Semi-distributed, physically based, hydrologic modeling of the Paddle River Basin, Alberta, using remotely sensed data

A hydrologic model (DPHM-RS) is designed to assimilate remotely sensed data in a semi-distributed approach. Energy and water au,v exchanges at the land-atmosphere interface is assumed to be one-dimensional (vertical), ET is modeled separately for land and vegetation, and surface and sub-surface runoff from each sub-basin are routed to the stream by a kinematic response function and then via a network; of stream channel to the basin outlet. Using the Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED), the Paddle River Basin (265 km(2)) of Central Alberta is divided into five sub-basins. DPHM-RS was calibrated with hourly hydroclimatic and remotely sensed data collected in 1946 (July 23-August 29, 1996). Land use classes were derived from Landsat-TM data while topographic information was derived from DTED data. The calibrated model was separately validated with similar data of 1997 (July 16-September 26, 1997), and 1998 (May 1-June 30, 1998). Simulated runoff at the basin outlet showed good agreement with the observed counterparts at both calibration and validation stages, with a coefficient of efficiency, E-f of 85% in calibration (1996), 60% (1997) and 61% (1998) in validation stages. DPHM-RS also simulated surface temperature, net radiation and soil moisture at the active layer that compared favorably with their counterparts retrieved from space platforms. Encouraging results from the above multi-criteria assessment demonstrate the feasibility of semi-distributed modeling and the usefulness of remotely sensed data in basin hydrology. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.