Hydrological modelling of floods based on the mosaic of dominant runoff processes

The large number of unknown parameters hampers the application of physically based rainfall runoff models. Here an alternative concept is pursued which allows reducing the number of parameters while still reproducing the actual processes. To this purpose, the runoff processes occurring in a catchment are classified into 4 basic processes with different mechanisms and reactions. These processes are modelled by 4 different low-parameterized model descriptions. The crucial task is to find the distribution of the processes in the field. The process classification is based on a decision scheme developed in an earlier project and requires inspection of soil profiles and field measurements. In a second step this information is upscaled to the catchment scale. First applications have shown that the method is viable and brings good results. Measuring different types of pesticides in the river, which were sprayed on different fields in the catchment, allowed the verification of the results. The automatic characterization of areas on the basis of easily available data (e.g. by remote sensing or soil maps) is the task of another project (see: Development of a hydro-pedological information system).

Contacts

F. Naef

Agency/Funding

ETH/166 kCHF

Partners

EAWAG, Landesamt für Wasserwirtschaft Rheinlandpfalz

Status

To be finished in 2004