Are seemingly physically similar catchments truly hydrologically similar?

Oudin, Ludovic; Kay, Alison ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5526-1756; Andreassian, Vazken; Perrin, Charles. 2010 Are seemingly physically similar catchments truly hydrologically similar? Water Resources Research, 46, W11558. 15, pp. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009WR008887

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Official URL: http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2010/2009WR008887...

Abstract/Summary

This paper discusses the notion of similarity often used in the regionalisation studies of hydrological models. We compare two different visions of similarity: the apparent similarity defined on the basis of observable catchment properties; and behavioural similarity judged through the use of hydrological models. These two visions are generally assumed to be merged in regionalisation studies: catchments having apparently similar physical characteristics are assumed to have a similar hydrological behaviour. In this paper, we wished to test the validity of this assumption. To this aim, we defined behavioural (hydrological) similarity on the basis of model parameter transferability. Then pools of hydrologically similar catchments are compared to pools of apparently physically similar catchments, as identified on the basis of physiographic catchment descriptors. The overlap between the two pools of similar catchments is analysed, making it possible to judge the efficiency of the physical similarity measure to identify hydrologically similar catchments in an ungauged context. The results show that the overlap between the two pools is significant for only 60% of the catchments. For the other catchments, two major reasons were identified as contributing to the lack of overlap: (1) these catchments often have a quite specific hydrological behaviour; (2) the role of the underground properties of the catchment on its hydrological behaviour was not found to be accurately described by the available physical descriptors, meaning that more relevant catchment descriptors should be sought to better describe the geological and lithological context in hydrological terms.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1029/2009WR008887
Programmes:	CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Water > WA Topic 3 - Science for Water Management > WA - 3.1 - Develop next generation methods for river flow frequency estimation and forecasting
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Harding (to July 2011)
ISSN:	0043-1397
Additional Keywords:	catchment similarity, rainfall-runoff modeling, regionalisation, ungauged basins
NORA Subject Terms:	Hydrology
Related URLs:	Publisher
Date made live:	09 Dec 2010 11:43 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/11622

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1029/2009WR008887

Programmes:

CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Water > WA Topic 3 - Science for Water Management > WA - 3.1 - Develop next generation methods for river flow frequency estimation and forecasting

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Harding (to July 2011)

ISSN:

0043-1397

Additional Keywords:

catchment similarity, rainfall-runoff modeling, regionalisation, ungauged basins