A collaborative project has been carried out in order to improve hydrological modelling approaches, through identifying model weaknesses in reproducing actual internal catchment processes, and to progress in understanding hydrological processes, through improved field observation and issues arising from modelling queries and outputs. The objective is to provide reliable tools for assessing the hydrological consequences of environmental change and defining the land and watershed management strategies necessary to preserve water quantity and quality.
A physically-based hydrological model (SHETRAN) and a parsimonious model (TOPMODEL) have been validated and improved using data from small experimental catchments, including work to ensure that the internal dynamics and processes of the catchments are properly represented. Submodels to deal with forest interception and snow melting have respectively been checked and developed. The methodology for hydrological use of ground probing radar (GPR) at the hill-slope and small catchment scales has been developed through validation in a range of field conditions. A new software package has been developed to perform an uncertainty analysis of hydrograph decomposition using environmental tracing.
Detailed observations of catchment internal hydrological processes have been performed in the Vallcebre catchments (Southeast Pyrenees), an area with strong spatial and temporal heterogeneities that has been used as a common test area. Other data sets in a range of experimental sites in Spain and Switzerland were obtained for specific purposes (consequences of land uses and changes, erosion processes, flow generation and partitioning, snow melting). Data from experimental catchments in Germany have been used to test models in other environmental conditions.
The role of increasing digital terrain modelling (DTM) resolution and information with the help of global positioning systems (GPS) has been studied. A new TOPKAPI model is being developed and tested allowing the application of models calibrated and validated in small basins to wider areas. Finally, comparisons with two common water management models SACRAMENTO and BROOK have been performed.