Multi-Model Approach for Assessing the Influence of Calibration Criteria on the Water Balance in Ouémé Basin

Hydrological models are very useful tools for evaluating water resources, and the hydroclimatic hazards associated with the water cycle. However, their calibration and validation require the use of performance criteria which choice is not straightforward. This paper aims to evaluate the influence of the performance criteria on water balance components and water extremes using two global rainfall-runoff models (HBV and GR4J) over the Ouémé watershed at the Bonou and Savè outlets. Three (3) Efficacy criteria (Nash, coefficient of determination, and KGE) were considered for calibration and validation. The results show that the Nash criterion provides a good assessment of the simulation of the different parts of the hydrograph. KGE is better for simulating peak flows and water balance elements than other efficiency criteria. This study could serve as a basis for the choice of performance criteria in hydrological modelling.

Study on the Water Balance in Three Dominant Plants with Simulated Precipitation Change in Maowusu Sandland

The distribution pattern and productivity of Maowusu sandland terrestrial ecosystem are greatly affected with the future severe global change, especially global precipitation change. Considering the predicative global precipitation change and the appropriate relevant strategy for the sustainable development of the China dry territory, the authors have investigated the response of water balance to global precipitation change by creating an artificial control of four levels of water supply treating 3 dominant plants in Mauwusu sandland. The results showed that the seasonal changes of water storage and moisture of different sandland layer depths were affected by different water supply treatments and different plants. The water storage of the three plant growing sandlands and the moisture of different sandland layer depths increased as water supply was increased. The moisture of different water supply treatments and plants increased with the increase of sandland layer depth. The water storage and moisture of the same layer depth of Hedysarum mongolicum Turcz. growing sandland were larger than that of Salix psammophila C. Wang et Ch. Y. Yang growing sandland, which were in turn higher than that of Artemisia ordosica Krasch. growing sandland in the same water supply treatment. Water supply significantly affected the seasonal changes of evaporation and transpiration of the three plant growing sandlands. With the increased levels of water supply, viz. 157.5 mm, 315.0 mm, 472.5 mm and 630.0 mm, the total evaporation was 123.66 mm, 258.68 mm, 376.30 mm, 458.57 mm, respectively, and the total transpiration of A. ordosica was 50.80 mm, 68.93 mm, 108.39 mm, 163.36 mm, respectively, and that of S. psammophila , 47.37 mm, 68.17 mm, 93.65 mm, 135.97 mm, respectively, and that of H. mongolicum 46.73 mm, 67.37 mm, 86.07 mm, 109.64 mm, respectively. Evaporation was significantly higher than transpiration in the experiment.

Estimation of water balance in the source region of the Yellow River based on GRACE satellite data

Water storage has important significance for understanding water cycles of global and local domains and for monitoring climate and environmental changes. As a key variable in hydrology, water storage change represents the sum of precipitation, evaporation, surface runoff, soil water and groundwater exchanges. Water storage change data during the period of 2003-2008 for the source region of the Yellow River were collected from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment （GRACE） satellite data. The monthly actual evaporation was estimated according to the water balance equation. The simulated actual evaporation was significantly consistent and correlative with not only the observed pan （20 cm） data, but also the simulated results of the version 2 of Simple Biosphere model. The average annual evaporation of the Tangnaihai Basin was 506.4 mm, where evaporation in spring, summer, autumn and winter was 130.9 mm, 275.2 mm, 74.3 mm and 26.1 mm, and accounted for 25.8%, 54.3%, 14.7% and 5.2% of the average annual evaporation, respectively, The precipitation increased slightly and the actual evaporation showed an obvious decrease. The water storage change of the source region of the Yellow River displayed an increase of 0.51 mm per month from 2003 to 2008, which indicated that the storage capacity has significantly increased, probably caused by the degradation of permafrost and the increase of the thickness of active layers. The decline of actual evaporation and the increase of water storage capacity resulted in the increase of river runoff.

A Distributed Monthly Water Balance Model for Analyzing Impacts of Land Cover Change on Flow Regimes

The Miyun Reservoir is the most important water source for Beijing Municipality, the capital of China with a population of more than 12 million. In recent decades, the inflow to the reservoir has shown a decreasing trend, which has seriously threatened water use in Beijing. In order to analyze the influents of land use and cover change (LUCC) upon inflow to Miyun Reservoir, terrain and land use information from remote sensing were utilized with a revised evapotranspiration estimation formula; a water loss model under conditions of human impacts was introduced; and a distributed monthly water balance model was established and applied to the Chaobai River Basin controlled by the Miyun Reservoir. The model simulation suggested that not only the impact of land cover change on evapotranspiration, but also the extra water loss caused by human activities, such as the water and soil conservation development projects should be considered. Although these development projects were of great benefit to human and ecological protection, they could reallocate water resources in time and space, and in a sense thereby influence the stream flow.

Understanding the impact of mountain landscapes on water balance in the upper Heihe River watershed in northwestern China

Estimating the impact of mountain landscape on hydrology or water balance is essential for the sus- tainable development strategies of water resources. Specifically, understanding how the change of each landscape influences hydrological components will greatly improve the predictability of hydrological responses to mountain landscape changes and thus can help the government make sounder decisions. In the paper, we used the VIC （Variable Infiltration Capacity） model to conduct hydrological modeling in the upper Heihe River watershed, along with a frozen-soil module and a glacier melting module to improve the simulation. The improved model performed satisfactorily. We concluded that there are differences in the runoff generation of mountain landscape both in space and time. About 50% of the total runoff at the catchment outlet were generated in mid-mountain zone （2,900-4,000 m asl）, and water was mainly consumed in low mountain region （1,700-2,900 m asl） because of the higher requirements of trees and grasses. The runoff coefficient was 0.37 in the upper Heihe River watershed. Barren landscape produced the largest runoff yields （52.46% of the total runoff） in the upper Heihe River watershed, fol- lowed by grassland （34.15%）, shrub （9.02%）, glacier （3.57%）, and forest （0.49%）. In order to simulate the impact of landscape change on hydrological components, three landscape change scenarios were designed in the study. Scenario 1, 2 and 3 were to convert all shady slope landscapes at 2,000-3,300 m, 2,000-3,700 m, and 2,000-4,000 m asl respectively to forest lands, with forest coverage rate increased to 12.4%, 28.5% and 42.0%, respectively. The runoff at the catchment outlet correspondingly declined by 3.5%, 13.1% and 24.2% under the three scenarios. The forest landscape is very important in water conservation as it reduced the flood peak and increased the base flow. The mountains as ＂water towers＂ play important roles in water resources generation and the impact of mountain landscapes on hydrology is significant.

Hydrological behaviour and water balance analysis for Xitiaoxi catchment of Taihu Basin

With the rapid social and economic development of the Taihu region, Taihu Lake now faces an increasingly severe eutrophication problem. Pollution from surrounding catchments contributes greatly to the eutrophication of water bodies in the region. Investigation of surface flow and associated mass transport for the Xitiaoxi catchment is of a significant degree of importance as the Xitiaoxi catchment is one of the major catchments within the Taihu region. A SWAT-based distributed hydrological model was established for the Xitiaoxi catchment. The model was calibrated and verified using hydrometeorological data from 1988 to 2001. The results indicate that the modeled daily and annual stream flow match the observed data both in the calibration period and the verification period, with a linear regression coefficient R2 and a coefficient e for modeled daily stream flow greater than 0.8 at Hengtangcun and Fanjiacun gauge stations. The results show that the runoff process in the Xitiaoxi catchment is affected both by rainfall and human activities （e.g., reservoirs and polder areas）. Moreover, the human activities weaken flood peaks more noticeably during rainstorms. The Water balance analysis reveals the percentages of precipitation made up by surface flow, evapotranspiration, groundwater recharge＇ and the change of soil storage, all of which are considered useful to the further understanding of the hydrological processes in the Xitiaoxi catchment. This study provides a good base for further studies in mass transport modeling and comparison of modeling results from similar hydrological models.

Soil Water Balance Measurement in Field Scale

A 5-year experiment on water balance has been conducted in a flat rainfed wheat field with an area of 66 × 100 m2 in Fengqiu, Henan Province in China. Based on the analysis of semi-variance functions conducted with soil moisture samples taken from 77 nodes of a 10 × 10m2 grid, the soil moisture distribution in the field was structural with a temporal stability. According to the autocorrelation range of the semi-variance function, S sites were selected for the determination of soil water conditions. The characteristic of probability density function of the differences of water storage in two sets of measurements showed that the distribution of these variables in the field was a normal one. The error in the estimation of the average of S random samples was 14% (α = 0.10), and the errors of water consumption by wheat during the experiments were estimated to be 6-13%.Since the experimental field was large enough to avoid any edge effect, the results obtained should tally with the actual situation. Yet the soil system was heterogeneous, so we must follow the principles of statistics and geostatistics when describing the system 's status with the average of the samples.

Hydrological Impact Assessment of Climate Change on Lake Tana’s Water Balance, Ethiopia

The aim of this study is to evaluate the hydrological impacts of climate change on the water balance of Lake Tana in Ethiopia. Impact assessments are by downscaled General Circulation Model (GCM) output and hydrological modeling. For A2 and B2 emission scenarios, precipitation, maximum and minimum temperature estimates from the HadCM3 GCM were used. GCM output was downscaled using the Statistical DownScaling Model (SDSM 4.2). Impact analyses were applied for three future time periods: early, mid and late 21st century. Over-lake evaporation is estimated by Hardgrave’s method, and over-lake precipitation is estimated by inverse distance weighing interpolation, whereas inflows from gauged and ungauged catchments are simulated by the HBV hydrological model. Findings indicate increases in maximum and minimum temperature on annual base for both emission scenarios. The projection of mean annual over lake precipitation for both A2 and B2 emission scenarios shows increasing pattern for 21st century in comparison to the baseline period. The increase of mean annual precipitation for A2 emission scenario is 9% (112 mm/year), 10% (125 mm/year) and 11% (137 mm/year) for the three future periods respectively. B2 emission scenario mean annual precipitation shows increase by 9% (111 mm/year), 10% (122 mm/year) and 10% (130 mm/year) respectively for the three future periods. Findings indicate consistent increases of lake storage for all three future periods for both A2 and B2 emission scenarios.

High Elevation Energy and Water Balance:the Roles of Surface Albedo and Temperature

Observation and modeling of the coupled energy and water balance is the key to understand hydrospheric and cryospheric processes at high elevation.The paper summarizes the progress to address this aspect in relation with different earth system elements,from glaciers to wetlands.The energy budget of two glaciers,i.e.Xiao Dongkemadi and Parlung No.4,was studied by means of extended field measurements and a distributed model of the coupled energy and mass balance was developed and evaluated.The need for accurate characterization of surface albedo was further documented for the entire Qinghai Tibet Plateau by numerical experiments with Weather Research and Forecast(WRF)on the sensitivity of the atmospheric boundary layer to the parameterization of land surface processes.A new approach to the calibration of a coupled distributed watershed model of the energy and water balance was demonstrated by a case study on the Heihe River Basin in northwestern China.The assimilation of land surface temperature did lead to the retrieval of critical soil and vegetation properties as the soil permeability and the canopy resistance to the exchange of vapour and carbon dioxide.The retrievals of actual Evapo-Transpiration(ET)were generated by the ETMonitor system and evaluated against eddy covariance measurements at sites spread throughout Asia.As regards glacier response to climate variability,the combined findings based on satellite data and model experiments showed that the spatial variability of surface albedo and temperature is significant and controls both glacier mass balance and flow.Experiments with both atmospheric and hydrosphere-cryosphere models documented the need and advantages of using accurate retrievals of land surface albedo to capture lan-atmosphere interactions at high elevation.

On the Downscaling of Meteorological Fields Using Recurrent Networks for Modelling the Water Balance in a Meso-Scale Catchment Area of Saxony,Germany

In this study, recurrent networks to downscale meteorological fields of the ERA-40 re-analysis dataset with focus on the meso-scale water balance were investigated. Therefore two types of recurrent neural networks were used. The first approach is a coupling between a recurrent neural network and a distributed watershed model and the second a nonlinear autoregressive with exogenous inputs (NARX) network, which directly predicted the component of the water balance. The approaches were deployed for a meso-scale catchment area in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. The results show that the coupled approach did not perform as well as the NARX network. But the meteorological output of the coupled approach already reaches an adequate quality. However the coupled model generates as input for the watershed model insufficient daily precipitation sums and not enough wet days were predicted. Hence the long-term annual cycle of the water balance could not be preserved with acceptable quality in contrary to the NARX approach. The residual storage change term indicates physical restrictions of the plausibility of the neural networks, whereas the physically based correlations among?the components of the water balance were preserved more accurately by the coupled approach.

Impacts of forestation on the annual and seasonal water balance of a tropical catchment under climate change

Background:This study aims to assess the effects of a forestation program and climate change on the annual and seasonal water balance of the Bogowonto catchment(597 km^(2))in Java,Indonesia.The catchment study is rare example in Indonesia where forestation has been applied at the catchment level.However,since the forestation program has been initiated,evaluations of the program only focus on the planting area targets,while the environmental success e.g.,impacts on the hydrological processes have never been assessed.This study used a calibrated Soil and Water Assessment Tool(SWAT)model to diagnose the isolated and combined effects of forestation and climate change on five water balance components,namely streamflow(Q),evapotranspiration(ET),surface runoff(Q_(s)),lateral flow(Q_(l))and base flow(Q_(b)).Results:The results show that from 2006 to 2019,forest cover has increased from 2.7% to 12.8% of the total area,while in the same period there was an increase in the mean annual and seasonal temperature,rainfall,and streamflow.Results of SWAT simulations show that changes in the mean annual and seasonal water balance under the forestation only scenario were relatively minor,while changes were more pronounced under the climate change only scenario.Based on the combined impacts scenario,it was observed that the effects of a larger forest area on the water balance were smaller than the effects of climate change.Conclusions:Although we found that forestation program has minor impacts compared to that of climate change on the hydrological processes in the Bogowonto catchment,seasonally,forestation activity has decreased the streamflow and surface runoff during the wet season which may reduce the risk of moderate floods.However,much attention should be paid to the way how forestation may result in severe drought events during the dry season.Finally,we urge the importance of accounting for the positive and negative effects in future forestation programs.

SimET: An open-source tool for estimating crop evapotranspiration and soil water balance for plants with multiple growth cycles

Accurate estimation of crop evapotranspiration(ETc) and soil water balance, which is vital for optimizing water management strategy in crop production, can be performed by simulation. But existing software has many deficiencies, including complex operation, limited scalability, lack of batch processing, and a single ETc model. Here we present simET, an open-source software package written in the R programming language. Many concepts involved in crop ETc simulation are condensed into functions in the package. It includes three widely used crop ETc models built on these functions: the single-crop coefficient,double-crop coefficient, and Shuttleworth–Wallace models, along with tools for preparing model data and comparing estimates. SimET supports ETc simulation in crops with repeated growth cycles such as alfalfa, a perennial forage crop that is cut multiple times annually.

Investigation of Water Balance and Map Crisis Preparation in the Recent Two Decades of Kalacho Plain,Dehdasht,Iran

Considering the water restrictions,it is important to check the water balance in each area.These restrictions are even more important in arid and semi-arid regions.The purpose of this study was to study the water balance in the Kalacho plain of Kohgiluyeh city.Kalacho plain is about 15 km east of Dehdasht city.In recent years,due to the excessive extraction of lowland wells,the quality of groundwater has also declined steadily.Therefore,hydrogeological assessment and aquifer management seems necessary.Groundwater management requires understanding and functioning of the aquifer under natural conditions(firstly)and then predicting the effects of harvesting or feeding.Undoubtedly,understanding the actual behaviors of a natural system requires some research for each particular area.The average annual temperature and precipitation in the meteorological stations is about 18.1°C and 394 mm,respectively.The water crisis map of this plain has been prepared based on the data of 45 km2 area during the 1991-1992 blue water year.Groundwater Balance Range of the Kalacho Plain is selected based on available statistics and distribution of piezometers,wells and agricultural areas.According to the long-term hydrograph,the plain faces an average loss of 0.15 m and a reservoir deficit of 2.5 million m3.Also during the 20-year period,a total of 24 m of drop and 68 million cubic meters of reservoir deficits were created in the plain.By calculating the effective parameters in the general water balance equation(inputs and outputs),the plain was finally divided into five critical areas.Zones 1,2 and 3 are the most critical lowland areas in the vicinity of the hydraulic connection with the Gachsaran Fm.,and areas 4 and 5 are less critical because of the adjacent Asmari Formation,which feed on this karstic aquifer.Overall,this negative balance indicates an increasing drop in groundwater level and its reservoir deficit.

Assessing the Influence of Global Climate and Anthropogenic Activities on the Water Balance of an Andean Lake

Tropical regions along the Andean Cordillera face an uncertain future as mountain lakes and snow peaks exhibit receding trends associated with factors such as climatic precursors and local anthropogenic activities. Tota, the largest mountain lake in the Colombian Andes, exemplifies the role played by these factors on the lake's hydrologic evolution. A monthly water balance in Tota Lake was performed using available hydrological information from 1958 to 2007 to address interannual and multiannual level fluctuations associated with human activities and climatic precursors. The balance shows that net water uses fluctuated around 2 m3/s during this period with a pattern that, although constrained during years of severe decline in lake levels, is able to explain most of the multiannual decaying trend of 1.5 cm/year in the last 50 years. The lake’s naturalized levels were used to determine the influence of climate precursors on the lake evolution. Using Multichannel Singular Spectrum Analysis (M-SSA), significant five-year ENSO and 20-year PDO related quasi-oscillations were detected, explaining 54% of the variance associated with mean annual naturalized level fluctuations. ENSO is markedly in-phase with lake levels, with critical declines associated with low precipitation and high evaporation rates during El Ni?o years, whereas the PDO signal exhibits a phase opposition with lake levels, with low naturalized levels during a positive PDO phase and high levels during a negative PDO phase (an important result to consider given the current cooling trend of the PDO signal).

Changes of Atmospheric Water Balance over China under the IPCC SRES A1B Scenario Based on RegCM3 Simulations

Simulations of the Regional Climate Model Version 3 (RegCM3) under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A1B scenario were employed to investigate possible decadal changes and long-term trends of annual mean atmospheric water balance components over China in the 21st century with reference to the period of 1981-2000. An evaluation showed that RegCM3 can reasonably reproduce annual evapotranspiration, precipitation, and water vapor transport over China, with a better performance for March-June. It was found that the water vapor exchange between the land surface and atmosphere would be significantly intensified in Northwest China by the mid-to late-21st century and that the region would possibly shift to a wetter or drought-mitigated state under global warming. Conversely, the water vapor exchange evidently weakened over the Tibetan Plateau and South-west China by the mid-to late-21st century. In addition, there appears to be a drier state for Northeast China and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River valley by the mid-to late-21st century, with slight mitigation by the end compared with the mid-21st century. The westerly and southwesterly water vapor transport over China generally presents an increasing trend, with increasing diver-gence over the Tibetan Plateau and Northeast China, corresponding to a loss of atmospheric water vapor by water vapor transport.

Influence of Potential Evapotranspiration on the Water Balance of Sugarcane Fields in Maui, Hawaii

The year-long warm temperatures and other climatic characteristics of the Pacific Ocean Islands have made Hawaii an optimum place for growing sugarcane;however, irrigation is essential to satisfy the large water demand of sugarcane. Under the Hawaiian tropical weather, actual evapotranspiration (AET) is the primary mechanism by which water is removed from natural and agricultural systems. The Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company (HC&S), the largest sugarcane grower of the Hawaiian Islands, has developed a locally optimized AET equation for the purpose of water management on its 184.3 km2 sugarcane plantation on the Island of Maui. In this paper, in order to assess the influence of AET on the hydrological water balance of the HC&S’ sugarcane cropping system, the performance of the HC&S method was compared with three physically-based methods: Penman-Monteith, Priestley-Taylor, and Hargreaves, as well as, to a set of historical pan evaporation data. A Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) project was setup to estimate the water balance in two sugarcane fields: a windy lowland field and a rocky highland field on a hill slope. Under Hawaiian weather conditions, wind speed was found to be the most influential climatic parameter over potential evapotranspiration (PET);therefore, the results with both Hargreaves and Priestley-Taylor underpredicted PET by approximately 30%, presumably because these methods do not take wind speed into account. The HC&S method was demonstrated to be the most accurate PET method compared to the other commonly used PET equations, with less than 10% error. Of the annual total water supply of 3400 mm, AET accounted for 75% - 80% of the total water consumption. These findings can be used to improve the irrigation efficiency as well as other management scenarios to optimize water use on the Island of Maui.

AN ANALYSIS OF THREE ELEMENTS OF WATER BALANCE IN THE CHANGJIANG RIVER BASIN

The general trend of three elements (precipitation, runoff and evaporation) of the water balance of the Changjiang River Basin is discussed from the regional distribution of the mean annual values of view, i.e. isogram. The distribution of precipitation is non-uniform. The distribution of runoff mainly supplied from precipitation is more uniform than that of precipitation. The distribution of the evaporation from land is much more uniform than that of precipitation and runoff. Time distribution of these three elements shows the characteristics of comparatively distinct yearly variation and few variation between years. The relationship between precipitation and runoff, and between precipitation and evaporation in the humid region in the Changjiang River is analyzed. The slopes of their straight line correlation are nearly equal. The internal relationship between variables should be paid attention to, otherwise, a pseudo correlation may be resulted in. The paper provides the method of quantitative

Analysis of Soil and Water Balance on the Land Arrangement Function

The natural supply of land resources is limited, but the economic supply may change along with social and economic development, and its size is decided bye nature and social and economic body conditions. When the supplying ability of land resources threatens the development of society and the conflict between people and land becomes tense, it forced people to im- prove land utilization and to increase the effective supply of land resources. The paper made an overall consideration on the characteristics of the irrigated farming and the frail ecological environment in Fuhai County, Altay Area, Xinjiang Uigur Autonomous Region and explored land arrangement planning as well as water resource planning and environmental protection. The paper evaluated natural resources, land utilization and water resource of the case study areas and focused on the spatio-temporal balance between the utilization of water and land resources. In the end the paper a feasible plan was made out for the land arrangement project.

EVAPORATION AND WATER BALANCE IN ARID LAND——AN EXAMPIE IN TURPAN,XINJIANG,CHINA

This paper discussed some observation and calculation methods of evaporation and itscharacteristics in arid land taken an example in Turpan, Xinjiang, China by using the dataobtained from July 1, 1991 to June 30, 1992 in the observation station which was settled forthe Japan-China cooperation study in the marginal area of an oasis in Turpan, Xinjiang,China. It is pointed out that due to very low water content in arid land, real evaporation de-