Large‐Scale Fine‐Resolution Hydrological Modeling Using Parameter Regionalization in the Missouri River Basin

Abstract

This study simulated crop and water yields in the Missouri River Basin (MRB; 1,371,000 km2), one of the largest river basins in the United States, using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) at a fine resolution of 12‐digit Hydrological Unit Codes (HUCs) using the regionalization calibration approach. Very few studies have simulated the entire MRB, and those that have developed were at a coarser resolution of 8‐digit HUCs and were minimally calibrated. The MRB was first divided into three subbasins and was further divided into eleven regions. A “head watershed” was selected in each region and was calibrated for crop and water yields. The parameters from the calibrated head watershed were extrapolated to other subwatersheds in the region to complete comprehensive spatial calibration. The simulated crop yields at the head watersheds were in close agreement with observed crop yields. Spatial validation of the aggregated crop yields resulted in reasonable predictions for all crops except dryland corn in a few regions. Simulated and observed water yields in head watersheds and also in the validation locations were in close agreement in naturalized streams and poor agreement in streams with high groundwater‐surface water interactions and/or reservoirs found upstream of the gauges. Overall, the SWAT model was able to reasonably capture the hydrological and crop growth dynamics occurring in the basin despite some limitations.

Hydrologic response to future land use change in the Upper Mississippi River Basin by the end of 21st century

“…Overall, the performance scores of model calibration and validation shown in Figure can be considered satisfactory according to the evaluation recommendations by Moriasi et al (), Moriasi, Gitau, Pai, and Daggupati (), and Moriasi et al (). The model performance shown here is comparable to various other large‐scale SWAT applications as well (e.g., Abbaspour et al, ; Daggupati et al, ; Daggupati et al, ).…”

Comparison of three regionalization techniques for predicting streamflow in ungaged watersheds in Nebraska, USA using SWAT model

“…Daggupati et al [15] reported that observed and simulated water yields in the head watersheds and those in the validation locations were in close agreement for naturalized stream systems within the MRB.…”

“…Daggupati et al [15] followed a protocol similar to Pagliero et al [14] and simulated water and crop yields in one of the few reported model simulation investigations of the entire Missouri River Basins (MRB) located in the north central portion of the U.S. After obtaining satisfactory results from flow calibration at the head watersheds in their delineated project, they used a regionalization calibration approach to transfer the calibration parameter set from each head watershed was to the subwatersheds within eleven MRB regions. Daggupati et al [15] reported that observed and simulated water yields in the head watersheds and those in the validation locations were in close agreement for naturalized stream systems within the MRB.…”

“…Watersheds located in the Nebraska Sandhills were modeled unsuccessfully by the Nebraska Natural Resource Commission [17] and Daggupati et al [18] Their unsuccessful application of the SWAT model was attributed to the high groundwater storage levels, which contribute over 90% of the flow in the rivers. Woznicki et al [19] simulated streamflow well in the Tuttle Creek Lake watershed, located in Nebraska and Kansas while Van Liew et al [20] successfully modeled Logan and Shell Creeks in northeast Nebraska with NSE values of 0.82 and 0.88 for the calibration periods and 0.58 and 0.83 for the validation periods.…”

Rationale and Efficacy of Assimilating Remotely Sensed Potential Evapotranspiration for Reduced Uncertainty of Hydrologic Models

“…The overall goal of this study is to demonstrate that better representation of PET/AET plays a key role in creating a robust hydrologic model by increasing the accuracy of both water and energy balance. SWAT (Arnold et al, ; Neitsch et al, ) is used in this study for hydrologic modeling because of its wide‐ranging applications in different geographic and hydroclimatic settings around the world for simulating water availability, sediment/nutrient transport, and crop yield (e.g., Abbaspour et al, ; Daggupati et al, ; A. Rajib & Merwade, ; Schuol et al, ; Zang et al, ). Four modeling experiments are performed (Table ) involving three U.S. watersheds: Upper Wabash and Cedar Creek in Indiana and Saline River in Arkansas (Figure ).Upper Wabash watershed (18,500 km 2 ) is the largest among the three test beds with several streamflow gauge stations.…”