Journal of Spatial Analysis

The runoff simulation have  particular importance in Civil works, river training, design and planning of ground water resources, flood control and prevention of environmental hazards and reduction of erosion and sedimentation in the watershed. The runoff in each region varies according to climatic conditions, hydrological, soil and vegetation in the basin. Simulate these processes need to provide the necessary information on the spatial variation of these factors.  In this context, given the diversity of hydrological models, to achieve the most appropriate simulation of hydrologic models and choose the appropriate model requires the evaluation of their performance in each area is commensurate with hydrological conditions. So hydrologicl models, need to recognize the capabilities and limitations of basins.  In this study, the performance of the two models of rainfall – runoff including IHACRES and SWAT models was compared and evaluated in runoff simulation for two watersheds Yalfan and Sulan in Hamedan province in West of Iran .  

     The SWAT model uses various information, including;  hydrometry, climate , soil , topography, vegetation and land use . SWAT (Soil & Water Assessment Tool) is a river basin scale model developed to quantify the impact of land management practices in large and complex watersheds. SWAT model is a hydrology model with the following components: weather, surface runoff, return flow, percolation, evapotranspiration, transmission losses, pond and reservoir storage, crop growth and irrigation, groundwater flow, reach routing, nutrient and pesticide loading. SWAT model uses a two-level disaggregation scheme; a preliminary sub-basin identification is carried out based on topographic criteria, followed by further discretization using land use and soil type considerations. Areas with the same soil type and land use form a Hydrologic Response Unit (HRU), a basic computational unit assumed to be homogeneous in hydrologic response to land cover change.

     IHACRES model is a catchment-scale rainfall – stream flow modeling methodology whose purpose is to characterize the dynamic relationship between rainfall and stream flow, using rainfall and temperature (or potential evaporation) data, and to predict stream flow. The model can be applied over a range of spatial and temporal scales - from small experimental catchments to basins; using minute, daily or monthly time steps. It can be used to fill gaps in data, extend stream flow records, as well as explore the impact of climate change and identify effects of land use changes.

    Data used in this study includes temperature, precipitation and runoff in the period of 2010-1983. Rainfall and temperature data were used from weather stations and runoff gauging stations from basin Sulan  and Yalfan hydrometry stations. In this study we select two periods, first period from 1983 to1999 for calibration and the second period from 1999 to 2009 for validation. Some of the required basic information such as soil, vegetation, topography and land-use maps were used to carry out the research were received from the Research Center of Agriculture and Natural Resources of Hamedan province.      Accordingly, after collecting basic data and analysis of the sensitivity parameters, then calibrate and validate the models. To determine the ability of models Nash Sutcliffe (NS) and determination coefficient ( R2) were evaluated .

    The results showed that both models are acceptable in simulating runoff in both basins. According to the results obtained in the simulation by SWAT model in both basins, Nash Sutcliffe on a monthly scale in the Yalfan basin for calibration period is 0.68 and verification period is 0. 74 and for Sulan basin calibration period is 0.69 and verification period 0.76.

    The flow rate during validation periods have high accuracy. In the Yalfan basin observed daily flow 1.17 cubic meters per second and simulated flow is 1.10 cubic meters per second. As well as an overview of the values of the coefficient of determination can be seen in both basins, amount represents the high precision simulation in monthly and daily scales. Based on the results obtained in the two basins, IHACRES model has been good performance on a monthly scale, so that the Nash Sutcliffe in the Yalfan basin for calibration period 0.68 and for verification periodic 0.72 in the Sulan basin for calibration period 0.64 and for verification periodic 0. 65. In general, both models can be seen by comparing the SWAT model was calibrated and validated with the highest Nash Sutcliffe on the monthly and daily scales. Generally it can be concluded that to simulate the daily and monthly runoff, the SWAT model is recommended for evaluation hydrology process in the Yalfan and Sulan basins. It is essential in most similar studies to determine of rainfall-runoff models with respect to variability of rainfall-runoff models in different climate periods of dry and wet years.