Effect of Watershed Subdivision on SWAT Modeling with Consideration of Parameter Uncertainty
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 15, Issue 12
Abstract
Parameterization is crucial for the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) before applying it to simulate hydrology, soil erosion, and nonpoint source pollution. Accordingly, parameter uncertainty should be considered during watershed delineation. In this study, the Upper Daning River Watershed was delineated into different numbers of subwatersheds under various delineation schemes by changing the threshold drainage area (TDA). All schemes were then parameterized and SWAT was run to determine which scheme had the highest modeling efficiency. Results indicate that the simulation under the finest delineation scheme was not the most accurate but moderate level delineation scheme with TDA of 5,000 ha was. Then the parameter uncertainty introduced by model calibration was explained by the coverage of observed data and the width of the 95% prediction band ( -factor and -factor). To further investigate the effect of changing the TDA on SWAT modeling, the best fit set of parameter values of the delineation scheme with TDA of 5,000 ha was extended to the other schemes, but the results revealed only slight differences.
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Acknowledgments
The study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. NNSFC40771193), Special Fund of State Key Lab of Water Environment Simulation (Grant No. UNSPECIFIED08ESPCT-Z), and Nonprofit Environment Protection Specific Project of China (Grant No. UNSPECIFIED200709024). The writers are grateful to Dr. Karim C. Abbaspour at Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology for help with the SWAT-CUP application.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 15 • Issue 12 • December 2010
Pages: 1070 - 1074
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 7, 2009
Accepted: May 25, 2010
Published online: Jun 7, 2010
Published in print: Dec 2010
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