RS and Geographical Information System–Based Evaluation of Distributed and Composite Curve Number Techniques
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 17, Issue 11
Abstract
This paper compares the composite and distributed curve number (CN) techniques in computation of runoff from a hypothetical watershed of cells and from a natural medium-sized agricultural Tarafeni watershed located in West Bengal, India. To this end, remote sensing (RS) satellite digital data from 1989 and 2000 were used for land use and land cover classification using a maximum likelihood classifier algorithm of supervised classification for CN-generation. Runoff was estimated for each grid by using a distributed-CN approach and averaged for the whole watershed by using a weighted-runoff approach. The estimated runoff values were compared with those from the traditional composite-CN technique. In both cases of initial abstraction () taken as 0.2 S and 0.3 S (where is the potential maximum retention), the estimated runoff caused by distributed CN technique was more than that caused by the composite-CN approach. The difference in runoff values was more for than that for ; runoff caused by distributed CN with matched more closely with the observed. Furthermore, the difference was very high for small events, moderate for medium, and low for high rainfall events; it was very high for the watershed exhibiting greater CN variation.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
ASCE Task Committee on Definition of Criteria for Evaluation of Watershed Models. (1993). “Criteria for evaluation of watershed models.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 119(3), 429–442.
Barfield, B. J., Felton, G. K., Stevens, E. W., and McCann, M. (2004). “A simple model of Karst spring flow using modified NRCS procedures.” J. Hydrol., 287(1–4), 34–48.
French, R. H., Miller, J. J., Dettling, C., and Carr, J. R. (2006). “Use of remotely sensed data to estimate the flow of water to a playa lake.” J. Hydrol., 325(1–4), 67–81.
Hack-ten Broeke, M. J. D., and Hegmans, J. H. B. M. (1996). “Use of soil physical characteristics from laboratory measurements or standard series of modeling unsaturated water flow.” Agric. Water Manage., 29(2), 201–213.
Jadhao, A. K., Jadhao, V. G., and Tripathi, M. P. (2010). “Estimation of surface runoff from agricultural watershed using remote sensing and GIS technique.” Int. J. Agric. Eng., 2(2), 254–258.
Jain, M. K., Mishra, S. K., Babu, S., and Singh, V. P. (2006). “Enhanced runoff curve number model incorporating storm duration and a nonlinear relation.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 11(6), 631–635.
Jena, S. K. (2002). “Development and evaluation of hydrological models for agricultural watersheds using remote sensing and GIS.” Ph.D. thesis, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India.
Martinec, J., and Rango, A. (1989). “Merits of statistical criteria for the performance of hydrological models.” Water Resour., 25(2), 421–432.
McCuen, R. H. (2002). “Approach to confidence interval estimation for curve numbers.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 7(1), 43–48.
Mishra, S. K., Jain, M. K., and Singh, V. P. (2004). “Evaluation of the SCS-CN-based model incorporating antecedent moisture.” J. Water Resour. Manage., 18(6), 567–589.
Mishra, S. K., Jain, M. K., Bhunya, P. K., and Singh, V. P. (2005). “Field applicability of the SCS-CN-inspired Mishra-Singh general model and its variants.” J. Water Resour. Manage., 19(1), 37–62.
Mishra, S. K., and Singh, V. P. (1999). “Another look at SCS-CN method.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 4(3), 257–264.
Mishra, S. K., and Singh, V. P. (2003). Soil conservation service curve number (SCS-CN) methodology, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Narayana, V. V. D. (1993). Soil and water conservation research in India, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. India.
Nash, J. E., and Sutcliffe, J. V. (1970). “River flow forecasting through conceptual models, Part 1: A discussion of principles.” J.Hydrol., 10(3), 282–290.
National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA). (1995). “Integrated mission for sustainable development.” Technical guidelines, Dept. of Space, Hyderabad, India.
Pandey, A., Chowdary, V. M., Mal, B. C., and Dabral, P. P. (2005). “Estimation of surface water potential of agricultural watershed using geographic information system.” Asian J. Geoinformatics, 5(4), 29–36.
Pandey, A., and Dabral, P. P. (2004). “Estimation of runoff for hilly catchment using satellite data and GIS.” J. Indian Soc. Remote Sens., 32(2), 235–240.
Pandey, A., and Sahu, A. K. (2004). “Estimation of runoff using IRS-1 B LISS-II data.” Indian J. Soil Cons., 32(1), 58–60.
Ponce, V. M., and Hawkins, R. H. (1996). “Runoff curve number: Has it reached maturity?” J. Hydrol. Eng., 1(1), 11–19.
Pradhan, R., Pradhan, M. P., Ghose, M. K., Agarwal, V. S., and Agarwal, S. (2010). “Estimation of rainfall runoff using remote sensing and GIS in and around Singtam, East Sikkim.” Int. J. Geomatics Geosci., 1(3), 466–476.
Ramakrishnan, D., Bandopadhay, A., and Kusuma, K. N. (2009). “SCS CN and GIS-based approach for identifying potential runoff harvesting sites in the Kali watershed, Mahi River basin, India.” J. Earth Syst. Sci., 118(4), 355–368.
Sharma, T., Satyakiran, P. V., Singh, T. P., Trivedi, A. V., and Navalgund, R. R. (2001). “Hydrologic response of a watershed to land use changes: A remote sensing and GIS approach.” Int. J. Remote Sens., 22(11), 2095–2108.
Stuebe, M. M., and Johnston, D. M. (1990). “Runoff volume estimation using GIS techniques.” Water Resour. Bull. AWRA, 26(4), 611–620.
Thomann, R. V. (1982). “Verification of water quality models.” J. Environ. Eng. Div. ASCE, 108(5), 923–940.
USDA Soil Conservation Service. (1985). National Engineering Handbook, Section 4, Hydrology, Washington, DC.
Wilcox, B. P., Rawls, W. J., Brakensiek, D. L., and Weight, J. R. (1990). “Predicting runoff from rangeland catchments: A comparison of two models.” Water Resour. Res., 26, 2401–2410.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 6, 2010
Accepted: May 16, 2012
Published online: May 19, 2012
Discussion open until: Oct 19, 2012
Published in print: Nov 1, 2012
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.