Abstract:Hydrological modelling in large plains is not a straightforward task owing to the crucial influence of several elements, namely, accumulation of water on local depressions, absence of an integrated drainage network, generalized meagre surface slopes, strong sensitivity of the soil water content before rainfall events, and variation of the soil infiltration capacity with numerous transient and local factors. It would then appear that distributed hydrological models (DHM) are prone to produce better results than lumped-parameter models. The trade-off in setting up a DHM, however, is how realistic its results are as compared to its simplicity. This paper presents a physically based DHM, named AQUA, which can handle large domains discretized in squared cells of typically 80 m a side. In order to address properly the flow resistance, it relies on a relaxation parameter (˛) with different values for the watercourses and the terrain. Likewise, an infiltration function (I) regulates the downward movement of water. Moreover, the model is supported by an adequate description of the gentle topographical features, which was achieved by a digital elevation model (DEM) from radar interferometry.The testing phase took into account the Santa Catalina Creek Basin (158 km 2 , centre Buenos Aires Province in Argentina). The results were quite encouraging, as the model was able to reproduce the effect of various rainfall scenarios. Sensitivity analyses of the model parameters were consistent with the actual simulation results. AQUA was tested against the well-known HEC-1 model, with a fairly good match of their results.
: Due to the socioeconomical impact of water extremes in plain areas, there is a considerable demand for suitable strategies aiding in the management of water resources and rainfed crops. Numerical models allow for the modelling of water extremes and their consequences in order to decide on management strategies. Moreover, the integration of hydrologic models with hydraulic models under continuous or event-based approaches would synergistically contribute to better forecasting of water extreme consequences under different scenarios. This study conducted at the Santa Catalina stream basin (Buenos Aires province, Argentina) focuses on the integration of numerical models to analyze the hydrological response of plain areas to water extremes under different scenarios involving the implementation of an eco-efficient infrastructure (i.e., the integration of a green infrastructure and hydraulic structures). The two models used for the integration were: the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and the CELDAS8 (CTSS8) hydrologic-hydraulic model. The former accounts for the processes related to the water balance (e.g., evapotranspiration, soil moisture, percolation, groundwater discharge and surface runoff), allowing for the analysis of water extremes for either dry or wet conditions. Complementarily, CTSS8 models the response of a basin to a rainfall event (e.g., runoff volume, peak flow and time to peak flow, flooded surface area). A 10-year data record (2003–2012) was analyzed to test different green infrastructure scenarios. SWAT was able to reproduce the waterflow in the basin with Nash Sutcliffe (NS) efficiency coefficients of 0.66 and 0.74 for the calibration and validation periods, respectively. The application of CTSS8 for a flood event with a return period of 10 years showed that the combination of a green infrastructure and hydraulic structures decreased the surface runoff by 28%, increased the soil moisture by 10% on an average daily scale, and reduced the impact of floods by 21% during rainfall events. The integration of continuous and event-based models for studying the impact of water extremes under different hypothetical scenarios represents a novel approach for evaluating potential basin management strategies aimed at improving the agricultural production in plain areas.
Se modeló matemáticamente el escurrimiento superficial de una cuenca mixta (nacientes en el borde oriental de las sierras de Azul y el resto de su superficie en la llanura pampeana) con distintos programas: uno agregado y otro distribuido. En este trabajo se presenta el estudio del funcionamiento hidrológico de la misma y la comparación de los resultados obtenidos para la simulación de eventos. En la modelación se empleó el programa agregado HEC-HMS del U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, y el modelo distribuido Sistema de Simulación SSHH-I de la Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Se empleó para este último un modelo digital del terreno (MDT) de detalle, construido mediante técnicas de interferometría a partir de imágenes radar. La comparación entre los modelos se hizo considerando dos aspectos: i) caudales y volúmenes a la salida de la cuenca, a la manera tradicional; y ii) tomando en cuenta la capacidad de representar la distribución espacial del agua en la superficie de la cuenca, que es un factor crítico de la inundaciones en áreas de llanura. El empleo de un MDT de detalle permitió representar mejor el movimiento superficial del agua y las áreas de almacenamiento en este tipo de relieve que es de morfología básicamente llana.
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