| Title: | Investigating spatial and temporal variation of hydrological processes in western China driven by CMADS |
| Authors: | Li, Y., Y. Wang, J. Zheng and M. Yang |
| Year: | 2019 |
| Journal: | Water |
| Volume (Issue): | 11(3) |
| Pages: | |
| Article ID: | 435 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/w11030435 |
| URL (non-DOI journals): | |
| Model: | SWAT |
| Broad Application Category: | hydrologic only |
| Primary Application Category: | calibration, sensitivity, and/or uncertainty analysis |
| Secondary Application Category: | hydrologic assessment |
| Watershed Description: | 11,300 km^2 Jingho and Bortala Rivers, located in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in northwest China. |
| Calibration Summary: | |
| Validation Summary: | |
| General Comments: | |
| Abstract: | The performance of hydrological models in western China has been restricted due to the
scarcity of meteorological observation stations in the region. In addition to improving the quality
of atmospheric input data, the use hydrological models to analyze Hydrological Processes on a
large scale in western China could prove to be of key importance. The Jing and Bortala River Basin
(JBR) was selected as the study area in this research. The China Meteorological Assimilation Driving
Datasets for the SWAT model (CMADS) is used to drive SWAT model, in order to greatly improve
the accuracy of SWAT model input data. The SUFI-2 algorithm is also used to optimize 26 sensitive
parameters within the SWAT-CUP. After the verification of two runoff observation and control
stations (located at Jing and Hot Spring) in the study area, the temporal and spatial distribution of soil
moisture, snowmelt, evaporation and precipitation were analyzed in detail. The results show that the
CMADS can greatly improve the performance of SWAT model in western China, and minimize the
uncertainty of the model. The NSE efficiency coefficients of calibration and validation are controlled
between 0.659–0.942 on a monthly scale and between 0.526–0.815 on a daily scale. Soil moisture will
reach its first peak level in March and April of each year in the JBR due to the snow melting process
in spring in the basin. With the end of the snowmelt process, precipitation and air temperature
increased sharply in the later period, which causes the soil moisture content to fluctuate up and
down. In October, there was a large amount of precipitation in the basin due to the transit of cold
air (mainly snowfall), causing soil moisture to remain constant and increase again until snowmelt in
early spring the following year. This study effectively verifies the applicability of CMADS in western
China and provides important scientific and technological support for the spatio-temporal variation
of soil moisture and its driving factor analysis in western China. |
| Language: | English |
| Keywords: | CMADS, SWAT, JBR, soil moisture, hydrological processes, spatio-temporal |