Calibration of Hydrological Model Using Optimization Technique

Computer-based mathematical models that simulate the response of a catchment to climatic variables have been available for more than a decade. One of the drawbacks to the use of these models has been the difficulty of calibrating them to a particular catchment. The catchment model HYSIM has all but four of its parameters estimated from catchment details or hydrograph analysis; the four are calibrated using a modified version of the Rosenbrock algorithm. The complete model occupies about 12K words (36K bytes) of computer core storage. HYSIM was used to produce a 44-yr record for a river in England extensively used for water supply. Despite the fact that only a limited amount of data was available the extended record has proved adequate for water resources analysis.