Search results for "Hydrological modeling"

Simulating future trends in hydrological regime of a large Sudano-Sahelian catchment under climate change

2012

Summary This paper assesses the future variability of water resources in the short, medium and long terms over a large Sudano-Sahelian catchment in West Africa. Flow simulations were performed with a daily conceptual model. A period of nearly 50 years (1952–2000) was chosen to capture long-term hydro-climatic variability. Calibration and validation were performed on the basis of a multi-objective function that aggregates a variety of goodness-of-fit indices. The climate models HadCM3 and MPI-M under SRES-A2 were used to provide future climate scenarios over the catchment. Outputs from these models were used to generate daily rainfall and temperature series for the 21st century according to:…

Modeling the hydrological and mechanical effect of roots on shallow landslides

2016

This study proposes a new methodology for estimating the additional shear strength (or cohesion) exerted by vegetation roots on slope stability analysis within a coupled hydrological-stability model. The mechanical root cohesion is estimated within a Fiber Bundle Model framework that allows for the evaluation of the root strength as a function of stress-strain relationships of populations of fibers. The use of such model requires the knowledge of the root architecture. A branching topology model based on Leonardo's rule is developed, providing an estimation of the amount of roots and the distribution of diameters with depth. The proposed methodology has been implemented into an existing dis…

Parameter Uncertainty in Shallow Rainfall-triggered Landslide Modeling at Basin Scale: A Probabilistic Approach

2014

Abstract This study proposes a methodology to account for the uncertainty of hydrological and mechanical parameters in coupled distributed hydrological-stability models for shallow landslide assessment. A probabilistic approach was implemented in an existing eco-hydrological and landslide model by randomizing soil cohesion, friction angle and soil retention parameters. The model estimates the probability of failure through an assumed theoretical Factor of Safety (FS) distribution, conditioned on soil moisture content. The time-dependent and spatially distributed FS statistics are approximated by the First Order Second Moment (FOSM) method. The model was applied to the Rio Mameyes Basin, loc…

MODELING THE TERRAIN EVOLUTION AT BASIN SCALE: THE GEOMORPHIC COMPONENT OF TRIBS HYDROLOGICAL MODEL

2012

Using post-flood surveys and geomorphologic mapping to evaluate hydrological and hydraulic models: The flash flood of the Girona River (Spain) in 2007

2016

This paper analyzes the Girona River (Spain) flash flood, occurred on the 12th of October 2007, combining hydrological and hydraulic modeling with geomorphologic mapping and post-flood survey information. This research aims to reproduce the flood event in order to understand and decipher the flood processes and dynamics on a system of prograding alluvial fans. The hydrological model TETIS was used to characterize the shape and dimension of the October 2007 Girona River hydrograph. Subsequently, the flood event was reproduced using the free surface flow module of the model RiverFlow2D. The combination of hydrological and hydraulic models was evaluated using post-flood surveys defining maximu…

Influence of soil erosion and landslide occurrence on the CO2 exchange with the atmosphere at the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory, Puerto Rico

2015

Tropical rainforests play a significant role in the global carbon (C) cycle. The Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory (LCZO) in Puerto Rico is characterized by intense erosion and landslide occurrence, which have been historically influenced by human activity and land use change, and drive the redistribution and burial of soil organic C (SOC) across the landscape. Estimates of regional C budgets do not systematically account for linkages between hydrological, geomorphological, and biogeochemical processes, which control the fate of eroded SOC. We quantify the impacts of erosion and rainfall-triggered landslides on SOC oxidation and accumulation at the Mameyes and Icacos watersheds. We develop…

Rainfall Induced Landslides in Puerto Rico

2010

Physically based modeling of rainfall-triggered landslides: a case study in the Luquillo forest, Puerto Rico

2013

This paper presents the development of a rainfall-triggered landslide module within an existing physically based spatially distributed ecohydrologic model. The model, tRIBS-VEGGIE (Triangulated Irregular Networks-based Real-time Integrated Basin Simulator and Vegetation Generator for Interactive Evolution), is capable of a sophisticated description of many hydrological processes; in particular, the soil moisture dynamics are resolved at a temporal and spatial resolution required to examine the triggering mechanisms of rainfall-induced landslides. The validity of the tRIBS-VEGGIE model to a tropical environment is shown with an evaluation of its performance against direct observations made w…

The use of soil water retention curve models in analyzing slope stability in differently structured soils

2017

Abstract This study analyzes whether and at what rate the parameterization of the Soil Water Retention Curve (SWRC) affects the analysis of shallow slope stability for differently structured unsaturated soils. Advanced empirical or physically-based equations of SWRCs have been proposed in literature to describe soil systems characterized by the so-called bimodal porous domain. In unsaturated soils, SWRC affects the stability assessment in two ways. It influences the resistance properties in terms of shear strengths, which depend on the soil water suction; and it affects the hydrological process modeling (e.g. infiltration) directly influencing soil moisture patterns and indirectly influenci…

Integration of physically based distributed hydrological model with model of carbon and nitrogen cycle: Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory, Puerto Ri…

2015

The dynamics of carbon and nitrogen cycles, increasingly influenced by human activities, are the key to the functioning of ecosystems. These cycles are influenced by the composition of the substrate, availability of nitrogen, the population of microorganisms, and by environmental factors. Therefore, land management and use, climate change, and nitrogen deposition patterns influence the dynamics of these macronutrients at the landscape scale. In this work a physically based distributed hydrological model, the tRIBS model, is coupled with a process-based multi-compartment model of the biogeochemical cycle to simulate the dynamics of carbon and nitrogen (CN) in the Mameyes River basin, Puerto …