ABSTRACT: Calibration of a hydrologic model considering input uncertainty in assessing climate change impact on streamflow.

CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
Search Results

Author :

Date :

Title :

Publication :

Issue :

Page(s) :

Abstract

Studies on impact assessment and the corresponding uncertainties in hydrologic regime predictions is of paramount in developing water resources management plans under climate change scenarios,. The variability in hydrologic model parameters is one of the major sources of uncertainties associated with climate change impact on streamflow. Uncertainty in hydrologic model parameters may arise from the choice of model calibration technique, model calibration period, model structure and response variables. The recent studies show that consideration of uncertainties in input variables (precipitation, evapotranspiration etc.) during calibration of a hydrologic model has resulted in decrease in prediction uncertainty. The present study has examined the significance of input uncertainty in hydrologic model calibration for climate change impact studies. A physically distributed hydrologic model, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), is calibrated considering uncertainties in (i) model parameters only, and (ii) both model parameters and precipitation input. The Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm is used to estimate the posterior probability density function of hydrologic model parameters. The observed daily precipitation and streamflow data of the Canard River watershed of Essex region, Ontario, Canada are used as input and output variables, respectively, during calibration. The parameter sets of the 100 most skillful hydrologic model simulations obtained from each calibration technique are used for predicting streamflow by 2070s under climate change conditions. In each run, the climate predictions of the Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM) for SRES scenario A2 are used as input to the hydrologic model for streamflow prediction. The paper presents the results of uncertainty in seasonal and annual streamflow prediction. The outcome of the study is expected to contribute to the assessment of uncertainty in climate change impact studies and better management of available water resources.

Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology