Preparation of spatial data sets for physically based hydrological models

ABSTRACT

Hydrological modeling is essential for impact assessment and forecasting of both droughts and floods, which are two of the most frequent natural disasters. Physically based hydrologic models simulate the hydrologic processes based on the governing equations, which depend on the physical characteristics of the catchment. This approach is useful in assessing human impacts as well as changes to catchment characteristics on the hydrological cycle. Physically based hydrologic models are especially useful in simulating regional hydrology where catchment heterogeneity is important and observations available for calibration are sparse. To use such models, spatial distribution of physical characteristics of the catchment such as elevation, land cover, soil properties, etc., should be prepared and registered to a common coordinate system. This paper describes data preparation methodology, improvements, sensitivity and estimation of hydrologic parameters for such modeling