6533b871fe1ef96bd12d1066

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Evaluation of the SEDD model for predicting sediment yield at the Sicilian experimental SPA2 basin

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In this paper a spatially distributed model of the hillslope sediment delivery processes, named the sediment delivery distributed (SEDD) model, is initially reviewed; the model takes into account the sediment delivery processes due to both the hillslope sediment transport and the effects of slope curvature. Then the rainfall and sediment yield events measured at the experimental SPA2 basin, in Sicily, are used both to calibrate the SEDD model and to verify the predictive capability of the distributed sediment delivery approach at event scale. For the SPA2 basin discretized into morphological units and stream tubes, the SEDD model is calibrated at event scale using the measurements carried out at the outlet of the experimental basin in the period December 2000–January 2001. The model calibration is used to determine a relationship useful for estimating the unique coefficient βe of the model by rainfall erosivity factor Re at event scale. To test the predictive capability of the βe = f(Re) relationship, 20 events measured in the period September 2002–December 2005 are used; the comparison between measured sediment yield values and calculated ones for all monitored events shows that the sediment delivery distributed approach has a good predictive ability at event scale. The analysis also shows that estimating βe by the relationship βe = f(Re) gives a better agreement between measured and calculated sediment yields than obtained with the median value βe,m of all 27 calculated βe values. Finally the analysis at annual scale, for the period 2000–2005, allows the estimation of the median value βa,m representative of the annual behaviour. This analysis shows that the sediment delivery distributed approach also has a good predictive ability at annual scale. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.