Simulating the river-basin response to atmospheric forcing by linking a mesoscale meteorological model and hydrologic model system

The purpose of this article is to test the ability of a distributed meteorological/hydrologic model to simulate the hydrologic response to three single-storm events passing over the Upper West Branch of the Susquehanna River Basin. The high-resolution precipitation fields for three storms are provid...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of hydrology (Amsterdam) 1999-05, Vol.218 (1), p.72-91
Main Authors: Yu, Z, Lakhtakia, M.N, Yarnal, B, White, R.A, Miller, D.A, Frakes, B, Barron, E.J, Duffy, C, Schwartz, F.W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Freshwater
Hydroclimatic modeling
Hydrologic model system
Hydrology
Hydrology. Hydrogeology
mathematical models
Mesoscale meteorological model
River-basin hydrology
rivers
simulation models
stream flow
Susquehanna River Basin
USA, Susquehanna R. Basin
watershed hydrology
weather
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Summary:The purpose of this article is to test the ability of a distributed meteorological/hydrologic model to simulate the hydrologic response to three single-storm events passing over the Upper West Branch of the Susquehanna River Basin. The high-resolution precipitation fields for three storms are provided by observations and by the Penn State–NCAR Mesoscale Meteorological Model (MM5) with three nested domains. The MM5 simulation successfully captures the storm patterns over the study area, although some temporal and spatial discrepancies exist between observed and simulated precipitation fields. Observed and simulated precipitation data for those storms are used to drive the Hydrologic Model System (HMS). The output from HMS is compared to the measured hydrographic streamflow at the outlet of the Upper West Branch. The Curve Number and Green-Ampt methods of rainfall-runoff partitioning are used in HMS and evaluated for streamflow simulation. The results of the hydrologic simulation compare well with observed data when using the Curve Number partitioning, but underestimate observed data when using the Green-Ampt. The likely cause is the lack of heterogeneity in hydraulic parameters. The simulated streamflow with the MM5-simulated precipitation is lower than the simulated streamflow with observed precipitation. The experiments suggest that the subgrid-scale spatial variability in precipitation and hydraulic parameters should be included in future model development
ISSN:0022-1694
1879-2707
DOI:10.1016/S0022-1694(99)00022-0