River Network Modeling Beyond Discharge at Gauges

Abstract:

Over the past two decades, the estimation of water flow in river networks within hydro-meteorological models has mostly focused on simulations of natural processes and on their verification at available river gauges. Despite valuable existing skills in hydrologic modeling the accounting for anthropogenic actions in current models remains limited. The emerging availability of datasets containing measured dam outflows and reported irrigation withdrawals motivates their inclusion into simulations of flow in river networks. However, the development of advanced river network models accounting for such datasets of anthropogenic influences requires a detailed data model and a thorough handling of the various data types, sources and time scales. This contribution details the development of a consistent data model suitable for accounting some observations of anthropogenic modifications of the surface water cycle and presents the impact of such inclusion on simulations using the Routing Application for Parallel computatIon of Discharge (RAPID).