impacts of wildfire on hydrological and sediment response using the OpenLISEM model. Part 1: Calibration and evaluation for a burned Mediterranean forest catchment

•The spatially-distributed OpenLISEM model was applied to a burnt catchment.•Remote sensing and topographic analysis were substitute for field-based estimates.•The model was automatically calibrated for individual storms.•The model was validated using the jack-knife cross-validation procedure.•The m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Catena (Giessen) 2021-12, Vol.207, p.105658, Article 105658
Main Authors: Wu, Jinfeng, Nunes, João Pedro, Baartman, Jantiene E.M., Faúndez Urbina, C.A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Catchment scale
Hydrological events
Jack-knife cross-validation
Model calibration
Soil erosion
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Summary:•The spatially-distributed OpenLISEM model was applied to a burnt catchment.•Remote sensing and topographic analysis were substitute for field-based estimates.•The model was automatically calibrated for individual storms.•The model was validated using the jack-knife cross-validation procedure.•The model also predicted the spatial patterns of soil erosion. Models are typically applied to estimate the potential adverse effects of fire on land degradation and water resources and the potential benefits of post-wildfire rehabilitation treatments. However, few modeling studies have been conducted for meso-scale catchments, and only a fraction of these studies include transport and deposition of eroded material within the catchment or represent spatial erosion patterns. This study presents an application and evaluation of the OpenLISEM physically-based and spatially-distributed hydrological and soil erosion model for a burned Mediterranean meso-scale catchment (18.5 km2) in a data-scarce environment, using a robust parameterization and calibration procedure: (1) integrating satellite imagery and the topographic wetness index to support model parameterization; (2) event-based automated calibration using the Model-Independent Parameter Estimation and Uncertainty Analysis and parameters ensemble for before and after the fire; (3) a jack-knife cross-validation for model evaluation. The study shows that this procedure used in OpenLISEM provides reasonable results for pre- and post-wildfire catchment discharge and sediment transport (r2 and NSE > 0.5; absolute PBIAS 
ISSN:0341-8162
1872-6887
DOI:10.1016/j.catena.2021.105658