Abstract
Predicting streamflow in a large arid and semi-arid basin is of great importance in understanding the availability of water for spatial planning and water resource management. In this study, two geographic information system-based (GIS-based) semi-distributed hydrological models were compared for predicting flow. TOPMODEL and SWAT require the use of a GIS to process input data obtained from various sources, such as the digital elevation model (DEM), topographic index (TI), hydrologic response unit (HRU), meteorological stations, and soil- and land-use maps. Daily hydro-meteorological data were collected from 1989 to 2007, and 90-m resolution of DEM was considered. The models were compared, and their performances for the prediction of peak flows and runoff volumes were discussed. TOPMODEL and SWAT obtained good coefficient values for the validation period, i.e., 0.61 and 0.68, respectively. According to relative error percentage (RE %) criteria, TOPMODEL provided a promising value for the validation period (64 %) for peak flows, whereas SWAT provided about 70 %. TOPMODEL provided 5-year overestimation and 1-year underestimation for runoff volume; SWAT provided 2-year underestimation and 4-year overestimation. For this study, both models obtained promising simulation results for surface flow.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ab Rah Saz Shargh (2009) Comprehensive studies of water resource management for Roodan watershed. Consulting Water Resource Engineering Corporation, register code 14800. Mashhad, Iran
Ahmed SAH, Gumindoga W, Katimon A, Darus IZM (2014) Semi-distributed rainfall-runoff model for streamflow simulation utilizing ASTER DEM in tropical areas. Sains Malaysiana 43(9):1379–1388
Anderson M, Kavvas, M L (2002) A global hydrology model, In mathematical models of watershed hydrology, V.P. Singh and D.K. Frevert eds., Littleton, Colo, Water resources publications, 2002
Arnold JG, Srinivasan R, Muttiah RS, Williams JR (1998) Large area hydrologic modeling and assessment part I: model development. J Am Water Resour Assoc 34(1):73–89
Arnold JG, Moriasi DN, Gassman PW, Abbaspour KC, White MJ, Srinivasan R, Santhi C, Harmel RD, van Griensven A, Van Liew MW, Kannan N, Jha MK (2012) SWAT: model use, calibration, and validation. Trans ASABE 55(4):1491–1508
Awchi T (2014) River discharges forecasting in Northern Iraq using different ANN techniques. Water Resour Manag 28:801–814
Bell V, Moore RJ (1998) A grid-based distributed flood forecasting model for use with weather radar data: part 2. case studies. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 2:283–298
Beven KJ (1997) TOPMODEL: a critique. Hydrol Process 11:1069–1086
Beven KJ, Kirkby MJ (1979) A physically based variable contributing area model of basin hydrology. Hydrol Sci Bull 24(1):43–69
Beven K, Quinn P, Romanowicz R, Fisher J, Lamb R (1994) TOPMODEL and GRIDATB, a users guide to the distribution versions (94.01), technical report TR110/94. Lancaster University Centre For Research On Environmental Systems and Statistics, Lancaster
Beven K, Lamb R, Quinn P, Romanowicz R, Freer, J (1995) “Topmodel,” Chapter 18 in Computer Models of Watershed Hydrology, Edited by V. P. Singh, Water Resources Publications, Highlands Ranch, Colorado, p.627–668
Borah D, Arnold J, Bera M (2007) Storm event and continuous hydrologic modeling for comprehensive and efficient watershed simulations. J Hydrol Eng 12(6):605–6116
Chow VT, Maidment DR, Mays LW (2005) Applied hydrology. McGraw-Hill New York, computational experiments. Proc R Soc London A 457:157–189
Demirel MC, Venancio A, Kahya E (2009) Flow forecast by SWAT model and ANN in Pracana basin, Portugal. Adv Eng Ssoftw 40:467–473
El-Nasr AA, Arnold JG, Feyen J, Berlamont J (2005) Modelling the hydrology of a catchment using a distributed and a semi-distributed model. Hydrol Process 19(3):573–587
Faramarzi M, Yang H, Mousavi J, Schulin R, Binder CR, Abbaspour KC (2010) Analysis of intra-country virtual water trade strategy to alleviate water scarcity in Iran. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 14:1417–1433
Geethalakshmi V, Kitterod N.O, Lakshmanan A (2008) A literature review on modeling of hydrological processes and feedback mechanisms on climate (Vol.3), The Norwegian Institute for Agriculture and Environmental Research (Bioforsk), Norway
Ghavidelfar S, Alvankar SR, Razmkhah A (2011) Comparison of the lumped and quasi-distributed clark runoff models in simulating flood hydrographs on a semi-arid watershed. Water Resour Manag 25(6):1775–1790
Hua X, Lian Y (2013) Uncertainty-based evaluation and comparison of SWAT and HSPF applications to the Illinois River Basin. J Hydrol 481:119–131
Im S, Brannan KM, Mostaghimi S, Kim SM (2007) Comparison of HSPF and SWAT models performance for runoff and sediment yield prediction. J Environ Sci Health, Part A: Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng 42(11):1561–1570
Jajarmizadeh M (2013) Streamflow modeling of a large arid catchment using semi-distributed hydrological model and modular neural network. Ph.D Thesis. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Jajarmizadeh M, Sobri H, Salarpour M (2012) A review on theoretical consideration and types of models in hydrology. J Environ Sci Technol 5(5):249–261
Jajarmizadeh M, Sobri bin Harun, Shamsuddin Shahid, Shatirah Akib, Mohsen Salarpour (2014) Impact of Direct Soil Moisture and Revised Soil Moisture Index Methods on Hydrologic Predictions in an Arid Climate. ADV METEOROL Article ID 156172, 1–8
Jajarmizadeh, M, Sobri Harun, Rozi Abdullah, Salarpour M (2015) An evaluation of blue water prediction in Southern Part of Iran Using SWAT. Environ Eng Manag J (in press)
Li ZJ, Zhang K (2008) Comparison of three GIS-based hydrological models. J Hydrol Eng 13(5):364–370
Michaud J, Sorooshian S (1994) Comparison of simple versus complex distributed runoff models on a midsized semiarid watershed. Water Resour Res 30(3):593–605
Neitsch S L, Arnold JG, Kiniry J R, Williams J R (2011) Soil & Water Assessment Tool Theoretical Documentation Version 2009. Grassland, Soil and Water Research Laboratory – Agricultural Research Service Blackland Research Center—Texas AgriLife Research, Texas Water Resources Institute Technical Report No. 406 Texas A&M University System College Station, Texas 77843–2118
Nossent J, Bauwens W (2012) Multi-variable sensitivity and identifiability analysis for a complex environmental model in view of integrated water quantity and water quality modelling. Water Sci Technol 65(3):539–549
Nyeko M (2014) Hydrologic modelling of data scarce basin with SWAT Model: Capabilities and Limitations. Water Resour Manag
Parajuli PB, Nelson NO, Frees LD, Mankin KR (2009) Comparison of AnnAGNPS and SWAT model simulation results in USDA-CEAP agricultural watersheds in south-central Kansas. Hydrol Process 23:784–763
Peng D, Zhijia LI, Zhiyu LIU (2008) Numerical algorithm of distributed TOPKAPI model and its application. Water Sci Eng 1(4):14–21
Quinn PF, Beven KJ, Chevallier P, Planchon O (1991) The prediction of hillslope flow paths for distributed hydrological modelling using digital terrain models. Hydrol Process 5:59–79
Reed S, Koren V, Smith M, Zhang Z, Moreda F, Seo D (2004) Overall distributed model intercomparison project results. J Hydrol 298(1–4):27–60
Romanowicz R (1997) A MATLAB implementation of TOPMODEL. Hydrol Process 11:1115–1129
Shi P, Chen C, Srinivasan R, Zhang X, Cai T, Fang X, Li Q (2011) Evaluating the SWAT model for hydrological modeling in the Xixian watershed and a comparison with the XAJ model. Water Resour Manag 25(10):2595–2612
Singh VP, Woolhiser DA (2002) Mathematical modeling of watershed hydrology. J Hydrol Eng 7:270–292
Singh J, Knapp H V, Demissie M (2004) Hydrologic modeling of the Iroquois River Watershed using HSPF and SWAT, Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois State Water Survey Contract Report 2004–08
Sommerlot AR, Nejadhashemi AP, Woznicki SA, Giri S, Prohaska MD (2013) Evaluating the capabilities of watershed-scale models in estimating sediment yield at field-scale. J Environ Manag 127:228–236
Srivastava P, McNair JN, Johnson TE (2006) Comparison of process-based and artificial neural network approaches for streamflow modeling in an agricultural watershed. J Am Water Resour Assoc 42(3):545–563
Thompson JR, Sorenson HR, Gavin H, Refsgard A (2004) Application of the coupled MIKE SHE/MIKE 11 modeling system to a lowland wet grassland in southeast England. J Hydrol 293(2):151–179
Valeo C, Moin SMA (2001) Hortonian and variable source area modeling in urbanizing basins. J Hydrol Eng 6(4):326–335
Wilby RL (1997) Contemporary hydrology. John and Sons, England
Winchell M, Srinivasan R, Di Luzio M, Arnold J (2010) Arc SWAT interface for SWAT 2009. Users’guide. Grassland,soil and water research laboratory, agricultural research service and blackland research center, Texas agricultural experiment station: Temple, Texas 76502, USA,495
WMO (1975) World Meteorological Organization: Intercomparison of conceptual models used in operational hydrological forecasting, WMO series, no. 429, Operational hydrology report, no. 7. WMO, Geneva
WMO (1986) World Meteorological Organization: Intercomparison of models of snowmelt runoff, WMO series, no. 646, Operational hydrology report, no. 23. WMO, Geneva
WMO (1992) World Meteorological Organization: Simulated real-time intercomparison of hydrological models, WMO series, no. 779, Operational hydrology report no. 38. WMO, Geneva
Wolock DM, McCabe GJ Jr (1995) Comparison of single and multiple flow direction algorithms for computing topographic parameters in TOPMODEL. Water Resour Res 31:1315–1324
Yang D, Herath S, Musiake K (2000) Comparison of different distributed hydrological models for characterization of catchment spatial variability. Hydrol Process 14:403–416
Acknowledgments
We deeply appreciate the staff of the Research Management Center (RMC) at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia for funding this research with a post-doctoral fellowship. We thank all of the engineers of the Ab Rah Saz Shargh Corporation, the Regional Water Organization, the Agricultural Organization, and the Natural Resources Organization of Hormozgan Province for their valuable input and guidance. We also wish to acknowledge Mr. W. Gumindoga and Dr. Scott Peckham for providing the IDL version of TOPMODEL.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Suliman, A.H.A., Jajarmizadeh, M., Harun, S. et al. Comparison of Semi-Distributed, GIS-Based Hydrological Models for the Prediction of Streamflow in a Large Catchment. Water Resour Manage 29, 3095–3110 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-015-0984-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-015-0984-0