Assessment of the Performance of a Distributed Code in Relation to the ET_p Estimates

Authors: Vázquez Z. R.F.¹; Feyen J.²

Source: Water Resources Management, Volume 16, Number 4, August 2002 , pp. 329-350(22)

Publisher: Springer

Abstract:

This article is a preliminary report of a research activity focusing on the effects of the crop potential evapotranspiration (ET_p) generation methods on both the performance of a distributed catchment model as well as on the magnitude of its main effective parameters. The referred effects were assessed on the basis of the independent Multi-Calibration (MC) of the distributed model for which three different ET_p scenarios were generated as follows: (A) FAO-24 standard approach; (B) FAO-24 approach but used with coefficients of the wind function and of the Stefan-Boltzmann equation selected according to local conditions; and (C) FAO-56 standard approach. ET_p was estimated as a function of the reference crop evapotranspiration (ET_o) by means of the k_c-ET_o approach. For assessing the performance of the estimation approach, the ET_o outputs of the three scenarios were compared to local ET_o constraints derived from a previous research. The outputs of scenario B and scenario C showed a close agreement with the local ET_o constraints. Their effect on the performance of the hydrological model also seemed to be comparable. The output of scenario A produced higher estimates than the outputs of the other two scenarios, in the order of 200 mm per year. The best model performance was obtained by using the estimates of scenario A. The research also revealed the weak dependency of the model effective parameters inspected in this preliminary research on the ET_pestimating methods.

Keywords: distributed model; effective parameter; evapotranspiration; FAO combined Penman-Monteith equation; FAO modified Penman equation; performance

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Institute for Land and Water Management, K.U. Leuven, Leuven, Belgium (author for correspondence, e-mail: raulito_vz@yahoo.com, Fax: +32 (0) 16 329760) 2: Institute for Land and Water Management, K.U. Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Publication date: 2002-08-01

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• In this Subject: Business ,  Hydraulic & Environmental Engineering
• By this author: Vázquez Z. R.F. ;  Feyen J.

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