Abstract

OROZCO, Ismael; RAMIREZ, Aldo I.  and  FRANCES, Félix. Calibration of a conceptual rainfall-runoff model combining manual and automatic optimization for high mountain systems. Acta univ [online]. 2019, vol.29, e2187.  Epub Sep 11, 2020. ISSN 2007-9621.  https://doi.org/10.15174/au.2019.2187.

The calibration of a conceptual rainfall-runoff model is a complicated process that can take a long time and effort. Its success depends on the experience of the modeler and on the knowledge of the basin. For this reason, in this paper, a combination of manual and automatic calibration has been proposed to obtain the effective parameters of a hydrological model applied to a high mountain basin. This is because calibrating hydrological parameters and snow melting parameters simultaneously may not adequately represent the real conditions of high mountain systems. The methodology proposed in this paper has been implemented using the distributed hydrological TETIS model developed at the Universitat Politècnica de València. The results obtained are acceptable, because the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency index is reached close to 0.9 in calibration and 0.8 validation, with parameters within the ranges established in the scientific literature.

Keywords : Calibration; optimization Algorithm; hydrological modeling; snowmelt; degree-day method.